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"Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? To be exiles?"
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| The First Doctor: A Citizen of the
Universe |
 When schoolteachers Ian Chesterton
and Barbara Wright meet the grandfather of student Susan Foreman,
they see him as a crotchety old man with secrets to hide. While they
gradually learn more about The Doctor, neither he nor Susan tells
them the truth of their origins, and on occasion, The Doctor
actually misleads them into believing that he's human (The Keys
of Marinus, The Sensorites). At this stage The Doctor
seems concerned with getting home (primarily for Susan's sake, since
he rarely mentions it after she leaves). The Doctor never completely
loses the arrogance that he initially displays to his new
companions, but as their adventures continue his attitude gradually
mellows as he learns what Susan already knows, that even ordinary
humans have admirable qualities. He learns to respect and admire
both teachers, and they come to consider him a friend. Many of their
early adventures are the result of The Doctor's desire for
knowledge, and it's only later, as he is influenced by his human
companions, that he begins to act for more compassionate reasons.
After Susan leaves, he welcomes the orphaned Vicki warmly and
treats her as a surrogate granddaughter. When Barbara and Ian
finally find a way home he's reluctant to let them leave and
attempts to hide his feelings, but though he realizes that he'll
miss them, he's happy that they return safely. More companions join
and leave The Doctor through the rest of this incarnation, and he
treats them all with this same mixture of bluster and compassion.
Two companions die during an attempted Dalek conquest, and for a
time he seems reluctant to interfere further in the course of
history, but events convince him that he cannot stand by when there
is evil to be defeated. After this his resolve seems firm again,
even when the actions he takes against the Cybermen exhaust him and
force him to regenerate for the first time.
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| Who IS The First Doctor? |
 The First Doctor has long white hair and a somewhat
severe face. He dresses in the style of a Victorian or Edwardian
gentleman, often wears a fur hat and a cape or cloak, and frequently
carries a walking stick. The fact that he uses this cane as a weapon
more than once suggests that it is a prop in both senses of the
word. While he's capable of physical combat (The Chase,
The Romans, and others), there's no denying that this form
has its limits. He tires easily, has trouble breathing at high
altitudes, and suffers backaches (Marco Polo). As is the case
with most of his later selves, The First Doctor is a collector. The
console room of his TARDIS is filled with antique furnishings and
alien art, and he keeps specimens of creatures he's encountered
(The Web Planet). He picks up a variety of souvenirs on his
journeys, including a cane given to him by Kublai Khan (Marco
Polo), Saladin's dagger (The Crusade), and the time-space
visualizer which alerts him to a Dalek threat (The Chase).
His most prized possession is a ring with a large blue stone, a ring
with amazing powers (The Web Planet, The Daleks' Master
Plan). He smokes a pipe, but soon gives up the habit (An
Unearthly Child). He keeps a journal which includes maps of
places he's visited, as well as the operating codes of various TARDIS
machinery. He's unfamiliar with this TARDIS and is surprised to
learn that it has some degree of telepathic or empathic powers, a
feature that's never seen in later models (The Edge of
Destruction). While The Doctor's telepathic powers have weakened
with age (The Sensorites), he does have a limited ability to
sense danger, which manifests itself as a prickling sensation
(The War Machines). The Doctor carries an odd assortment of
items which include matches, binocular spectacles, a magnifying
glass, and a penlight, but like most of his later incarnations, he
rarely has money in his pockets. For all his eccentricities and his
occasional sour attitude, The First Doctor usually lives up to the
claim he makes (The Daleks' Master Plan), that he's "a citizen of the universe, and a gentleman to boot".
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