Written by Mark Gatiss
When the
news came down that they were planning on making a docudrama about the origins
of Doctor Who and the man who was the torchbearer for The Doctor William
Hartnell I was more than intrigued. In fact you could say I was really excited
to see this docudrama and at times I wanted to see this more than “The Day of
The Doctor.” Then the promotional
pictures were released and I saw how closely they paid attention to detail just
made the excitement level go up to a whole new level. Now I really wanted to see “An Adventure In
Space and Time” and see how the show came to fruition and the hardships it came
up against.
Now I have
finally watched “An Adventure In Space and Time” and I am lost for words on how
magnificent it was. Watching the origins
of the show unfold before my eyes was incredible. As most fans have only read about this we now
can see what happened and more importantly some of the events that made up the
origins of Doctor Who. It was
interesting to see Verity Lambert and Waris Hussein fight through the
prejudices of the time. What makes the show that more incredible is the
barriers it broke by having the first woman producer at the BBC. This is normal for the times as sexism and
racism was still strong back then and nothing was done about it like
today. Mark Gatiss did an excellent job
getting the feel of that era right down to the cigarette smoking which was a
common thing back then.
I really
was impressed with the sets and costumes.
The production crew really paid attention to detail and it all looked
like it did back in 1963 especially the Daleks city on Skaro. That looked amazing along with the sets they
used for Marco Polo and The Web Planet.
The costumes too were top notch and pretty accurate. It was amazing to see the sets and costumes
as they really did a great job on them.
But what was most impressive was how the TARDIS came about. Watching that scene on how they made the basis
for it was pretty interesting and then when you saw the set itself it was absolutely
stunning. It looked just like the set
they used for the William Hartnell stories and it was just amazing to see as it
was so breathtaking to see when they unveiled it for the first time.
David
Bradley was an excellent choice to play William Hartnell. He had the look and the mannerisms down
pat. It was like watching William
Hartnell himself on the screen. David
Bradley brought the man to life and in ways that many fans probably did not know. The way he showed us the true man and not the
actor that we see on TV was good to see even if some of it wasn’t
pleasant. There was also a sense of
sadness with William Hartnell as you could see as the years went on and the
people he enjoyed being with left the show.
The saddest was when they told him they didn’t want him to be The Doctor
anymore and you just felt sorry for him.
It was a very sad moment especially when he got home to his wife Heather
and started crying that he didn’t want to leave the show.
Even though
William Hartnell was a grumpy and difficult old man and hard to work with he
did have a charm to him that was shown in “An Adventure In Space and
Time”. Like when he went off on Carole
Ann Ford and then realized he was a jerk and made up for it by apologizing to
her by buying her flowers with an apology in the card. The scene that I really liked the most and
one that really defined the man was when he was approached by the school
children when he was sitting in the park with his wife. I smiled watching him marching with the
children and yelling exterminate. That
was a sweet scene and a side of William Hartnell that most people do not know.
Mark Gatiss
gave us an absolute masterpiece about the beginnings of Doctor Who. From Sydney
Newman coming up with the idea of Doctor Who right down to the regeneration
with Patrick Troughton. It was true to
form and was not sugar coated to put things in a better light and duplicated an
era that not many fans know about. It
was funny, sad and heartwarming at times and I’m sure it brought a tear to a
lot of the older Doctor Who fans like myself.
“An Adventure In Space and Time” was a really good anniversary present
for the fans and I myself truly enjoyed watching it. I also loved the surprise of seeing Matt
Smith at the end smiling and nodding to David Bradley’s William Hartnell giving
him a sense that what he started still goes on to this day and that was really
a great touch to end the docudrama on.
Thank you
Mr. Gatiss for giving us a wonderful movie to watch over and over and it is
indeed a wonderful present for the fans.
Grade A +
Photo Source
©BBC Doctor
Who 1963
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