Doctor Who Decades: The 1960s

Every time Doctor Who reaches the end of a decade, it seems to be an automatic point of change and renewal for the series. Here's the first in a series of blogs looking back over a decade of Doctor Who, starting with...

1960s

It all started out as a mild curiosity in the junkyard, and it turned out to be quite a great spirit of adventure!

When I embarked upon what is probably a most inadvisable odyssey to watch and review every single episode of TV Doctor Who for the Time Space Visualiser blog, I knew it would be a hefty task, and quite some commitment. My very first review - for An Unearthly Child - appeared on March 1st, 2017, at a time in my life when I needed some focus, something to occupy me, before the next big phase of my life came along. I was between eras!

I knew the reviews would take a long time to get through - years of my life - and I still have no idea whether I'll ever get to the end or not. But I'll persevere, I'll keep on watching and writing until something gives out, whether it's my patience, my sanity, or my health! But one thing is for sure, so far I've enjoyed every single moment of writing the blog. Why? Because Doctor Who is so much fun, that's why. I've never understood why every single person on the planet isn't a Doctor Who fan because it's got all the right ingredients to make life better. It gladdens, it cheers, it amuses, it impresses, it inspires and it shines. And it tries so very hard, all the time.

Doctor Who's first decade is actually only five-and-a-half years, from November 1963 to June 1969 - that's 253 episodes, only 62% of which still exists in visual form.

And in that time it did so many things, went to so many places, and achieved many highs. In many way it will always be my favourite period of Doctor Who, those black and white worlds and monsters will forever be slightly scarier, slightly more convincing, than in the uncompromising glare of colour. Doctor Who was spookier in black and white. I still maintain that the Cybermen, for instance, are never as effective in colour as they were in black and white.

Before I started the blog I would have said that Patrick Troughton was my favourite of the two 60s Doctors, but my journey has altered that opinion. I love the First Doctor, and I adore William Hartnell. He did so much with that part that goes unrecognised, overlooked and underappreciated, but the truth is, he was a damn good actor and he knew exactly what he was doing in that role. He adored being Dr Who, and it shows, in every single performance he gives. With certain other Doctors, you can tell the actor is performing, rather than being the Doctor. As brilliant as he is, Patrick Troughton played the Doctor, as did Davison, Colin Baker, Eccleston and Tennant. But there are actors who just are Doctor Who, such as Pertwee, Tom Baker, McCoy, Smith, Capaldi... And William Hartnell. The original!

My favourite Doctor Who story of the 1960s (statistically by points averages) is The Tomb of the Cybermen. I don't think I'd have said that before this journey began, but on points alone, it is 0.8 points ahead of my number two story, The Dalek Invasion of Earth. I'm happy with that, because although I have a fondness for the Hartnell era, and its mad, crazy variety and scope, Tomb typifies what a Troughton story is to me, and kicked off my favourite season of the 60s too. For reference, this is my 1960s Top Ten:

1. The Tomb of the Cybermen
2. The Dalek Invasion of Earth
3. The Rescue
4. Fury from the Deep
5. The Aztecs
6. The War Games
7. The Enemy of the World
8. The Evil of the Daleks
=9. The War Machines
=9. The Power of the Daleks

That top ten consists of 40% Hartnell and 60% Troughton which is probably an accurate reflection of how I feel about the era. I believe these ten stories to be really very good television, not just great Doctor Who. There's so much humanity in stories such as The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Rescue and The Aztecs, in large part down to the lead star and some very well-cast supporting players. And in serials such as Fury from the Deep, The Evil of the Daleks and The Power of the Daleks there's genuine horror and spookiness that I believe only 60s Doctor Who could achieve. The War Games and The Enemy of the World are rattling good yarns which, thankfully, we can enjoy in their entirety.

