Yes, I'm talking Doctor Who here! Would you believe I've never seen any of the episodes from modern times or the serials of the past? It's true. I talk about how I selected this 1974 effort of the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) below:
This is the first time I’ve watched ANY Doctor Who episode, let alone a series of them.
I know some-especially in Europe-will be GOBSMACKED at this declaration. As a kid there’s no memory of it being on TV in the United States (even the local PBS station, unless it was late in the evening); the interest was low as an adult when the show skyrocketed in fame here during the David Tennant era. Through cultural osmosis I of course knew the Time Lord lore concerning T.A.R.D.I.S., regeneration, the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Doctor having a female companion, the dope theme music… heck, even K9! I’ll mention in a bit why I finally saw a serial of episodes, these particular six episodes specifically.
The Good Doctor and his companion Sarah Jane Smith land in 70’s London-Central London, to be exact-only to discover it abandoned as if the Rage Virus had taken ahold of the city. They encounter looters, run into trouble with soldiers during martial law, and as the first episode was only entitled Invasion, there’s mystery until the dinosaurs are shown. Yes, I’ve also known that especially in the early decades, the budget was rather low. Those dinosaurs… well, they looked hilariously fake! I do know that the critics and even the producer weren’t too pleased with how cheap they looked, but they greatly amused me. Evidently that was among the nadir of the effects for the entire franchise.
Why was this chosen by me when (judging by the average rating of these serials) this was far from the best pick for my first Doctor? On Pluto TV I finally looked at their classic Doctor Who channel to see what they were playing. For awhile I thought of finally giving this legendary property a shot; more than one Letterboxd mutual have reviewed various serials through the years. The last few episodes of this were showing; I laughed at the thought of Doctor Who interacting w/ dinosaurs. I then did a Google search and discovered that the property has a strong YouTube presence, including those classic years.
I can say that Jon Pertwee was a charming, sarcastic cad as the Doctor. He certainly wore some great 70’s clothing. Sarah Jane Smith did experience sexism emblematic of the era but in hindsight that wasn’t too shocking. Neither was there the various moments where characters drank tea! But to be serious, Elisabeth Sladen also deserves credit portraying the audience surrogate who did get to participate, and independently of the Doctor. It was nice to learn lore unknown to me before… UNIT, the Venusian Neck Pinch, Smith, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Mike Yates, the WHOMOBILE.
No, I am not planning on becoming a Whovian. However, I was greatly entertained by the bonkers story. The low budget was charming; I definitely enjoyed the sets, the music, the characters, and how damn bizarre this 2 ½ hour tale was, often going in unexpected directions. It sure felt like the serials of the 30’s and 40’s. That’s why I’d be happy to check out other serials, other doctors. I know Tennat and Tom Baker in particular are popular. Thankfully there’s organizing lists on Letterboxd and the power of search engines to offer recommendations on where to go.
As an aside, Paddy Russell (no relation) did a fine job as director. She was one of the first female directors they had at the BBC. Furthermore, she directed that No Such Thing as a Vampire-an episode of an anthology-“too scary” for TV which was lost media until just earlier this year.
I also know about the missing episodes (and how with this serial, the first episode was only saved in black and white. Their attempt to colorize that was why that episode looked worse than the others), how poorly received the show’s been in recent years-no comment on that-and how they’ll likely be on hiatus again for years. Let’s hope it’s not for 16 years (if you don’t count the movie) like it was last time.
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