I've not read Ian Marter's other novelisations but his version of the Reign of Terror was very interesting. It fleshes out the historical context of the story and makes a stab at explaining the often overlooked point of language by simply having the characters have to converse in both English and French - which actually causes some issues that were not explained in the TV version of the story.

The description of violence at certain points (Barbara's rejection of the jailer, Robespierre's capture) is more violent than would have been the case in a 60s show aimed primarily at children although is more accurate in the case of Robespierre. There's more general historical exposition (which I think makes the historical novelisations quite interesting) - often making use of Barbara's history teacher role. One of the points in this is that the fact that the characters are English and aren't fluent in French is a plot point - the Doctor doesn't have an issue blending in, Barbara and Susan can speak very well but stand out as English while Ian struggles to get by and this causes a number of issues (Ian speaking to Le Maitre in the jail, exposing Barbara and Susan in the Doctors office) which I think is interesting. This question was ignored mostly in the classic series and the TARDIS translation circuits are used as a justification in the modern series; so seeing this story use language as a plot point is actually really quite interesting.

Its a faithful retelling of the TV story in other areas and I broadly would recommend that over this - but I think both are interesting to look at.

There was only a single one part story in classic Doctor Who - and really that was a prologue for a twelve-part Dalek epic so it doesn't really count. It appears to have not been something that any of the production teams over the years ever considered as a possibility - but I think this little story shows that it possibly could have worked.

The story of this is that Moris Farhi wrote this single part story as a model script without being commissioned by the production office; but it got him a commission for Farewell Great Macedon (where in place of a storyline; he wrote six complete scripts due to his discovered love for the period). It was never seriously considered for production and I don't think it would have fit the era at all; but I really loved the context of this story. It weirdly feels a lot like one of the various short stories that are told and I also really like those; as it fleshes out the experiences of the characters - surely travels in the TARDIS is not all danger and near death. It also feels a lot like those as it is primarily a character piece involving Barbara and a character called Rhythm

The TARDIS crew have spent a prolonged period on the planet Fragrance where Barbara has struck up a friendship with a young man called Rhythm. Repairs to the TARDIS have been completed to the crew are ready to go - but Rhythm has fallen in love with Barbara so asks her to stay. The cultural norms on Fragrance are that love only happens once and if rejected (or if the other person dies) then your life is forfeit and you must also die. Rhythm's parents - who have helped the Doctor repair a key component - demand that they make Barbara stay but the Doctor and Ian refuse; and so as the TARDIS crew depart Rhythm sails out to sea, and appears to set fire to himself and his boat. Its a remarkably dark idea for this era of Doctor Who (and I don't think would have been made) and touches on some interesting themes of love and cultural differences that wouldn't have been covered at that time.

The acting is remarkably good - the desperation of Rhythm's parents and sisters towards the Doctor, Ian and Susan is notably good. The sound design also works as well.

This story isn't for people that want more traditional Doctor Who (with a bigger general peril and villain - where there isn't one here) - but if you like more different things then this is well worth a listen.

Un-made Doctor Who stories are always interesting - a lot of the time you can tell why they might not have been produced (and sometimes that it was a good thing they weren't!); but sometimes you get something incredibly special. Both stories in the first Lost Stories First Doctor Boxset are special; but Farewell, Great Macedon is really quite remarkable. The production by Big Finish is also good - especially considering that its one of their longer stories at over four hours.

This is a true historical that fits well with the others from the first season of Doctor Who. It is based around the last days of Alexander the Great; around a plot from a number of people in his court to kill him and his heirs in order to take power in the Macedonian Empire for themselves; and is excellently paced throughout with some very good cliffhangers. It manages to stand out narratively speaking from the other true historicals at that time - one example of this is that unlike the other stories the TARDIS crew aren't prisoners forced to stay in the time they are in: other than a brief period where they are accused of Hephisteon's death (where Alexander never truly believes them to be the culprits) they are theoretically free to go but want to spend time with Alexander.

John Dorney's portrayal of Alexander is very good: he gets him across as someone that can inspire loyalty and emotion; while also being difficult at times. Considering the small size of the cast (this being the period where First doctor Big Finish stories weren't full cast - unfortunate as a full cast version of this could have been excellent) this is key - William Russell does a good job as Ian (and his First Doctor works as well - although not as good as others); and Carole-Ann Ford as Susan and Barbara also works. The sound design is brilliant - I listened while watching the TV series and while it's clearly a modern production it doesn't feel that out there relative to the TV shows. The end of the story is very emotional - Alexander going to his own death and refusing the help of the Doctor and Ian; the immediate collapse of the Empire that he built and the death of a dream of world unity worked very well.

