Classic Doctor Who - Rewatching from scratch

[Dangelus]

I thought I'd start a thread on this as I have started polluting the new series thread with questions about the old show.

My to my wife's disdain I have started to watch the classic series, starting with the pilot!

Now, I have seen bits and pieces and possibly entire seasons of the show many years ago when I followed it as a child but I haven't seen it for many years. This is partly due to the lure and influence of the high budget American shows that began to appear over here in the 80's and the tragic lack of reruns of the show in it's native country.

So far I am half way through the first 'serial' which runs for about 5 shows starting with the pilot that introduces the Doctor, his granddaughter and a couple of other characters.

I was pleasantly surprised when I began to watch. The characterisations, the plot and the acting are top notch and it totally immerses you so you can easily forgive the low budget and production values (in comparison to present day).

I can't wait to see how they develop these characters, especially The Doctor. Some nice touches too. Susan getting frustrated at school and confused with certain things. I loved the comment that she mistakingly believed the UK had adopted decimalisation! What forward thinking for a 'kids show'! I'll have to look up whether they had been talking about it back then already since it didn't happen until the 70's but it really added credibility to me, watching in 2010 that they had travelled in time.

I'm really going to enjoy this adventure and I'm sure I'll have lots of questions that I will pose here for Meds, Feathers, Darkmolerman and all others who want to chip in!

Oh, it goes without saying that there will be 'spoilers' (if you can have them in a 40 year old show!)

[Darkmolerman]

The funny thing is I never saw the original series, I saw bits though. Thanks to my cousin I know who and what certain things are. I actually read the entire TARDIS (Doctor wiki) on who/what daleks were

[Dangelus]

Well I'm having a ball so far with it! :)

I would try to watch it if you get a chance.

[Meds]

I started a thread about a year and a half ago going through the classic series but I'm jumping into this one Dan wicked idea.
Question?
Did you watch the in aired pilot it the pilot now known as a u earthly child?
Are you watching them on DVD?

[Dangelus]

I believe it is the aired pilot, about 23 minutes long which ends with them going back in time to the stone age.

Presently I am watching digital copies I have 'acquired' but my intention is to pick up all the DVDs as and when I can when I can get a good deal on them. I am wanting to listen to the commentary tracks, watch the extras plus a lot of them have been remastered.

[ChadH]

Well I'm having a ball so far with it! :)

I would try to watch it if you get a chance.

I envy you Dan:) I was introduced to the Doctor back in the early eightys when my local public tv station began airing the series beginning with the the Tom Baker episode "Robot". That was all it took for me to be hooked (I mean how can any young boy resist a show with giant robots? ) I'd never had opportunity to see any of the earlier episodes and remember being quite surprised when I learned that there had actually been several earlier versions of the Doctor. Please continue to let us know what you think of those early episodes.

[Meds]

Dan the beginning box set of the 1st Doctor is pretty darn cheap and awesome. The un aired pilot has some different things like the run into the Tardis I think looks better. Some dialogue changes and a few camera dufferences. How cool does the interior look, I love the Hartnell era.
Here's the link to my old thread, it's a bit redundant now as I got up to Tom Baker but the good old BBC tool a load of the YouTube videos off.
http://www.treksinscifi.com/forum/index.php?topic=4909.0

Dan take a look at the exterior of the Tardis do you see the St Johns Ambulance badge, that returns :)

[Dangelus]

Yeah the original TARDIS look is back with the new season this year! I remember you saying something about it before, it is pretty much the same exterior. No doubt they'll reference it somewhere.

I've got my eye on that boxset, going to have to see what deal I can get on it.

Watching 'The Firemaker' right now. The acting and dialogue is brilliant, so compelling and dramatic.

EDIT: Wow! "The Beginings" box set - £10.28 on Amazon! :)

[Feathers]

Ah, I've seen quite a few but have never taken the time to actually sit down and watch (what exists of) all of Doctors one and two.

Have fun!

[Bromptonboy]

Hmmm...I'll have to check Netflix and see if I can get in on the fun.

[Darkmolerman]

Yeah, there are barely any disks so I might rent it from netflix

[Dangelus]

Well I was going to wait until I had finished a season or a Doctor to talk more about this but I saw something yesterday that amazed me.

In the episode serial "The Aztecs" Ian, one of the Doctor's companions performs the 'Vulcan neck pinch' on somebody to disable them!

This was broadcast a good few years before Star Trek TOS too!

I'm really having fun watch these old shows. :)

[Feathers]

You've got to ask why he'd know how to do that then...unless he's traveeling with a Time Lord and had already been forward in time to watch Trek. ;)

In the real world, I assume there's a nerve cluster in the right place for this to work in fiction but given that (in the Whoverse) Ian wasn't a neuro-scientist, how did he come to know about it?

[Dangelus]

Who knows but. Found it very amusing. Even more amusing than the 'food replicator' type machine in the TARDIS!!

[Meds]

Yeah the cube food lol. That was dropped pretty quickly. Ian is a strange one, old Mr Chesterton looks like school teachers knew there stuff back in the day.