I've been forced to resign myself to the distinct possibility that Doctor Who - one of my favourite TV series, and the only one still running - will never hit the spot for me like it used to as long as Chris Chibnall is at the helm. His run may not be as bad as some critical fans claim, but neither is it as good as the series was in the days of show runners Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat. In itself, that is no great shame, as they were both exceptional. Nevertheless, it's depressing for a New Who nerd like myself to know that the next helping of my favourite show will probably disappoint me, and I will have to wait for it for ages anyway. So what do I do now to get that Who fix?
The audio dramas of Big Finish is one alternative (a subject for another post). But I have also been dipping my toe into the vastness that is Classic Doctor Who - the first incarnation of the show that aired from 1963 to 1989 (I think it was). There are practical difficulties here. No streaming service available to us Swedes is interested in airing this part of the series. I simply do not have room to buy and house all the DVDs for all the classic adventures (and it would be a bit pricey, too). And what to do with Classic Who DVDs I've watched and don't particularly want to keep? I doubt the charity shop will be pleased to receive them - the fan base for Classic Who in Lund can't be that wide-ranging.
Nevertheless, I've taken my first nibbles and found that I enjoy the series, though it's very different to New Who. It reminds me more of, say, The Avengers (the Sixties TV series with Steed and co., not the superheroes). It's a problem that the adventures weren't originally meant to be watched in one go - each adventure being made up of several bite-sized episodes of a little more than twenty minutes. When watching them all at the same time, the story often feels unnecessarily padded out and sometimes rather confusing. But there is a great deal of charm and wit to make up for it, and the Doctor - and his companions - are engaging characters. Somehow, I must find a way to explore Classic Who further without plastering my walls with DVDs.
More than one blog post will be needed to go into my first impressions. Let's start with the very first Doctor, the original, one might say:
First Doctor (William Hartnell). Episodes (as in full stories) watched: An Unearthly Child, The Daleks, The Edge of Destruction, The Time Meddler.
A good place to start? Well, yes - and no. The very first Who adventure, An Unearthly Child, holds up very well indeed, especially the very first mini-episode where the Doctor, his grand-daughter Susan, and the two teachers who become their unwilling travel companions - Ian and Barbara - are introduced. It's a special feeling to see the very first Dalek adventure, too. A recurring theme in my Classic Who watching has been my fondness for box sets and story arcs, for good or ill. All adventures mentioned above except The Time Meddler are part of a box set with the very first episodes. While I'm glad to have seen them, only The Time Meddler, in my view, shows the full potential of Hartnell's Doctor. The character wasn't fully formed at the start and was clearly meant to be a sort of mad, often grumpy scientist figure whose heart is nevertheless in the right place. Ian (the action hero) and Barbara (the empathic and spunky heroine) are more the traditional leads in this kind of story (with poor Susan usually tagging along with little to do). In The Time Meddler, the Doctor is still flanked, to quote Sidney Newman in An Adventure in Space and Time, by "a good-looking guy and a good-looking gal" (Steven and Vicki), but he's much more the natural centre of the story. Also, he has mellowed into a real sweetie, though he still puts his companions in place when he feels he has to, especially Steven. He has great rapport with one of the side cast - a helpful Anglo-Saxon woman they encounter in 1066 - and The Monk is a fun antagonist. Though slow in places, The Time Meddler left me wanting to see more of Hartnell in his later, mellower mood.
Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton). Episodes watched: The Dominators, The Mind Robber, The War Games.
A good place to start? Yes. Well, The Dominators, though enjoyable, is not required viewing by any means, but The Mind Robber and The War Games are both top-notch, and all three adventures are good show cases for Troughton's Doctor and two of his companions, hot-headed Highlander Jamie and capable Zoë from "future Earth" (actually our time). I vaguely remember liking Troughton in the series A Family at War (my parents had it on tape) - fancying him, in fact. I don't fancy Troughton's Doctor, but I like him enormously. He is fun, quirky and sly, with a great flair for improvisation and talking his way out of scrapes. In fact, he is my favourite classic Doctor so far, and he, Jamie and Zoë make quite a team. A warning: The War Games is the Second Doctor's last adventure (except when he guest stars in later multi-Doctor stories), so best not start with that one. The Mind Robber takes place in the Land of Fiction - I was sold from the word go.
Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee). Episodes watched: Spearhead from Space, The Terror of the Autons, The Time Monster.
A good place to start? Good-ish, I'd say. The Time Monster should perhaps not be the first port of call for the Third Doctor, as it was for me. It was part of a box set which I thought only contained Third Doctor adventures, but it turns out only one was, and of the two remaining (Fourth Doctor adventures) one is a well-known dud. Though The Time Monster does contain the suave Roger Delgado as the Master charming the Queen of Atlantis, and a nice Doctor speech, it didn't really give me a good idea of the Third Doctor's personality. The two Nestene/Auton adventures Spearhead from Space and The Terror of the Autons (also a box set) are a much better starting point. Spearhead is Pertwee's first adventure, while Terror introduces Delgado's Master. Pertwee has charm and class, and good acting chemistry with his female companions (not to mention Delgado), but of the first three Doctors his is the one that has made the least impression on me so far. Still excellent, though.
I will continue with Tom Baker and the rest - another time, though. The Fourth Doctor will, as per usual, require some space.
