space
head
head head head
Home Contact RSS Feed
COMICS   •   MOVIES   •   MUSIC   •   TELEVISION   •   GAMES   •   BOOKS
50 Years Ago This Week: First Ever ‘Doctor Who’ Scene Filmed
space
Dr. Geek, Ph.D.   |  

The first scene shot for the first Doctor Who episode "An Unearthly Child"

In considering the history of the BBC’s venerable series Doctor Who, the most important date that anyone remembers is November 23, 1963. That’s the day that the first episode, “An Unearthly Child,” was originally transmitted. Thus began the uninterrupted 26-year broadcast run that comprises a major part of the series history. That’s the birth date of the series, and the one that will be commemorated with a 50th Anniversary special on November 23, 2013.

As the Radio Times pointed out a few days ago, there are other meaningful early dates to consider. While it is hard to exactly pin down some key dates in the development history of the Doctor Who series, one undisputed date is September 19, 1963. That’s the day that filming for the first version of “An Unearthly Child” commenced. The first recorded scene showed the TARDIS police box landing on the Middle Paleolithic Earth of 100,000 BCE with an ominous human shadow in the foreground, making it at the very end of the script for the initial episode.

The footage recorded that day that was not necessarily in the version shown on November 23rd. There were actually two versions of the episode “An Unearthly Child” made. The first version, which began filming on September 19th, was originally scheduled to be shown on November 16, 1963. The production was fraught was technical difficulties. The TARDIS doors did not open properly in one sequence. Some lines were flubbed. Cameras and actors ran into sets or the setting dressings. The errors were frequent enough and noticeable enough that BBC Head of Drama (and Doctor Who creator) Sydney Newman demanded that the episode be re-shot prior to broadcast. This pushed the premiere of the series back a week, to November 23rd.

Costume changes made for Doctor William Hartnell between recordings of An Unearthly Child.

Substantial changes were made between the recording of the two versions. William Hartnell’s costume was changed from a more contemporary suit and tie (see below) to the more Edwardian costume that is remembered now. Small changes to dialogue were also made: the Doctor was made less callous and threatening in his initial appearance. The TARDIS de-materialization sound was refined. A thunderclap was deleted from the start of the series theme. References to the origin of the Doctor and Susan were altered; the Doctor and Susan were now from “another time, another world” rather than “the 49th Century.”

The initial version of “An Unearthly Child” filmed in September of 1963 was finally shown on the BBC in 1991 and on various releases to home video since. In some ways like the first pilot of Star Trek TOS (i.e., “The Cage”), it is an important document of the early development a culturally lasting science fiction series. It shows the actors and a production team (sometimes) struggling toward a birth — the day that we now remember 50 years later.

[Sources: The Radio Times | Wikipedia]

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

space
Topics: News, Television
space
Previous Article
space
Next Article
«
»
space
space
space
Amazon.com
space
You may have noticed that we're now AD FREE! Please support Geeks of Doom by using the Amazon Affiliate link above. All of our proceeds from the program go toward maintaining this site.
space
Geeks of Doom on Twitter Geeks of Doom on Facebook Geeks of Doom on Instagram Follow Geeks of Doom on Tumblr Geeks of Doom on YouTube Geeks of Doom Email Digest Geeks of Doom RSS Feed
space
space
space
space
The Drill Down Podcast TARDISblend Podcast Westworld Podcast
2023  ·   2022  ·   2021  ·   2020  ·   2019  ·   2018  ·   2017  ·   2016  ·   2015  ·   2014  ·  
2013  ·   2012  ·   2011  ·   2010  ·   2009  ·   2008  ·   2007  ·   2006  ·   2005
space
Geeks of Doom is proudly powered by WordPress.

Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press

Geeks of Doom is designed and maintained by our geeky webmaster
All original content copyright ©2005-2023 Geeks of Doom
All external content copyright of its respective owner, except where noted
space
Creative Commons License
This website is licensed under
a Creative Commons License.
space
About | Privacy Policy | Contact
space