5. Character-Heavy, Doctor-Light
Looking objectively at An Unearthly Child, separating it from what came next and what the show evolved into, it really is quite atypical of a classic Doctor Who episode, and nothing quite like it really happened again until 2006's Love and Monsters, the stylistic precursor to Blink. The Doctor is largely absent for the duration, not appearing in person until the final scenes of the episode but spoken of and wondered upon throughout. This is also the entire basis for Blink. Both episodes have something of a false premise; An Unearthly Child claims to be about a teenage girl who seems to have scientific and mathematical knowledge far beyond her years, while Blink claims to be about those scary old statues that move when you can't see them. To a degree this is the case, but in reality the core of each story is "Who is the Doctor?" That, of course, is the core of the programme itself, but seldom does an episode really stop to address this. We are expected to be readily au fait with this and get on with the adventure of the week. In stopping to utilise the titular question of the show, both Blink and An Unearthly Child allow for the audience to see the Doctor as he rightly should be seen; an ambiguous, distant and morally dubious enigma, sitting in his box (the TARDIS or the television) while the ordinary folk lucky enough to encounter him scratch their heads in wonder as this lonely little man causes magical things to happen. Sally Sparrow and Larry Nightingale are very much the Ian and Barbara of Blink, living ordinary lives but forced together by their own curiosity and having their lives changed by this strange Doctor. Only Sally and Larry are lucky enough to go home at the end of it while Ian and Barbara had to endure two whole years of adventures in time and space. Poor them.