WHY should I watch Dr. Who? (I never have)

[KurtBergeron]

I've been watching Doctor Who since I was 4 years old. I'm now 32. So you know there's something in it that I love. People complain about the old series because it's a little campy,....the monsters are cheesy,....etc etc etc, but it's the story that moves it along. People who love it either A. Love the campiness or B. see past the campiness and fall in love with the underlying story. The new series is MUCH MORE ADVANCED, though some of those monsters that some people think are cheesy show up from time to time. It's the story of Doctor Who that makes it so wonderful. I didn't read all the posts but the best advice I did read on here is that we can't tell you why you should like it. That's up to you. Give it a chance. However.......the last couple seasons of Doctor Who have had stories that underlie the entire season. So if you start watching this Saturday when the show picks up,...great! But they may start talking about things and you'll have NO IDEA what's going on! We've already had half a season, then they went on break and now they're coming back. Saturday isn't the start of a new season, it's a continuation of what the fans have been waiting to finish....

I know the episodes are on netflix, At the VERY LEAST, start with the latest Doctor's season and catch up (if it's available) if you have time (you won't before saturday) and can watch Christoper Eccleston-thru....I don't think you'll be sorry. Also,...you can watch all of the current season that you missed and OTHER episodes at this website...
Home
you have to sign up to view them, but it's free.

This is a music montage I just found on youtube, trying to find something to show you. I'm not a huge fan of the song,....but if you don't think this looks like AT LEAST a decent time.....then ya just don't have to watch

Eleventh Dimension (Doctor Who) - YouTube

I will say however,....that NONE of the Doctor's have really strong first episodes. Curse of the pilot, right? So don't watch episode one and think oh this sucks and never watch again. I PROMISE it gets great.

 

[Hfuy]

To be as charitable as possible: the Scottish guy was by far the least irritating man ever to play the Doctor, even though his boggle-eyed cheeriness did wear thin rather quickly. And I quite like Neve Campbell's performance; only a few people can have half a sofa stuck on their faces and still act. She was, by a very large margin, the most amusing part of an episode I saw recently: "When did this child... begin..."

Mammals!

It's cheap because it's rushed. The only British TV series that didn't look (as) cheap was Spooks (shown in the US as MI5), possibly because it was the last one shot on real film and not in-house by the BBC.

I should point out I'm a cameraman and editor by trade so I'm a little, eh, sensitive to the BBC's "party colours" approach to lighting the recent stuff. *****, just put the Top Gear guys on it!

 

[goldenage]

To be as charitable as possible: the Scottish guy was by far the least irritating man ever to play the Doctor

You mean Sylvester McCoy?

 

[Hfuy]

No, no, the more recent Scottish guy.

 

[Zombie_61]

What I don't get is how it does so well in the US.

HF

Have you seen U.S. television lately? 50% of it is so-called reality shows, most of which are nothing more than a monument to bad behavior from self-important imbeciles or people with more money than brains. Most of the rest are crime/medical or supernatural action/romance soap operas targeted at teenagers, with a few not-too-entertaining situation comedies thrown in. It's such a wealth of rubbish that, by comparison, even the worst/cheesiest Doctor Who episode is like Shakespearean prose.

 

[Solo4114]

Have you seen U.S. television lately? 50% of it is so-called reality shows, most of which are nothing more than a monument to bad behavior from self-important imbeciles or people with more money than brains. Most of the rest are crime/medical or supernatural action/romance soap operas targeted at teenagers, with a few not-too-entertaining situation comedies thrown in. It's such a wealth of rubbish that, by comparison, even the worst/cheesiest Doctor Who episode is like Shakespearean prose.

Truth.

 

[Nwerke]

So Chuck...seen any of the show yet?!

Going back a ways:

Check out Matt Smith - he's both grandfatherly and a freak, despite being the youngest doctor cast.

True that, he's ridiculously good in the role to boot. I didn't expect to like him at all, but can't not rate him highly.

IMO River Song is a reason to STOP watching. I can't stand her.

Oh thank god it's not just me.

Loved her in Silence of the Library but now she's just an arrogant character that I wish would go away. She's overused and they took her character in the wrong direction.

Doubleplustrue! Thank god etc some more. :lol

Naw, I gotcha. My anti-orange bias is just from the pervasiveness of the look, from RW shuttle suits and ARMAGEDDON and whatnot. Orange just says to me folks aren't trying very hard.

Ah, that's a fair call, gotta admit. Nonetheless, I love orange and yellow on SF costumes and props, me. Dirty and/or burned, ideally. Just screams sci-fi. Thought the powerloader was the best thing in Aliens.

Never.

Seconded. Torchwood bites. It's just nasty, nihilistic, depressing crap.

In your opinion what makes the show cheap?

Uh, it IS cheap. It's always been cheap. Not as much now as in the past but still...compare the effects to BSG, for example. The sets aren't cardboard any more but they still get away with the maximum possible amount of location shooting. Just look at the spot they used for the reveal of the ghastly 'new paradigm Daleks' - story-wise, it was a Dalek spaceship...but they didn't even stump up the cash for a set, instead shooting in what appeared to be an underground parking structure, with very little dressing.

They do a great job with the budget they have but it doesn't compare to top-end product like the 2009 Star Trek...oh wait... :lol

 

[Hfuy]

It's such a wealth of rubbish that, by comparison, even the worst/cheesiest Doctor Who episode is like Shakespearean prose.

Oh, I know what you mean. When Charlie Brooker (a prominent British television critic) covered "My super sweet sixteen" here, there were calls to revoke independence. The problem is that the only TV that tends to travel is the best of any particular nation's output, so it's easy to assume that all American productions look like, say, CSI or 24. The reason it winds me up is that when the BBC do finally manage too sell something internationally, to wit Who, it's camper than a field full of tents and looks like it was shot by someone who had only recently developed colour vision and wanted to fully explore the most eye-searingly saturated colour palette he could come up with.

