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:This article is about the Doctor Who serial. For information about this year, see references at Centuries.100,000 BC was the very first serial in the BBC television series Doctor Who. It features William Hartnell as The Doctor.
1 Synopsis
Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, two schoolteachers, become concerned about one of their pupils, Susan Foreman. Visiting her home, they discover that she appears to live in a junkyard with her grandfather. In fact, Susan and her 'grandfather' are aliens, who can travel through time and space in the TARDIS, a spaceship disguised as a police box which is notable for being much larger on the inside than it is on the outside.
The four travel to the paleolithic era (presumably on Earth, though this is never stated) and encounter a primitive tribe which has lost the secret of fire.
2 Writer
Anthony Coburn
3 Main cast
- The Doctor: William Hartnell
- Susan Foreman: Carole Ann Ford
- Barbara Wright: Jacqueline Hill
- Ian Chesterton: William Russell
- Hur: Alethea Charlton
- Horg: Howard Lang
- Za: Derek Newark
- Old Mother: Eileen Way
- Kal: Jeremy Young
4 Notes
- The first episode of 100,000 BC, "An Unearthly Child", had to be refilmed due to technical problems and errors made during the performance. During the days between the two tapings, changes were made to costuming, effects, performances, and the script. Changes made before the final version was filmed include a thunderclap sound effect was deleted from the opening theme music; Susan's dress changed to make her look more like a schoolgirl than the original costume which made her appear more alien and sensual; a reference to The Doctor and Susan being from the 49th Century was replaced by them being from "another time, another world and the door of the TARDIS control room was repaired so that it closed properly.
- In many ways this is a two-part story; there is a strong discontinuity between the first episode, introducing the characters and establishing the premise of the series, and the three episodes set in the paleolithic. The first episode, in particular, is often seen as a classic of television science fictionScience fiction generally speaking, is a form of speculative fiction which deals principally with the impact of imagined science and/or technology upon society or individuals. There are, perhaps, exceptions to (or at least, some very unusual examples of) (though the contemporary critical reaction was less positive).
- The first episode of Doctor Who was transmitted the day after the assassination of John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy ( May 29, 1917 November 22, 1963), often referred to as Jack Kennedy or JFK was the 35th ( 1961 1963) President of the United States. He was the youngest ever to be elected president and the youngest president ever to die in office. There is a myth that the transmission was delayed by ten minutes due to extended news coverage, though in fact it went out just eighty seconds late.
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