Fans of a certain age will be instantly familiar with the old debate over what to call each individual story during the majority of the William Hartnell era, given each serial has individual episode titles in the same manner as the ongoing series with no “official” over aching title often existing. Some fans reacted with fury (as only we fans can) at the BBC’s decision to use The Edge of Destruction name instead of Inside the Spaceship for the serial’s VHS and subsequent DVD release for example, while Mission to the Unknown will always be Dalek Cutaway to others and some insist on The Tribe of Gum instead of An Unearthly Child. DWW as a website takes it’s que from the official BBC releases, though personally Inside the Spaceship has always been a rather charming preference… and we have a great many titles for Timelash, none of them printable!
The issue hasn’t reared it’s head in the same way for the new series, possibly through a lack of novelisations and the release of complete series box-sets as opposed to individual VHS/DVD releases for the classic series, yet technically the issue still exists… is this series’ finale together Dark Water or Death in Heaven? or something else entirely? (we like Death in Dark Water personally, but that’s just us!).
Let us take a look at some of those titles in contention and see just what exactly is in a name…
An Unearthly Child
Other titles: The Tribe of Gum, 100,000 BC, The Palaeolithic Age, The Stone Age
The case for the “true” title of the opening story being 100,000 BC is a strong one, with the title being used by the production team at the time and also having been used by the BBC in publicity, yet The Tribe of Gum and An Unearthly Child also hold some strong claims.
100,000 BC replaced The Tribe of Gum as the “official” title (first named as Dr Who and a 100,000 BC … no really) after filming had begun, the camera scripts having no title listed.
The Tribe of Gum was the original working title for the story (Dr. Who and the Tribe of Gum to be exact) and used right up until the start of filming, being used on both internal and external paperwork such as for sales and even official merchandise, being famously used by the Titan script book of the story in 1988. Yet the story was also referred to simply as “Dr. Who - First Serial” and “The First Story” in production material at the time, it’s title not being of much importance at this stage of the production.
Let’s not even get started on whether the “proper” title should include “Dr. Who and the…” or not!
An Unearthly Child developed out of the famous Radio Times 10th Anniversary Special and is of course the title of the serial’s opening episode, yet beyond that fact, has little production legitimacy as the over-aching title, the Radio Times merely using the first episode of each story as the basis of it’s suggested titles. Terrance Dick’s used the same title in his 1976 edition of The Making of Doctor Who and it stuck, being used for his own 1981 Target novelisation and subsequent VHS and DVD releases.
Our legitimacy Judgment: 100,000 BC, the production teams intended choice and used at the time of filming.
The Daleks
Other titles: The Survivors, The Mutants, Beyond the Sun, The Dead Planet, Doctor Who in An Exciting Adventure With the Daleks
The production of The Daleks brought about several working titles for the serial, beginning life as The Survivors, a title that Terry Nation would later reuse for his other classic post-apocalyptic piece of sci-fi (it was a regular theme!), before eventually becoming Beyond the Sun for a very short time and finally The Mutants.
The Mutants survived as the official title for the serial on all paperwork until Season 9 when the then production team produced the The Mutants, the fourth serial of Jon Pertwee’s third season.
In 1973 it was Target Publishing who first coined The Daleks as the obvious title, renaming the 1964 publication of Doctor Who in An Exciting Adventure With the Daleks as Doctor Who and The Daleks, presumably feeling it wasn’t an exciting adventure at all… or just that it sounded a bit silly. The Radio Times 10th Anniversary Special muddied the waters even more by referring to the story as The Dead Planet via the aforementioned trend of simply using first episode titles, a name which stuck for most of the 1970s.
By the 1980s however The Daleks had overtaken The Dead Planet in popularity and the name stuck with subsequent VHS and DVD releases to now be regarded as the official title of the story.
Our legitimacy Judgment: The Mutants, but everybody will just get confused!
The Edge of Destruction
Other titles: Inside the Spaceship, The Brink of Disaster, Beyond the Sun.
Inside the Spaceship was the only title for this story to have been actually used on production documents of the era, named as the working title for the story and the chosen title of author David Whitaker throughout his life. Despite this, Terrance Dick’s iconic The Making of Doctor Who named the serial by it’s first episode, The Edge of Destruction in the 1976 edition and the title has become “policy” of the BBC and Doctor Who merchandising ever since, the Target novelisation of 1988 being the first to do so followed by the VHS in 2000 and the DVD in 2006.
