Time Stream #1 - An Unearthly Child

Welcome to my first entry of Time Stream, my Doctor Who Rewatch Project. I’ve wanted to do this for years and now’s the time, why not? Starting from the first story, “An Unearthly Child” (1963), I will watch, in order, every episode of the Classic series of Doctor Who. For those early episodes which are still missing from the archives, I’ll use recons, telesnaps, audios – basically whatever I can to get as full an experience of the story as possible. Ambitious? Undoubtedly. Nerdy? Absolutely! I’m not the first one to do this, and I can guarantee I won’t be the last. But in between entries here dealing with fatherhood, family life and my other nerdy pursuits, I wanted to let my Who fan flag fly proudly. I’m also differentiating them with the #Time Stream tag so those of you out there (I’m imagining there are readers here!) without an interest in Doctor Who will know that nerdiness is running rampant. With those preliminaries out of the way, it’s time to start this ride…

For several years, and by several I mean decades, I watch the first episode of Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child on November 23. Occasionally I may need to go the day before, or stay up till all hours, but every year on its anniversary, I re-watch one of the finest episodes of television ever crafted. Last night, I watched it again, but this time, I watched all four parts of what is sometimes called “100,000 BC” or “The Tribe of Gum”.  “Child” makes up a quarter of the first story as a whole, but it is so mind-bogglingly different from the three episodes that follow that they really should be considered two separate stories, “An Unearthly Child” and “The Cavemen One that Came After.” This was the first time in simply ages that I watched all four parts, and while a little creaky, the three parts set in the Stone Age hold up pretty damn well.

I realize that these entries could become, very easily, a love letter to the program, but I’m under no illusions as to where the seams are showing.  There are stories that I love, and ones I… like less. But “Child” is one I unabashedly LOVE. The theme tune, instantly recognizable today, hints at the strangeness and mystery to follow. The story introduces the four major characters, and then the TARDIS, one of the most brilliantly simple concepts in TV, and indeed in fiction. Our first look at the Doctor, in all his tetchiness and irascibility, immediately defines the character. William Hartnell may have mellowed during his run, but in his first scene he is, decidedly, “The Doctor”. All this in under 25 minutes, and all this on the most shoestring of budgets.

And the three episodes that follow, do indeed show the limitations of an early 60’s television budget. To be fair, I don’t think that cavemen are an inherently dynamic story idea, but showing them huddled in a cave for the majority of the next three episodes does them no favors. What makes Doctor Who work for me, and this is a point I’m sure to come back to in future entries, is that the ideas are there. They are sometimes let down by poor execution, but the stories themselves usually have that kernel of “Oh, I see what they were trying to do!” The direction of all four episodes by Waris Hussein is quite good, and with the possible exception of some hysterics from the two female leads that seemed to come and go rather conveniently, the acting is top notch, even with lines of the “Make Fire!” caliber.

There is no better start to this re-watch than “An Unearthly Child”. It is difficult to watch it while trying to separate it from the 50+ years that followed. I think that knowing about everything which was to come for the Doctor makes this first story, cavemen and all even more enjoyable. Launched without fanfare on a cold November night, this story, “An Unearthly Child” had all the right pieces in all of the right places to start an icon on its way. Who could ask for a better first episode than that?

Run!!

Ten years ago today, my faith in an often mocked, derided and dismissed TV program was justified. Ten years ago today, something I had loved since I was 12 years old became renewed in my eyes and in the eyes of millions of people. Ten years ago today, Doctor Who came back. 

Christopher Eccleston starring as the Doctor – my inner film geek (ok, outer film geek as well) couldn’t have been happier. Not keeping up with UK pop charts, well, ever, I had no idea who this Billie Piper person was, so she was kind of an unknown quantity to me. But I had faith. I had faith in knowing that the production team, the writers, and the producer himself were all fans.  During the wilderness years when Doctor Who wasn’t being made, I devoured the New Adventure novels, so I KNEW the names Russell T. Davies and Mark Gatiss. They understood what this show meant to people. Before March 26, I had faith when I learned that the basics of the show would remain unchanged, but spruced up – the theme song, the TARDIS. True, my faith in the show, and that of other fans had been tested before, but I was IN, this was the real deal. I had faith that my hero was coming back to TV.

Then he did. Ten years ago was well before the time of same-day release worldwide, before BBC America, before even Sci-Fi channel had a chance to show it. So that was when I learned about downloads, and soon I’d learn about bit torrent and other various ways to obtain this program. But I got it, and watched it, and I couldn’t believe it. Everything was *right*. This was Doctor Who as it had always been in my head, but now was on screen. My inner child smiled and my outer adult literally cried over how happy I was. The Doctor was back and life as a Doctor Who fan was never, ever going to be the same again. 

