# Any Doctor Who-like series out there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269 "2012-04-09T16:34:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/1 "2012-04-09T16:34:18Z")
OK, I’m really show to pick up on good things. I got into Terry Pratchett after so many Dopers recommended him that it annoyed me enough to pick him up. I finally saw “Donnie Darko” last year, even though the DVD’s been on my shelf for two years. I still haven’t seen an episode of “Mad Men” or “Breaking Bad” or [insert favorite show here]. Which is the long way of saying I finally started watching the rebooted Doctor Who, and loving it. I’m at that stage where I don’t pick which one’s my favorite doctor, because I’m fond of them all. (Currently, we’re watching season 3, after picking up one and two and five – the latter because Gaiman’s “The Doctor’s Wife” was on it – (and, yes, I was late to “Sandman” as well, and loved it so much I picked up the Absolute versions). But a question has been bugging me. The notion of a space and time traveler having adventures seems like a great archetype, but I can’t think of any books based on it. Part of it is sheer ignorance – I read a lot more fantasy and science-fiction – so I’m hoping y’all can help. I’m not looking for Who-based fiction, but simply adventure series with time traveller(s). Any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/2 "2012-04-09T16:52:15Z")
It’s not used that often. Doctor Who sort of created the genre and few wanted to risk the comparison. **[Voyagers!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyagers!)** comes to mind (and is well regarded), as does **[Sliders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliders)** (not quite time travel – it was parallel worlds – and generally awful and unimaginative in execution). ---
**Author:** ![SnakeBabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SnakeBabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakeBabe)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/3 "2012-04-09T17:28:50Z")
Have you seen Torchwood? ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/4 "2012-04-09T18:29:48Z")
[Inspector Spacetime](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMSyIgydYfs). ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/5 "2012-04-09T18:34:29Z")
You really don’t want to watch Torchwood. Just enjoy Jack Harkness in his hilarious role in Who and forget Torchwood. Except for the one episode James Marsters (Spike from Buffy) was in. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/6 "2012-04-09T19:15:41Z")
[Sapphire & Steel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire_and_steel) starring Joanna Lumley and David McCallum tried to be a Doctor Who for a more mature audience. I don’t recall how well they succeeded as I haven’t seen an episode in decades. > [@From Wikipedia](#): > > The programme centres on a pair of interdimensional operatives, the eponymous Sapphire and Steel. Very little is revealed about their purposes or backgrounds in the course of the series but they appear to be engaged in guarding the order, if not the integrity, of Time. Then there’s the more recent [Primeval](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primeval). It’s about a team of scientists that are researching randomly appearing time portals that transport various prehistoric creatures to modern day England. Lots of time travel hijinks ensues. It doesn’t really resemble Doctor Who all that much, but it’s clearly aimed at the same audience. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/7 "2012-04-09T20:00:00Z")
If what you are asking for is a science fiction TV series about a guy traveling to random times and places, and having adventures wherever he arrives, then [Quantum Leap](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Leap) springs to mind. In most respects it is not much like Dr Who, though, and all the places are on Earth. (Mind you, given the size of the universe, Dr Who himself seems to wind up on Earth, or even in England, surprisingly often.) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/8 "2012-04-09T20:29:33Z")
Lexx Even weirder than Doctor Who. ---
**Author:** ![charmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@charmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charmstr)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/9 "2012-04-09T21:33:54Z")
It’s weird that the OP asked about books or stories with similar themes to Dr Who and all the responses thus far have suggested other television shows. Is it a reading comprehension problem? (I went back and read it several times to ensure the reading comprehension problem wasn’t mine! It’s been known to happen to me.) There’s lots of science fiction where a hero goes through space or time to a location where he then has an adventure. If you’re looking for a series that has the same hero doing this over and over, it’s a little tougher. There were a lot of Sci-Fi series in the 50s and 60s that consisted of “our hero” zipping through the universe solving problems on different worlds. Keith Laumer’s Retief stories comes to mind, along with E.C. Tubb’s bazillion books about the man trying to find his way back to Earth. (Parenthetically, the Tubb books were the first place I ever ran into boilerplate text in fiction. The initial descriptions of the hero and his plight were word-for-word identical in each of the books I read). Alternately, you could just read stories written by authors who published in John Campbell’s Analog magazine. As a rule the heroes of these tales were interchangeable northern European men, so you could just rename them “Bob” or something and have yourself a series. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/10 "2012-04-09T21:53:55Z")
