 William
Hartnell played the part of The Doctor as a wonderfully eccentric
grandfather figure with a heart of gold, crotchety but with
a sharp intellect and a concern for others especially his 'granddaughter', Susan.
However, as further material has been published over the years,
we have learned even more about The Doctor’s life prior
to his initial departure from Gallifrey, as well as the circumstances
that resulted in him leaving his home in the first place.
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However,
even amid all the answers we have learned over the years about The Doctor’s past prior to the show, his exact origins are a mystery.
Some sources suggest that his father was a Time Lord known as Ulysses
while his mother was a human from the Victorian era known as Penelope
Gate, but other information suggests that The Doctor is the ‘reincarnation’ of
the Other, one of the first, greatest and most mysterious Time Lords
to ever exist, potentially greater even than Rassilon and Omega,
who sacrificed himself to create the genetic Looms that allowed Gallifrey
to continue despite the curse of sterility imposed on the planet
by their one-time ruler, the Pythia. Neither one of these two possibilities
have ever been expressly confirmed or denied as being the truth,
but when the generally stagnant nature of Time Lord society is taken
into account, it is clear that the independently-thinking Doctor
is far from being a normal Time Lord regardless of the precise details
of his origins.
Despite
these mysteries, however, it is known for a fact that, while at school,
The Doctor was a surprisingly independent individual for a Time Lord,
preferring to do his own thing rather than automatically obey all
the rules and restrictions that were forced upon him by the society
he lived in. Although he lived in the house of Lungbarrow, only his
cousin Innocet was ever kind to him, with his other relatives teasing
him for his attitude, and being seen as a bit of an outsider even
by his fellow student in the Deca, the ten most elite students of
their year of the academy (who included his future enemies, such
as Koschei (The Master),
Ushas (The Rani),
Mortimus (The
Meddling Monk), and Magnus (War
Chief)). During one particularly low moment in his life, when
temporarily suspended from the Academy for his rebellious attitude,
The Doctor convinced his friends Rallon and Millenia to accompany
him on a quick trip away from Gallifrey to confront the being known
as The
Celestial Toymaker, resulting in Ruath being taken as the Toymaker’s
host and Millenia being trapped in his toyshop as a living doll.
The Doctor was released, but only because the Toymaker foresaw that
he would be a worthy opponent later in life when he’d had the
chance to mature. Although The Doctor was expelled from the academy
as a result of his actions, he was eventually re-admitted after acquiring
his doctorate, but his rebellious attitude meant that he never committed
himself to his studies, and only passed his qualifying exams to become
a Time Lord with 51% on the second attempt.
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Eventually
forbidden to return to his family home and ‘replaced’ by
a new Cousin in the form of Owis, The Doctor was nevertheless invited
back when Quences, the head of his family house of Lungbarrow, was
called upon to read his will, but refused to do so until The Doctor
was present, having decided to make him his successor. During a confrontation
with his cousin Glospin - who sought to taunt The Doctor about proof
he’d obtained that seemed to prove The Doctor wasn’t
a member of the House of Lungbarrow, - the sudden appearance of the
Hand of Omega drove Glospin off and forced The Doctor to flee, accidentally
travelling into Gallifrey’s distant past. Arriving in the strangely
familiar streets of his world’s past, he met a strangely familiar
girl who instantly recognised him as her grandfather, and, somehow,
he knew that her name was Susan. Together, they departed Gallifrey
to explore Time and Space, knowing that neither of them could ever
return home again.
During
a brief trip to a human colony in the future, The Doctor adopted
his old nickname as an official title for himself for the first time
when he was given the clothing of a Doctor after his old clothes
was damaged, subsequently developing an increased interest in humanity
that led to him deciding to establish a home for himself on Earth
in 1963. After
breaking the Time Lord’s anti-interference policy - a belief
so deeply ingrained into Time Lord society that The Doctor was initially
unable to do anything against it despite his own nature - by defeating
a being called the Cold ("Time and Relative"),
The Doctor was first directly introduced to an audience in the middle
of a dark and gloomy junkyard on a foggy night in London. The first
impression is of a cantankerous old man who is very angry and quick
to blame others like when schoolteachers, Barbara
Wright and Ian
Chesterton, force themselves inside the TARDIS,
leaving him feeling that he has no other choice but to take off with
them inside, leaving him unable to take them back to their own time
due to his currently-erratic piloting skills - implied to be the
result of either damage to the ship or security programs created
by his own people ("Heart
of TARDIS") and with the TARDIS’s
chameleon circuit swiftly becoming stuck as a police box. ("An
Unearthly Child").