There are a few points that might be negatives - I think there's a risk that stories like this may white-wash some not great periods in history (but then again; this is remarkably accurate for a Doctor Who historical); and this story had religious overtones at times that felt out of place for even 60s Doctor Who (and I understand there were even more removed from the draft script) and the format of three actors + narration might not click for everyone - but if it does and you like your early Doctor Who this is a must listen.

I'm a sucker for a Doctor Who pure historical - especially in the shows first season. Its remarkable that the three stories here take up very different approaches to the same problem of needing the TARDIS to be inaccessible - Marco Polo has the crew all together throughout with Marco holding the key hostage to sell to Kublai Khan, the Aztecs has the TARDIS locking in Yataxa's tomb where the crew cannot access easily, and where Barbara ends up in a key position; and here where the French Revolution results in Ian, Barbara and Susan being arrested and the Doctor needing to recover them.

The story is simple - the Doctor is keen to throw Ian and Barbara off the TARDIS because of a perceived slight at the end of the Sensorites (one of the weaker cliffhangers between stories); the TARDIS lands in revolutionary France mid-Reign of Terror and the crew blunders into a safe house of a group of people opposed of Robespierre right as it is discovered. Ian, Barbara and Susan are arrested and sent to Paris and the guillotine; while the Doctor (almost burned to death) ends up taking on the role of a provincial official to get them back to safety. I think this is a story where interest in the period is required to fully appreciate: especially the terrifying nature of revolutionary France. The side story is also interesting; with an attempt to try and discover the identity of James Sterling, an English spy, who ends up being one of the key officials in the prison in charge of executions.

The set designs in this are good considering the budget of the show; I like the Direction (even though from all reports it was one of the more chaotic production jobs, with the Director having a breakdown mid-show) and the aminiation of the lost episodes is very functional for what it is - although clearly produced on a budget.

Negatives might include the animation point above (which also has some of the poorer audio quality of a Doctor Who story - and one where I hope recent discoveries of fan recordings may help them improve for the Season 1 Collection Blu-Ray when that comes); I think they probably could have achieved everything in four episodes and also the fact that again Susan is really not used at all well here - she spends basically the entire story locked up and when she isn't she's sick (which results in her and Barbara being re-locked up again).

The Sensorites is a pretty good story; and one that I think is well suited to a book adaptation. I've not read many of these (I'm going through in TV order) but I like Nigel Robinson's novelisations - he grew up watching this era and its clear that he has a strong understanding of the characters and the tone of this era. This story isn't one with large amounts of action which benefits the novelisation; it allows Robinson to go into the thinking of the various characters and to build the appropriate tone. It doesn't dramatically change the story or add major amounts; but worth a read if you like the core idea of the TV story (especially if the pace isn't your liking).

I was pleasantly surprised revisiting this story how much I enjoyed it - I remember this being a very slow, drawn out story with not much happening but there's a lot more there. I'm a sucker for stories with political intrigue and while what is here is fairly surface level (the City Administrator is sceptical of the humans and wants them killed, the Elders disagree so he gets himself the position of Second Elder to achieve that goal) but it works. The early episodes have this dark ominous tone that really helps this story and I think helps to subvert expectations - all the aliens met so far have been evil (Daleks, Voord); and so this is subverted quickly when the Sensorites turn out to be friendly; if very different.

The other thing this story does well is that it's the best use of Susan in the whole TV series - if only because it takes advantage of her not being human for the first time. Her telepathy is what establishes a connection with the Sensorites and opens the door between the humans trapped on the ship and the Sensorites; and is crucial at finding the Doctor and Ian (lost in the aqueduct after being captured by the previous set of humans who were trying to poison the Sensorites).

I do think the slow pace broadly does hurt this story - especially between a pair of the top tier historical stories which have slightly quicker pace. Overall though this is worth a watch.

I'm not going to re-review this story but instead focus on the differences between this and the TV version. I really enjoyed the TV story and felt this was not as good.

Lucarotti again does a good job at expanding elements of the story - his descriptions of food is a mark of his novelisations and I cannot say that I complain about that. It also makes clearer some of the additional elements of the story - the Doctor's feelings to Cameca; some of the more conflicted emotions of the Aztec sides and similar. Additionally this story is truer to the overall character dynamics to Lucarotti's novelisation of Marco Polo - with the Doctor not dominating things as much as he did there.

