An Unearthly Child DVD NTSC Region 1 in "The Beginning" 3-story box set for North America DVD PAL Region 2 "The Beginning" 3-story box set for the U.K. VHS Video NTSC A NTSC B PAL

(Doctor Who Story No. 1, starring William Hartnell) written by Anthony Coburn directed by Waris Hussein produced by Verity Lambert music by Norman Kay 4 episodes @ 25 minutes each: An Unearthly Child The Caves of Skulls The Forest of Fear The Firemaker Story: Highschool student Susan Foreman displays unusual abilities and gaps in her knowledge. Teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright decide to investigate reports that she lives with her grandfather, a Doctor, inside a police box in a junkyard. The quartet soon find themselves 100 000 years in the past, where the re-discovery of the secret of fire could decide leadership in a tribe of primitive humans.

DVD Extras include:

• Episode 1 audio commentary by William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Carole Ann Ford (Susan), producer Verity Lambert, and moderator Gary Russell.
• Episode 4 audio commentary by William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Carole Ann Ford (Susan), director Waris Hussein, and moderator Gary Russell.
• 40 minutes of footage from the rejected version of the pilot episode
  • with optional commentary by Verity Lambert, Waris Hussein and Gary Russell.
• A new 25-minute edit of the rejected version of the pilot episode, confusingly placed before the finished story in the "Play All" function and "Episode Selection" menu.
• Title Sequence / Theme Music Video.
• 4 self-indulgent Comedy Sketches, featuring Mark Gatiss and other prominant fans.
• Pop-up Production Note subtitles, providing behind-the-scenes info as you watch.
• Photo Gallery.

  Disc 3 in the box set also includes:

• Origins - a 53 minute in-depth look at the creation of Doctor Who with interviews of the late Sydney Newman and new interviews of the cast & crew.
• Inside the Ship - featurette on the set & sound design of the TARDIS.
• Masters of Sound - featurette on the creation of the theme music and sound effects for Doctor Who, with Delia Berbyshire, Brian Hodgson, and Dick Mills.
• "An Unearthly Child" script and Radio Times billings in PDF format.

In retrospect, it's quite an odd story that was chosen to originally launch Doctor Who back in November 1963, combining great material for introducting the series' main characters and vehicle, with a questionable setting and subject matter for their first "adventure". But, thanks to a creative and skilled director, and a team of cast, crew, and writer/developers who never stopped improving their product until it was done, both sides of this story work well and got filled with entertaining, dramatic content, even if later cliffhangers didn't leave audiences in remembrance or anticipation of the best bits. The end result remains one of the best stories featuring William Hartnell as the Doctor.

Episode One - An Unearthly Child

Cutting to the school with an effective establishing shot in the hallway, teachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright are introduced, where the mystery is quickly told through dialogue. Listen closely though, or you'll miss it - it isn't the most effective way of grabbing an audience's attention, but if you've no distractions going on next to your television set, it does work well.

Finally the good Doctor appears on the scene. It is interesting to note how his character is presented differently in the broadcast version of the pilot versus in the rejected footage. In the rejected material, he is written to be a bit too gruff and obstructive, too focused on antagonizing his unexpected guests. However, in the broadcast version, the writing is more balanced and his character is softened, as he is now easily distracted by odd things and stray ideas, becoming more of a likeable absent-minded professor. The rejected material is still fascinating, for where the dialogue is identical with the broadcast version, William Hartnell's performance is a little more on the mark emotionally.

The scuffle outside the TARDIS and the all-important first transition into the interior (the only post-production edit allowed for this 1960's half-hour drama) are achieved with much greater brilliance, clarity and impact in the rejected version.

Once inside the TARDIS, the rejected version deteriorates slightly. However, two things stand out: Susan's performance becomes brilliant in many places, as she displays an alienness that finally does the episode title justice, and an inner strength and mysterious confidence that would have done her character much credit had she been able to slip it in throughout her later TARDIS travels. Also, the Doctor's reason for abducting Ian and Barbara via take-off is much, much better explained here - a strong belief in not changing even a single idea in the minds of the local 1960's people. The dematerialization sounds very different - much more of a musical sound, with bits of the more common sound breaking through every now and then. This probably only appears to be more alien because the usual TARDIS sound has become so familiar since then.

However, we can be thankful for many things in the broadcast version. Technically, it is simply much better executed, in terms of acting, camera-work, timing, etc. The TARDIS interior scene is free from several persisting scenery distractions that plagued the rejected version. The Doctor and Susan's explanations of themselves also better fit the ongoing continuity of the show. Unfortunately, Susan wears a completely different costume in the two versions, so even with today's editing a version combining the best of both pilots (and the best of her alien character) would show this major continuity problem. Once in the TARDIS in the broadcast version, Susan is more of an ordinary 60's human teenage girl than ever.

