I think early Who is really cool, before the series of rather inane plots towards the end of the Hartnell era but I was really glad the show picked up speed considerably in the course of the first two seasons.
I haven't seen a lot from William Hartnell's final year but I don't much care for what I have seen. I've never been much of a 1st Doctor fan. What carries me through his stories is Ian, Barbara, and Susan.
Well, there isn't so much to
see, unfortunately.
I was referring to the time of Innes Loyd as producer. Somehow, I often found the plots incoherent and the stories not that meaningful, though there was enough to like for me to keep watching, or more often than I would have liked to, listening. It's very possible that my perception of this period also suffers from the fact so much of it is lost and incomplete. It's just not so much fun to watch reconstructions.
I really came to like the 1st Doctor a lot, his lovable grumpyness and the mmh, mmhs at the end of questions. Ian and Barbara are companions I like a lot but I could have done without Susan, or at least without her constant screaming, whining and general uselessness. I also liked Ben and Polly.
I'm sorry you didn't like
The Dalek Invasion of Earth. It's one of my favourite stories. I found the dystopian setting with the mind-controlled humans right at the beginning reasonably creepy. I also thought that some of the minor characters were fleshed out really well, especially the inventor guy who gets killed in a heroic stand-off with the Daleks.
It suffers a bit from the rather lame way the Daleks get defeated in the end but that's common for Dalek and Cybermen stories. Still I think they were quite effective villains because you couldn't reason with them and they were just merciless. Of course, I saw 'Dalek' longe before I saw any of the original Dalek stories so my perception might have been influenced by that.
I finished two stories recently. First,
The Mind Robber. Well, there goes my hope of having a female companion that's not constantly shrieking for no reason in Zoe. She does that a lot here, and at moments that aren't actually that terrifying. This story is one of those dreamlike settings that often just serve as vehicles for surreal and nonsensical props and plots. I'm not generally a fan of those. In this case, there is some meta fun to be had when the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are afraid of being turned into fiction. Also, the fight with the Karkus is really funny due to the Doctor's comments and I like how Zoe is channeling Emma Peel in the fight, complete with catsuit. The subplot with Jamie changing his face is also quite entertaining, although it was born out of outside circumstances (the actor was sick). I liked the white robots and the tin soldiers. All in all, this story drags on for way too long, the threat to humanity is contrived and the motivation of the aliens doesn't make much sense. They should have stayed with the story of the Master (sadly not The Master) just being tired of his role and looking for a replacement and the aliens just desiring entertainment. Also, Troughton overacts a lot in this. My verdict: meh.
Next up was
The Invasion. Hooray! When I first started watching the old show from the beginning I was impressed by it being such a modern and progressive show, seemingly very much in touch with its time (or as I imagine the 60s to be). Somewhere along the way, in the Innes Lloyd years mostly, the show had lost that appeal, but this serial brought this feeling back.
The Doctor and his companions are back in London of the 60s and the serial feels quite gritty and real. Zoe doesn't scream around but instead proves to be a valuable companion and also talks a computer to death.
I loved the lengthy build-up until we find out who's behind the invasion plans. I think this is the first Cybermen serial that's not hampered by gaping plot holes and a really stupid solution to fight them off. There are some minor points to nitpick, especially the "They're not logical circuits, they're emotional circuits" line and the fact that it takes UNIT only two hours to get from somewhere in Britain to Baikonur or wherever it was the Russians started their rockets from in that time.
The ending is also great, after the Doctor had done his best they were still stuck waiting whether the Russian rocket would destroy the Cybermen's ship in time. The slapstick scene at the end where the Doctor and his companions try to find the invisible Tardis was fun.
I really liked the animation for the two missing episodes. Granted, it didn't convey the full range of mimics of the respective actors but that's generally true for animation series. I found the backgrounds looking somewhat blurry a nice touch and fitting to the story. A great serial.
