Been a Doc for 61 Years and They Could Work on Their Bedside Manner

They have evolved since the 1960s into someone much more tolerable but boy were they awful.

Doctor Who

I’ve been rewatching old Doctor Who episodes and when I say old I mean old. Like black-and-white, almost no editing, stammering words, slight malfunctions on camera old (on BritBox, yes I sprung for the subscription even though I’m not from or in the UK). I’m still on the first doctor (William Hartnell) who is accompanied by his grand-daughter and two of her school teachers who have the misfortune of joining the Doctor and Susan (his grand-daughter) on their ship (the TARDIS, but so far he hasn’t actually said its name yet).

I’ve seen Doctor Who before but only some of the David Tennant episodes and at least half of Matt Smith’s, but I wanted to watch the show from the start and not just when it was picked up again by the BBC after its decades long hiatus. I wanted to watch the black-and-white sexism, racism, and very problematic behavior that existed back in the 1960s and on. Not because we miss ‘the good old days’ because lets face it that sounds terrible, but more from a historical and evolutionary standpoint.

More specifically like the title states the Doctor isn’t that great but from what I’ve seen of the more modern Doctors they become much more well-mannered. For example, Hartnell’s Doctor is a jacka**. I don’t know if he was written to be a curmudgeny old man or if he just has a gigantic ego or even because he’s a being from another planet and the TARDIS is kind of the only thing he has from his home so he’s attached to it or something (even though they haven’t touched on any of that yet). But he is blatantly obnoxious and I am constantly asking Susan (in my head or outloud) why do you defend him to your teachers? In a more recent episode that I watched (again its from the ‘60s so this is based on when I watched the show last) he threatens to leave Susan’s teachers (his new companions that he’s had a chance to get to know for over a month (seemingly)) at an unknown location because he thinks they’ve done something to himself and his ship all while having absolutely no proof. Mind you, leaving the teachers wherever they are is extremely dangerous because in that particular moment they (the Doctor, Susan, the teachers) have no idea where they are. For all the Doctor knows they are on a desert like planet and he’s going to leave them there to die.

However, decades later Tennant and Smith’s Doctors have built a much better relationship to their companions (whom they are not related to). And when Tennant and Smith make an unfortunate decision like leaving their companions where they found them or making them forget about them they do it not because they’re being selfish but because it is best for the well-being of their companions even though it breaks their (Tennant and Smith’s) hearts.

If you choose to purchase a subscription to BritBox to watch Classic Doctor Who you won’t regret it. I know there are much worse Doctors just over the horizon as I can see their creepy faces (if I’m not mistaken one Doctor may actually attack their companion (I believe he may in the ‘70s or something)) so I’m not really looking forward to them. But I do love their human companions you join them on their amazing adventures!

Classic Doctor Who

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