The Definitive Article
William Hartnell (1963-1966)"One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine."
--The First Doctor in Daleks Invasion Earth, 1964.
William Hartnell will always be remembered as the one who played the first incarnation of the mysterious Time Lord from Gallifrey.
As the Doctor on screen, Hartnell wanted to break away from his usual tough-guy roles he played on screen and on stage. Even though his appearance made him look like a grandfatherly type—a kind and pleasant man—the initial Doctor started out as some sort of an anti-hero. You could see the evidence in the pilot episode The Unearthly Child, when it appeared as if he intended to kill the injured caveman, because he was slowing them down but one of his companions (Ian Chesterton) noticed and managed to stop him on time. Other evidence of his initial nature was evident in episodes such as The Daleks, when the Doctor tended to place his companions in jeopardy just to satisfy his own curiousity.
The stories in the first Doctor era usually went from sci-fi adventure to historical and educational themes. In one episode the Time Lord would encounter the Aztecs and in another he would battle the Cybermen. It was his eventual problems with health that influenced his decidion for retirement from the role that made him a childhood hero of millions of kids and influenced a completelly new generation of sci-fi writers and Doctor Who fans or as they were later dubbed 'Whovians'.
Hartnell played the Doctor for three whole seasons and filmed 30 episodes and some of them were unfortunatelly lost over the years or got rid of by the BBC due to the lack of space in the archives. He also filmed his last two episodes in the fourth season (1966) and ocasionally returned to reprise the role in specials such as the Three Doctors in 1972.
The producers didn't want to end the show, so they came up with a brilliant solution. Soon after the departure of the much loved Hartnell, the crew went to re-cast another actor to play the role. The idea was so inspired because according to them the Doctor as a Time Lord had certain 'powers' or abilities and one of them was the ability to 'regenerate', when his body was tired or mortally wounded but one of the side affects, along with the completely new look, was that they also took on a completelly new persona, or behavior.
This idea was the main ingridient for the series and it is what kept it alive for as long as it did on the TV. Otherwise it would have died along with William Hartnell.
William Hartnell passed away in his sleep on April 23, 1975 at the age of 67. And even though he’s gone for quite a while, the Who universe will always remember his grouchy but in the end kind and protective, grandfatherly time-traveller.
The First Doctor episode titles are as follows:
As the Doctor on screen, Hartnell wanted to break away from his usual tough-guy roles he played on screen and on stage. Even though his appearance made him look like a grandfatherly type—a kind and pleasant man—the initial Doctor started out as some sort of an anti-hero. You could see the evidence in the pilot episode The Unearthly Child, when it appeared as if he intended to kill the injured caveman, because he was slowing them down but one of his companions (Ian Chesterton) noticed and managed to stop him on time. Other evidence of his initial nature was evident in episodes such as The Daleks, when the Doctor tended to place his companions in jeopardy just to satisfy his own curiousity.
The stories in the first Doctor era usually went from sci-fi adventure to historical and educational themes. In one episode the Time Lord would encounter the Aztecs and in another he would battle the Cybermen. It was his eventual problems with health that influenced his decidion for retirement from the role that made him a childhood hero of millions of kids and influenced a completelly new generation of sci-fi writers and Doctor Who fans or as they were later dubbed 'Whovians'.
Hartnell played the Doctor for three whole seasons and filmed 30 episodes and some of them were unfortunatelly lost over the years or got rid of by the BBC due to the lack of space in the archives. He also filmed his last two episodes in the fourth season (1966) and ocasionally returned to reprise the role in specials such as the Three Doctors in 1972.
The producers didn't want to end the show, so they came up with a brilliant solution. Soon after the departure of the much loved Hartnell, the crew went to re-cast another actor to play the role. The idea was so inspired because according to them the Doctor as a Time Lord had certain 'powers' or abilities and one of them was the ability to 'regenerate', when his body was tired or mortally wounded but one of the side affects, along with the completely new look, was that they also took on a completelly new persona, or behavior.
This idea was the main ingridient for the series and it is what kept it alive for as long as it did on the TV. Otherwise it would have died along with William Hartnell.
William Hartnell passed away in his sleep on April 23, 1975 at the age of 67. And even though he’s gone for quite a while, the Who universe will always remember his grouchy but in the end kind and protective, grandfatherly time-traveller.
The First Doctor episode titles are as follows:
Season one (1963-1964)
The Pilot Episode:
-An Unearthly Child
-The Daleks
-The Edge of Destruction
-Marco Polo
-The Keys of Marinus
-The Aztecs
-The Sensorites
-The Reign of Terror
Season Two (1964-1965)
-Planet of Giants
-The Dalek Invasion of Earth
-The Rescue
-The Romans
-The Web Planet
-The Crusade
-The Space Museum
-The Chase
-The Time Meddler
Season Three (1965-1966)
-Galaxy 4
-Mission to the Unknown
-The Myth Makers
-The Daleks’ Master Plan
-The Massacre
-The Ark
-The Celestial Toymaker
-The Gunfighters
-The Savages
-The War Machines
Season Four (1966)
-The Smugglers
-The Tenth Planet
“Ah, yes! Thank you. It's good. Keep warm."
-The First Doctor's final words, The Tenth Planet
posted by Ina at 6/12/2006 05:51:00 PM
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