Favorite Characters: The First Doctor (Doctor Who)

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.