Well, the op asked for a **series** in the subject. Most people associate that with a tv series. Doctor Who is a tv series. Most people assumed this was a tv thread. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/11 "2012-04-09T23:06:33Z")
Quantum Leap? You did say that you tend to be slow to pick up shows so perhaps you missed this one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/12 "2012-04-10T00:36:34Z")
> [@charmstr](#): > > It’s weird that the OP asked about books or stories with similar themes to Dr Who and all the responses thus far have suggested other television shows. Is it a reading comprehension problem? (I went back and read it several times to ensure the reading comprehension problem wasn’t mine! It’s been known to happen to me.) > > There’s lots of science fiction where a hero goes through space or time to a location where he then has an adventure. If you’re looking for a series that has the same hero doing this over and over, it’s a little tougher. The problem is that while the literature has various space adventurers, there aren’t many who travel trhough time. The best I can think of is the “[Time Machine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Machine_series)” stories that appeared in\*\* Boys Life\*\* in the 50s and 60s. There are some rough parallels to Doctor Who, though I doubt anyone at the BBC had ever heard of it. The Wikipedia link I gave also has links to the stories. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/13 "2012-04-10T00:59:24Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > [Sapphire & Steel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire_and_steel) starring Joanna Lumley and David McCallum tried to be a Doctor Who for a more mature audience. I don’t recall how well they succeeded as I haven’t seen an episode in decades. Sapphire and Steel is chilling and spooky and mysterious and alluring and boring as all get out. You have absolutely no idea who they are, where they come from, or what their philosophy is except for some nebulous and vague comments about corridors and Time. The villains they fight are almost completely opaque and the dialogue is the worst kind of nonsense babble turned up to 11. On top of all this is absolutely glacial pacing. It aired for 6 series. Each series has one thread line that takes anywhere from 6 to 8 episodes to resolve. Too little happens in one episode to make it seem worthwhile to watch them one at a time but the recap editing makes watching more than 2 or 3 in a row absolutely sleep-inducing. I’m glad I watched them but I will probably never watch them again. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/14 "2012-04-10T02:22:46Z")
Blake’s 7 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/15 "2012-04-10T02:38:43Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Blake’s 7 It was British SF, with space travel, but they didn’t travel in time. The BBC streaming audio channel Radio 4 Extra was recently running a series of shows set in the _Blake’s 7_ universe, called _Blake’s 7: The Early Years_. The announcer said “True to the spirit of the original TV series, Blake isn’t in it, and there aren’t seven of them.” 😃 (Those who watched past the first season of the original show will get this.) ---
**Author:** ![SnakeBabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SnakeBabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakeBabe)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/16 "2012-04-10T03:56:29Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Lexx > > Even weirder than Doctor Who. I loved Lexx 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/17 "2012-04-10T04:22:26Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Sapphire and Steel is chilling and spooky and mysterious and alluring and boring as all get out. Time for a remake, then. Give the Observers from _Fringe_ a spinoff. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/18 "2012-04-10T17:04:15Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Sapphire and Steel is chilling and spooky and mysterious and alluring and boring as all get out. True, but on the other hand, Joanna Lumley in her prime. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/19 "2012-04-10T17:50:49Z")
> [@pesch](#): > > But a question has been bugging me. The notion of a space and time traveler having adventures seems like a great archetype, but I can’t think of any books based on it. Part of it is sheer ignorance – I read a lot more fantasy and science-fiction – so I’m hoping y’all can help. > > I’m not looking for Who-based fiction, but simply adventure series with time traveller(s). > > Any suggestions? I haven’t read the series myself, but Simon Hawke’s [TimeWars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TimeWars)series sounds like something similar to what you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269/20 "2012-04-10T22:25:42Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Time for a remake, then. Give the Observers from _Fringe_ a spinoff. As Fry would say, Shut up and take my money! > [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > True, but on the other hand, Joanna Lumley in her prime. Exactly the sort of thing for people who are into that sort of thing. David McCallum was not quite my cup of tea so I had to rate the show purely on its strength as a sci-fi series. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-doctor-who-like-series-out-there/618269.md?page=2)