An Exciting Guide to AN UNEARTHLY CHILD

                In my last blog post, I introduced my “Exciting Guide to Doctor Who”, begun in 1998, consisting of watching and commenting on all of televised Doctor Who, in order. Here, as advertised, is the very first instalment – finally published online after 13 and a half years! Be aware – I ignored all “accepted wisdom” and just went with what’s actually seen and said on screen – so some of this is a little out of left field!

Story One

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Story Code

A

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Spoiler Alert!  Anyone who doesn’t want the mystery of the first episode spoiled for them should probably not read on.

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Title

An Unearthly Child

The above is the title of the first episode, and of the novelisation by Terrance Dicks.  It is also inaccurately known as The Tribe Of Gum, and rather more accurately as 100,000 BC.  This is a silly title, however, and I have chosen the title I grew up with and prefer.

“Friends” Title

The One With The Cavemen

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Episode Titles

An Unearthly Child

The Cave Of Skulls

The Forest Of Fear

The Firemaker

Current availability

All 4 episodes exist.

Source

BBC Video release.

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Date

1963.

Ian tells us that episode one takes place in London in the year 1963.

33,000 BC

No date is given for the remaining three episodes - the yearometer reading of “zero” is obviously incorrect.  I don’t know enough about the ascent of man to know if the year of the alternative title “100,000 BC” could be accurate, but at any rate this is never given on-screen.  Out of interest, various publications have set the date for this story at anywhere from 500,000 BC to 30,000 BC.  DWM issue 174 suggests a date of 50,000 BC, but doesn’t give any justification.  A History Of The Universe claims that 33,000 BC (as previously named in The Making Of Doctor Who) is “more historically accurate”, and who am I to argue with someone who’s clearly done their research?  At any rate, this is all academic because, as I said, no date is given on screen.  And all of this assumes, of course, that episodes two to four take place on Earth:  this is never explicitly stated.

(2012: Back then, I didn’t have Wikipedia to check! I just have, and apparently, use of fire probably became widespread in around...100,000 BC. Well, whaddaya know.)

Genre

Historical / Primitive Culture

Plot synopsis

1.            Two schoolteachers, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton, follow one of their pupils, who they know as Susan Foreman, to her house out of curiosity.  They meet her grandfather, a Doctor, in the junkyard that occupies Susan’s address, and hear her voice coming from a police telephone box.  In a struggle, they fall through the box’s door to find themselves in the impossibly large control room to a spaceship that can cross the boundaries of space and time.  The Doctor forces them to leave 1963 with him, and the Ship lands on a desert plain, with someone approaching.

2.            The Ship has apparently landed on prehistoric Earth.  A tribe of cavemen look to their potential leader, Za, to give them fire.  A stranger to the tribe, Kal, captures the Doctor, believing he can make fire to make him, Kal, leader instead.  Susan, Ian and Barbara arrive to rescue the Doctor, who has lost his matches so cannot make fire.  They are all sent to the Cave of Skulls.

3.            Za’s mother, who believes fire will bring ruin to the tribe, frees the time travellers.  Za and his girl Hur give chase to get the secret.  Za is wounded by an animal, and the travellers stop to help him.  Kal kills the old woman and brings the tribe to recapture the party.

4.            Back at the cave, the Doctor discredits Kal by proving he killed the old woman.  The travellers are sent back to the Cave of Skulls, where they make fire for Za.  Kal returns, and is killed fighting with Za, who uses the fire to make himself leader.  The travellers set up skulls with fire inside them as a diversion to allow themselves to escape.  The Ship takes off and soon lands in what appears to be a white forest with high radiation levels.

Pitch

Like One Million Years B.C. but without the Ray Harryhausen monsters.

The Money Shot

Barbara stumbles into the police box and stops in astonishment when an enormous gleaming control room is revealed.  (Episode 1)

The Doctor and his kind

• The Doctor and Susan claim to be exiles, cut off from their own planet.  The Doctor believes they will return one day.