However there are elements that feel slightly drawn out that didn't on the TV story which is only four parts. In addition I was shocked that the novelisation added some additional Christian undertones to Barbara and Ian's thinking - while that isn't shocking for the overall context of their stories it also feels weird to me considering the evolution of the Aztecs and I'm not a massive fan.

Overall this is a decent read but definitely a downgrade on the TV story.

The Aztecs continues the trend of the true historicals in Season 1 being better than the sci-fi stories. The four part length of the story coupled with John Lucarotti's faster-paced script helps this; but also this story introduces a number of elements that Doctor Who would use later on.

The TARDIS crew lands inside an Aztec tomb of Yetaxa - a fictional Aztec high priest-cum-God, with Barbara having studied the Aztecs being particularly interested. She find the secret exit from the tomb having picked up Yetaxa's bracelet and therefore is immediately considered to be a God reincarnate and the others in the TARDIS crew her servants. Ian is sent to the barracks to be a contender to lead the Aztec army (challenging Ixta, the long-time leader); the Doctor to the garden as an elderly man living out his last days while Susan stays with Barbara initially - until she intervenes in a human sacrifice attempting to change history where she loses the trust of Tlotoxl, the High Priest of Sacrifice, who then sees her as a false god. From then the main story is about getting back inside the tomb to the TARDIS while retaining the support they have - in particular from Autloc, the High Priest of Knowledge - to last as long as possible.

This main thing this story adds in is the point that you cannot change known history - as the Doctor tells Barbara: "you cannot change history, not one line!". That is the main point of this story: Barbara who is featured heavily as almost the main character (being a God) attempts to try and change things to ensure that her beloved Aztecs survive only for that to only cause problems for them: Susan is taken to a seminary to learn Aztecs ways and they lose trust of key people in the civilisation. This is something that becomes important throught Doctor Who and I think this is a perfect introduction of the concept simply because it makes sense why Barbara would want to try and change things; but also historically why it cannot happen. Jacqueline Hill does a great job playing Barbara here in, alongside the Keys of Marinus, some of the main stories that features Barbara in a major capacity.

It also features some of the early signs of romance involving the Doctor, who accidentally gets engaged to Cameca, an older Aztec lady. Its clear that the Doctor does have some sort of affection there which adds to this - and really its one of the few examples in the classic series of this sort of theme being explored which makes it remarkable that its in one of the early stories.

The production is very good - considering the overall budget the sets appear as convincing as you'd expect. It also feels like an authentic characterisation of the other cast members - while Tlotoxl is clearly the villain of the piece his reasons for being so make sense - his core beliefs are being challenged by a set of people who are, in fact, being dishonest themselves and as we know Barbara is not in fact a God he has no reason to trust her; and while Aztec beliefs are not ones that we would follow; it would take more than being preached to by a random outside to trust them. Autloc is the voice of reason on that side - but his reward is to simply lose his faith in the core Aztec teachings and leave the city while Tlotoxl retains his power; so there's a strong argument that Barbara's intervention was in fact harmful. While a lot of stories have a clear hero and villain; this feels surprising nuanced for early Doctor Who.

In terms of negatives; this is another story where Susan is sidelined - admittedly Carol-Ann Ford was on holiday for two weeks in the middle of filming which is a factor in this; but she spends her time being treated how to be a good house wife and almost being married off to the Perfect Victim - which considering recent stories adds onto her being misused.

Overall - this is a very good, engaging story that while not perfect is a highlight of early Doctor Who.

I was curious about this novelisation as its by Phillip Hinchcliffe; who produced one of the best periods of Doctor Who history; especially as this was a story from a very different era. However - as perhaps expected by the era that this was novelised - this isn't massively different from the TV story.

The writing itself is a very good description of the TV story - although that means that there's not much reason to read this on top of the TV story. There are a few moments when the writing explains a few differential things and a few times where Hinchcliffe went slightly off script (mostly to add to the intrigue of the story - especially the section when they are in the mountains) but not a lot. This contrasts with some elements that don't translate as well to the written page - in particular the hunt for the first key where the TV show gets over the idea that the others are brainwashed while Barbara isn't in a much greater way than this story initially (where it looks like she's the one in the wrong initially).

On the whole; worth a look if you enjoy the TV story but not remarkably different to it.

For some reason; I'd forgotten how much I enjoy the Keys of Marinus. Before this rewatch I had it in my head as a below average story that dragged; with the court room stuff being slow. None of that is true - this is one of the faster paced 60s Doctor Who stories, especially in contrast to a lot of the early sci-fi shows in the series.

