Episode Details

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This is a further look at the stories of the First Doctor, portrayed by William Hartnell, during the 1960s.

The First Doctor, Part 5

The Celestial Toymaker

This is a wonderful story, and the Toymaker is another foe many Doctor Who fans wanted to see return, and in 2023 it happened. In the story The Giggle he returned, played this time by Neil Patrick Harris, and it is a very good story. But in this introduction of the character he is played by Michael Gough in a Fu Manchu-like costume, and he has great powers, but is bound by certain rules, which makes this interesting. When the Tardis lands in his world, he sets them games they have to survive to escape. They are games based on children’s games you might be familiar with, but they have a twist. The Doctor is told he must solve the Trilogic puzzle in exactly 1023 moves, and Steven and Dodo must win their games before the Doctor wins his. This story is pure entertainment but very well done.

But Hartnell’s decline continued. In this story there are scenes of The Trilogic Puzzle where a hand moves a piece, but it is not Hartnell’s hand, it is another actor. And Hartnell does not appear at all in episodes 2 & 3. Producer John Wiles had a plan to replace Hartnell whose contract was up at the end of the season, but he was over-ruled by BBC Head of Serials, Gerald Savory, who extended Hartnell’s contract, leading to John Wiles quitting the production. Hartnell would continue for now, but something would have to happen eventually.

The Gunfighters)

This is another historical story, but is embarrassingly bad. It takes the Tardis to Tombstone, Arizona at the time of the famous Gunfight at the OK Corral. Steven Taylor is mostly silly trying to act out childish fantasies of cowboys. The set up comes from the end of the previous story when the Doctor bites into a candy and yells in pain. He needs to see a dentist, and Doc Holliday, aside from being a gunfighter, is a dentist. Mistaken identities happen all over. This is light fluff, but is enjoyable if you give in to the silliness.

The Savages)

This is another story about who are the bad guys really, similar to Galaxy Four. In this case, Dodo and Steven are captured by what appear to be Stone Age savages. The Doctor, meanwhile, is taken to the city of the Elders, is greeted warmly. It seems they have been following his travels for some time and are great admirers of him. Steven and Dodo are rescued by soldiers from the City, and reunited with the Doctor. Then Dodo slips away and stumbles on experiments being conducted on human beings. So the Elders turn out to be the real Savages here. The lab is destroyed, the two groups decide to live together in peace, but they realize they need a leader who is from neither group and choose Steven to be their leader. So another companion goes. Only Dodo is left.

The War Machines

This is an “AI gone bad” story. A professor has built a computer to help manage the communications in the new Post Office Tower, which in fact was a new building in London. But the computer turns out to be more than anyone realized. But Doctor gets it right away when the computer correctly gives the meaning of TARDIS. Then it turns out that the computer can hypnotize people and make them