First Doctor

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I am The Doctor. The 'original', you might say! [The Five Doctors [src]]


Profile

Biography

Early Life

The Doctor was born and lived his early life on Gallifrey, home planet of the Time Lords. In his first eight years of his life he was friends with the Master, the seventh incarnation of the Doctor related a story which explained his origins, alongside the Master's. He said that both he and the Master had been mercilessly and viciously bullied as children. The youthful Doctor found himself forced to kill the bully in order to save his friend's life. He was later confronted by Death, who insisted he become her disciple. The Doctor refused and instead suggested Death make the Master her champion instead, to which she agreed. The Doctor said that, because of this, he always felt partly responsible for the carnage the Master would later cause. (BFA: Master)

At the Academy, the Doctor belonged to a clique of ten young Time Lords with the collective name of the Deca, a group which included Koschei (later the Master) and Ushas (later known as the Rani), among others (PDA: Divided Loyalties). When he was 90 he visited the Medusa Cascade (DW: The Stolen Earth). The Doctor described himself as 'just a kid' then.

Life on Earth

For five months, Susan and the Doctor lived in 1963 London to enable Susan to complete her education and so that the Doctor could find some missing components for the TARDIS (DW: An Unearthly Child); as later revealed, he was also finding a hiding place for the Hand of Omega, although this fact was not obvious at the time (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks).

By this time, a Dalek had already discovered him. The Doctor's seventh incarnation also appeared in his past self's life on a mission from the White Guardian, to steal the TARDIS Instruction Manual. (DWM: Time & Time Again)

Two teachers Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton from Coal Hill School, tracked Susan down to a junkyard in 76 Totter's Lane, where the Doctor and Susan had left the TARDIS. Afraid they would expose him, the Doctor kidnapped the teachers. The TARDIS dematerialised and landed in 100,000 BC. (DW: An Unearthly Child)

Other travels

The Doctor remained unable to effectively pilot the TARDIS. Subsequently, the Doctor, Susan, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright travelled throughout the Universe, trying to find a way back to 1963 Earth.

In London during the time of the 22nd century Dalek invasion, Susan met David Campbell, a young resistance fighter against the Daleks. Recognising that Susan had matured from girl to woman, the Doctor left her behind. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)

Subsequently, the Doctor helped people in need and fighting such alien enemies as the Daleks (again), Zarbi (DW: The Web Planet) and the Cybermen (DW: The Tenth Planet).

File:HartnellSavages.jpg
The First Doctor considers the problem of the Savages and the Council of Elders.

Regeneration

He apparently succumbed to old age after his first meeting with the Cybermen, stating that "this old body is wearing a bit thin." Fortunately, the Doctor was able to return to the TARDIS in time to begin the regeneration process for the first time, transforming him into a new, younger body. (DW: The Tenth Planet)

Characteristics

The Doctor in a cape

Appearance

File:HartnellFrench.jpg
The Doctor trading his usual clothing for less conspicuous dress (DW: The Reign of Terror)

In his later life, the Doctor had shoulder length, greyish-white hair. He had piercing brown eyes.

The Doctor affected a slightly eccentric Edwardian dress sense, wearing a frock coat and tartan trousers. Occasionally he wore an Astrakhan (DW: An Unearthly Child, The Tenth Planet) or a Panama hat (DW: The Chase, The Daleks' Master Plan). He also sometimes wore a cape (DW: Planet of Giants, The War Games). He had reading glasses and used a walking stick which made an effective weapon. (DW: The Chase) The Doctor wore a blue signet ring which had special powers. (DW: The Daleks' Master Plan)

This version of the Doctor, in contrast with most that followed, tended to make at least subtle, but often gross, changes to his attire when in Earth's past. In almost every one of his historical stories, he made at least slight alterations to his "standard" wardrobe to make it easier to fit in with the local society, as when he wore a cowboy hat in nineteenth century Arizona. (DW: The Gunfighters)

Personality

A mysterious character, the Doctor progressed from selfish anti-hero to a more noble figure, defending truth and the innocent. He was by turns casually disdainful yet formally gracious; easily exhausted while walking yet almost gleeful during a physical confrontation; seemingly wise yet prone to mistakes borne of arrogance and rash judgment. During this phase in his life, the Doctor was irascible, a brilliant but often short-tempered scientist. He refused to bend his knee to the Kublai Khan, giving rheumatic knees as the reason. (DW: Marco Polo). He would get particularly snappish with those who doubted the TARDIS could actually travel through space and time. He had no problem hitting a Viking when his own life was threatened. (DW: An Unearthly Child, DW: The Time Meddler)

File:TypicalHartnell.jpg
A typical scowl.

