Hello folks! Hope you’re all having a fesitive time as we get closer to Christmas and the new year. I wanted to do a celebratory end to the year for Doctor Who as it’s also been my first year joining this website like many others. As I’m sure many have spoken about, I too used to be on the Timescales website (DanDunn was the name but you can call me Dan), and I too got booted off permanently after calling out the garbage behaviour of the site owner. But even putting that aside, the way the Timescales website had been running in recent months was just abysmal; newly released stories taking well over a week to be uploaded, pages being inaccurate and not up to date, it just seemed like there wasn’t much effort being put into the website like it used to. So I was already keeping my eyes out for an alternative and I’m so happy to have found that alternative in the Tardis Guide. This is the perfect repository for all Doctor Who content to be reviewed, categorised and even discover as I’m finding new stories I’d never even heard of. Even giving users useful links on where to find some of these stories, especially the books and comics
Now as of today I’ve only properly reviewed one story, I really want to get cracking and review more but life’s just been so busy these past few months. So instead I’ve decided that from today and each day up until new year, I’d give my personal recommendations/highlights on each Doctor starting with the First, right up till the Fifteenth. This is not a top 10, these are not ranked, some of these won’t even be all that amazing but I felt they were worth mentioning for those curious on where to look next in exploring each Doctor. And of course I’d love to generate some discussion so do please share your personal favourites, anything you agree or disagree on. Apologies for the long read but do bear with me as I go over some of my favourites of the First Doctor (note: these will only be the show and Big Finish)
Home Truths - Starting off, we have one of the First Doctor’s strongest outings and really the first home run of The Companion Chronicles in Home Truths, the first of a trilogy of audios that brings back Jean Marsh as the much loved yet short-lived companion Sara Kingdom. Home Truths is one of those rare stories where it’s better to go in knowing as little as possible, but I can assure it’s reputation is well earned, both being one of Big Finish’s best and scariest audios, I still get the shivers listening to this today.
The Drowned World - The second of the Sara Kingdom trilogy, and easily the weakest but that’s not to downplay how strong this second chapter is. What makes it the weakest is unlike it’s siblings where both the story being told and the narrative setting were engaging, with this one it’s really more the narrative setting that’s the more interesting listen and the story being told is mostly there to fill the time. Still worth the listen.
The Guardian of the Solar System - Next we have the conclusion to the Sara trilogy in The Guardian of the Solar System, a perfect ending to the trilogy and really the perfect ending to Sara’s story in the Doctor Who universe. I was happy Jean Marsh got to do several more stories prior to her passing and really flesh out the oh so small gap in The Dalek’s Master Plan where these stories are set. It’s not entirely necessary to have watched The Dalek’s Master Plan to prepare yourself for this trilogy, but I’d give that episode an honourable mention so by all means.
The Suffering - Next we move on to The Suffering, a rare four parter in The Companion Chronicles but one that’s very well paced with the story told seperately by Steven and Vicki whilst changing perspectives so that we get the full picture. Anyone who’s familiar with Jacqueline Raynor knows one of her writing motifs is to incorporate feminist topics in her stories and this may be her definitive work on the subject, that final part is just so beautifully written.
Rise and Fall - The first and by far the best from the original four box sets of the Short Trips range, the Short Trips is one of my favourite ranges in Doctor Who (both audio and books, just a shame the books cost an arm and a leg), there a lot more thinking outside the box and unconventional storytelling and Rise and Fall exemplifies this approach.
The First Doctor Lost Stories Box Set - Of course I’m putting this here for Farewell Great Macedon, which is my personal favorutie First Doctor story, it’s a realy shame it never made it to TV, though if you’ve listened to it, you’d probably guess that budget may have played a factor in it being canned, cos Farewell Great Macedon is basically Doctor Who does a biblical epic. Giving that it was one of the first Doctor Who stories ever written it feels like coming across ancient buried treasure and it’s told beautifully by Carole Ann Ford and the late William Russell. The bonus story at the end, The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance, is also decent but it’s really more of a light desert to cap off this exquisite main course.
The Cold Equations - We have an edition to another trilogy in The Companion Chronicles, this time centering on the First Doctor’s one and only Big Finish companion in Oliver Harper, a runaway from 1960s London who tags along with the Doctor and Steven. The Cold Equations makes up the second chapter and one of the more scientific Doctor Who stories, echoing back to the original mission when the show was created to be educational, this one gets very deep into physics and mathematics but does so in a clever and engaging fashion that makes for a great listen.
The First Wave - The last story of the trilogy and where we say goodbye to our original and short-lived companion Oliver, despite his short stay I really grew to like Oliver and he goes out on a banger in a story that surprisingly reinvents one of Classic Who’s more obscure and kind of lame villains.
The Rocket Men - One of John Dorney’s earliest written works andone that introduces a signature Big Finish villain in the Rocket Men, the narration is among the cleverest in the Companion Chronicles as it throws in numerous twists and surprises that are helped by the story being told out of order but gradually the pieces come together forming a satisfying picture.
Return of the Rocket Men - Though not as strong as it’s predecessor, the sequel to The Rocket Men is still a great outing for the aerodynamic pirates, this time set during Steven’s later travels with the Doctor and being caught up in an event from his past that has haunted him for years and now he has a second chance at redemption.
