Thanks for the kind words @Goibniu 
The Cavemen episodes are too easily discarded by a swathe of fandom is what I have experienced, and they tell a really important story about the early evolution of our main casts’ relationship
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This is one of the very best things about a positive fandom community. I agree.
It’s interesting, though, because the Doctor does go on a character development arc. When we meet him at the beginning, he could very easily have become a really unpleasant and dangerous character. His motivations, to start with, are distinctly muddy and often shady. He willfully risks everyone just to satisfy his own curiosity in “The Daleks”. He’s unequivocally NOT a great guy to start, but Ian and Barbara change him, and very much for the better. That starts (but isn’t limited to) in “An Unearthly Child”.
What’s particularly remarkable is that you can follow the Doctor’s development as a character (their changing morality and evolving ways of interacting with others, what becomes permissible in their mind regarding interference etc.) right through until this very day. Sure, the character goes through periods where they are presented as more consistent and less evolving than others, but there are other periods where there are clear character arcs in play (First Doctor, Third, Sixth [although with arguable degrees of success], Seventh - and much moreso since 2005).
Unearthly Child set the stage, but the challenge has very much been taken up and built upon. That’s pretty impressive for a show now in its 61st year.
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Going into this story I fully expected to be bored by parts 2-4 from the overall consensus I had heard, however it kept going as a wonderful little character piece, despite the misgivings. That first part is a masterclass though, a pinnacle episode that is directed and shot so marvelously.
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I wonder if they will ever get the rights sorted?
The BBC need Disney’s involvement somehow to strongarm Stef Coburn. Maybe if they end the Britbox deal for the classic series internationally and sell the streaming rights for the classic series to Disney?
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With Disney becoming increasingly anti-physical media and Disney+ known for taking down content they own / simply not streaming it anymore, I’m not sure if relying solely on Disney is the best long-term strategy from the fans point of view. However, it’s something we can’t really influence anyway.
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Never ever be swayed by ‘overall consensus’ in life, let alone in Doctor Who fandom 
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Agreed. Being swayed by a consensus is boring. People call me mad for loving Fear Her, for instance, but I will never shut up about my love for that episode.
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You could really easily, without much editing, make that first episode either into a Twilight Zone episode, or an episode of a show like Criminal Minds.
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That’s actually what David Whitaker did for the Daleks novelization (Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks) in 1964, he basically rewrote Episode 1 of An Unearthly Child (with significant changes: takes place on Barnes Common, Ian’s a assisstant research scientist, Barbara is Susan’s tutor) before moving into The Daleks where he streamlines the TV story somewhat. The novel is also told from Ian’s POV. Also of note, the novelization of An Unearthly Child wasn’t written until 1981.
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So, I listened to the unofficial audiobook release of the 1981 Target novelisation (written by Uncle Terry and read by Dwayne Bunney from the Sirens of Audio podcast).
Terry’s writing is, as always, straightforward to follow. The adaptation itself isn’t too exciting. It’s faithful to the original story, only adding a bit more depth to the characters and the setting (the policeman at the beginning is given a couple of extra scenes, and we get to know the cavemen better). The Doctor is the mysterious, slightly arrogant alien we know, Susan is strange and naive, Ian is a natural leader, and Barbara wants what is best for everyone. Bunney’s narration is fine, but nothing special. His voices aren’t too exciting - his Ian is good, but his Doctor is a bit boring.
Overall, I don’t find this to be better than the TV story (which I find to be perfectly fine), as it shares some of its problems - such as the back-and-forth padding.
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I watched a 45 minute fan edit of this, The opening with the policeman is gone, the mysterious tone is still there and the iconic shot of episode 1 is there
Plenty of caveman talk, especially these two scenes made it in
We also get some nice shots of some broken skulls
The gang’s first escape attempt was cut, but the cave man fight scene was kept
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Just saw this thread pop up after I happened to start a watch through from the beginning this weekend. I have seen this serial before, about a decade ago probably, and I think it’s a shame my younger mind didn’t stick with it but I can see why after watching this.
