'An Unearthly Child' (Ep 3 'The Forest Of Fear')

Musings on Ep 3;

• The Doctor is very defeatist, very quickly, when tied up in the cave of skulls
• He changes gear though when telling Ian that they need to set Ian free first because he's the strongest and may need to defend them, it's a gritty moment.
• Good line from The Doctor about fear making companions of us all, and the "hope, Miss Wright" bit too. A real uniting moment where they begin to realise that in peril they have much more in common that not and need each other.
• First slight line stumble from Hartnell and it's 3 episodes in folks! It's during the frantic escape into the forest after Eileen Way lets them go; "I'm must get bree, I'm must breathe".  The Doctor is puffing and panting and terrified! You'd fumble your words if all that just happened to you and it actually works dramatically and adds credibility. I almost don't count it as a true Billy fluff.
• Barbara is more fragile here than I remember; she is very much 'damsel in distress' for the first half of the episode, having to be continually comforted and reassured by Ian. It feels unlikely for her and doesn't seem right; "we're never going to get out of this awful please, never, never, never". 
• Actually, having seen so much of Barbara's development in later stories that I've watched more frequently, I have to remember this is her first story, she would be frantic. It's all new and terrifying. They don't know they're off to meet the Daleks after a shower and a chit chat around the food dispenser next week, only we do. For all they know this is the end and they won't get away. 
• Plus, you need to sell the stakes and the fear of the situation to the viewers; you can't have everyone being brave and contained, where is the drama in that? It won't translate into viewers suspending their disbelief. Troughton managed to sell the threat of some pretty lame monsters ('Krotons'? anyone?) to viewers in this way.
• Another nice Hartnell/ Russell stand off when they snipe at each other for being tiresome and stubborn respectively.
• Barbara has some more near hysterics, but then, despite the danger and her white-knuckle terror, her moral compass kicks in and she runs to help the stricken Za after the tiger mauling. This action then continues to drive a wedge between Susan and the Doctor, who wants out right away and lets it be known.
• Is it his own guilt? i.e. 'I must get these people away or my blood will be on their hands', or is is all about saving his own skin? Who knows at this point.
• A crucial bit of moral parameter setting for the fledling show with Ian's line "you're flat must be littered with stray cats and dogs" answered by Barbara's "These are human beings Ian" as she helps Za.
• The Doctor then has a go at them for wanting to come back when they could have escaped; "a moment ago..." and "you're judgement's at fault, not mine". 
• The Doctor stands back apparently sulking instead of helping tend to Za and adds more complexity to the moral struggle with another well delivered couple of lines starting with "these people have logic and reason do they?".
• Hartnell continues to be gripping, his performance is assured and the characterisation is slippery and dangerous, it's more 'Brighton Rock' than 'TARDIS schlock'.
• I seem to be going on and on about how good Hartnell is don't I?, well I suppose it's because I feel Hartnell was at times superb during his tenure, but often inconsistent for various reasons and certainly underrated by many, so when he gets it consistently just right, I want to say so. Russell and Hill I feel are almost always very good to excellent, so that's a given for me, I'm more likely to note if they fall short, which isn't often, rather than constantly praise to the point of redundance.
• Great last shot of the cavemen jumping up from their hiding spots blocking the path to the TARDIS.
• A pivotal episode for character development of our regulars and for fine tuning the moral parameters for the show, I suspect the most important of the four episodes and maybe even more so than part one. Very well played and shot in all.