cantankerous-spinster:

The unaired pilot episode for An Unearthly Child is so dark and unsettling that it seems to have been trying to set the stage for a fundamentally different show. Not to mention dr. who is so thoroughly unlikable in the unaired pilot I did a double take, thinking isn’t this how you introduce an antagonist? gosh every time I rewatch it I get shocked by this all over again

Yes and I’m not sure how close the TV movie “An Adventure in Space and Time” to actual events but watching that unaired pilot I can see why Bill Hartnell would have had problems with the Doctor’s portrayal there (where he said something to Verity about him being too grouchy and asking “Where’s the twinkle?”).

onion-souls:

Still on my slow Doctor Who rewatch, and Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor might be my favorite version of the character. I prefer his lower power level. He’s a omnidisciplinary genius and scholar, but that’s it. That’s all you need for a classic sci-fi hero. He’s a small, unimposing guy who seems to be genuinely afraid of most of his monstrous villains, which I love. I like a hero who is afraid of the dangers of his world. Makes the hero loveable and relatable and the villains frightening. My biggest problem with Doctor Who is how downright smug it can get. The Doctor Whedon-quips through the crisis, everyone is afraid of him or in adoration, he can win swordfights against alien warriors and shrug lightning strikes and hundred foot falls…it gets superheroic and dumb. He was also more physically capable than the elderly First Doctor, which you could see putting a strain on the production of the first three seasons. So yeah, I think this version got the power level right.

The Second Doctor also had my favorite companion set, Jaime and Victoria or Zoe. I can’t tell which of the two female companions I prefer, they’re both great, but I think Zoe brings a better dynamic: a logical mathmatician from the late 21st century alongside an uneducated but brave 18th century highlander is a more interesting dynamic than 18th century Scot and Victorian Englishwoman, especially since they never adressed the obvious divide between a warrior opposing the Highland Clearances and an upperclass Londoner from the height of the Empire.

And wow this era has the best Time Lords. They are introduced as esentially a supernatural force, an electronic wind noise and a slow-time field. The two main heavies of their first serial are shown to be subserviant to a calm, ruthless mastermind called the War Lord, whose actor does an excellent job with very little. The Warlord is then completely shut down by the Time Lords, reduced to screaming in agony with a look. His final plot is casually foiled and he and his people are erased from time as part of a court procedure.

Lords. Of. Time. They get the point across.

Later depictions made them rather stuffy and more like Oxbridge professors with laser guns. They lost their majesty and terror. The recent series had them living in barns that look straight out of the Grapes of Wrath. I’m not sure why the creators want to make the Time Lords outright pathetic, but the final Second Doctor story gave them a perfect start. The Second Doctor felt like a hobo from this far grander civilization rather than their president and later savior.

Honestly? Agree. With all of it. You summed up why I love Two’s era (along with his companions) so much.