It's an incredibly ambitious story; in a way it feels like four separate stories to fetch each key with an overarching arc with the fetch to get the keys. I understand why this is not something that was done more often (it is expensive to need a whole new set of sets every week) but it makes this stand out very well.

The individual stories however are somewhat inconsistent. The Voord don't really stand out as villains (probably why they've never returned on TV since this story; despite being the second ever set of alien villains) and the opening episode is one bit that moves slowly; but George Colouris's portrayal of Arbitan is very good - especially for a single part guest character. The story in Morphoton is an incredibly creative idea that I'd love to see the new series return to - the TARDIS crew are immediately brainwashed into thinking they are in some lavish environment as part of a scheme to completely brainwash them into working for the brains that control the city; Barbara manages to accidentally prevent this which means that she sees right through things and is the star of the show in terms of ending their rule over the city - while Ian, the Doctor and Susan are completely under their control. One of the thing this story does very well in making a strong use of the support cast (helped by Hartnell skipped episodes 3 and 4 for a holiday) and this is a perfect example.

Episode 3 feels like filler - but at least more interesting filler than other stories. The design of the forest set is impressive considering that it probably was the size of a shoebox; although the story is primarily 'Ian/Barbara fall into traps, barely escape, rince repeat'. It's an old Doctor Who staple; but feels awkward here. The fourth episode picks up - this is the section of the story where Ian gets to shine with him single-handedly rescuing Altus and somehow convincing the burly tracker to accompany them to the mountains. Its not remarkable but fits in here.

Episodes 5 and 6 are great - as the story goes into pure courtroom drama. Ian is accused of murder and theft of the final key; and stands trial in a justice system where individuals are guilty until proven innocent. The courtroom scenes are pure Phoenix Wright stuff 40 years before that existed: the Doctor as defence attorney is great with the examination of Sabitha leading to the death of Aydan; and the deception of Kala comes across very well. It's very well put together; and makes you want this to have been a bit more of the overall structure of the story.

The end feels like an anti-climax: Arbitan is dead and a Voord is wearing his cloak in the worst disguise ever; and Ian gives them the fake key to cause the Conscious of Marinus blows up. I also like that Altos and Sabitha are not particularly exciting characters with some very... awkward acting: and the alleged romance between the two doesn't come across and that doesn't help with investment in the overall story arc. Susan is the one character in the main four that doesn't get a chance to shine - Barbara has the entire second episode and finding Susan in episode 6; Ian has the march through the mountains; Susan is not particularly strong in this which is a negative - I feel like her playing a greater role in the detective elements in Millenius would have been a good use of her.

Overall I really enjoyed this - in particular episodes 2, 4, 5 and the first half of 6. Its an ambitious attempt at doing a lot with a little and while it falters at times, I think it succeeds more than it fails plus I'd prefer this level of overambition to slow and safe.

I'm not going to review the overall story here; but instead where I think the novel differs from the TV version of the story (as far as we can tell). I enjoyed that version a lot; but I think the novel overall falls short.

The improvements are that it does a very good job at making this adventure feel a lot larger - the narrative gives timescales; and things like giving bigger description of distances and even the meals that the travellers eat helps to add to the scale of this story (even if I wonder how authentic they'd be to that period of China). The story already stands out on TV for being this big adventure across Asia without the TARDIS being available; the context of it clearly lasting several months I think adds to the scenes where the TARDIS crew try to escape. The scenes with the Doctor and Kublai in the book also feel more sensible than those in the TV because of the fact that they had more time.

However there are a couple of areas where I think this story falls short. The characterisation of the Doctor feels off - it almost feels like Lucarotti is writing for a much more modern version of the Doctor than an early First Doctor so certain elements (like him being so keen to help out Marco at points; or even his not accepting the key back in the final chapter because he lost the Backgammon game) feel very weird for the context of the story. Indeed it also hurts Ian's role in the story - as the Doctor takes a large portion of his role in the novelisation and that feels like a negative. The ending also comes across less well - rather than Tegana committing suicide because his regicide attempt was foiled, he's instead killed by Ling-Tau who plays a much greater role in the novel becoming Ping Cho's fiancé by the end; and rather than a hurried escape its a more formal thing which I think doesn't make as much sense.

Overall though I think this is a decent read - although the negatives detract from this a lot more than the positives add.

