The First Doctor: The Tenth Planet
This one, no one saw coming. And how could they? With William Hartnells health deteriorating, the decision was made for the actor to leave the show. For many programs, this would have been the end of Doctor Who. After all, three series, consisting of 26 stories across 126 episodesthat would be a bad number to finish on. Add a couple more four-parters to finish off Doctor Who in epic style and it would go down as a great little cult sci-fi show from the 1960s. Instead, script editor Gerry Davis and producer Innes Lloyd came up with a concept that would ensure Doctor Whos survival and success to this very day. Without this regeneration, we would not be celebrating the shows 50th anniversary this year. The regeneration itself. The clip itself survives, though the fourth episode of
The Tenth Planet was lost. Perhaps it will return with that whole host of missing episodes
rumoured to have found their way back to the BBC. If not well be getting this adventure, featuring the debut of the Cybermen this year on DVD, with episode four animated. Its actually quite a sedate affair. Supposedly the intention was that the energy drain from Cyberman planet Mondas was the cause of the regeneration, though in truth the Doctor simply collapses and dies of old age. Theres nothing special in the way he goes. The Cybermen dont kill him. Theres no epic explosion or incident that cripples him. He just gives out. What this really has going for it is that shock value mentioned above. As the sounds of the Tardis play out, his face transforms into that of a younger Patrick Troughton. Ben, Polly and the audience are in shock. And why wouldnt they be? If there was a list of the 10 biggest WTF moment of Doctor Who, this would probably be number one. Ranking: 7th Shock Value: 10 Epic Scale: 3 Emotional trauma: 5