• Susan calls the Doctor “grandfather.”

• The Doctor states that he is not a doctor of medicine.

• Though alien, the Doctor and Susan have many human attributes - the Doctor even smokes a pipe.

• How old are the two aliens?  The teachers believe Susan is 15, but she seems to be much older - she has been at Coal Hill School for five months, and before this has had time to leave her own planet, obtain vast amounts of knowledge and visit several planets and time zones - notably the French Revolution.  By her own standards, though, she is clearly still a “child.”

• The Doctor and Susan’s people are clearly vastly technologically advanced, and he compares the twentieth century schoolteachers to “Red Indian” savages.  He claims the children of his own planet would be insulted by being compared to Ian and Barbara, and Susan’s great intelligence would seem to bear this out.

• The two aliens have different attitudes towards twentieth century England.  Susan loves it, and would rather stay there than continue her travels with the Doctor.  He, on the other hand, claims to tolerate the century, but not to enjoy it.

• What kind of person is the Doctor?  For the lead character in a TV series allegedly created for children, he seems more than a little amoral.  He is willing to electrocute the TARDIS console to stop Ian from touching it, and tricks his granddaughter into remaining in the Ship (arguably because he’d miss her if she were gone.)  He also seems willing to kill Za in cold blood to ensure his own safety - unless his own story that the rock knife was for the caveman to draw their way back to the Ship is true.  His moral stance clearly differs substantially from that of the human teachers:  when they return to help Za he responds with “What are they doing?  They must be out of their minds.”

• What is the Doctor’s name?  “Foreman” is just an alias.  He is referred to as “Dr. Who” in the on-screen credits (and the title of the show, of course.)  This is either his name, or refers to the mystery surrounding him.  He is generally called simply “The Doctor.”

The TARDIS log

• The Doctor’s Ship is known as the TARDIS - Susan says she made up the name from the initials for Time And Relative Dimension In Space.

• The TARDIS can go anywhere in time and space.

• The tiny exterior conceals a large room with roundels all over the walls, a central console, a screen and several pieces of ornate furniture.  It is suggested that there are further rooms beyond this one.

• The Ship is supposed to change its exterior form to blend in with its surroundings - it has apparently been an ionic column and a sedan chair.  The Doctor and Susan are surprised when it remains a police box on prehistoric Earth, so this is clearly a new fault.

• The Ship betrays its nature even from the outside - it hums, and there is “a faint vibration” causing Ian to exclaim “It’s alive!”

• Whatever else the Ship is, it’s clearly not soundproof - we can hear Susan from inside before the Doctor has finished turning the key in the lock.

• On take-off from the junkyard, the Ship shakes all over the place, knocking out Ian and Barbara.  This does not happen when it takes off from prehistoric Earth.  Maybe it was a little out of practice after spending five months in a junkyard.

• On both occasions, the TARDIS takes off with a wheezing, groaning noise heard inside and outside the Ship.  The central column in the console rises and falls.  The detailed depiction of take-off in episode one then shows a succession of swirls and other visual effects (largely repeating the series’ title sequence) together with a high-pitched whine.

• The screen in the control room is a scanner, which shows the “immediate view outside the Ship.”

• The doors are first seen to close by use of a little switch on the console, then later by turning something.  We see the Doctor operating the console for take-off twice, both times differently.  The only possible conclusion to draw is that the controls of the TARDIS are fluid, and operated differently each time for different reasons.

• After landing on prehistoric Earth, the light on top of the police box flashes, and this happens again when it takes off.  Why take-off should have this effect upon the TARDIS’ exterior disguise is unclear.

• The Doctor admits that his Ship isn’t entirely working properly (“I do wish this wouldn’t let me down!”) and that some of its codes are still secret.  Two controls shown to be unreliable are the “yearometer” (which sticks at zero) and the radiation counter (the dial of which is slow to move to the “danger” level).  The Doctor is clearly aware of its limitations, as even after checking the air and radiation levels in episode two he takes his Geiger counter with him (which is broken shortly afterwards).

