An Unearthly Child
Previous: An Unearthly Child (Pilot Episode)
An Unearthly Child
Note: This was viewed immediately after the pilot episode so much of the commentary for the first episode of this serial is just pointing out differences.
Well, the opening with the policeman was shorter, and we actually get to see the name of the school this time.
The dialogue between Barbara and Ian is almost exactly the same, but I can tell it's different footage because of the different inflections.
Also we actually get to hear her tell Susan to wait in the classroom.
Still got the mention of the singer's stage name being "John Smith." Makes me wonder...
So now it's "I like walking through the dark" instead of "walking the English block." Pretty significant difference.
*opens the French Revolution book* "That's not right!" Okay, THAT'S what I was expecting her to do the first time.
Wow. There was a LOT less emphasis on the "decimal system hasn't started yet" line.
They didn't note her looking around before she went in, and now meeting a boy would be "wonderfully" normal.
So they've STILL got the creepy mannequins and faces all over the place.
So now we hear Susan's voice properly before Ian and Barbara meet One.
Wow. WOW. One's dialogue is basically the same, but his attitude is almost COMPLETELY different.
He's gone from "grumpy old tiemrage frowny-face" to "oh look my face is locked in a sarcastic bemused smile now kindly GTFO."
Also there's a lot more chuckling and ooo-look-a-shiny-thing and general overall...Doctorish-ness. Much preferred to the pilot.
And he keeps alternating between telling Ian and Barbara off and ignoring them completely. He seems a LOT less aggressive overall.
"A thing that looks like a police box standing in a junkyard...it can move anywhere in time and space?"
"Yes!"
"Quite so!"
"Have you ever thought 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..."
There's One's "you can't get out" laugh again, except now it sounds almost playful instead of CREEPY SINISTER like it did before.
"I won't leave the twentieth century! I'd rather leave the TARDIS and you!" HOLY CRAP THAT'S NEW.
Also the whole "One pretending to let them all go but actually activating the TARDIS and Susan trying to restrain him" thing.
So they're still using the howlaround effect as the time vortex, which begs the question if that's true of every Doctor Who opening.
And there's the "next episode" title with the end credits...
So we begin our VERY FIRST adventure through time and space with a caveman furiously rubbing a bone between his hands. No not like that...
"Just open the doors, Doctor Foreman!"
"Eh? Doctor who? What are you talking about?"
"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!" Round AND wibbly-wobbly.
"It's still a police box. Why hasn't it changed? Dear dear, how very disturbing." Never fix it, Doctor. Never fix it.
"Who is he? Doctor who? If we knew his name, we might have a clue to all this." Nearly 50 years later...and we STILL don't know.
I guess that's what happens when you light a pipe in the vicinity of cavemen: they abduct you.
Said abduction will also result in your granddaughter COMPLETELY FLIPPING THE FUCK OUT.
Wow. They didn't just abduct him, they CARRIED HIM OFF.
"Inside, he's full of fire! The smoke comes from his mouth!" Both true, if you think about it...
"That creature...can make fire...from his fingers! I have seen it!" Yes, and you've also SAID it about five times by now.
So the Doctor loses his matches and automatically can't make fire? You'd think he knew how to make a bowdrill or something...
Arguing over who's going to be chief based on who lies more. Caveman politics indeed.
One rescued by COMPLETELY RANDOM SCREAMING SUSAN. Oh yeah, and Ian and Barbara.
@stephenfry I just finished watching the second episode of Doctor Who you infamously missed all those years ago. I'm sorry.
Everyone sleeps all in one cluster? Makes sense after you think about it.
"Fear is with all of us and always will be. Just like that other sensation that lives with it...Your companion referred to it...hope."
"They have gone into the night!" Yes. And you're in a CAVE. With NO FIRE. How can you SEE ANYTHING.
So if the old woman just died, I think I know where this thread is going.
"I'm not so young, you know." Well, in human years, yes. In Time Lord years...we actually have no idea, but you're NOT OLD.
So the women are the only ones who ever freak out and it's the men's job to hold them. I'm not quite sure I approve of this.
Seriously, I understand that Barbara is completely freaking out because this is her first trip in the TARDIS, but will she EVER stop crying?
And they're actually showing us the bleeding clawmarks that COVER the guy's chest? WHY?
And I mean bleeding when I say bleeding.
Also, is EVERYBODY with high estrogen PHYSICALLY INCAPABLE of keeping a level head in this episode?!?
"You treat everybody and everything as less important than yourself!" Well at least they're doing it RIGHT this time.
Okay, so the old woman's not dead.
Wait. Wait wait wait wait. Did they just heavily imply that One was going to KILL THE WOUNDED GUY SO THEY COULD GET A MOVE ON?
Okay NOW the old woman's dead.
"THIS is the knife he killed her with!"
"THIS knife has no blood on it!"
NICE.
"Follow my example." *starts throwing rocks* Oh, Doctor...
Dude, they SAVED YOUR LIFE and now you're locking them up in the cave? Caveman logic indeed.
"He told me his name. His name is...'Friend'." Oh! So he didn't know that Ian saved him? ...okay...
"In our tribe, the firemaker is the least important man!"
"I do not believe this!"
"He IS the least important because we can ALL make fire!"
CAVEMAN BATTLE.
Funny, I didn't think that cavemen wore underwear.
IAN. DO NOT MESS WITH THE CAVEMAN WITH FIRE.
Oh my god. PLEASE tell me Susan's going to help them escape with that FLAMING SKULL ON A STICK. Because that would be AWESOME.
Okay, not quite what I thought, but it still worked.
"The dark will hide them!"
"With fire...IT IS DAY!"
Safely back inside the TARDIS aaaaaaaaand TAKEOFF!
Radiation levels rising to "DANGER."
Next: The Daleks