There’s obviously something almost magical about seeing everything we now take for granted, all the iconography and peaks into a lore that set up 60 years that we all love. But I simply cannot stand the doctor’s initial characterisation, and the plot is just boring and uninspired.
I can understand doing a character arc where the doctor’s harsh outer shell is softened by a companion who brings what is uniquely human to the doctor and unveils the heroic heart made of gold, it’s been explored many other times since the first doctor. But not only is the first doctor initially abrasive or unforgiving, he’s more than just an antihero, he’s a walking box of awful contradictions which add up to make a thoroughly dislikeable character who could easily be framed as a villain. The contradictions are what get to me the most, he believes himself to be superior to his companions, yet has no authority over them at all and can hardly take much credit in getting him and his companions out of situations they get themselves into. A group of cavemen, who may be predisposed to violence but as human beings can listen to reason as well, could have been the perfect opportunity to introduce the doctor’s way of words as more powerful than the sword, but the Doctor has little to no sway over anyone and it’s Susan and Ian that devised the plan to escape.
The poor characterisation of the Doctor is not helped by an uninspired plot where he is given little room to shine. The portrayal of the cavemen is nothing new that does no work to unpack or undermine stereotyped portrayals that have been done a thousand times, and the power struggle for the leadership of the tribe that goes on and on never goes anywhere interesting imo.
The mean hearted characterisation of the doctor carries on into the second serial, but at least in the daleks he displays technical reasoning and ingenuity to justify the superiority complex, and it’s a much better story for it where I can even forgive the doctor displaying no care for his companions and the Thals lives and having active disregard for any morals when he disregards their opposition to going to battle with the daleks in the expedition.
An unearthly child is an entirely predictable plot that is drawn out with unneeded plot where the doctor has no chance to display any redeeming qualities, only unsavoury ones that leave a bad taste in my mouth. 3/10
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I think it’s important to remember that, despite the Doctor being who the show is named after, for those early serials our point of view, identification characters - and effectively the ‘heroes’ are Ian and Barbara. The Doctor is meant to be unlikeable, unknowable and difficult to understand. He is a character who is superior to Ian and Barbara in many ways but is forced to deal with these two interlopers who, let’s face it, force their way into his life. It takes a number of stories for his relationship with them to soften and to become one of mutual respect.
And I have to say, you may have noticed from my comments here and elsewhere, that I couldn’t disagree more about the cavemen characters. I think their dialogue is very well written and the power dynamic between Za, Kal and Hur is very interesting, especially in how the TARDIS crew are unwillingly dragged into the middle of it by both sides with neither necessarily being a ‘goodie’ or a ‘baddie’.
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For sure I can appreciate that. I think it’s super valuable at all of the entrance points of the show to follow and identify with the doctor’s companions rather than the doctor themselves so that we can relate to having this strange figure enter our lives. I think it’s just the contradiction between this particular serial introducing the doctor as someone who’s superior and knows it very well yet takes a backseat in the action and idea forming that grates me so much.
And from your previous comments your definitely right that what we got is much better than the original plan to just have the cavemen grunting! Even if I think more could’ve been done to make them less stereotypical and for the power struggle to have more consequences for our main crew, I’m glad we got the depth to those characters compared to what we might’ve had
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Look for the 11th Doctor DWM comic story The Hunters of Burning Stone. It was their 50th Anniversary story and acted as a sequel to this.
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Has anybody heard any updates on the whole Coburn rights debacle?
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I tried googling a bit, but I found nothing new about the situation. I guess it’s in a state of limbo currently.
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As far as I’m aware it’s still in limbo. We won’t really know until the Season 1 Bluray is released or it reappears on iPlayer.
Thank goodness for my DVD.
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Oooo I will, looks like it happens to be the highest rated magazine comic on the guide too!!!
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It is really, really good.
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