An Unearthly Child

A Time Lord from another civilization, the Doctor has traveled through time and space brining thrilling cosmic adventures to millions of fans for over 25 years. Now the most familiar mystery figure in science fiction, the traveler from another world and a distant future first captured a generation of viewers on November 23rd, 1963. With the much missed William Hartnell as the first incarnation of the Doctor, this original unedited classic adventure returns us to the days he first seized our imaginations and begged the question 'Doctor Who?'

Visiting Britain in 1963 the Doctor's granddaughter has become a pupil at an ordinary school. A strange amalgam of teenage normality and uncanny intelligence she whets the curiosity of two teachers who become inextricably involved in the Doctor's strange travels. Proving that time goes round in circles, the Doctor blasts them back to a pre-civilized age of the Great Cold where tribal leaders battle for supremacy in a race to make fire. Thrown into the cave of skulls, the Doctor and his companions soon realize that their lives depend on two alternatives: making fire without matches or escaping through the forest of fear . . .

• "An Unearthly Child", the first Doctor Who adventure ever made, premiered on November 23, 1963 (one day after the Kennedy assassination).

• Hartnell's portrayal of the Doctor was very harsh in this first story but would be toned down over time.

• The Doctor Who Restoration Team have done extensive work on a U.K. re-release of this story by cleaning up both picture and sound quality.  Please note that this refers only to the U.K. re-release and not to the original CBS/Fox version released back in 1992.    

• Years after its first VHS release in 1992 this story, along with "The Daleks" and "The Edge of Destruction," were scheduled for a special box set release in the U.K.  Several months later the BBC decided to alter their plans and release each story individually over the course of three months.  A third change in the release plans was made by pushing "An Unearthly Child" back to the fall of 2000.  

• It now seems clear that Warner Home Video won't be re-releasing this restored version here in North America.  The previous distributor of Who videos (CBS/Fox) had been very tentative on this issue, only re-releasing two stories as of this date. 

• There may still be hope for the restored version to surface here in North America.  This story will likely see a DVD release sooner rather than later, so there may still be hope.  Time will tell...