So an immediate caveat - this story contains many examples of yellow face and that is not acceptable through modern eyes - or indeed in general. This is not the worst example of it (mostly because time passed after this story) but it is worth noting. For this review I watched the Loose Cannon reconstruction and also listened to the soundtrack release - which is an interesting combination to get as full a picture as possible from a completely lost story with no official release.

I'm a fan of true historicals - and indeed in the first few series of Doctor Who I'd strongly argue that the best stories are the true historicals over the sci-fi elements that are often a lot more pondering. Marco Polo in particular stands out as unlike most stories its explicitly set over a fairly prolonged period of several months with big gaps in the middle as Marco Polo's retinue (including the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan) passes from the Himalayas to Beijing. I think this is a big advantage - considering that we're fresh out of a trio of quite compressed opening stories and moving towards a different dynamic amongst the main cast (where the Doctor is more obviously one of the good guys, and not as morally ambiguous as the opening set of stories suggest) really helps that - there's an element of solidarity build up amongst the TARDIS crew at simply trying to escape.

While we cannot fully judge the visual elements of this story the tele snaps and photos make this look really impressive considering the budget of the show - and I think that's an element common with a lot of the early historicals (perhaps helped by being able to borrow more set pieces from other places). Of the missing stories its one of the ones that I most want to see video evidence of simply to see how the settings were conveyed on screen.

The story is also enjoyable - seven parters can drag and while this was not free from filler there was plenty here. The fact that the story moves locations a lot really helps this feel big - the desperation of the Doctor and others as they approach Shang-Tu where their chance to escape will vanish; Marco's increasing annoyance at his unexpected companions (and, somewhat notably, the first time that word is used to describe the Doctor's companions); and Tegana's schemes increasingly coming out - first appearing as a superstitious person before his real aim (representing Nogai against Kublai) becomes clear. The seven parts don't really drag in this - although there are a few moments where it feels like they filled screen time with either another failed escape in the TARDIS or Ian talking to Marco about them escaping. The climax works really well - Ian (imprisoned again after not convincing Ling-Tau of Tegana's intentions) manages to get Marco to intervene in Tegana's regicide attempt; and then Marco lets the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan escape because of that act. It is very rushed and abrupt but I think works in the context of the story.

The disadvantages are the points where the script gets reductive with the 'escape get caught' stuff that Doctor Who at its worst is very bad at - although there are worse offenders here. Overall though this is a very fun story - and well worth seeking out.

This is one of the later Target novelisations - published in 1988 - and I suspect that is because this is one of the harder asks: two episodes exclusively set in the TARDIS with just the core cast; the looming doom not coming from some obvious foe but at first the crews scepticism of each other and then attempting to figure out the problem with the TARDIS; and not having a major climax (well, unless you count the fear before they find the BROKEN SPRING in the fast return switch. Nigel Robinson did a very good job at taking this story and adding additional elements to it to make it feel like a fully featured novel.

The main dynamic in this story is the relationships between the main characters - Susan and the Doctor massively distrusting the main two characters as they are most affected by the explosion; which forces Ian and Barbara to try and prove themselves right resulting in the solution coming together. The advantage of the novel format means that we can get inside the head of the characters which helps to deepen the story - much of the expansion in this story is this extra exposition around the thinking of the main characters. Robinson also adds a few additional scenes to this version - an expansion of the Doctor and Ian trying to find the fault with a trip to the TARDIS engine rooms which helps to add intrigue (especially the dynamic between the Doctor and Ian with the former increasingly distrusting the latter); and a rather silly scene with Barbara looking for a book to get some bedtime reading and stumbling into the Doctor's laboratory where the books all fall off the shelves to prevent Barbara from entering into a very dangerous room in the lab. These are more about scene building around the key scenes from the TV show (both happening before the Doctor tries to throw Ian and Barbara off the ship); and I think the Ian scene is more effective in that and has a greater fit.

Its also interesting to see the minor changes in the novelisation that are a side-product of this being a late publication. There are a number of minor wording changes to reflect updated Doctor Who terminology (the Time Vortex is mentioned a fair amount in this as an example - and the way that the scale of the TARDIS is talked about is very different from 1964); and the post-climax conversation between the Doctor and Barbara is expanded to deepen the fact that it marks a somewhat symbolic moment in the relationship between the Doctor and his first human companions - this being the moment where they rally trust each other.

However the TV story is better than the novelisation in my eyes - while Robinson did a good job expanding the story into a good book; its still at the end of the day a two parter with limited scope for expansion; and elements of this feel padded for the sake of meeting a page count. I think its worth a look over if you like the TV story and its one of the books with substantive changes from the TV story; but not a must read.