Thank you, Russell T. Davies for bringing back the show that I was always proud to love, even when it made me an object of jokes. Thank you BBC for having the faith to bring it back in the first place. Thank you Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper for being so incredibly good that by the end of the first season, you were the TARDIS team I wanted to run away with.  Thank you, Doctor Who, for being something that never gave up, never quit even when everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, indicated its time had passed. Thank you, Doctor Who for being my favorite thing, and for being as good, if not better, when you came back as you were for all those years in my imagination.  Happy Tenth Anniversary to New Doctor Who. You were, and still are, Fantastic!

A Pirate's Life

I mentioned previously that C1 was performing in his Middle School’s production of Peter Pan as Captain Hook. The show was this past weekend, and if I may say with all fatherly pride, the kid NAILED it.

First off, I’m not singling him out, even though he was wonderful.  ALL the kids did a great job, and for a cast of 6, 7 and 8^th graders, damn but some of those kids have talent.  Wendy, Tiger Lily and Tinker Bell all had the singing chops for sure. I wasn’t surprised to see that a few of the kids are going to performing arts high schools next year. But I have to say, judging by the applause in the auditorium, folks LOVED C’s portrayal of Captain Hook!

 Now, C1 has always been kind of a mimic, but for an 8^th grader who’s voice has not *quite* finished changing, his vocal impression of Hans Conried from Disney’s animated Pan was damned good. A couple technical glitches popped up in both performances, but the kid just rolled with them like a pro. That was the most impressive thing for me as a dad, I think.  Watching him perform wand then watching him really handle himself up there, showed that he was really committed to doing this, and not just goofing around.

After Saturday night’s show, we went to McDonald’s (yeah, I know, but he had a LOT of family there) and a mom who had seen it, whose son was just in the high school musical, told  C1 how good he was, and that he’d better keep it up and try out next year. To top it off, he just had FUN.  I remember how much fun my time in drama was, and seeing him light up like that after putting on a HELL of a performance, I know what he was feeling.  I am SO proud of him and how well he did. This weekend, there couldn’t have been a dad who was beaming more than I was.

My Worlds, My Words

Almost a month since my last entry, and no excuses this time, I just didn’t have it in me to write an entry here. Each time I considered it, I wondered what it was that I was saying, or going to say. As I composed entries in my head, my perfectionist inner critic would shut it down.  Amazingly, during the time I haven’t been writing here, I’ve been working on a story/novel/something that I’ve had itching in the back of my brain for a while. It’s a crime novel, kind of noir, set during World War II in the jazz world of Philadelphia. I’m struggling to write something every day and torn between freezing at the keyboard or intellectually vomiting my story all over the place.  For inspiration and to help me stop the perfectionism that usually keeps me from getting things down, I’ve been re-reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.  It’s a great guide book, not just for writers, but for anyone with a desire to create and live their life more fully.  Yes, I sound very New Age-y when writing that, but it really is true.  Living fully is something I personally have been working on for a while and it’s frickin’ HARD.

Elsewhere in my world, C1, my oldest has his school musical this weekend.  He plays Captain Hook in Peter Pan, and is the only boy in the cast. Oddly, he doesn’t play Mr. Darling, which I thought was a given, but nope.  He’s excited, but the nerves are really starting to kick in now.  The Wif ™ and I are going to both shows, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, bringing along various extended family members each time. My hope is that drama will be something he wants to do more, kind of find his niche in high school early.  I didn’t until about halfway through my sophomore year, and it would be great if he has a something he loves right off the bat.  And if he doesn’t?  I admit, I’ll be disappointed, but primarily because I think he’s got a talent. But also, I loved theater through high school and somewhat after… it would be fun to share that with him.

What else haven’t I been writing about? I like the idea of my life as a nerdy Doctor Who fanboy being the lens that this blog sort of focuses through. What I don’t want is to force feed a Who reference into every post.  For example, this past week I’ve watched both “The Ribos Operation” and “The Stones of Blood,” probably my two favorite Key to Time stories. Is there anything new to be said about them?  Probably, but I don’t know if I’m the one who has that new insight. That itself might be an insight I suppose. I’ve had a long simmering thought to do the great quest of watching all Who, in order, from the beginning. I will chronicle it here, but like with so many things, the start is the hardest part.  I feel guilty (yes, bear with the ridiculousness) when I put on something other than “An Unearthly Child,” thinking that I’ll just end up re-watching whatever I put on.  Feeling guilty for enjoying my favorite program ever? Yeah that sounds like something I’d do. Next week, though, is the tenth anniversary of the revived program and I actually plan on a blog post all about that. I just love the show, unabashedly, unashamedly, and even if not explicit, it informs a LOT of what I do, and how I think.

That’s what’s been going on in my world(s) lately.  Worlds of words, kids, living fully, and globulin absorbing silicon based life forms.  I guess I have things to say after all.