What can I say about that first glorious episode from the 23rd of November 1963 that hasn’t been said a million times before? It is so atmospheric, so filled with mystery and William Hartnell utters that eternal question for the first time, “Doctor Who❓”. Everything comes together on the production side, the music, the multi-camera direction, the casting along with a solid vision from Verity Lambert. The TARDIS being bigger on the inside and being able to take one anywhere, anywhen to any type of adventure is the perfect merger of hard science fiction and fantasy storytelling.
And the first adventure we experienced was one of caveman intrigue and politics, switch “fire” with nuclear weapons and you have a perfect allegory for international power struggles post World War 2. The setting just means that the dialogue is rather limited to a stage just above grunting, we are at the start of language as a concept - and honestly having a linguistic background I just find this evolution of communication so immensely fascinating. The pace of the story is radically different from the first episode but I find it to be perfect for the story being told.
I remember being at university working on an assignment having pulled several all-nighters during the past week and deciding to start watching Classic Who from the beginning as a small reward. I became totally engrossed by these four episodes and what should have been a half hour break became full-on procrastination - though it led me to starting each chapter of that assignment with a quote from the three cavemen episodes
I have so much love and appreciation for the beginning of this spectacular show and watching these four episodes this time around has not lessened that feeling one bit.