• The key codes to the TARDIS machines are contained in the Doctor’s notebook, together with notes on everywhere they’ve been.  He would never voluntarily leave his notebook - it’s too important to him.

• The TARDIS apparently needs the exact location and moment of departure in order to fix a destination - the Doctor is unable to return Ian and Barbara home until this can be achieved.  He intends to pick up rock and plant samples to this end in episode two.

• It seems incredible, but this alien technology from another time is compatible with that of 1960s Britain - the Doctor claims to have found a “replacement for that faulty filament - it’s an amateur job but I think it’ll serve.”

Past Journeys

• Susan and the Doctor have visited the French Revolution - reading a book on the subject, she exclaims “That’s not right!”

The history of Earth

• (If indeed this is Earth.)  The tribe that the Doctor and the other travellers meet in prehistoric Earth are a skin-wearing, cave-dwelling, savage race of primitives.  They worship the sun-god Orb.  The travellers, and particularly Ian, teach them co-operation and give them fire.  But this is just one tribe, and it is pointless to over-estimate their impact on this society - we know there have been firemakers before, and we know there are other tribes.

Script Heaven

This first story is full of great dialogue, even in the caveman sequences.

• The Doctor “Not quite clear, is it?  I can see in your face that you’re not certain, you don’t understand. (delighted) I knew you wouldn’t, never mind.”

• Ian “You’re treating us like children.” The Doctor “Am I?  The children of my civilisation would be insulted.”

• The Doctor “Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension?  Have you?  To be exiles?  Susan and I are cut off from our own planet without friends or protection.  But one day we shall get back.  Yes, one day, one day...”

• Susan “I was born in another time, another world.”

• Ian “Time doesn’t go round and round in circles.  You can’t get on and off whenever you like in the past or the future.” The Doctor “Really?  Where does time go, then?” Ian “It doesn’t go anywhere.  It just happens and then it’s finished.”

• The Doctor “If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?”

• Za “Tomorrow I kill many bears.  You all have warm skins.” Horg “I say tomorrow you will rub your hands together and hold them to the dry sticks and ask Orb to send you fire - and the bears will stay warm in their own skins.”

• The Doctor “Fear makes companions of all of us, Miss Wright.”

Catchphrase

• The Doctor “Eh?  Doctor who?  What’s he talking about?”

• Ian “That’s not his name.  Who is he?  Doctor who?”

Things I learned from Doctor Who

• How to make fire.

Body Count

A modest count for this opening foray - the old woman, the guard outside the Cave of Skulls and Kal makes:

3.

Screams / Twists Ankle

• Appropriately enough for a science-fiction time travel series, Ian and Barbara are, respectively, teachers of Science and History.

• Prior to the events of this story, Ian and Barbara were clearly friends but not that close - his comments in the third episode suggest he has never been to her house.

• Ian is unexpectedly revealed as an authority on 1960s music - he knows the career history of John Smith and the Common Men.

• There are odd gaps in Susan’s knowledge.  Even her alien origins don’t explain why, after five months, she doesn’t know which fiscal system the United Kingdom uses.

Checkov’s Plot Device

Checkov’s fire.  In a way.  But it’s more an overarching theme.

Irrelevant Escape Attempts

Old Mother lets the travellers go free.  They make it all the way to the TARDIS, only to be intercepted and taken straight back to the Cave of Skulls.  This clears the way for them to do it all over again next episode. (Episode 3)

Dudley!

• Norman Kay gives us an unexpected whistling shriek as Ian and Barbara attempt to leave the Ship in episode one.

Notes

• The opening of episode one is marvellously atmospheric:  the swirling titles, the throbbing, haunting theme tune, merging into fog with a policeman investigating a junkyard.  The door creaks open of its own accord, and an incongruously placed police box is revealed, emanating a low hum...

