An Unearthly Child
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| An Unearthly Child | |
|---|---|
| |
| Classic Series TV Story | |
| First Broadcast | 23rd November 1963 to 14th December 1963 |
| Episodes | An Unearthly Child; The Cave of Skull; The Forest of Fear; The Firemaker |
| Novelisation | Doctor Who and an Unearthly Child by Terrance Dicks |
| Script Book | The Tribe of Gum |
| Writer | Anthony Coburn |
| Director | Warris Hussain |
| Doctor(s) | the First Doctor |
| Companion(s) | Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright |
| Villain(s) | None |
| Location(s) | Coal Hill School, Foreman's Yard in Totter's Lane, The land inhabited by the Tribe of Gum |
| Date | 1963 (the first episode), An unknown timezone[1] |
| Next TV Story | The Daleks |
Contents |
Story Title
This story is also known as 100,000 BC[2] (the final working title) and as The Tribe of Gum[3] (an early working title), but is usually called An Unearthly Child (the title of the first episode).
Characters
Alien Species
Organisations
Objects
- The Doctor's TARDIS
- The TARDIS Yearometer
- The TARDIS Radiation Meter
- The Doctor's Pipe
- The Doctor's notebook
- Matches
- Fire
- Skulls
Technobabble
None.
Honourable Mentions
People/Objects
Objects
- The TARDIS Chameleon Circuit (referred to but not named)
- An Ionic Column
- A Sedan Chair
Organisations
Species
Other Information
Duration
The story lasts for three days. Events in 1963 take place within one day, and there are two nights during the caveman episodes.
Death Count
Three. Kal kills Old Mother in The Forest of Fear, and a guard in The Firemaker[4], and is killed by Za in The Firemaker
References
- ↑ Quite possibly 100,000 BC, as in the working title. The TARDIS Yearometer reads zero, and the Doctor says that they are in the past.
- ↑ See, for example, The Television Companion and The Handbook by Howe, Stammers, and Walker
- ↑ Most notably in the script book
- ↑ Although it's not confirmed that he's dead, rather than just unconscious.
Quotes
"This doesn't roll along on wheels, you know" - The Doctor on the TARDIS in An Unearthly Child
"A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere in time and space." - Ian on the TARDIS in An Unearthly Child
"I know that free movement in time and space is a scientific dream I don't expect to find solved in a junkyard." - Ian in An Unearthly Child
"Your arrogance is nearly as great as your ignorance" - The Doctor insults Ian in An Unearthly Child
"Show me some proof. Give me some concrete evidence." - Ian's reaction to being told the TARDIS has moved in The Cave of Skulls
Ian: "Time doesn't just go round and round in circles. You can't get on and off whenever you like in the past or the future."
The Doctor: "Really? Where does time go then?"
Ian: "It doesn't go anywhere. It just happens and then it's finished."
"If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?" - The Doctor in The Cave of Skulls
"Old men never like new things to happen." - Za in The Cave of Skulls
"Fear makes companions of all of us." - The Doctor in The Forest of Fear
External Links
Doctor Who Reference Guide - detailed synopsis of the story
