History Recap / DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild

The very first serial of ''Series/DoctorWho''.

We commence with the World's Trippiest TitleSequence and the first time an audience would hear the "Oooh-ee-oooh" of the theme tune. Don't believe us? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75V4ClJZME4 Watch this]] (with about two minutes worth of unused footage).

'''Number of episodes:''' 4

'''Air dates:''' 23 November - 14 December, 1963\\

'''Air date:''' 23 November - 14 December, 1963\\

'''Production code:''' A

The very first serial of ''Series/DoctorWho'', written by Anthony Coburn. This four-episode serial first aired from November 23 to December 14, 1963.

Episodes: "An Unearthly Child", "The Cave of Skulls", "The Forest of Fear", "The Firemaker".

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[LongRunners And thus, an over-half-century sci-fi dynasty is born...]]'']]

!!Tropes

----

* CarpetOfVirility: Kal.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In one episode, the Doctor -- y'know, the poster boy for [[TechnicalPacifist Technical Pacifism]] -- is apparently prepared to bash a helpless man's head in with a rock... because Barbara's insistence on caring for his wounds is slowing them down as they try to escape. In general, the Doctor is kind of a dick for the first twelve-and-a-half episodes of the show, before he softens up at the end of "The Edge of Destruction", which is pretty off-putting to viewers who have the benefit of over fifty years' worth of lore about the character.
** The Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse also has many, many theories on how this is precisely the moment that started his love for humans, realizing how they kept him from slipping into villainy.

* NamesToRunAwayFrom: Kal.

** It could be argued that applying this trope to Susan is unfair; she screams quite often, but is also shown to be remarkably intelligent, perceptive, and generally a very useful person to have around. She just gets excited from time to time.
* ShakyPOVCam: Used to represent the jungle cat that attacks Za.
* StyrofoamRocks: Naturally, as the whole thing was filmed in a studio (and really looks it).

* BigBad: Kal the Caveman, the first in a long line of ''Doctor Who'' villains and the person responsible for its first two deaths before becoming the third.

* BadLiar: The Doctor, which is ironic in hindsight. When caught trying to grab a rock with an implicit intend to attack, the Doctor attempts to claim he merely wanted the caveman Barbara was tending to to try and draw the way back to the TARDIS. Understandably, Ian doesn't buy this.

They arrive at Susan's home address of 76 Totter's Lane. It's a junkyard. They hear Susan's voice coming from inside a police box, which for some reason is sitting in the junkyard instead of out in the street. Thinking that her grandfather, "I. M. Foreman", has locked her in there, they proceed to open the door and enter a room BiggerOnTheInside than out. As Susan explains, this is Time And Relative Dimension In Space, or the TARDIS, a time machine and spaceship with the ability to disguise itself to match its surroundings. And her grandfather, a very crotchety old man, is the Doctor[[note]]Though he is not yet called that in-universe by this point. The closest we get to it in these early episodes is that Ian, unable to remember Susan's grandfather's occupation, vaguely assumes he must be some sort of doctor, since his grandchild is so unusually intelligent, and refers to him as "Doctor Foreman" as a result.[[/note]], who reveals the two of them are renegades who stole the TARDIS and left their planet in order to explore the universes temporal and physical.

We commence with the World's Trippiest TitleSequence and the first time an audience would hear the "Oooh-ee-oooh" of the theme tune. (Don't believe us? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75V4ClJZME4 watch this]] (with about two minutes worth of unused footage).)

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The story shows how people from the 20th century would cope with travelling to the past. Turns out the dawn of time was dangerous and they end up in desperate quest for survival.

They arrive at Susan's home address of 76 Totter's Lane. It's a junkyard. They hear Susan's voice coming from inside a police box, which for some reason is sitting in the junkyard instead of out in the street. Thinking that her grandfather, "I. M. Foreman", has locked her in there, they proceed to open the door and enter a room BiggerOnTheInside than out. As Susan explains, this is Time And Relative Dimension In Space, or the TARDIS, a time machine and spaceship with the ability to disguise itself to match its surroundings. And her grandfather, a very crotchety old man, is the Doctor [[note]]Though he is not yet called that in-universe by this point. The closest we get to it in these early episodes is that Ian, unable to remember Susan's grandfather's occupation, vaguely assumes he must be some sort of doctor, since his grandchild is so unusually intelligent, and refers to him as "Doctor Foreman" as a result.[[/note]] who reveals that he and Susan are "cut off from our own planet, without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back."

