Talk:First Doctor

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Story count[edit]

I know this seems awfully pedantic, but didn't the First Doctor appear in only 28 stories (with Mission to the Unknown being without the cast)? Wikidude10000 (talk) 21:09, 11 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

He was the only member of the regular cast to be listed in the closing credits of that episode. I don't know whether that makes any difference to your question - I just thought I would mention it as other editors take a look at this. MarnetteD|Talk 21:14, 11 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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A human from the future who built the TARDIS[edit]

This article relies too much on the Time Lord from Gallifrey with two hearts malarkey that was retconned in later. During the actual Hartnell era, it's much more ambiguous as to whether the Doctor is a human from the far future or an alien. It's only actually truly demonstrated in The Tenth Planet. We should really restructure this article around the Hartnell era itself and not retcons. PAustin4thApril1980 (talk) 00:30, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

No it does not rely too much on those things. In the main part of the article, it only mentions "Time Lord" and "Gallifrey" as things that were revealed later - which I would argue is actually relevant to your point that these weren't revealed during the Hartnell era - and clears that up directly. The introduction is factually correct and quickly introduces the general concept of the broader character of the Doctor before getting specifics of the First. Dresken (talk) 01:12, 17 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]

David Bradley's appearance in An Adventure in Space and Time[edit]

The First Doctor's editor dialog for the infobox, under the portrayed section, shows a message stating: "Please do not add 2013. Bradley played *Hartnell* in An Adventure in Space and Time - which is also not an episode of Dr Who."

I argue on the contrary. David Bradley, while he did mostly play Hartnell in the film, also made an appearance as the First Doctor. I believe, so long as this notion can be contested, that the year of Bradley's contribution to the film should be added alongside his 2017 contribution. I believe this on the basis that the article should serve as a point of reference for holistic First Doctor appearances on screen rather than episodic Doctor Who appearances alone. I do not believe that the film not counting as an episodic appearance by Bradley is enough to justify a general refusal to make such an edit.

To add, I think further elaboration on the decision to keep his 2013 appearance out of the infobox would serve to do two things:

build consensus among users on why this decision is sustained;
to establish a source of reference which can be found by new users whom may wish to understand the reasoning behind the consensus opinion.

C43L (talk) 13:13, 2 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In the real world, he was portraying William Hartnell in a biopic. In the fictionalised world of the biopic, William Hartnell was portraying the First Doctor. DonQuixote (talk) 13:18, 2 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. C43L (talk) 13:37, 2 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Portrayed by - Michael Jones[edit]

For the "Portrayed by" section in the infobox can we be 100% sure the child played by Michael Jones was a younger version of the First Doctor? The events of The Timeless Children would seem to open the possibility that the child seen in Listen was another pre-Hartnell incarnation. Dunarc (talk) 22:06, 25 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]