• The broken dummy in the scrapyard behind Susan can be seen to foreshadow the cracked skulls in the Cave.

• Ian seems remarkably cavalier about the loss of his torch:  he doesn’t even look for it.

• There is a marvellous shot of the desert plain through the TARDIS doors as Ian realises he’s been wrong all along.

• Interestingly, the time travellers and the cavemen only have slight problems understanding each other.  English had certainly not developed as a language, however primitive, in prehistoric times, so this is a mystery.

• The conflict between Ian and the Doctor during their flight through the forest is among the story’s best scenes.

• Also during this flight, Ian seems to take the lead in the party.  In episode four, however, he defers to the Doctor.

• The budget apparently stretches to dead animals, but not to live ones.

• The tribe reach the TARDIS incredibly quickly at the end of episode three.  This suggests that the several mad dashes through the forest that the travellers undertake are unnecessary - there’s a much quicker way, if only you know how.

• After three episodes of mainly snapping at people and getting in the way, the Doctor only really shows his mettle when he proves to the tribe that Kal is a murderer.

• Za recovers remarkably quickly from his wound.

Queries

• Why is Susan ignorant of the British fiscal situation?

• Where has I.M.Foreman the scrap merchant been for the past five months while the Doctor and Susan have been living in his junkyard?

• If the Doctor’s notebook is as important as we’re told it is, why doesn’t he enquire about it?  And, for that matter, what happens to it and the other items found at the scene of Kal’s attack?

• Why does the old woman know a second way out of the Cave of Skulls when no-one else seems to?

• Who are the Doctor and Susan really?  Where do they come from?

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On-screen Credits

CAST

Dr. Who - William Hartnell, Ian Chesterton - William Russell, Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill, Susan Foreman - Carole Ann Ford, Za - Derek Newark (2-4), Hur - Alethea Charlton (2-4), Old Mother - Eileen Way (2-3), Kal - Jeremy Young (2-4), Horg - Howard Lang (2-4).

CREW

Written by Anthony Coburn.  Title Music by Ron Grainer with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.  Incidental Music by Norman Kay.  Special Effects by the Visual Effects Department of the BBC (1-3).  Fight Arranger - Derek Ware (4).  Story Editor - David Whitaker.  Designer - Peter Brachacki (1); Barry Newbury (2-4).  Associate Producer - Mervyn Pinfield.  Producer - Verity Lambert.  Directed by Waris Hussein.

Review

You really can’t slag off Doctor Who’s first story.  The first episode remains superb 35 years later, with great dialogue and characterisation.  The four lead actors make an excellent first impression (particularly Hartnell), and the sets throughout are surprisingly good considering the constraints.  The cavemen may be clichés, but somehow manage not to be embarrassing.  After the opening episode, basically, we’d be willing to watch just about anything for the next 35 years...

Rating

10 / 10

...watching every TV adventure of the Doctor, in strict chronological order of broadcast...

                November 23^rd, 1998, was a significant date. You’re probably already clocking that it was Doctor Who’s 35^th anniversary. In fact, it was the most underwhelming anniversary ever. Ten years earlier, we’d had Silver Nemesis – poor, yes, but nonetheless there. Five years earlier, we’d had Dimensions in Time – awful, yes, but undoubtedly celebratory. At least someone was trying. In 1998, there was nothing on TV – well, unless you had something called BBC Choice, and no-one I knew did. (A few years later, the channel transmogrified into BBC3, which would go on to have a healthy relationship with Doctor Who.) Even the novels didn’t produce anything noteworthy.

                In my house, things were different. It was on this date that I began a project. It went by the name of Doctor Who In An Exciting Guide Through Time And Space. More loosely, I referred to it as The Exciting Guide. More usually, I simply called it “my website”. I was creating an exhaustive website covering all of televised Doctor Who (there being no thought in 1998 that there would ever be more televised Doctor Who made).

                There was one flaw in my plan: I had no internet access. Even today, 11 and a bit years later, I don’t know how to create a website. It would have been more accurate to call it “my Word document”. But the plan always was that, once I finished it, I would turn it into a website.

