I finally know why The Doctor is so popular

Solo4114 said:

Looking forward to see how you explain away a particular character from the 6th Doctor era (which I won't name, to avoid spoilers).

Click to expand...

I think that character was explained pretty thoroughly. There really shouldn't be any doubt about it "counting" or not...(this is where I fail miserably to explain myself without spoiling anything for those who haven't seen it.)


Really though, does it count as a spoiler if we're talking about a 25 year old series of episodes? :unsure

The more I hear about this show, the curiouser I get. I have never seen a single episode but I hear so much about it. Sadly the only Doctor I know is House. and have been watching him since season 1. I lost my computer a year ago though but am slowly getting into new series. I might have to give this a try. Guess I should start with season 1?

Nothing sad about it. House is awesome too.

TheCollector said:

Guess I should start with season 1?

Click to expand...

Depends really. Some folks simply can't appreciate the older episodes (Doctors 1 & 2) because of a number of factors. Low production values (shoddy sets, B&W film stock etc.), completely different format, and the "Lost Episode" syndrome can be off putting. The stories are there though, and Hartnell & Troughton, quite literally, MADE the role of The Doctor, so to skip them, for me, would have been unforgivable.

Not to mention that starting on the 3rd Doctor would just be confusing.


My wife, on the other hand, will only watch the 4th Doctor and the new series Doctors.

With each decade of its life Doctor Who is a whole different show.

1960's - the show was meant to be a children's show teaching history and science and the story telling was a much slower pace. Some of the dialog was improved as an actor fluffed a line or a cue or some effect failed. They were trying to save film and video tape back them so retakes were rare but rehearsal time was also short. As the show evolved through its first 7 years and its first two Doctors it changed some but it was still a very different beast than we know today.

1970's - technicolor and adventure! With the coming of 1970 (the year I was born, BTW) came a third actor to the role, color to the production and a bent to speed up the pacing and crank up the action...while keeping the brain power. The show had evolved into a family show but still kept the need to teach something. As Jon Pertwee handed over the reigns to Tom Baker the flavor changed some but it was still one of the best made shows on the cheap ever.

1980's - the decade we all lost some of that magic and got a bit grim...and so did Doctor Who. The stories seemed to have a little less hope in them and the Doctor seemed to become a bit less high handed. Some of the stories and effects were fantastic...some were tank jobs of high order. Still many not to be missed but like the end of the disco era; the bright shiny happy had a layer of cloud now. The show's final episode aired in 1989.

1990's - a time of reflection, collection, wishing, arguing and hope. In the midst of it came the TV Movie and DW Fandom was sundered between love and hate, relief and rage, contentment and confusion. The film had many of the elements we all knew but made some departures as well. Like opera, the fans either loved or hated it but few stood in the middle ground.

2000's - rumors ran rampant until 2003 when word started to circulate that maybe the sword was finally about to come free of the stone again. 2004 we knew He was to return to us and in 2005 The Doctor began sharing his adventures again...and this time it's been one hell of a ride. Faster paced, massive budget, cutting edge special effects and all the action you could have seen in a full season of Jon Pertwee all in 48 minutes. Thankfully with little loss of brain. The Doctor is an adventurer but still a scientist and still brilliant.

If you really want to get into the whole show pick a few stories at random with a few different Doctors and watch them. Each one had his own style and each of the stories had their own flavor. The only way to know what you like best from a buffet is to try a little bit of everything.

Good luck and bon appetite!

greatwazoo42 said:

With each decade of its life Doctor Who is a whole different show.

1960's - the show was meant to be a children's show teaching history and science and the story telling was a much slower pace. Some of the dialog was improved as an actor fluffed a line or a cue or some effect failed. They were trying to save film and video tape back them so retakes were rare but rehearsal time was also short. As the show evolved through its first 7 years and its first two Doctors it changed some but it was still a very different beast than we know today.

1970's - technicolor and adventure! With the coming of 1970 (the year I was born, BTW) came a third actor to the role, color to the production and a bent to speed up the pacing and crank up the action...while keeping the brain power. The show had evolved into a family show but still kept the need to teach something. As Jon Pertwee handed over the reigns to Tom Baker the flavor changed some but it was still one of the best made shows on the cheap ever.