However,
his quick and intelligent mind, and his keenness for solving problems
and for talking his way out of difficult situations, meant that he
was soon respected by Barbara and eventually Ian who both realised
that under his gruff exterior was a person who they could trust,
the initial hostility between the group swiftly ending after they
worked together to defeat the Daleks ("The
Daleks") and
save the TARDIS from destruction in the Big Bang ("The
Edge of Destruction"). The Doctor also grew to respect both
of them when he realised that they were not a threat to him or Susan
and that their abilities could be used to his advantage, with Ian
helping The Doctor handle the more physical side of their adventures
through time and space. The two of them as a whole provided The Doctor
with the human influence that he would greatly need in his travels
through the universe and his fights against evil wherever he found
it, encouraging him to get involved in some of the affairs he found
himself discovering during his travels as they investigated various
strange mysteries on the planets they arrived on.
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The
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The Best Doctor
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Throughout
the whole of the First Doctor's era his exact origins were never
revealed, except that he is not from Earth, although his truly
alien origins were concealed due to him only possessing a single
heart (Time Lords grow the second one upon their first regeneration,
as revealed in "The
Man in the Velvet Mask") and no reference being made
to his explicit age. He liked to get his own way and was always
eager to investigate, despite frequent warnings to his companions
about the dangers of interfering. As he warns Barbara 'The events
will happen, just as they are written. I'm afraid so, and we
can't stem the tide. But at least we can stop being carried
away with the flood.' "The
Reign of Terror"). As a result, in his early days he
typically only became involved in the affairs he encountered
when outside circumstances prevented him from leaving directly,
such as when a component of the TARDIS was lost during their
temporary captivity by the Daleks ("The Daleks"),
when outside forces prevented them from returning to the TARDIS
("The
Sorcerer's Apprentice", "The
Keys of Marinus"), or simply losing the TARDIS key,
although he clearly still felt a great deal of compassion and
respect for the people involved, praising the resolve of the
people of Sarath as they fought to survive even as their moon
fell towards their planet ("City
at World's End").
While
he still protested against the casual interference of his old friend
Mortimus - now known as the Meddling Monk - as he attempted to alter
the outcome of the Battle of Hastings simply because he thought it
would be ‘more fun my way’ ("The
Time Meddler"), The Doctor now recognised that he had a
duty to protect the innocent where he could, standing up for those
who needed a champion in their darkest moments against the forces
of those who would seek power at the cost of others. His initially
rigid opposition to interference is particularly reflected in his
clothing; while other Doctors tend to wear the same clothes regardless
of the era they are currently visiting, this Doctor regularly altered
his attire to better blend in to the past eras he visited, even wearing
a toga during his time in Rome ("The
Romans"), although he retained his Victorian-based costume
when visiting the future and other planets.
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He
was always protective towards all of his companions but especially
Susan and was always concerned for her safety and well being. It
was because of this that when he realised that she was quickly
growing up and had fallen in love with a resistance fighter on
Earth that he forced her to leave him by locking her out of the
TARDIS. 'One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until
then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go
forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken
in mine. Goodbye, my dear. Goodbye, Susan.' ("The
Dalek Invasion of Earth"). (A promise that he eventually
fulfilled in his eighth incarnation
("Legacy
of the Daleks")).
Following
Susan’s departure, he came to see some of his subsequent companions,
such as Vicki and Dodo , as
being almost ‘Susan substitutes’, each of them reminding
him of his granddaughter in some way, although this apparent desire
to ‘keep’ some part of Susan with him on his travels
ended after his first regeneration. Although he sometimes argued
with companions such as Steven and Ian on various ethical matters,
his dedication to and affection for his friends remained evident
regardless of their personal conflicts, particularly when Steven
attempted to leave him and he was briefly left alone in the TARDIS
for the first time since his travels began, contemplating whether
he should return home before he recognised that he couldn’t
do such a thing yet ("The
Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Eve").
