Welcome to The First Eight – The Roarbots’ classic Doctor Who watchthrough. We’re going through the 50+ year history of the Doctor Who franchise in chronological order. This is not a “rewatch”; I’m watching these shows for the first time.

This is not an effort to write an authoritative history or connect all the dots among the characters, planets, and eras of the franchise. I’m simply here to correct one of my most flagrant Geeky Blind Spots. And I hope you’ll join me on the journey. There’s only 26 seasons and 8 Doctors to catch up on. Easy peasy.

Want to watch along or catch up on classic Who on your own terms? Check out BritBox, which has nearly every existing episode available for instant streaming.

“The Romans” (First Doctor, Second Season, Story 12) is composed of the following episodes:

• “The Slave Traders” (January 16, 1965)
• “All Roads Lead to Rome” (January 23, 1965)
• “Conspiracy” (January 30, 1965)
• “Inferno” (February 6, 1965)

So here we are – the first full story with Vicki as the third companion. Despite the literal cliffhanger from the previous episode where we saw the TARDIS perched precariously on the edge of a cliff – and then fall! – our crew seems to be unscathed. Surprise!

The Romans promptly jumps ahead a month, and we find everyone quite complacent, eating fruit in a small village in ancient Rome. Well, mostly complacent. Vicki’s getting a bit of the ol’ cabin fever.

Vicki: “It’s alright living here, but it’s boring! No wonder he [The Doctor] gets irritable.”

Ian: “Heh. That’s got nothing to do with living here, believe me.”

Oh, we DO believe you, Ian. We do.

In fact, I’m not sure how Ian tolerates The Doctor. Despite traveling through time and space for a couple years now, The Doctor apparently still doesn’t know Ian’s name. Yes, really. At one point, he calls him Chesterfield (Ian’s last name is Chesterton), and Barbara is forced to correct him.

It’s hard to see this as anything other than an unintentional flub by William Hartnell. And if so, why leave it in the show? It was a pretty glaring mistake that required ad-libbing to correct, which centered the mistake and put it under a spotlight.

It was a pretty egregious mistake that hammers home many of the problems with this serial.

In a nutshell, Barbara and Ian are kidnapped by slave traders (who carry and hold their knives by the blades), The Doctor pretends to be a murdered musician, everyone travels to Rome and meets Nero, and they all get entangled in court intrigue.

I wish I could tell you that an entire episode wasn’t taken up with a lustful Nero chasing Barbara around. I wish I could tell you that The Doctor didn’t find it hilarious, giggle at Nero, and call him an “extraordinary fellow.”

But I can’t. Because those things happened.

The Romans is a bit of a departure from previous stories – and previous historicals – because of the comedy. The script goes out of its way to include loads of intentional jokes and gags. And for the most part, that humor works, even if it feels forced and out of place with a mostly serious and somber First Doctor.

But the humor isn’t enough to save this one. The Romans is unfortunately characterized by bad editing and an embarrassing number of forgotten and flubbed lines. Despite the impressive costumes and sets, this one feels slapped together, and it’s wholly forgettable.

The many (amazing) faces of Nero