The worst of the 60s was when Doctor Who settled for second best, or sometimes failed to try very hard at all. There were stories written by people who had very little imagination or aspiration to take Doctor Who to new places. They thought Doctor Who was cheap sci-fi pulp, and that's what they provided, with not much effort or thought. When Doctor Who is bad, it's usually because it's written poorly, and I think a rubbish script filters through to the other creatives on the team subconsciously. So if a writer provides a story with not much colour, imagination or energy, by and large that's what the designers and actors cleave to. Here are my least favourite serials of the 60s, with number 1 being my worst:

1. The Dominators

2. The Wheel in Space

=3. The Space Pirates

=3. The Celestial Toymaker

=3. The Space Museum

=3. The Web Planet

7. Planet of Giants

8. The Krotons

9. The Faceless Ones

=10. The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve

=10. Galaxy 4

That comes out as six Hartnells to five Troughtons, but with the latter dominating (excuse the pun!) the bottom half. I deem a Doctor Who story poor when it's boring. Doctor Who should never, ever be dull, lifeless or pedestrian, and sometimes, in the 1960s, it really was. Planet of Giants, The Space Museum and The Space Pirates are unforgivably dull, while The Dominators, The Krotons and Galaxy 4 are simply poor sci-fi. I'll forever be slightly shocked by how much I disliked The Wheel in Space for being so bloody stupid, while I don't think I ever need to experience The Celestial Toymaker again (at least in its present audio form). The Web Planet gets points for imagination, but loses almost all of them for execution, while fan favourite The Massacre is just boring, and totally wastes its raison d'etre.

I also liked discovering that I enjoyed 100,000 BC, The Gunfighters and The Savages more than I ever expected, and enjoyed the likes of The Romans, The Faceless Ones and The Macra Terror less than first thought. And the story I would most like returned to the archives, the story I have developed the softest of spots for? The Smugglers! It's just my opinion, of course...

And that's the point. Time Space Visualiser is just one fan's opinion, a collection of my thoughts directly after watching an episode, recorded for others to read and enjoy if they so choose (and I'm very grateful to anybody who does choose!). I remember back in February 2017, when I first announced I would be launching the blog, one-time Doctor Who writer Gareth Roberts took the piss on Twitter by bemoaning "oh no, just what we need, yet another fan review blog". That was OK, that was just his opinion too (and he's lucky in that he can choose not to read it!). But my opinion matters, to me, and so deserves a voice, as the often controversial political opinions he tweets about do too. Nevertheless, I'll enjoy blogging about Planet of the Dead when - or if! - I ever get to it...

I think experiencing Doctor Who in a chronological marathon is so enlightening and illuminating, and shows how the series developed over time. It also gives a good idea of how British television production changed over the course of Doctor Who's lifetime. It's hard to compare the Doctor Who we see in 100,000 BC with that of The War Games. Television production changed so much in those few years, with location filming become something of the norm, and visual and special effects coming on in leaps and bounds.

However, at the heart of Doctor Who, in whatever year it's made, are the writers, and the cast. Without great stories to tell, Doctor Who would be nothing, and without charismatic and compelling leads, it would sink beneath the surface without trace. It's in Doctor Who's DNA to be brilliant, and so I'm very much looking forward to seeing just how brilliant the next decade is going to be...

Bring on the Nestene!

~ Steve, September 2018

PS... A total of 22 of the 253 Doctor Who episodes shown in the 1960s scored 10/10 from me. These Perfect 10s were: An Unearthly Child, The Aztecs 3, The Dalek Invasion of Earth 1, 3 & 6, The Crusade 3, The Daleks' Master Plan 12, The Ark 1, The War Machines 1, The Power of the Daleks 6, The Evil of the Daleks 2, The Tomb of the Cybermen 2 & 3, The Enemy of the World 1 & 6, The Web of Fear 4, Fury from the Deep 3, 5 & 6 and The War Games 3, 9 & 10.

And the worst? The lowest scoring episodes were awarded a 2/10 - I don't think I've yet been able to bring myself to award a 1/10 (is Doctor Who capable of being that bad?). There were only three episodes that scored 2/10, and they were: The Web Planet 2, The Space Museum 2 and The Space Pirates 4, although another particularly memorable low-point for me was episode 6 of The Daleks (The Ordeal), which scored 3/10 and really did live up to its name! It's interesting to note that nearly every one of my lowest Troughton scores were from Season 6. Familiarity breeds contempt...?