Partly this is due to the, ahem, unique way the BBC is funded. What this means in practise is that it is by a very large margin the richest media organization on the planet, but it pisses that money away running dozens of penny-ante local news operations covering every dead dog and combine harvester race in the rural backwoods of Blighty. While it's true that there is an unfortunate parochialism in the television tastes of America, the success of the paltry number of things the BBC does manage to sell is an indication that there is a market for British product, beyond the traditional costume drama.

My frustration is thus twofold: first that the BBC is manages to fail so comprehensively while being in such a commanding financial position, and secondly, that of all the things that had to buck the trend of American cultural imperialism in the media, of all the things that had to go international, of all the things that had to be seen around the world, it had to be cheap, feeble, embarrassing, kitsch, camp, bloody doctor bloody who.

We made Harry Potter here. We make James Bond. We are capable of putting out decent product, even if it generally takes American money to do it. But what we are known for is Doctor @#$%ing Who. As such, Doctor Who can go away and catch fire. Gah!

HF

 

[Larry Young]

Oi, Martyn! Where are you on the latest? Seems even the last bit may have made River palatable to your like.

 

[nickytea]

Steven Moffat is a great writer.

 

[Hfuy]

I'm not sure about that.

Moffat is a considerably better writer than Russell Davies, but then drowning is probably better than being burned at the stake and you still end up dead.

 

[rlh11bravo]

I saw one episode and was instantly hooked, and now I have seasons 1-5 (2005-2010). I prefer the newer ones instead of the older series. The older series is more of that dry British wit that is hard for some people to get, but the comedy in the newer series is easy to understand and you are able to enjoy it a lot more. Like most of the new fans my favorite Doctor is David Tennant, but Matt Smith is doing an excellent job at it as well. All I can say is watch the newer series and see how you like it, it may become your new obsession.

 

[Gryffindor1991]

Um, the real question is why shouldn't you watch Doctor Who. its the most amazing, exciting, and best show in the history of television! I haven't seen much from the classics yet. When I do, I want to watch the episodes with Sarah Jane Smith since she's my favorite.
The best companions are Martha Jones, Jack Harkness, Donna Noble, and Amy Pond. They are all amazing.
David Tennant was my favorite Doctor, Matt is my second favorite.
My first episode was 42, with Martha as companion. I watched a few more from series 3 and liked it, but I was confused. That was like 2 years ago. Then End of Time came on New Years 2010, I watched it, but I was still confused. I went online and found every episode from the revival and watched, starting with Rose. I finished every episode in time for Matt's first series.
Since then, I've watched all of Torchwood and all of The Sarah Jane Adventures. I love the Whoniverse so much, not as much as the Potterverse though.

 

[Organic Mechanic]

#1 reason to watch Doctor Who: It's just plain fun.

#2 reason to watch Doctor Who: You're on a prop forum, right? Two Words "Sonic Screwdrivers"

 

[ob1al]

You should watch it because bow ties are cool.

 

[darth_myeek]

I am British.

Are you sure you are not a Dalek?

 

[GeneralFROSTY]

I recently had to explain "Doctor Who" to my boss. She's not a sci-fi person at all, but the first thing I said is that The Doctor is like Willy Wonka in a way - instead of being a chocolateer, he's a time traveler.
The next thing I explained is that the show is so great - and has lasted so long because it is NOT chained to ONE specific genre.
As a matter of fact, Doctor Who represents EVERY genre there is.
Because he's a time and space traveler, the writers are not restricted in the stories they want to tell; one week we could see the Doctor fighting alongside Pirates or fending off Vampires in the 18th century and then next week we could see the Doctor in the middle of an insurrection on an alien world.
The companions have always played the most crucial role because they bridge the gap the audience needs between this wild character and real-world thinking.
One thing is for certain, and many Whovians would tell you this is that starting with the 2005 "first Series" is the first best step in getting into the show.
Why?
As stated before, you can easily be overwhelmed with the many years of original episodes and would take you forever to get caught up.
Watching series 1-5 of the current run does not require you to have watched the original shows in order to understand what the heck is going on. It was designed to be this way.
Once you get more curious, hitting up the DW Wikipedia page would be some essential reading to get you familiar with the rich history of the show and will prep you when you are ready to backtrack to the original run of the show.

 

[Gryffindor1991]

GeneralFROSTY, you are absolutely right. Starting with series 1 from 2005 is the best place to begin, with the episode Rose. When I started watching Doctor Who and started loving it, thats where I began. Less than a month later, my friend was a Whovian. She was behind me in watching episodes though. but now she loves it as much as me. We talk about theories and what happened. Everytime we see a new episode, we are on Skype afterwards talking about it!

Actually, besides Wikipedia, the best place is '''[[Help:About|TARDIS Index File]]''', the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' wiki it has pages on every character, episode and almost everything else. It not only covers Doctor Who, but Torchwood, the Sarah Jane Adventures, and the K-9 series. So if you are a Whovian that watches more than Doctor Who, you have everything in one place!
I've barely seen any of the classics but I know tons about it! the only stories I've seen are The Five Doctors, An Unearthly Child, and The Daleks.

 

[darth_myeek]

Wouldn't it be easier to say, Doctor Who is the British Superman?

He's an alien, that changes in a phone booth, flies around saving the world and has a thing for a specific chick.

 

[Organic Mechanic]

Wouldn't it be easier to say, Doctor Who is the British Superman?

He's an alien, that changes in a phone booth, flies around saving the world and has a thing for a specific chick.

Nah, the Doctor has the capacity for genuine emotions, and his 'chick' was only a chick for one episode in 49 years.