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Classic Doctor Who on Twitch Twitter Reactions: The First and Second Doctor

By Beth Axford

June 09, 2018

On May 29th, over 500 classic episodes from classic Doctor Who’s 26 seasons began airing worldwide on the live streaming video platform Twitch.

Over the past two weeks, thousands of viewers have followed the adventures of the First Doctor - many for the first time - starting in London 1963 with An Unearthly Child through to the Second Doctor being forced to regenerate by the Time Lords in The War Games whilst chatting live to others around the world.

Viewers laughed, cried and gasped at 1960s Doctor Who as they travelled through the past, present and future with the Doctor’s first two incarnations. They saw companions come and go and witnessed the debuts of the Doctor’s iconic foes the Daleks and the Cybermen. The internet also reacted with many memes and jokes and even got The Web Planet trending!

As the Third Doctor makes his debut in the Twitch marathon, we thought we’d pause for a breather and take a moment to highlight some of the brilliant highlights from the stream so far!

 

Grandfather!

Susan’s habit of screaming for her grandfather at every inconvenience has proven a favourite among the marathon’s audience. This fan art visually sums up her screechy trait!

 

 

London, 1965!

The trailer for the First Doctor which played out in between each episode repeatedly drove us completely giddy with memes. Ian’s excited announcement at the end of The Chase when he exclaims to Barbara that they had landed in “London, 1965!” immediately went viral among the Doctor Who fandom, spawning lots of reactions, fan art and videos...

 

 

 

 

 

...and this, the sound of the summer!

 

The Web Planet trended

Due to technical difficulties, An Unearthly Child and The Dalek Invasion of Earth were repeated instead of playing the episode, The Web Planet. This led to an outpour of questions and requests resulting in The Web Planet trending on Twitter!

 

 

Time Meddler cliff-hanger

Viewers who were new to Classic Doctor Who received a massive shock at The Time Meddler. Featuring a Monk meddling with history, The Doctor, Vicki and Steven must work out quite what’s wrong with 1066. Episode three ends on a phenomenal cliff-hanger, revealing that the meddling monk is in fact a Time Lord! This is the first appearance of a Time Lord other than the Doctor and Susan in the show, so the reaction was pretty big.

The story also got people quoting the Doctor who tells the Monk ‘no more monkery!’. It’s now our favourite way to tell people to shut up!

 

 

 

 

Ben and Polly

Viewers were sad to say goodbye to Ian and Barbara at the end of The Chase but they soon had a new pair to ship when Ben and Polly turned up in The War Machines. Fans lovingly christened the pair with the name “Pollen”! Ben.. Polly... get it?!

 

 

 

Dodo’s questionable outfit choices

Dodo’s disastrous (or amazing?) outfit in The Ark caused a bit of a stir when she decided to root through the TARDIS wardrobe for what looks like a Medieval Knight costume. Not only is it criticised by The Doctor in the show itself, Twitch watchers also went berserk at her different coloured leggings and mismatched garments, as well as her NEARLY KILLING A WHOLE SPACE STATION. We’re not sure which one is worse.

 

 

Missing Episodes

Some first-time viewers were surprised to discover that some episodes of the show’s first six years are currently missing leaving gaps in the story. The second Doctor’s run is very sparse in particular, meaning Twitch viewers have seen companions appear and disappear in a puff of smoke! The third part of The Web of Fear is partially missing but uses telesnaps with audio to illustrate the missing third part of the story which seemed to go down well, with some viewers comparing it to a PowerPoint presentation...

 

 

The Doctor and Jamie

The Doctor and Jamie’s friendship has delighted viewers old and new throughout the run of Second Doctor episodes. Their funny, loving bromance got everyone in a tizzy!

 

 

 

Quarks

The robotic labourers, Quarks, brought some adorable hilarity to the Twitch chat when they turned up in The Dominators. With their high-pitched voices, cute design and weird dancing, they’ve became a firm favourite among viewers.

 

 

Zoe Heriot

During the Second Doctor’s run we were introduced to new companion, Zoe Heriot. A young genius who knows how to fly space crafts, everyone immediately fell in love with her! Her sassy personality and strong-willed nature made her particularly stand out to fans, as well as her fun relationship with The Doctor and Jamie. Some of her episodes are missing and didn’t make it to Twitch, but that didn’t stop viewers investing in her story!

 

 

 

 

Stevil Jobs

The Second Doctor’s finale, The War Games, was the gift that kept on giving to the buzzing Twitch chat and thousands of fans watching. The ten-part story features the ghastly War Lords, hell bent on kidnapping humans and forcing them to participate in their War Games. Their leader looks suspiciously like Steve Jobs which consequently sent fans crazy, branding him with the name ‘Stevil Jobs’. Here is a handy comparison...

 

 

Saying Goodbye to the Second Doctor

The last episode of The War Games brought an end to the Second Doctor’s era and it was an emotional one! The story says goodbye to Zoe and Jamie and features the Doctor’s regeneration, ripping everyone’s hearts out THREE TIMES OVER.

After being accused of interfering with time and space, The Doctor is forced to regenerate and is exiled to Earth as punishment. The Time Lords send Jamie and Zoe back to their respective times and wipe every memory of the Doctor from their minds. Viewers went into meltdown as the pain of losing the TARDIS team hit.

 

 

 

 

Phew! What a ride. And still so much to go! The Third Doctor kicked off on June 8th, bringing viewers Doctor Who’s first episodes in colour! Be sure to tune in each day, Monday to Friday from 11am Pacific US / 7pm UK to catch episodes on Twitch.tv/TwitchPresents.

You can find a full episode listing with screening times from a US and UK perspective in our Watch section.

We’ll be back very soon with another Twitch roundup!

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