Mission Report by UNIT Agent Bill Filer to Trap One - Subject matter: An Unearthly Child

Okay, I've never actually done a review before - so starting at the very beginning seems like an approach my brain would accept, though I think it will be a bit random which stories I will write reviews for. I will aim at highlighting the positives and the joy that I find in the Whoniverse, hopefully it will help me to appreciate Doctor Who even more - if that is even possible. No writer or production team deliberately sets out to create a bad story, though circumstances during production can limit the end result. There will still be joy to be had in every single story, at least that is my philosophy.

The first episode has been described as a perfect 25-minute introduction-piece of television ad nauseum, and rightly so. It is really atmospheric and just oozes mystery. Susan and The Doctor are just the right shade of eccentric and enigmatic, and Ian and Barbara have got such fantastic chemistry right of the bat as they decide to go sleuthing. The casting is perfect and generally speaking one of Doctor Who's greatest strengths, and a big reason for it's longevity. Just - thank you to everyone involved with making this show from the get go: Verity Lambert, Sydney Newman, Waris Hussein, Delia Derbyshire, Raymond Cusick and a whole ream of other talented people.

The Cavemen episodes that follow are oft ridiculed a bit for being boring, with humans barely able to communicate over the level of a grunt, and that newcomers should just go straight into The Daleks - as was indeed the case with the novelisation of The Daleks. I concede that folks who aren't used to 60's television probably would be better served by this "machete order", but then the linguist in me kicks in! We are at the very beginning of articulated communication - the rules of language as a concept are being formed, the ever-changing nature of lexicography and grammar are being birthed. I find that immensely fascinating. It is a story of political intrigue and societal status - all expressed in a power-struggle about fire. I think that that is really clever, that basic narrative structure can easily also be applied to a contemporary or future setting. And being an easily recognisable narrative allows for greater focus to be placed on character development of our main cast and the incredibly unbelievable nature of breaking down the temporal barriers in a box that is flippin' bigger on the inside.

A deserved shout out to Mark Gatiss for immortalising the genesis of this magnificent show in "An Adventure in Space and Time"

End of report. Logged and filed at The Black Archive.