1980's - the decade we all lost some of that magic and got a bit grim...and so did Doctor Who. The stories seemed to have a little less hope in them and the Doctor seemed to become a bit less high handed. Some of the stories and effects were fantastic...some were tank jobs of high order. Still many not to be missed but like the end of the disco era; the bright shiny happy had a layer of cloud now. The show's final episode aired in 1989.

1990's - a time of reflection, collection, wishing, arguing and hope. In the midst of it came the TV Movie and DW Fandom was sundered between love and hate, relief and rage, contentment and confusion. The film had many of the elements we all knew but made some departures as well. Like opera, the fans either loved or hated it but few stood in the middle ground.

2000's - rumors ran rampant until 2003 when word started to circulate that maybe the sword was finally about to come free of the stone again. 2004 we knew He was to return to us and in 2005 The Doctor began sharing his adventures again...and this time it's been one hell of a ride. Faster paced, massive budget, cutting edge special effects and all the action you could have seen in a full season of Jon Pertwee all in 48 minutes. Thankfully with little loss of brain. The Doctor is an adventurer but still a scientist and still brilliant.

If you really want to get into the whole show pick a few stories at random with a few different Doctors and watch them. Each one had his own style and each of the stories had their own flavor. The only way to know what you like best from a buffet is to try a little bit of everything.

Good luck and bon appetite!

Click to expand...

Very well put Waz. :cool

Thank you very much, OM. There isn't much I'm passionate about but Doctor Who is. My suggestions for people who want to try the whole thing on for size are the following:

An Unearthy Child (1st Doctor) - no where is better to start than the beginning. Be ready for a slow and unhurried yet intelligent story marked by a rarity: the main cast made it seem real. As if they were actual people dropped into an actual situation and, like voyeurs, simply sit and watch.

The Invasion (2nd Doctor) - some parts of this story were lost but the audio remained. A team of animators filled in the missing parts with a devoted diligence. The story is a good mix of taking time to tell the tale and ramping it up as the characters' lives are endangered.

The Curse of Peladon (3rd Doctor) - an excellent tale and an excellent example of the show in the early 1970's. Told when Jon Pertwee was truly in his stride as the character.

The Image of Fendahl or The Robots of Death or The Pyramids of Mars or The City of Death (4th Doctor) - all great stories alone or together and voted fan favorites over and over.

Earthshock (5th Doctor) - An example of the beginnings of a grittier time in both the real world and the fiction it produced with a shocking twist ending that left fans of the show talking...once they could find their voices again.

Mark of the Rani (6th Doctor) - this one is a personal favorite of mine, an attempt to get the show back to some of its roots in teaching history and science but also to keep it modern (for the mid 1980's) as well and excellent portrayals all around.

Battlefield or The Wolves of Fenric (7th Doctor) - Again, like the whole list, favorites of mine but also good examples of what, I think, worked well for the time (the late 1980's) and also held up well. Battlefield also starred the recently late and much missed Nick Courtney as the immortal Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. If you choose the Wolves of Fenric the DVD version has a new edit with more scenes and dialog that originally ended up on the cutting room floor. With them returned to the story it made a good story great.

The Movie (8th Doctor) - #8's only televised appearance. It is a flawed film with plot holes and some crap directing and camera angles in spots but some of the film also shines amazingly...like all the scenes Paul McGann is on screen as the Doctor. Worth a watch but be gentle...they had such good intentions and high hopes and it was that strange time in the 1990's when so much TV was trying to be experimental and most of it ended up being trash.

...but don't take my word for it; go grab some stuff at random and sit down to it. You may just find yourself hiding behind the sofa before it's all over.

Here's my take.

I started with Doctor Who watching the odd PBS episode when I was a kid and Tom Baker was on, thinking to myself "MAN this looks dumb." I was just a kid, then, and had grown up on Star Wars and the old BSG and whatnot. I went back to Doctor Who ages later, watching a few episodes from Tom Baker's Key To Time season (a loosely organized collection of otherwise unrelated stories strung together by a single plot thread that barely makes appearances in those stories).

I later got into the 2005 Series with Eccleston as the Doctor, and LOVED the show. Based on that, I figured "What if I gave the old stuff a chance again?" Went back, and watched the whole of The Key to Time (which I bought). I liked it, and so I decided to go ALL the way back and start from the beginning, watching in chronological order.


Make no mistake -- some of the early stuff is tough to get through sometimes, ESPECIALLY if your main exposure to the Doctor is via the new series. The new series is entertaining but moves at a breakneck pace by comparison with the old.