                The first thing I created was the introduction, setting out my stall. I present some of this for you now.

                                                                                                *

There have been innumerable guides through the world of Doctor Who over its first thirty five years of existence, and the number and form of these seem to have taken on lives of their own since the end of the series’ regular TV appearances in 1989.  There has, however, not yet been a guide such as this.

The purpose of my Exciting Guide is to go through every TV adventure of the Doctor, in strict chronological order of broadcast, and analyse each one as if it were being viewed for the first time.  It’s all very easy to watch "The Invasion" and declaim, “Ah, look, it’s a dummy run for the UNIT years and features a very famous scene outside St. Paul’s Cathedral.”  But it seems the one perspective that has been lost is that of the first-time viewer.

For example.  While reviewing "Arc Of Infinity", I do not remark that the actor playing Maxil was later to portray the Sixth Doctor.  This is, however, noted for "Caves Of Androzani".  This enables me to take “continuity” as it comes:  rather than attempting to fit everything we know about Gallifrey into Robert Holmes’ vision, I can accrue information as I go.

                                                                                                *

                Time, alas, has been my enemy. Less than a year later, Doctor Who Magazine began their “Time Team” feature which involves four fans watching every TV adventure of the Doctor, in strict chronological order of broadcast...oh. They had the same idea. More or less. Still, mine’s a bit different. They’re just doing 2 pages of a magazine and making comments about what they’re watching. Mine’s more of an encyclopaedia.

                Oh. In 2009, Toby Hadoke and Robert Shearman embarked upon “Running Through Corridors”, in which they watched every TV adventure of the Doctor, in strict...ah. Clearly great minds do think alike. Although mine has yet to produce Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf or Dalek. (I still haven’t summoned up the courage to buy this book for fear that it might be too similar to my ersatz-website, but now I’ve mentioned it in my blog, guess I better had.)

                Oh. In January 2011, Neil Perryman was inspired by the aforementioned book to create his own website – using the internet and everything – which chronicles his own project, which involved him sitting his wife Sue down in front of the TV to watch every TV adventure of the Doctor, in strict...well, you get the idea. To add insult to injury, the website is brilliant. It’s now been going for 13 months and they’ve reached The Time Meddler. And just to stick the boot in, the first post on the website reads:

Watching Doctor Who from the beginning isn’t anything new.

                There’s another, very good, reason why my Word document never made it to becoming a website. I haven’t finished it. When I began in 1998, I assumed I’d be able to watch about a story a week, so I’d get to McGann’s brief blaze of glory by about Christmas 2002. Well, that festive season actually saw me on Day of the Daleks – story 60. I began well, but had reckoned without life itself. In November 1998, I was living with my mother, working 9 to 5. I was 22, had recently graduated, and wasn’t doing much with my life. During the intervening time, I moved to London, graduated twice more, moved out of London, got married, started working as a teacher and, finally, had a child. Somehow, I have had increasingly less and less free time for the website. I’m now 35 and have recently completed work on Castrovalva. Official reckoning has this as story 116 out of 224, and they’re making more all the time. If I ever finish, at current rate, I’ll be in my fifties.

                Still, I’ve got a blog now. It’s finally time for the Exciting Guide to make its bow. My next blog post will be my 1998 take on An Unearthly Child. Then, for the foreseeable future, I will drop entries from my so-called-website into my blogging routine from time to time.

                Meanwhile, here’s the rest of that intro I penned in 1998, including an explanation of the categories I was to use.

                                                                                                *

I am indebted to many different people for their influence on this work.  The style, in particular, is pilfered directly from three science fiction reference works:  "The Lurker’s Guide To Babylon 5";  Andy Lane’s "The Babylon File";  and, on more familiar ground, David J Howe and Stephen James Walker’s "Doctor Who:  The Television Companion".  This last has been invaluable as a source of information, too, as have Doctor Who Magazine Archives compiled by Andrew Pixley, and Lance Parkin’s "A History Of The Universe".  I even found myself picking up Jean-Marc Lofficier’s "Doctor Who - The Programme Guide" once in a blue moon.

