Hey youtubers it’s Charlie and this week on Doctor Who we saw the Daleks for the first
time again since Peter Capaldi became the Doctor so I thought it would be fun to do
a video for my favorite first appearances of characters and things.
This year is all about correcting mistakes of the past, so we will be re-visiting a lot
of classics.
A good example is Coal Hill school.
They made the introduction of Danny Pink and Clara similar to the way the series introduced
Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton when we first saw Coal Hill in Unearthly Child.
So this will be a top 5 of first introductions.
My Q&A video will post later tonight or early tomorrow morning depending on which time zone
you’re in.
So still plenty of time to enter the giveaway.
Starting off with Number 5 - The First Doctor Lies
The Doctor didn’t start quoting the infamous rules till later incarnations but one of the
first instances of “The Doctor Lies” was during Unearthly Child.
Well during Cave of the Skulls which was part of the first serial.
The way they organized stories back then was very different from the way hour long episodes
are written today.
While visiting pre-historic times the Doctor is accosted by a caveman who claims he saw
him make fire.
But when asked to reproduce in front of everyone he finds he’s forgotten his matches inside
the TARDIS.
One of the Cavemen cries liar.
It’s not a Doctor’s Rules moment, but thematically it’s a moment all about broken
promises, broken trust.
The Caveman who found the Doctor trusted him to help him and The Doctor failed to produce
when he was put on the spot.
Moffat is really good about taking bits and themes from the past and weaving them into
new stories.
Since there are so many first Doctor references in the first two episodes and capaldi is correcting
mistakes of the past.
I’m wondering if we’ll continue to see Capaldi trust issues come up.
He wants to be a good man but his nature often gets the better of him.
Like when they were inside the Dalek and he stopped for a moment and marveled at the idea
of a good dalek and completely changed the mission to explore this new crazy thing unfolding
in front of his eyebrows.
Just as side note the first acknowledged instance of the actual list of Doctor Who rules.
When he specifically says Rule Number 1 was during the fourth doctor’s run in Ribos
Experiment.
It was Do Exactly as I say though.
Rule Number 1 changed a lot of times but The Doctor Lies and Don’t Wander off are my
favorite rules.
On to Number 4 - First Instance of The TARDIS acting like it’s own character
The best most recent example is the Doctor’s Wife where the TARDIS literally becomes a
person for a brief period.
But the first time it acted like a character on the show was during the first doctor’s
run in the third serial Edge of Destruction.
While leaving Skaro in the previous serial “The Daleks” the Doctor hits the fast
return switch on the TARDIS and it gets stuck.
As a result the TARDIS starts traveling uncontrollably back to the beginning of time which will cause
it to explode.
The TARIS starts behaving weirdly as a way to communicate the danger to the Doctor and
his companions.
So the story is all about the people trying to communicate with the TARDIS, figure out
what’s wrong and fix it before everyone dies.
Of all the Missy theories, the TARDIS theory is probably my favorite, just because of the
impact it might have on the story.
I think she’ll really be someone much more sinister as the TARDIS or the Doctor’s TARDIS,
seemed like more of a benevolent motherly force.
Missy seems way more like brainwashed Melody Pond.
Edge of Destruction as a tv story was also big because it was team bonding episode for
the Doctor and his companions, which makes me feel like we’ll see something similar
when Danny Pink boards the TARDIS.
They’ll have some internal crisis to overcome, Danny Pink, Clara and The Doctor will work
through it and start trusting each other more.
Number 3 - The Daleks Invade Earth
This was one of the first big instances of the series bringing the space battle down
to earth.
Previously it had always been the companions being whisked away by the Doctor Peter Pan
style.
But now the horrors of space brought the adventure to them.
They recreated this scene during Mark Gatiss’ Adventure in Time and Space too for any who
didn’t see it.
It also became one of the first times the Daleks started using the battle cry “Exterminate”.
Before that they had said Exterminated.
But Exterminate would go on to be the famous line.
This was also the first time a companion left the series.
Susan, in the context of the story falls in love with a freedom fighter and rather than
make her choose between him and her new love.
The Doctor locks her out of the TARDIS.
I know there’s a lot of rumors about Clara leaving in the Christmas Special.
We can talk more about that as we get closer to the series 8 finale.
I mentioned it in an earlier video, but the finale is also going to pay tribute to another
famous alien invasion from the Second Doctor’s run.
Number 2 - The First Appearance of The Master
John Simms was my first Master but for a lot of the fandom, Roger Delgado is still the
biggest version.
Just like Tom Baker is the most famous Doctor.
He was written into the series during the third doctor’s run in Terror of the Autons.
There were other stories that explained what the Master was doing before Terror and they
even retconned him into earth’s history to show that he had been there before the
third doctor was exiled by the time lords.
I know everyone wants to see the character return, and there are a lot of female master
theories based on Moffat’s comments about the Master being dead and Missy’s time-lord
like abilities.
In the expanded novels and audio drama canon the story goes that The Master was imprisoned
on another planet but the Time Lords released him so that he would create havok for The
Doctor and keep him busy.
The comics have also retconned the master so that he ended up crossing paths with the
second doctor.
Even though in the tv series he didn’t debut till the third doctor’s run.
Everyone has their own favorite doctor who villain, but the master is still moriarty
to the doctor’s sherlock.
And all the Danny Pink, Watson references make me wonder if Moffat is doing the Missy
Mistress thing as part of a larger Sherlock theme.
It might just be a coincidence.
But I love the idea that Moffat would try to slip a Wholock crossover past us without
people realizing it.
Maybe that’s what the equations are for.
The key to the Doctor Who universe crossing over with the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock
universe?
and my Number 1 first - The First Appearance of Gallifrey
This was during the second doctor’s run in War Games.
The Doctor has to stop an alien race from creating a super army to conquer the galaxy.
The Doctor asks the Time Lords for help but in doing so, submits himself to sanctions
for stealing the TARDIS during his first incarnation.
The planet isn’t called Gallifrey, just the Home of the Time Lords.
But it’s the first official time we saw his home.
Part of series 8 is taking the long way round to the pocket universe where gallifrey is
located and I’m sure some of you have seen the spoilery images from the finale.
So if you want to comment on possible connections to the second doctor’s final story just
use spoiler tags.
Gallifrey as a destination is also rumored to play a role in series 8 but we don’t
know how or when.
I at least think we’ll see it in the finale.
So I’m wondering if Capaldi or Clara will ask them for help again at a price.
Capaldi is staying on for series 9 but Jenna Coleman is still uncertain.
So it’s possible she could be collateral damage in the conflict of the finale and the
Missy story.
Unless missy is a future version of Clara.
Then everything gets way more confusing.
But let me know what your favorite first Doctor Who moment is.
The first use of a catch phrase, the first time we saw a monster.
Anytime something was done for the first time.
Like I said, my Q&A will post later tonight or tomorrow depending on which time zone you
live in.
The giveaway for this week will be open until I make that video.
All you have to do to enter the giveaway is be a subscriber and leave a comment.
Since next week is Robot of Sherwood I might make my next bonus video about my favorite
fictional characters in doctor who history.
Like when the show took a fantasy character from a book and made them a character on the
show.
But feel free to leave me suggestions for other bonus video topics.
Right now click here for the Q&A, I’ll add the annotation as soon as I post it.
and click here for my episode 2 review.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tonight.
High Fives!