The first Doctor Who novelisation is one of the more interesting ones - as it diverges significantly from the originally published version of the story. David Whittacker - the original script editor for Doctor Who who remained involved with the show as a writer until 1970 (and was novelising one of his stories when he died in 1980) was tasked with both adapting Terry Nation's script for the Daleks and also introducing the main cast - Doctor Who was still new and so it was clearly felt that they clearly could not just assume readers knew who the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan were.

The opening is a dramatically different retelling of An Unearthly Child - involving Ian (a teacher, but wanting to leave the profession to go into science) driving home from a failed job interview through Barnes Common when he comes across a car accident where Barbara is injured; but worried about Susan who she is tutoring. When searching they come across the TARDIS and have a very similar argument as in the broadcast story in Totter's lane before being whisked off to Skaro. This creates a dynamic that is very different to the broadcast story - rather than it being Ian+Barbara vs The Doctor with Susan being stuck in the middle; you have four relative strangers thrown together with a different dynamic. The story is also told in a first person perspective from Ian - which I think is beneficial as it allows the story to focus on these dynamics and Ian's wider thoughts - including interestingly the first indication of a romantic element to Ian and Barbara's relationship in an official publication. Its also interesting how elements of this has leaked into other elements of the expanded universe - reference to the everlasting matches is an explicit reference to this novel and makes it more important.

From there the story is a lot closer to the broadcast story until the climax although adding additional details at points. This being from Ian's perspective also shifts some emphasises - the first episode cliffhanger is mentioned by Barbara after the fact; the Doctors role in much of the second half is limited to summaries. It also means that certain characters have heightened importance - Kristas for example is a much more important, fleshed out character in this version of the story rather than the broadcast version as the story of infiltrating the city is fleshed out. The climax however is when the age of the novelisation is revealed - the use of a Glass Dalek 20 years before Revelation of the Daleks is interesting (and possibly an inspiration) but the description of the Dalek mutant itself is obviously incredibly different to a modern version. I don't think this is necessarily bad - in fact it makes this much more interesting that a more rote novelisation would be.

I think this is well worth a read - the fleshed out charactarisations are interesting; and I really like the third person perspective. This is not universally positive - things like the failure to break out of the cell initially and the boxing match scene feel like padding rather than actually building on the story - but I think Whittacker's writing on this is very interesting and compelling - especially when coupled with William Russell's performance in the associated audiobook. If you want your novelisations to align with the broadcast episode then you might not like this; but I thought this was a fun read.

There is something incredibly fascinating about early Doctor Who fandom - and the fact that it was almost all driven by the Daleks. The actual show itself was saved by the success of the first Dalek serial; and it's natural that the sheer popularity of the Daleks at the time would lead to an inevitable spinoff film. So a year and a half after the serial started; this film made it to the cinemas; releasing the day before the last episode of The Chase - the third TV Dalek story - aired on the BBC. I think this film is an incredibly interesting example of how the tone of the initial version worked so well; and how good a job the BBC did on the original version although this certainly has highlights.

There are some plot changes to ensure that things get going quickly - realistically with the 80 minute runtime and needing to not only run through the key points of a 3 hour TV serial plus also introducing the characters things won't be as the TV version was. All of the main characters are different - Dr Who (as is the characters official name here) and his granddaughters Barbara and Susan (who is a young child in this version; rather than a teenager) are relaxing at home; waiting for Barbara's boyfriend Ian to visit. When he arrives he's immediately shown the TARDIS and accidentally the four end up on Skaro when Ian's clumsiness launches the ship. The design of the TARDIS on the inside is totally different and I think works for Cushing's interpretation of the character - the First Doctor is an mysterious alien figure which the sleek modern design of the initial TARDIS helps to convey; while Cushing is a human mad scientist who's cobbled together his TARDIS and so its all wires hanging around and individual things stuck together - while I prefer the design of the TV version both works here.

After that start; the story runs with all of the beats of the original - the Doctor faking a problem with the fluid link to explore the Dalek city; the radiation sickness, the escape and then convincing the Thals to fight with them. It obviously has a much faster pace than the TV show - the convincing the thats to attack and the process of getting into the city is three episodes of the broadcast version but is covered in the last 20 minutes of this film as an example: with major elements reduced or cut down. All in all its an interesting adaptation but I prefer both the original serial and the 75 minute cut of the colourisation.