A note on canonicity.  As a general rule, if it was on telly, it’s canonical.  But so is "Shada".  But "Dimensions In Time" isn’t...oh, coitus.  See individual entries.

Each entry is sub-divided into far too many different categories, none of which I could resist putting in, and all of which should see this Guide listed under “exhaustive.”  Here is a map to help you find your way.

Story Code

These are usually fairly well-documented, but where there is controversy I include all available options.

Spoiler Alert

Well, we might as well do this properly.  Stories which reveal something momentous - for instance, "The War Games" - will get a bright neon light flashing up at the top (!) to warn readers not to carry on unless they really want to.

Title

Again, where there is difference of opinion I list all possibilities.  However, I tend to plump for my own preferred option.

“Friends” Title

Can’t remember the difference between "The Seeds Of Death" and "The Seeds Of Doom"?  This might help.

Number of Episodes / Episode Titles

The latter of these only showing its face up until "The Gunfighters".

Current availability

This should only be required up to the end of the Patrick Troughton era.  Although some Pertwee stories only exist as black-and-white, I can't be bothered to list those.

Canon Fodder

Does it count? Why shouldn't it? Ah, if only it were that simple. The rot sets in round about the start of the eighties. As with most things.

Source

It is a sad fact that I can’t watch every episode over again to get a first-time perspective, as far too many of them have gone the way of the Pudding Lane bakery.  Wherever possible, I have based my observations on the original episodes as transmitted.  Some BBC Video releases and all UK Gold repeats will have been edited to some degree, at least to remove the credits.  Other sources will be listed as and when appropriate.

Date

No, not the original dates of transmission.  I have vetoed this as being far too boring.  This section will give, as near as possible, the date(s) on which the story is set.

Personal Chronology

This won’t be important for a while, but is just to point out where, for example, the first Doctor might come from in "The Three Doctors", whether the Master follows the same chronology as the Doctor, and exactly when in the Cybermen’s history we’ve now arrived.

Genre

Doctor Who fandom has developed its own language over the years to describe the various elements of the show - Doctor Who Magazine has in the past taken great glee in sending up phrases like “Bohemian adventurer” or “classic Holmesian double-act”, whilst naturally using them freely elsewhere in the issue.  I embrace this useful shorthand, and will endeavour to point out which little box each story fits into.

Plot synopsis

Exactly what it sounds like, in as brief a format as is helpful.

Pitch

It’s kind of like “The Time Machine” meets “Perils Of Pauline”.  Am I warm?  (And does anyone actually know what “Perils Of Pauline” was?)

The Money Shot

The one scene that really sticks in the memory...for being good or bad.  This may be difficult to choose in many stories (for both possible reasons).

The Doctor and his kind

From the initial mystery to the glut of information eventually available, teased out bit by contradictory bit.

The TARDIS log

As we learn more and more about the Doctor’s ship, it shall be duly noted here.

Past Journeys

Although many entries in this section will be noted in other sections, it seems necessary for the moment.  References to previous journeys actually seen on screen will not be included.  I shall also attempt not to refer to any journeys better covered in Name Dropping.

The history of Earth

The Doctor spends more time on our little blue-green planet than anywhere else, and if we knew nothing about its history beforehand, we surely do now.  And that includes our future history.

Alien Worlds

As the TARDIS crew explore strange new worlds and seek out new life and new civilisations, we examine their attributes in very little depth.  Flora, fauna, astronomy, population and transport, all condensed into a few bullet points.

Script Heaven

All those moments of dialogue that give intelligent science fiction a good name.

Script Hell

All those moments of dialogue that make intelligent science fiction fans want to curl up in a corner and hide.