At first he had a particularly selfish and duplicitous attitude. Having contempt for mere humans, he regarded them as primitives. He abducted Barbara and Ian against their will and set the TARDIS console to shock Ian into unconsciousness. Arguably, he even contemplated killing the mortally wounded Za so that he would not slow down the Doctor's party. (DW: An Unearthly Child) The Doctor also deliberately removed the TARDIS' fluid link so that he would have an excuse to explore the Dalek City on Skaro. (DW: The Daleks)

Initially, the Doctor found traveling with Humans a trying affair

Especially as time went on, however, he displayed great wisdom and a kind heart. Perhaps due to his age, he seemed frailer than his later incarnations. He also appeared somewhat absent-minded, but this may have been exaggerated to make his enemies underestimate him. The Doctor would, when pressed, resort to fisticuffs with an effectiveness which belied his age. (DW: The Romans, DW: The Chase) He claimed that a professional wrestler, the Mountain Mauler of Montana had taught him some effective moves. (DW: The Romans)

Unlike his successors, he was often as reliant upon his companions as they were upon him -- many times it was Ian or Steven who saved the day. Nonetheless, the First Doctor possessed an aura of power and intelligence which was impossible to ignore.

He often returned to Earth at various times in its history, apparently motivated by historical curiosity rather than a desire to preserve it against alien invaders. On his voyages to other planets, he was again motivated as much by curiosity as by a desire to help them.

The Master complimented this Doctor's wisdom and intellect, but also commented on "what a bore the fellow was". (Destiny of the Doctors)

It is notable that all of his future incarnations have a noticeably profound respect for the First Doctor, so much so that they dare not question his judgment. In DW: The Three Doctors the Time Lords used this to their advantage when the Second and Third Doctor were found incapable of working together. Even the First Doctor's presence on the TARDIS' monitor gave off enough authoritative aura to convince the Second and Third Doctor to work in harmony. In DW: The Five Doctors the original Doctor again shows his position of authority over his future selves by deducing the truth about Rassilon's gift of immortality before the others and taking action without their input or objections. These multiple Doctor stories also seem to hint that regeneration comes with the cost of gaps in memory and intelligence as the First Doctor is often shown to be wiser, more intelligent, and quick witted than his future incarnations.

The First Doctor was not particularly adept at hiding his feelings

Habits and Quirks

The First Doctor punctuated his speech with, "Hmmmm...?", exasperated sighs and snorts and the occasional mangled phrase or word. He would address young women as "child" and younger men as "my boy" or in Ian's case by his name. However, he found it difficult (or pretended to find it difficult) to remember Ian's last name. The TARDIS required expert piloting and guidance by the Doctor. This would explain the difficulty the Doctor encountered in returning to 1963 London in order to return Ian and Barbara to their lives. The Doctor consulted a small handbook. The Doctor never even hinted at the nature of his own origins, other than to state that he and the Monk originated on the same world and to hint that Susan and himself were exiles from the same place and time. (DW: An Unearthly Child)

Mysteries and Discrepancies

Family and relationship to Susan

This notion would seem to carry through to the Tenth Doctor, who has alluded to this and other familial relationships. He mentions being "a father once" to Rose Tyler. (DW: Fear Her).
  • Whatever their relation, the Doctor clearly treated her with greater affection than other companions. When it appears that he will be travelling alone now, he referred to her as "my little Susan" in a soliloquy in which he names all his previous companions (DW: The Massacre)
  • When she appeared lost in revolutionary France, the normally commanding incarnation is visibly shaken and must be calmed by Ian. Meanwhile, he offers Barbara — who is in equal peril — a mumbled "be careful" while rushing off to find Susan. (DW: The Reign of Terror)
  • The manner of her departure is equally unusual. She is to date the only companion to be physically locked out of the TARDIS, and the only companion whom the Doctor chose not to say goodbye to in person, when he had the ability to do so. (DW: The Dalek Invasion of Earth). Her departure moved him to a state of emotional discomfort. (DW: The Rescue)

The Daleks

The First Doctor seemed unfamiliar with the Daleks (DW: The Daleks), even though he had, we would learn later, hidden the Hand of Omega away on 1963 Earth, as part of an ongoing plan to defeat them. (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)

Other matters

  • When the Doctor, Vicki, Barbara and Ian were being chased by the Daleks through time, he claimed to have built the TARDIS. (DW: The Chase) This statement stands in stark contrast with later incarnations -- and Time Lord authorities -- who claimed that the TARDIS was stolen (EDA: The Gallifrey Chronicles); it has also been suggested that the TARDIS was grown, rather than built (DW: Rise of the Cybermen, The Impossible Planet). While the TARDIS could have been both grown and stolen, it is difficult to see how it could also have been built by the Doctor. Susan has made the claim that she coined the acronym TARDIS (DW: An Unearthly Child), leading to the possibility that the Doctor was somehow involved with the development of the TARDIS.
  • The computer WOTAN referred to the Doctor as "Doctor Who". Exactly why the computer would give the Doctor this name when he is never referred to as such is unknown. (DW: The War Machines)
See separate article.
  • The matter of this incarnation's age and how long this incarnation lived.
See The Doctor's age.

Key Life Events

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