The production is impressive in some ways but I think overall lacking relative to the TV show despite the much high budget. The Dalek props look impressive - a lot closer to the modern TV ones than the classic Daleks plus there's a lot more props making the fight scenes feel bigger, and the voices are, as you might expect, much more developed considering that they had access to changes made by the voice actors (the same as were in the BBC TV version) in Dalek Invasion of Earth. The wider design is also impressive - the forest looks good; the city looks weird in the reddish hues but is well designed on the whole. The lighting and the soundtrack though completely change the town of the film compared to the serial - the original Daleks is dark and forbodding with the pressures being put on the characters being clear; this has a much more light hearted tone that I do not think works.

The charactarisations here also are weaker than the TV show. The Daleks are a lot more openly evil here and I don't think it often makes sense - a prime example is the Daleks telling Susan that they are using the letter as a trick rather than making the main characters learn about the Dalek's intent through their wider actions. The TARDIS trio are also much weaker characters because of the shorter runtime (and lack of preview material) which doesn't help - Cushing's bumbling mad scientist thing I think works as a version of the Doctor and he does the role well; Ian's role though is much worse basically being used as comic relief as much as anything else; and Barbara is just there. You don't have the looming tensions within the initial TARDIS crew that add to the tension here; and while that makes sense with this group of people it still feels off. Additionally the following of the TV beats sometimes feels off - the fluid link thing makes sense with the First Doctor at that point; don't think it does here.

In short: this is a fun film as a showcase for an alternative world of Doctor Who and I think is worth a watch; but it's definitely much weaker than the TV version of this show. It feels too jaunty and light hearted - which isn't appropriate for Doctor Who in my eyes.

Considering the origin of this story - that they had to hastily put together a 2 episode serial to give the BBC a stopping point if they did cancel the show after 13 episodes rather than stopping in the middle of Marco Polo; and also had to be done with basically no budget - this is a remarkable good story. Its also interesting for there being no real villain - indeed the main problem is simply the Fast Return switch being broken and causing the TARDIS to malfunction, setting up jeopardy in many future expanded universe Doctor Who stories.

The main highlight of this story in my eyes is in developing the relationships of the characters: this feels like the ultimate end of the somewhat-antagonistic relationship between the Doctor and Ian+Barbara. While the obvious impacts of the TARDIS console malfunctioning is on Susan (who spends the first episode threatening Ian and Barbara with scissors; being clearly sceptical of their motives) and then the cliffhanger setup with Ian it impacts the Doctor longer than anyone else; and its only the fault locator providing additional information that helps the crew unite, stick together the various chains of information they have to learn the issue at hand.

I guess downsides might be around the pacing - although it moves quicker than the Daleks - and the fact that a TARDIS-bound two partner with no villain is unlikely to be quite as exciting; and the natural conclusion (the fault being a broken spring in a switch) is somewhat anti-climactic. Overall though I really enjoyed this story; and as an ending the 13 episode initial run until we get to the first lost episode it works well.

I'll not repeat my thoughts on the initial story in detail - but in short I think the Daleks is a great story (rated 4 stars); hurt by some bad pacing issues. That made me incredibly interested in this story - how does this modern remastering impact the story. I think there are two main positives that help to make this story a slight improvement; but also some negatives.

The colourisation is the main appeal of this and is a total success - a lot of colourisations don't look nice but this looked entirely natural as a piece of early colour TV. Flesh tones looked natural (often a sign of substandard colourisations); the choices of colours for the set and costumes were often accurate to existing photos; and where they didn't exist (or slightly adapted) it was in a way that feels natural for late 60s/early 70s colour television. If they were minded to do more like this I would not object seeing this - in particular this makes me interested in seeing what something with more on location scenes like Dalek Invasion of Earth would look like.

The editing also worked to improve the pacing. I wasn't a big fan of the flashback focuses but I understand why they were used - to cover up edits - and the plot points that were removed were noticeable for those of us who've seen the original but I don't think that obvious outside. I think the one point that might be questionable would be the Doctor/Susan/Alydon going to the city but they needed to show why the Doctor and Susan ended up captured.

The sound design is more mixed in my eyes. The way that they re-recorded a number of the Dalek scenes to speed up the edit or make some slight edits to the show (replacing the 'can't build a neutron bomb in time so need to cause the reactor to vent' story with just a neutron bomb one is an example) I thought worked very well; and bringing back David Graham (at 98 years old!) to record some of these new lines alongside Nicholas Briggs worked very well - you could tell a slight difference between the older and newer lines of Graham but it matched well; and really it was Briggs' well developed voice that stood out here. Where I felt the sound design didn't work quite as well was the new soundtrack - areas of it worked very well (and Mark Ayres always does a good job) but elements seemed slightly over the top and it also covered up voices at points which I suspect was as much because they needed to cover edits/the old soundtrack. I think they needed to do something for this show; but the limitations of what they were working from shows up.

