When I
first came to classic Who, after
having seen the first five series of new Who,
One was kind of a shock to me, and I really wasn’t sure about him. It probably seems ironic, since the show
wouldn’t have endured 50+ years if the First Doctor was no good, but going back
to the beginning have only seen the recent results of decades of evolution is
jarring at first. One was my first
“cranky” Doctor, and although I’ve since grown to adore Twelve to pieces, at
the time, I was skeptical.
Our very
first sight of the Doctor is wildly different from the Time Lord so many people
have come to know and love at various points over the years. He’s commanding and rather imperious, looking
down on humans Ian and Barbara even as he views their discovery of the TARDIS
as a threat to him and Susan. After
throwing his weight around and condescending to them for a while, he
straight-up kidnaps them, dematerializing with them still inside. During their first adventure together, he
repeatedly tries to bail on helping people in trouble, and when Barbara trips
and falls as they’re being pursued by cavemen, the Doctor rather famously steps over her and keeps going.
I mean, what?!
Where did this Doctor come from, right?
It seems kind of crazy to look back on now. But the Doctor, even though he stole a TARDIS
and left Gallifrey with Susan, is still a product of Time Lord culture. Intentionally or otherwise, he’s taken to
heart the idea that 1) Time Lords are superior to every other race in the
universe, not in a genocidal Dalek way, but in a “your petty concerns are so beneath us” way and 2) time-and-space
travel is for observing, not
interfering. As such, he starts out his
travels in a pretty detached way, puttering around collecting soil samples and
taking readings, not wanting to get involved with the locals. In his mind, his unwilling human companions
are primitives whose neurons are barely firing, and he sees no reason to give
them any kind of deference.
When that
sort of superiority complex/isolationist stance/stick up your butt is what
informs the basis of your character, it’s no wonder you wind up with someone
who’s not always the most sympathetic.
This Doctor can be gruff, he can be selfish, and he can be way too high
and mighty for everyone’s own good. But
despite all that, he is still the guy
who stole a TARDIS and left Gallifrey, so the potential is there for more. And gradually, we begin to see that potential.
Over
time, the Doctor becomes someone who delights, not just in studying a place,
but experiencing it. He enjoys the
adventure, happily stepping into a society and looking the part as he joins in
on the local customs. More than that, he
feels an imperative to help those who
need it. He takes a borderline puckish
delight in thwarting minor bad guys and approaches the big baddies with
righteous indignation. This is a man
who, in a fairly short time, went from, “Not my problem, good luck with your
coup and all,” to making fiery speeches in the presence of Daleks and Cybermen,
vowing to stop them because it’s the right thing to do. One will be One, of course, so we still get
some grumpiness or haughtiness from him, and he still indulges in the occasion
less-than-above-board means of getting his way, but overall, that’s a
tremendous amount of growth for his character.
Without it, I’m not sure we would’ve ever gotten Two, let alone all that
came after.
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