He
values all life, in whatever its form and never actively seeks
out a confrontation, much preferring to observe in the background
and develop plans, although he was never afraid to take centre
stage when the occasion called for it, such as when he confronted
the power-hungry sorcerer Gramling ("The Sorcerer’s
Apprentice") or stood up to the ruthless Schirr terrorists
known as the Ten-Strong, who had terrorised Earth’s future
empire for decades ("Ten
Little Aliens"). He would
only get involved fighting against injustice and oppressors
when events got out of control and then only resorting to violence
where necessary preferring to use diplomacy. He did however
at times become so engrossed with events happening around him
that he allowed his judgement to become clouded. His passion
for discovery and righting the wrongs of the universe made him
a truly likeable Doctor if not frustrating at times for his
companions, most notably with his habit of constantly getting
Ian’s name wrong (Calling him everything from ‘Chesterfield’ to ‘Chatterton’).
Despite his age and apparent absent-mindedness, this Doctor’s
mind and burned as sharply as any of his other selves, allowing
him to quickly deduce that a massive spaceship being constructed
on the distant planet of Sarath was a fake based on nothing
more than a couple of casual slips of the tongue and a visual
estimation of its mass and power capabilities ("City at
World’s End"). His strength of will was also significant,
when faced with the Gods of Myth, beings whose powers and abilities
were based around the belief others had in them, The Doctor
escaped being burnt to death because his belief in himself outweighed
the belief that an entire park full of people had in the God
who had hurled a fireball at him ("Salvation"), and
on another occasion he was able to single-handedly hold back
a mental pulse capable of immobilising eight people with only
his mind, although it left him fatigued from the effort ("Ten
Little Aliens").
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Even
though he had a keen mind The Doctor did suffer sometimes from poor
health and would at times become breathless when trying to keep up
with his more active and younger companions, a fact that often frustrated
him given his relative youth by Time Lord standards. Although he
could be sprightly when called upon, such as when he fought against
a skilled martial artist ("The
Eleventh Tiger") or against his robotic duplicate ("The
Chase"), he typically paid for it later by being even more
fatigued than usual afterwards. For a time he attempted to resist
his approaching regeneration, afraid at the thought of losing a part
of himself in the transformation, even trying to set things up so
that his companions would leave him alone when the moment to change
finally came to pass, influencing Steven
Taylor to serve as leader of a
group of humans in the distant future ("The
Savages") and
sometimes contemplating doing the same to Dodo ("The
Man in the Velvet Mask"). Despite his attempts to die alone, however,
he finally became unable to resist the change after exposure to the
cold environment of the South Pole and the energy-draining encounter
with Mondas, and at the very end of the story when he returns to
the TARDIS he collapses, and then, in front of new companions Ben and Polly, regenerates into a much younger and dark haired man ("The
Tenth Planet").
The
character of the First Doctor also appeared in the 10th anniversary
story "The
Three Doctors" (Albeit trapped in a time eddy
and only able to advise his two future selves), and also the 20th
anniversary special "The Five Doctors", the role of which
was played by Richard Hurndall. His mental ‘ghost’ also
appeared to the Seventh
Doctor’s companion Ace when she was
trapped in The Doctor’s mind during the final fight against
the Timewyrm ("Timewyrm:
Revelation"), where he was portrayed
as an elderly Librarian guarding The Doctor’s memories inside
his mind. Despite his greater physical age and short temper compared
to his other selves - indeed, the Fourth
Doctor once
referred to his first incarnation as ‘the grumpy one’ ("Dimensions
in Time") - during later meetings he would often mentally outstrip
his future incarnations, deducing the true nature of the Game of
Rassilon before the Second,
Third and
Fifth Doctors
("The Five
Doctors") and quickly identifying the true purpose of the time
bridge sent by Omega to capture the Third Doctor, the Second Doctor
later confirming that he had a great deal of respect for his first
incarnation’s advice ("The Three Doctors").
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