So… I heard about this Doctor Who stuff a while back and decided, well if there are seasons upon seasons of “Classic” stories, I’m going to start there, ignoring all those folks who said, no no… start with the New ones. I found I actually somewhat enjoyed the classic stories, bad production values notwithstanding. They were interesting to me and fun - I think I’ve watched eps up to the 4th doctor (personally, I really enjoyed the 3rd doctor and his James Bond mixed with Sci-Fi personality - though I do wish he wasn’t confined on Earth… but I understand the budgetary issues why).
So at some point, I suggested to my gf to watch the first New Dr. Who episode, to see what it was like. I’ve always heard “Rose” was very good… It was HORRIBLE. So overly cheese and ridiculous it was hard to watch. My gf and I looked at each other as if to say what in the world did we just watch? Now she has seen “Day of the Doctor” since then (a friend wanted to watch it) and said it was very very good. And people have said, it gets better (as if it’s a newt in a Monty Python sketch), esp by Season 2. But that “Rose” episode, eugh.
I’m well aware of that. I’ve just always found it a bit amusing how “Don’t ever call him ‘Doctor Who’!” has become a kind of shibboleth for being a Real True Fan. Take it from someone who’s been watching the show since the '80s–people used to be much more casual about that kind of thing.
As for what he’s a doctor of, replies that I can recall include “Many things,” and “Practically everything!”
The thing about Dr. Who is that each Doctor’s stint is effectively a new show. I loved the Ninth Doctor, and liked the Tenth Doctor ok, but just couldn’t get into the Eleventh Doctor.
The other thing is that it’s in this strange category of having been a show that’s been on the air in one form or another over a 40+ year period. So there’s a lot of low-tech/low production value baggage hanging around. For example, the Daleks are supposed to be these sinister, terrible bad guys, but they look like gussied-up trash cans, and sound absurd. That’s because the Daleks are a remnant of the 1960s era Dr. Who.
So as a result, there’s a sort of expectation that you’ll suspend your disbelief if you’re watching the show and just enjoy it for what it is, not necessarily expect a super-realistic, tightly written show. Some people don’t like that.
Well, part of why I suggested “Rose” wasn’t because it’s necessarily a stellar episode, but because it’s the first of the new reboot. It’s entirely possible to get into the series without watching any of the classic episodes. Personally, I’m not a big Eccleston fan–I’ve watched the David Tennant episodes multiple times, but the Eccleston ones only once. There are a few good ones, but his take on the Doctor just didn’t work for me.
I lost my “Who virginity” to “Planet of the Dead,” which is not considered one of the better episodes by most fans, but I loved it. It’s another nice standalone episode. Another one is “Voyage of the Damned,” which is a Christmas special (those in general are good entry points, especially with the Tennant episodes). The Doctor shows up on a spacefaring alien ocean liner called the Titanic, and adventure ensues (including Kylie Minogue as the guest Companion). It’s a fun episode that lets Tennant show both his sparkly and his serious side nicely.
If you want to give Who a fair shake, even if it’s just to say you’re really sure you don’t like it, at least give one Tennant and one Smith episode a try. Don’t judge purely on Eccleston.
Yes, of course it’s okay not to like things, but I have the same “what am I missing” reaction as the OP when it comes to certain things that people with similar tastes find so much enjoyment in and that I just don’t “get.”
I prefer to explore those things, hoping that I will end up finding the same great enjoyment. If that doesn’t happen, maybe I will find some lesser degree of enjoyment or appreciation, or at the very least I’ll know what people are talking about. If challenged, I can demonstrate that I gave whatever it is a fair shot.
If you really think there’s a chance you might like something, it makes more sense to try a little harder to figure out what you’re missing than to just write it off. Or even worse, say “I don’t like it, therefore it’s crap and all you fans are deluded.” Of course the hostility can go in the other direction as well, with the fans looking down at the people who don’t “get it” and trying to make the fandom into some kind of exclusive club. It’s nice that this thread is full of friendly advice instead.
I’m speaking as another person who doesn’t get Dr. Who and is trying to figure out what I’m missing. It seems like it would be right up my alley. Sadly, it hasn’t caught me yet, but at least I’ve achieved “some level of enjoyment and appreciation.” The first episode I saw was one that was set on a Dalek prison planet or something and the Daleks wanted the doctor to save them or something and I suspect it was probably one of the worst possible episodes for a newbie to start with. I figured that it was probably a bit of an anomaly so I watched the first few episodes of the re-boot, a good Christmas special set during WWII where the father was an RAF pilot, and a few other random episodes. I’ll keep watching and hoping I’ll catch on, and if not, at least it’s mildly amusing to me.
p.s. Daleks may look like garbage cans with zits, but Cybermen are sort of awesome.
There are a lot more episodes at Rose level than Blink level. If Rose is unwatchable but Blink is manageable, find something else to do because you’ll be disappointed far more than you’ll be pleased. It’s not a deep show and I’m of the opinion, if you’ve watched a couple of different doctors and didn’t like any of it, cut your losses. No one here will be able to explain you into liking it.
Like it ok - not a huge fan, but a lot of respect for its uniquity. Has a lot of sentimental value for me and prob a lot of British blokes my age - Tom Baker as the Dr in the late 70s was an indelible part of growing up.
Still unlike anything else on tv - don’t know how they manage to keep that Dr Who phenotype going with all the different writers, directors etc over the years. Even when it sucked (and from memory, it really hit the skids for a time) it still had something different.
I don’t watch DW for the quality of the plots because that’s a waste of time. I watch because I like the Doctor, and more often than not his companions as well (sorry Martha). The recent Doctor meets Robin Hood might have been a stupid story (Alien robots steal gold to repair their spaceship?!), but I enjoyed watching the Doctor, and Clara, and especially their interaction with each other. (Clara/12 is so much better than Clara/11).
Blink may be a fantastic episode but it is NOT an episode that you should use to gauge whether you like Dr. Who. It is so fundamentally different from the rest of the series there’s really no comparison.
This is pretty much the way I am too. I love the character of the Doctor in most of his incarnations (exceptions being Two and Seven, neither of whom I can get into) - the smartest guy in the room, the guy with all the answers, insatiable curiosity, and tons of style, but who still needs his companions to keep him grounded and who sometimes screws up spectacularly. I don’t really care what they’ve got him doing–if I like the particular incarnation of the Doctor, I’ll at least mildly like his episodes even if they’re terrible. Every time David Tennant and Peter Capaldi are on screen, I’m riveted.
I certainly didn’t do this. I started because I was bored one day and caught a random episode during a marathon on BBC last year. I set my DVR to record the show, and watched in whatever order they showed up. They weren’t in chronological order, and sometimes jumped between Doctors.
Sure, watching in order would allow the story arcs to unroll naturally. But as long as the two parters are done together, I don’t think I missed out on much. I’ve had a bunch of “Oh, that other thing makes a lot of sense now!” moments, and it gives me a reason to rewatch some episodes. I did somehow manege to watch Family of Blood without seeing Human Nature…and somehow didn’t realize it was a two parter until my DVR finally caught Human Nature. Maybe Family of Blood was one of the first ones I saw during that marathon, and I turned it on part way through.
I admit that I didn’t really appreciate the last Matt Smith episode the first time I saw it - I decided to watch it live, so I could talk about it here or with friends. But I didn’t even know what an Angel was yet…and I didn’t catch a ton of the other bits. I rewatched it after catching up on the rest of NuWho.
