Doctor Who - The Beginning Reviews

Worth another look...

Although 'An Unearthly Child' and 'The Daleks' have already been released on VHS, they are worth looking at again as they've been restored and are nice clean bright copies. However, it is the extras which make this release worth seeing. With 'an Unearthly Child' included is the original unedited version of the first episode and short short comedy sketches by Mark Gatiss, plus a theme music video. In 'The Daleks' there is a very interesting documentary about the origins of the daleks. The third DVD in the set, 'The Edge of Destruction,' is only two episodes and is rather claustrophobic, being set in the Tardis only. One extra on this disk is a special 30 minute story of the 'lost' Marco Polo story. Overall, if you are interested in the early days of Dr Who, this is worth renting.

The original article

If you're a fan of Tom Baker, you wont know what's hit you. This isn't the eccentric, bohemian, Doctor; this guy has an attitude - and it's not always pleasant.

Seriously well written and fresh 40 odd years on; as a child of the Star Wars age I didn't give a damn that the TARDIS walls were painted fabric, the actors just enthralled me.

An essential for any sci-fi, not just a Whovian.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Classic!

The first three stories of Sci-Fi history. When Doctor Who first started the BBC didn't know if it would work or not. All these decades later it's popular than ever. This is a great set for those who have never seen the origins of the programe. Witness the Daleks for the first time! This is Doctor Who as it was, wobbly sets, dodgy special effects and William Hartnell forgeting his lines. It's classic and well worth watching.

See how it all began

See the very first episodes of the series that started nearly half a century ago. Despite the low budget & cumbersome cameras, all the acting is very good and the whole thing has a sense of mystery and suspence. Lots of interesting extras also make this one worth renting.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Good to see how it started

Good to see how Doctor Who started. The Doctor is Susan's grandfather (not uncle as the synopsis wrongly states), although he does seem to be quite a different character to the later Doctors, which is to be expected to some extent, but here the Doctor seems rather arrogant at times. Fortunately his granddaughter Susan is more sensible and towards the end of the story, the Doctor seems kinder and nicer.

Also included on the DVD are some short comedy sketches from other programmes, all related to Doctor Who. One includes a reported played by Nicholas Briggs, currently the voice of the Daleks and Cybermen, and at the end, an appearance by an actor who appeared many times in Doctor Who (you have to watch it to found out who).

Worth watching this DVD if you are a Doctor Who fan, and despite the limited budget and special effects, the story is worth watching.

One for the collection

I only rented this DVD too see if was any good and can honestly say this is one of the DVD's that I will be adding to my collection, OK it may be in black & white and the props are cheaply done but the acting and storylines can compete with todays Dr Who.

A real must for all true Who fans

[Highly rated reviewer]

Edge of Destruction

The 3rd DVD in this collection, this has a short 2-part story which seems to have been a filler between the Daleks story and Marco Polo. It does have some very good extras on the DVD though, including the Origins of Doctor Who and the Marco Polo story shown as photos and audio, as the original video was erased by the short-sighted BBC at the time. The main story on here though I thought was a waste of time, as it did nothing and went nowhere. It could have been condensed into 5 minutes as an intro to Marco Polo, but I guess the BBC were short of cash and had to save up the money to make Marco Polo by making these two episodes set just in the Tardis with no baddies, no effects, no real storyline. Just people getting knocked out and hallucinating, in a contrived story of the Tardis being stuck in going back in time and stopping itself, all due to a faulty switch.

Only rent this DVD if you want to see the extras.

Interesting

... if you want to see how it all started.

William Hartnell as the Dr. character plays it as a batty old grand-dad. This is quite different in terms of character positioning to the nearly omniscient galactic enforcer (according to his own PR) Dr. that you get by series 9.

I guess that they were not thinking that Dr Who would become as epic as it has become.

William Hartnell never has any real idea where they have landed for half of the episodes and continuously needs rescuing from the earthlings he has unwillingly brought along.

The female teacher character looks very reminiscent of Cherie Blair.

Brilliant and original

Being a huge Who fan I could not wait for this DVD. Expertly written and directed and containing some quite chilling scenes. The Daleks (this is the first time they were ever seen) are brilliantly brought to life and provide the Doctor with his first 'monster'. Watch it!!

The Beginning

Enjoyable to see how the long running series started. Worth a look.