Putting comparisons of the two pilots aside, this half-hour episode is good riveting sci-fi mystery and drama. An excellent start for the series. The cliffhanger is also quite well done.

Episode Two - The Cave of Skulls

Once the Doctor is captured, however, things begin to slide downhill, with Susan panicking and turning into a jellyfish. Much anticipation goes into the Doctor's first encounter with the tribe, and it's an okay scene, but it could have been so much more if the Doctor had had wits for cleverer dialogue. Suddenly confusion breaks out, and it is many long seconds later before one can make out the fact that Ian and Susan and Barbara have descended on the tribe and attacked them. The cliffhanger is nothing to get too excited about as the travellers are hastily stuffed into a cave containing skulls. Barely time to make sense of this episode's title, and it's all over.

Episode Three - The Forest of Fear

The interaction between the various members of the tribe also works well, and for much the same reason. Leadership needs to be decided on, and the plot and drama unfold very much like an Elizabethan/Shakespearean play, although without the famous bard's poetic, metaphoric dialogue.

The story's biggest problem is in the main action plot, in the interaction between the time travellers and the tribe. Even though all the members of the tribe can express their complex ideas well through the simplest words (something all students of English should study), the time travellers persist in talking down to them, not explaining their ideas truthfully to the best of their ability, and unfairly treating the tribe people like children. The time travellers also have no goals in this time-space location - their only aim is in getting away, and this type of story-line will always encourage an audience to lose interest in the location as well.

Episode three does contain the best example of the break-away from these problems - a wonderful cinematic moment as an unseen beast attacks in the forest, and all the humanoids present find themselves on the same side for once. Barbara leads the heroic charge, with Ian deciding to support her once her mind is set, and this seems to be a moment that the Doctor reluctantly learns a lot from. This is quite possibly the best moment in the tribe half of the story. It could have been even better, if Barbara's well-written moment had been acted out with less panic and desperation and more resolve and determination, but Jacqueline Hill would soon learn and shine brighter in such moments later on.

The cliffhanger works fairly well as an unfortunate surprise, although it doesn't do much in the way of creating anticipation for a new and exciting next episode. Rather, hang in for more of the same.

Episode Four - The Firemaker

The episode then revolves around fire, and is not so much about the first discovery of fire (which would really threaten to create a catch-22 time-loop if Ian learned it from his ancestors and then went back in time to give it to them all over again). No, human tribes everywhere have the secret of fire already at this time-period. This episode is about the use of the making of fire as a symbol of power, something to be kept secret among tribe leaders to help them hold their high position.

Slowly the story begins to wrap itself up. The Elizabethan power-struggle between Za and Kal comes to a predictable, but somewhat satisfactory conclusion. However, the time-travellers appear somewhat bored, tired, and turned-off by most of the proceedings, disappointed with the outcome, and anxious to be on their way. Can you blame any audience for feeling it with them?

The power-struggle between the Doctor and his two new human companions also appears to be resolved as Ian admits that the Doctor is leader of their "tribe". Although this pleases the Doctor enormously, is it really true? It is Ian who seizes upon Susan's inspiration and comes up with the plan for their escape. The role of leader / main character / hero was still not, as the dialogue had suggested, set in stone, and would not be for much of the William Hartnell era.

It is with a great sense of relief that the four travellers finally enter the TARDIS. Gone is primitive drama, and science fiction returns to rule. The Doctor undertakes the final climactic act of the story, although since this is merely to set the time machine in motion and we learn from later stories that they would have already been extremely safe as soon as they closed the doors, it isn't all that thrilling in the heroic sense, even though it was shot and directed very dramatically. The police box makes its first visual dematerialization, and the moment works well. The Doctor makes a few overly-technical excuses for his lack of ability to navigate the TARDIS, another first example in the series of one of the Doctor's key mannerisms.

Finally we are left with the best cliffhanger in the story, as the TARDIS lands in a place that "could be anywhere", a short teaser that enticingly invites viewers to the exploration of "The Dead Planet" Skaro in the next episode.

The dramatic tension expertly maintained throughout this adventure, combined with all the early character set-up sequences that launched this giant among sci-fi franchises, ensure that "An Unearthly Child" will remain one of the great Doctor Who stories of this era, and one that no fan will want to miss. But even as good as this is, the next story is set to top it....

DVD NTSC Region 1 The Beginning 3-story box set for the North American market: in the U.S. in Canada	DVD PAL Region 2 The Beginning 3-story box set for the U.K.	VHS Video NTSC A for North America NTSC B for North America PAL for the U.K.

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