The Flames of Cadiz - An excellent pure historical as well as a “Don’t meet your heroes” story as Ian seizes the opportunity to meet Sir Francis Drake despite all the troubles of th time period, the best pure historicals are the ones that really convince you of just how dangerous the past can be and this one does an exceedingly good job at that.
The Library of Alexandria - This is one of the more fun First Doctor stories of the Companion Chronicles, taking place at the time of the famous burning of Alexandria’s library but in rare form for a First Doctor story this one doesn’t go the pure historical route and instead throws in a very bizzarre monster.
The War to End All Wars - Much like The Drowned World, the more interesting story is the narrative setting where we get to see what’s become of Steven in the years since leaving the Doctor and his relationship with his daughter, though the main story, while mostly serving to fill the time, is still a great listen.
An Ordinary Life - We take a break from the Companion Chronicles and pay a visit to The Early Adventures, a series that focused soely on the first two Doctors as a way of recreating the vibe of not only watching the 60s era but also listening to some of the lost episodes of the 60s with the combination of full cast and narration. It’s a great story about Steven and Sara trying to live a normal life in 1950s London with a family from Jamaica who also struggle to live a normal life for very different reasons. It is slightly downgraded in the second half where it goes down an Invason of the Body Snatchers route when the first half was by far the strongest
The Sontarans - A story that serves as being the Doctor’s frst ever encounter with the clone warrior race that would go on to be one of his more formidabble enemies, also being the conclusion to Big Finish’s expanded lore on Sara’s travels in the TARDIS as it ends with the overarching Dalek’s Master Plan resuming. It’s an excellent “first” Sontaran story and has some of my favourite Sontaran moments such as Steven’s interrogation and really showcases what it truly means to be a Sontaran with the mindset that there’s nothing else but warfare.
The First Doctor Companion Chronicles Volume 2 - When the Companion Chronicles ended their monthly single releases in 2014, they adopted a box set format, but only for the First and Second Doctors all the way up till 2022 (with a reboot of the series coming next year), the second volume for the First Doctor is the best he’s had so far, wih stories that loosely tie themselves to an overarching story connected to the Time War, but the highlight of the box set is by far Across the Darkened City, some of the best Dalek writing you’ll come across.
O Tannebaum - The great thing about Big Finish’s single release Short Trips is how incredibly cheap to download they are so this one’s an easy recommend, as I said earlier, the best Short Trips take an outside the box and unconventional approach to the traditional Doctor Who format, in this one we get a very bizzarre christmas story where the Doctor and Steven arrive at a house in the middle of the forest where the family is under seige by Christmas trees!!!
The First Doctor Adventures Volume 2 - The best release out of all the First Doctor Adventures to date and back when they used the David Bradley version of the First Doctor, with the cast from An Adventure in Space & Time as their respective characters from the OG TARDIS team. As you can guess, this one’s worth recommending for The Invention of Death, just an outstanding work from John Dorney. If my hunch is correct I think these early box sets will be retconned into the Unbound Universe in favour of Stephen Noonan’s portrayal going forward, but I hope that in no way delegitamises this as one of the First Doctor’s all time best.
The Dalek Occupation of Winter - One of the best Dalek stories you’ll find in Big Finish, taking what appears to be an obvious setup where the Daleks occupy a colony world, but then turning that idea on it’s head with the twist that these people actually welcome the Daleks with open arms and the realy challenge comes from convincing the people of Winter of the true nature of their benefactors.
The Crash of the UK-201 - This was the story that made me properly appreciate Vicki as a companion as for a long time I’d always viewed her as a shallow replacement for Susan given how quickly she was brought in. But this story really turned around my view on Vicki as she’s put through one of the toughest ordeals any companion of the Doctor has gone through
The First Doctor Companion Chronicles Volume 3 - Not as strong as Volume 2 but it has it’s highlights such as a fun sequel to The First Wave and its concluding story The Crumbling Magician showcasing the First Doctor so close to the end.
Home Again, Home Again - lastly I recommend a story you’ve likely not come across or don’t intend to look into as it’s a story that’s only availalbe if you buy any subscription package on the Monthly Range that includes The Lovecraft Invasion. If you happen to have already bought the majority of the Monthly Range, finding out you can get bonus stories if you buy them again in a bundle can be a real kick in the teeth. Now I’m not confirming anything, but one of the things I noticed when Big Finish had their abysmal launch of their new app and website was that the bonus Short Trips were now automatically included as extras free of charge, so it’s probably worth waiting for when Big Finish relaunch their new app (hopefully successful this time). But in any case, Home Again, Home Again is a wonderfully heartfelt tale and a fantastic writing debut of Felicia Barker. Narrated by the late great Stephen Critchlow who ironically probably gives the best impersonation of William Hartnell I’ve heard, considering all the other voice actors we’ve had over the years. It’s a great love letter to the original team and how much they’ve grown from when they started.
So that’s my list of recommendations for the First Doctor, I’d be very interested to read some of yours, until then I’ll see you all tomorrow for the Second Doctor
