When he's complaining about how he needs to know what all the different buttons and controls on the TARDIS are supposed to work, because as he says, if he uses one control for two different things, the children will notice. Yeah, thats the Doctor.
shareThat's what a good actor does. They have to understand the environment their character inhabits even if it seems irrelevant to anyone else. Even if a set only has three walls, the good actor knows for themself what's there. Even if we never see behind a door in a set the good actor knows for themself what's behind it.
Having said that, if circumstances force a change then the good actor has to make that work too.
I think that actors on shows like this are often concerned about this. I remember some of the actors on Star Trek TNG being concerned about what the unlabelled buttons did and what they should press to do certain things and they came up with the idea that the interfaces would be customizable so it would be whatever each character felt comfortable with so all they had to do was be consistent for themselves and not worry about what button another guy pressed to fire the photon torpedoes.
Unless Alpert's covered in bacon grease, I don't think Hugo can track anything.
There was actually an incident on classic Star Trek when a guest director asked an actor to operate a certain control, and the actor countered that he couldn't because if he did, he'd blow up the Enterprise.
I'd like to be a pessimist, but this is a luxury I cannot afford.
—Joseph of Cordoba
I remember reading about that! It was James Doohan. I think the director wanted him to pull a switch when he knew the week before he had pushed the same switch for the same results. I thought it was pretty cool that Hartnell took that part so seriously too.
How sad, that you were not born in my time, nor I, in yours.
It's fun seeing how deeply some actors get into the role by doing stuff like this. A common one (for men) is to make up a wallet. Even, or especially, if it is not used on camera. It's the kind of thing that says a lot about your life, and is actually carried around, so populating it with the cards and ticket stubs and receipts of your character helps you get into it.
As shown here, no one else much cared about the workings of the set, but he'd gotten into it enough to know that the TARDIS was his home, and almost a character. He can't fake it every time, so verisimilitude (continuity is just a side effect) is important.
Assuming it's true. Could be a writer who knows about the craft of acting embellishing. But it rings true.
I’m not sure if that actually happened, but he did write above at least one in biro “the fast return switch” so he could remember where it was, it wouldn’t surprise me if he did it with a few others so he knew the main ones.
shareI also thought it was a nice touch that when the new production team took over, the 'Doctor' was the only one who knew how to start the TARDIS.
Let Zygons Be Zygons.
No doubt Hartnell had a say on the Dr. Who set but I doubt he would concern himself with continuity.
With Star Trek, Roddenberry had a "button law" which he enforced on set. Mainly through assistants. In TNG, they created the LCARS interface, which were highly detailed "buttons" and forced continuity. I doubt that a Trek actor would remind a director of this law.
It was a nice way to show that William Hartell took a personal interest in the series though.
"Make it so."
I'd say it wasn't verbatim, or maybe didn't even happen, but was a fictional(ised) way of showing what his approach to the show was, and how concerned he was about his craft and the "product" (if you will) and making sure that the viewers got the best show they could.
TV and movies have a way of doing that - encapsulating someone's career or life into one incident, which may or may not have happened, to illustrate a trait of theirs.
Awight we're The Daamned we're a punk baand and this is called Carn't Be Appy T'day!
Most likely scenario to me is that since the show was being made up as they went along, he remembered which component did what as a new TARDIS function got introduced. If he was told to push the button that makes the coffee to turn on the AC then he would probably correct them and either they or he would pick a new button.
shareIn one of the many specials that aired this year, Carol Anne Ford says something about Hartnell marking all the switches in pencil so he'd know which switch was supposed to do what. So there is at least some truth to the fact that he was concerned with it.
shareThat's amazing. I just watched the film and it broke my heart.
The training is nothing. WILL is everything.
Yes, Hartnell actually said this. I've heard many commentaries and interviews with people saying this.
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