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[LongRunners And thus, an over half-century sci-fi dynasty is born...]]'']]

Eventually, the Doctor tricks Kal, the hostile aspiring caveman leader, into admitting he killed the old woman, after Kal had blamed Za. The Doctor leads the tribe in driving Kal out. Ian gives Za the gift of fire, but Za still will not let them leave. Some burning skulls terrify and distract the superstitious cavemen, allowing the travelers to escape, and they barely make it back to the TARDIS in time to avoid being caught yet again. But since they had to take off in a hurry on account to avoid being speared, the Doctor was unable to make the calculations necessary to chart a course back to 1963. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks Hopefully their next landing spot will be a bit less eventful...]][[note]]It's not.[[/note]]

Eventually, the Doctor tricks Kal, the hostile aspiring caveman leader, into admitting he killed the old woman, after Kal had blamed Za. The Doctor leads the tribe in driving Kal out. Ian gives Za the gift of fire, but Za still will not let them leave. Some burning skulls terrify and distract the superstitious cavemen, allowing the travelers to escape, and they barely make it back to the TARDIS in time to avoid being caught yet again. But since they had to take off in a hurry on account to avoid being speared, the Doctor was unable to make the calculations necessary to chart a course back to 1963. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks Hopefully their next landing spot will be a bit less eventful...]]

They arrive at Susan's home address of 76 Totter's Lane. It's a junkyard. They hear Susan's voice coming from inside a police box, which for some reason is sitting in the junkyard instead of out in the street. Thinking that her grandfather, "I. M. Foreman", has locked her in there, they proceed to open the door and enter a room BiggerOnTheInside than out. As Susan explains, this is Time And Relative Dimension In Space, or the TARDIS, a time machine and spaceship with the ability to disguise itself to match its surroundings. And her grandfather, a very crotchety old man, is the Doctor (though he is not yet called that in-universe by this point), who reveals that he and Susan are "cut off from our own planet, without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back."

They arrive at Susan's home address of 76 Totter's Lane. It's a junkyard. They hear Susan's voice coming from inside a police box, which for some reason is sitting in the junkyard instead of out in the street. Thinking that her grandfather, "I. M. Foreman", has locked her in there, they proceed to open the door and enter a room BiggerOnTheInside than out. As Susan explains, this is Time And Relative Dimension In Space, or the TARDIS, a time machine and spaceship with the ability to disguise itself to match its surroundings. And her grandfather, a very crotchety old man, is the Doctor, who reveals that he and Susan are "cut off from our own planet, without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back."

* EarlyInstalmentWeirdness:

* FutureSocietyPresentValues: Implied by the Doctor's statement "I tolerate this century but I don't enjoy it", and his comparison of Ian and Barbara to "the Red Indian" whose "savage mind", according to the Doctor, thought the steam powered trains of his day an illusion just as Ian thinks the TARDIS is an illusion.

* FutureSocietyPresentValues: Implied by the Doctor's statement that he "tolerate(s) this century but I don't enjoy it", and his comparison of Ian and Barbara to "the Red Indian" whose "savage mind" thought the steam powered trains of his day an illusion just as Ian thinks the TARDIS is an illusion.

** As an outsider, the Doctor, alone of the four travelers, grasps the mindset of the tribe. While Ian and Barbara continue to treat them as they would a fellow human of the 20th century, expecting them to react predictibly, the Doctor figures out how quickly the tribe change their minds, and how they have to be manipulated rather than reasoned with.
-->'''BARBARA''': "The old woman won't give us away. She helped."
-->'''DOCTOR''': "Do you think so? These people have logic and reason, have they? Can't you see their minds change as rapidly as night and day? She's probably telling the whole tribe at this very moment."