Overall very much worth a watch - and I think a slight improvement on the original version. I see reasons to watch either of them but I think today I'd pick the colourised version as my favourite.

This story is probably the most important story in the history of Doctor Who - the week that the fourth episode of An Unearthly Child was commissioned the series was to be cancelled after 13 episodes; after this serial the show was commissioned for a whole year; and it continues to run 60 years later. All of that is down to one thing: the Daleks.

The main thing with this serial is the introduction of the Daleks - while I personally think there are other, better Doctor Who villains they are certainly the most memorable; and a highlight when they show up. This serial shows a more sane version of the Daleks than more recent shows - while they are still genocidal maniacs they would have murdered Ian, Barbara and Susan in Episode 2 in their later characterisations. Everything else is there though; the voice, the movement; the terror that they convey. The design in this story is great across the board factoring in the budget the BBC had: just goes to show that budget isn't everything.

The core story is also great - you've got the Doctor's subterfuge to explore the city via the fluid link showing him to be a ruthless person (with that showing him up here); the saga of the radiation sickness causing a bit of initial confusion on the nature of the Daleks (although pretty clear they were the main villains); then the attack on the city with the Thals which also involved questions over pacifism vs self defence. A lot of these features would return a lot in Terry Nation's future Dalek scripts; but in their initial form here it's very good. It also is very much an indication of 60s attitudes but that is to be expected.

The main negative here is that this story is incredibly slow - this is pretty standard across all 60s Doctor Who but especially so here. I feel like this could have been a few parts shorter without losing much: especially the areas where the TARDIS crew are imprisoned, and the sixth episode in the cave. I think this is comparatively small a negative though - the wider quality of the story and the production helps to cover this up. However it knocks this story down from being a top tier story down a level.

I'm reading the Target novelisations alongside a rewatch of the classic series; and my reviews will be focused on the novelisations themselves more than the story.

The TV story is a great first episode introducing the characters/story arc leading into a distinctly average story that also is as much focused on introducing the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan as in telling a compelling story by itself. Terrence Dicks' novelisation (which was written incredibly quickly; as this good was intended to cash in on the 20th anniversary of the show and an accompanying TV airing of the serial) is a good retelling of the story that was on TV and conveys the various rivalries and dramas present in the TV version more clearly; but it also doesn't expand on the version that aired on TV.

The actual writing itself is good (as you would expect from Dicks) and its clear why in a world before home video these books were very popular with readers; but in the world of today where the TV serial is easily available on DVD this is a novelisation that could be skipped.

I've always felt that An Unearthly child is a 5 star intro episode into a 2.5 star story - which averages into a good but not outstanding story.

The first episode is as good an intro to Doctor Who as you could get - and sets up the arc on the early shows (and arguably the whole Hartnell era) where the Doctor evolves from being this untrusting, quite crotchety old man to someone that is more accepting of others and generally warm hearted. Ian and Barbara are likely characters who play a big role in establishing key parts of early Doctor Who. The initial scenes in the TARDIS are iconic - and especially interesting to compare to more contemporary 'first time in the TARDIS' scenes.

This contrasts heavily with the caveman story in episodes 2-4. I think that going for a fairly understated intro story makes sense in order to develop the key character traits for the early scenes in a way that a story with a stronger support cast would not do. It does feel at odds with the initial educational aims of Doctor Who - the cavemen aren't exactly historically accurate from the records we have so the historical education merit is questionable.

What I really like is the way that it sets up future elements which shows that they had a longer term arc planned - the Doctor's geiger counter breaking setting up why the crew were unprepared on Skaro down the road; the Doctor being on the brink of committing murder to save his own skin shows that he started out as a much more ruthless character that moderated over time and other elements. The cavemen story has a very simple angle - a leadership battle between Za (son of the former chief) and Kal (an outsider that has great prowess in hunting) over the leadership with the ability to make fire the key point and the TARDIS crew trapped in the middle. It's one of the thinner Doctor Who plots in history and its of no surprise that the series was headed towards cancellation before the Daleks hit; but I think that works somewhat in this context.

Overall: an historical important serial simple for being the first story in the history; but outside that fact and the great first episode there's not a lot to get your teeth into here.