However, the old series really DOES have a lot to offer and to recommend it. Come on, man, you get to see the FIRST appearance of the Daleks! EVER! And it's a GOOD story.

That, for me, is the core of the older Who stuff. It's genuinely good stories, even if the execution fails from time to time. The characters are fun, and they become...I dunno...old friends for you after a while. You just get comfortable with them. Old Doctor Who to me is now a very comforting thing. Yes, even the Colin Baker years.

Also, with respect to the "family show" aspect, understand that a 1960s "family show" is not the pastel and happy-happy that you get in modern family shows. There's a quality to the acting that can be a bit broad at times, rather than the more modern "realist" approach. An Unearthly Child, however, is pretty real as the old series goes.


Also, side note: when you watch, I HIGHLY recommend turning on the info text on the DVDs. It's a LOT of fun and can be pretty informative, and the folks writing it don't take things 100% seriously all the time.

I liked Craig Ferguson's comic tribute in song, making up lyrics last fall on his late night show describing Doctor Who as the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism. I might have said it was a liberal dose of wit as well, especially so from the Baker era. It seems as Tom said an actor-proof role and been wonderful to see even the bulk of the 1980s that wasn't producer proof still have something interesting to offer. Note to self; never hire a producer who thinks fashion is Hawaiian shirts.

The new series just gets better and better. I know there's been a dip in enthusiasm by some for Matt after Tennant's exit, but I think he's turned out to be the best yet and season 5 a great tribute to Moffat's writing and producing. I look for season 6 to top that.

And it's great news this week Tom Baker is returning as the 4th Doctor for more audio adventures. If only they could bring him back for one more tv go with a similar conceit to the "Time Crash" episode. Moffat, get to work on it!

You HAVE seen Tom Baker lately, right? Watch some of the DVD extras. The 4th Doctor doesn't look like the 4th Doctor anymore. Not even close.

Nor does Peter Davison outside the costume, but the idea of time distortion or something like that could explain it away like it did in "Time Crash". I'd go with a "Leisure Hive" aged look sans the beard and it could work.

Tenth Doctor: [excited about meeting his past self] Oh there it goes! The frowny face! I remember that one! Mind you, a bit saggier than I ought to be. Hair's a bit greyer. That's 'cause of me, though. Two of us together has shorted out the time differential. Should all snap back into place when we get you home. You'll never close that coat again but never mind that! Look at you! The hat, the coat, the crickety cricket stuff, the stick of celery... yeah. Brave choice, celery. But fair play to you, not a lot of men can carry off a decorative vegetable.

Fifth Doctor: Shut up! There is something very wrong with my TARDIS and I've got to do something about it very very quickly. And it would help... it really would help... if there wasn't some skinny idiot ranting in my face about every single thing that happens to be in front of him!

Tenth Doctor: Oh. Okay. Sorry... Doctor.


and, of course:

Tenth Doctor: [offers the Fifth Doctor his sonic screwdriver] Need this?

Fifth Doctor: [trying to fix the TARDIS] No, I'm fine.

Tenth Doctor: Oh no... of course... you mostly went hands-free, didn't you? Like "Hey, I'm the Doctor! I can save the universe with a kettle and some string and look at me! I'm wearing a vegetable!"

Solo4114 said:

Looking forward to see how you explain away a particular character from the 6th Doctor era (which I won't name, to avoid spoilers).

Click to expand...

Oh, wait, the Valeyard? That is a weird deal, yeah.

(don't worry about spoilers on my account)

Calufrax said:

Nor does Peter Davison outside the costume, but the idea of time distortion or something like that could explain it away like it did in "Time Crash". I'd go with a "Leisure Hive" aged look sans the beard and it could work.

Click to expand...

Oh god...the Leisure Hive...CSO gone insane....:lol

Tom Baker was my 1st Doctor and for years my favorite; but, after Big Finish...Paul McGann is my Doctor.

Mine too.

Dude, I am in the same boat with this thread. I am a huge Top Gear fan and because of BBC America I am now a fan of both Next Generation (I'm still pretty casual, but I love it) and Dr. Who.

Dr. Who is thoroughly awesome.

Don't forget, gang, that the new season starts up tonight on BBC America! 9pm!

I've already seen it :cool
It is awesome

It was friggin awesome!!!