Catchphrase

As Doctor Who gets self-referential, we note how many times the polarity is, indeed, reversed.  I would point out to William Hartnell fans that “Hmm?” is not a catchphrase.  Nor is “What?  Eh?”

Name-dropping

All those people the Doctor claims to have met.  While we’re on the subject, I have a photograph of myself with Sophie Aldred, you know.  And Jon Pertwee’s autograph.  And Tim Piggott-Smith’s, but now we’re getting a bit obscure.

Villainous Plotting

The most tortuous of Doctor Who’s villains’ plots unravelled and presented for your delectation.  For all those fans who still can’t remember who Kellman was working for really.  Sometimes I may even be able to explain why.

The Doctor’s Achievement

From the days when he managed to do squat all but observe, through to the days when he saved the Universe every other week, we note exactly what the point is of each of these adventures, when you really get right down to it.

It’s The End Of The World As We Know It!

Just recording how many times the Doctor literally saves Earth;  or some other planet;  or indeed the Universe itself.  Plus perhaps a mention for any times that he totally fails to do this.

Things I learned from Doctor Who

It started out with an educational intent, so we discover the Blue Peter-style how-to-do-its weaved cunningly into the plot.

Body Count

Is “Doctor Who” too violent?  We keep a record here of those offed in the cause of intergalactic do-goodery.

Screams / Twists Ankle

A guide to what we gradually learn about the Doctor’s companions (although the likes of Susan and Romana will also be covered in The Doctor And His Kind).  Also, the rubbish things they do - screaming and twisting their ankles, for starters.  This will include the Oh, I’ve Been Captured Tally.  Your true “Oh, I’ve been captured” moment (as per Mr Eddie Izzard) consists of one companion being captured, and the Doctor having to go and rescue them.  The whole crew being captured, or indeed just the Doctor, is not sufficient.

Don’t move!  Or the girl gets it!

Is the main role of a companion to be held hostage so that the Doctor can rescue her?  Let’s find out.

Hypnotised left, right and centre (and friends)

Hypnotism, possession and duplication.  What good plot devices they are to stir up a little tension amongst the cast.  Spot how they becomes more and more frequent as I tally, and try not to feel for Sarah Jane at the end of “The Hand Of Fear”.

Brig's Army

When Lethbridge-Stewart turns up running UNIT, “Doctor Who” was arguably never the same again.  Those crazy chaps are examined here.

Chekhov's Plot Device

Anton Chekhov stated that if you are going to use a gun in act three, make sure it’s on the wall in act one - this is known as Chekhov’s Gun, or, if you prefer, Byrne’s Barrels Of Hexachromite Gas.

Irrelevant Escape Attempts

Being described as those intervals within episodes where one or more characters run about futilely before ending up more or less where they started.  Fans of “Genesis Of The Daleks” may want to avert their eyes.

EffectsWatch

Great effects, awful effects...all are noted here for commendation, for condemnation or for the sake of sheer hilarity.

The TARDIS wardrobe

And on the subject of sheer hilarity...  The Doctor and his companions have worn some strange clobber in the course of their travels, and the greatest crimes against fashion are recorded here, as well as a few triumphs.

Bottomless pockets

We rifle through the Doctor’s clothing and see what he’s got hidden underneath those jelly babies.

Even the sonic screwdriver...

Charting the many usages of TV’s most famous vodka and orange.  (Oh, how we laugh!)

Dalek history

Earth isn’t the only planet whose story is told over the course of time, and the mutants of Skaro have their full story explored here.

Cyberhistory

Anything the Daleks get, the emotionless Mondasians must surely receive in kind.

Dudley!

Doctor Who is often praised for its atmospheric incidental music.  I would not want to belittle this, so its glories are presented here.  We also offer for your inspection a sample of mindless chords thrown in by in-house composer Dudley Simpson to heighten the drama.

Special categories

If anything needs discussing in more depth - a particularly thorny continuity dilemma, for example, or a discussion of certain themes or arguments - it can be slotted in here.