Doctor Who: The Best of The First Doctor Season 1 Episode 2 An Unearthly Child, The Cave of Skulls

In the second episode of Doctor Who: The Best of The First Doctor, we are taken back to where it all began with the very first episode of the series, An Unearthly Child, The Cave of Skulls. The episode originally aired in 1963 and introduces us to the First Doctor played by William Hartnell.

The episode begins with two teachers, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton, who become suspicious of one of their students named Susan Foreman. They follow her to a junkyard where they find a police box that she has entered. When they go inside to investigate, they are transported back in time to prehistoric Earth.

The group finds themselves in a cave where they encounter a tribe of cavemen. The cavemen believe that their leader, Kal, has been killed by the group and they plan to sacrifice them to appease their gods. The Doctor insists that they are not gods and tries to reason with the cavemen, but they refuse to listen.

The Doctor comes up with a plan to create fire, which he believes will convince the cavemen that they are powerful beings. He sends Ian and one of the cavemen, Za, on a dangerous mission to retrieve fire from another tribe.

Meanwhile, Barbara, Susan, and the Doctor are left behind to try to reason with the remaining cavemen. They discover that the cavemen are in a stalemate because they do not know how to make fire, which is necessary for survival. The Doctor uses his scientific knowledge to create a makeshift compass to read the Earth's magnetic field and position them towards the nearest iron deposit. From there, they light some sulfur in the iron deposit using a broken glass lens from one of Ian's spectacles.

While Ian and Za are successful in their mission and return with fire, they still face opposition from the other cavemen. Za seeks to use a club to dominate the other cavemen, but the Doctor and Ian believe in the power of knowledge so they teach the cavemen how to start a fire for themselves, hoping to sow the seeds of progress and civilisation among them.

Overall, An Unearthly Child, The Cave of Skulls serves as an introduction to the series and its central characters. We see the Doctor often at odds with other characters and his own principles, foreshadowing the various internal struggles that would become a hallmark of the show. We also see the first instance of the Doctor's intelligence assisting in their rescue. The episode may be seen as hokey by today's standards, but it remains a fascinating trip down memory lane for both dedicated fans and newcomers alike.