BBC Enterprises used the erroneous title Beyond the Sun in a 1974 sales catalogue but with no basis in records, the title actually being a former working title for Terry Nation’s The Daleks as mentioned above, the name occasionally popped up in other sources such as the Doctor Who Magazine 1981 Winter Special.
Our legitimacy Judgment: Inside the Spaceship, even though it sounds like one of those BBC America Doctor Who documentaries!
Marco Polo
Other Titles: Journey to Cathay
John Lucarotti was commissioned by David Whitaker for the story under the working title A Journey to Cathay in July of 1963 and the title stuck until mid-September/early October when the production team began to refer to the story as Marco Polo, a memo in January of 1964 however between Donald Wilson and Donald Baverstock returning to the Cathay name, indicating no uniformity between individuals as to naming practices, over-arching titles not being seen as something important given their non-use within the broadcast series. By March however Marco Polo is universally used and our fourth serial is by far a more clear cut case than our first three.
Our legitimacy Judgment: Marco Polo, though Journey to Cathay has a romance and poetry to it.
From this point onward, the production team stopped referring to stories as “Serial A” or “Story A” for example and ensured that over-arching title were used in documentation, making far less debate over the rest of the Hartnell era, despite some claims for The Reign of Terror to be known as The French Revolution (largely thanks to the Radio Times of the day) or that The Dalek Invasion of Earth is really Doctor Who and The Daleks, Galaxy 4 is The Chumblies and the continuing debate of how long and descriptive The Massacre needs to be!
The debate and historic evidence presented for the titles we’ve come to use is a fascinating one for anyone interested in Doctor Who history, yet like so much associated with the show, come’s down to little more than personal taste. Whether you’re an Inside the Spaceship person or go for Edge of Destruction, it doesn’t really matter. With no over-arching titles ever officially given at the time, all subsequent titles are merely “likely” and “intended” rather than anything set in stone. Now… about The Trial of a Time Lord…
This article is the first in our “Story by Story” series running all this week celebrating The Edge of Destruction (or Inside the Spaceship!). We welcome all submissions and pitches on the theme throughout the week at [email protected]
In future weeks we shall be celebrating Marco Polo (Nov 10 – 16), The Keys of Marinus (Nov 17 – 23), The Aztecs (Nov 24 – 30), The Sensorites (Dec 1 – 7) and The Reign of Terror (Dec 8 – 14).
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The very first 3 Doctor Who stories ever transmitted in a 3-Disc set. Includes An Unearthly Child, The Daleks & The Edge of Destruction. Includes the previously unreleased pilot episode and the very first episode from the long-running sci-fi TV series set in London in 1963. In 'An Unearthly Child', teachers Ian and Barbara follow a mysterious pupil, Susan, home one evening and find that she lives in a junkyard. Suddenly her Grandfather, the Doctor, appears but they suspect Susan is being held in the police box. On entering this box their lives change forever... Also includes 'The Daleks' and the two-part episode of 'The Edge Of Destruction'. DVD Extras: Disc 1 - An Unearthly Child Pilot Episode - 25 mins Episode 1: Commentary with Verity Lambert, Carole Ann Ford, William Russell, Gary Russell Episode 4: Commentary with Waris Hussein, Ann Ford, William Russell, Gary Russell. Pilot Episode Studio Recording (dur. 40') - unedited recording of the entire studio session for the Pilot Episode, including retakes. Commentary with Verity Lambert, Waris Hussein and Gary Russell. Theme Music Video (dur. 2' 30") - allows the viewer to hear the original full-length theme music with original 1963 title sequences elements in three different versions. Picture Gallery Programme Subtitles Subtitle Production Notes Disc 2 - The Daleks Episode 2: Commentary with Christopher Barry, Verity Lambert, Gary Russell Episode 4: Commentary with Christopher Barry, William Russell, Carole Ann Ford, Gary Russell Episode 7: Commentary with Richard Martin, William Russell, Carole Ann Ford, Gary Russell Extras Creation of the Daleks (dur. 18') - new featurette looking at the origins of these icon villains. Picture Gallery Programme Subtitles Subtitle Production Notes Disc 3 - The Edge of Destruction Episodes The Edge of Destruction - 2 x 25 mins. Episode 2 - Arabic Soundtrack Extras Origins (dur. 53') - an in-depth look at the creation of Doctor Who, including rare interviews with the
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