# Introducing the wife to Dr. Who **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 15, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129 "2009-04-15T00:10:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/1 "2009-04-15T00:10:23Z")
I’d like to introduce the wife to the Dr. Who series. We enjoy watching the various post-TOS Star Trek episodes together, and I wonder if she might not appreciate Dr. Who. Where should I start her? Note that we have only broadcast TV channels, so we’ll be renting or checking out from the library any episodes or movies we watch. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/2 "2009-04-15T00:24:13Z")
Start with the Dr. Who reboot starring Christopher Eccleston, from 2006. [This one.](http://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Complete-Billie-Piper/dp/B000E41MS6/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1239754914&sr=8-2) It captures the old Dr. Who vibe, but with modern (and fairly high) production standards. If she likes it enough, you can start introducing her to the older stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/3 "2009-04-15T00:30:07Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Start with the Dr. Who reboot starring Christopher Eccleston, from 2006. [This one.](http://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Complete-Billie-Piper/dp/B000E41MS6/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1239754914&sr=8-2) It captures the old Dr. Who vibe, but with modern (and fairly high) production standards. If she likes it enough, you can start introducing her to the older stuff. Agreed, it was a great intro for me and Eccleston does a fantastic job. I’m not sure the older episodes would have had the same impact at the outset and I probably would have felt lost. Now that I’ve caught up though, I wish I could go back and watch them all. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/4 "2009-04-15T04:16:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Start with the Dr. Who reboot starring Christopher Eccleston, from 2006. [This one.](http://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-Complete-Billie-Piper/dp/B000E41MS6/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1239754914&sr=8-2) It captures the old Dr. Who vibe, but with modern (and fairly high) production standards. If she likes it enough, you can start introducing her to the older stuff. I third this. The first episode, “Rose,” is a good introduction to the series for someone who is unfamiliar with the characters, and then you can have the pleasure of watching the whole new series chronologically. Some of my favorite episodes happen later in the series, but it would probably make more sense to start at the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/5 "2009-04-15T11:45:49Z")
Fourthed. And there are definitely some stand-out episodes early, in my opinion - most of the Eccleston series is really great in fact. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/6 "2009-04-15T12:24:37Z")
I’ve just introduced my girlfriend to Doctor Who, and I went with the Eccleston two-parter _The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances_, because it shows the Doctor’s heroic, compassionate side very well, followed some time later by the Tennant two-parter _Human Nature/Family of Blood_, because that one shows off his inhumanness and even somewhat dark side by contrasting it with a human ‘life that could have been’ – all in all, I felt it made for a good introduction to the character of the Doctor, which to me is the main pull of the series; it did work, too, even though she normally isn’t that into science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/7 "2009-04-15T15:52:08Z")
The old ones are very subjective in their appeal. I did the same “wife conversion” to Doctor Who. She is now a fanatic about the Eccleston/Tennant seasons, but has tried to watch the old versions and just doesn’t like the production values and different plodding methodical pace of the acting and scripts. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/8 "2009-04-15T16:06:27Z")
What? She doesn’t like the finest production qualities that the SciFi guys at the BBC in the late '70s could muster? Imagine that. ---
**Author:** ![vdgg81](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@vdgg81](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vdgg81)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/9 "2009-04-15T17:57:04Z")
I agree with everybody that Eccleston’s season makes for a good starting point. If she dislikes that then try Tennant. Older Who is great, much of it I’d argue is better than almost anything NuWho’s done, but is very definitely an acquired taste. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/10 "2009-04-15T17:59:26Z")
I agree, old Dr Who is the best, but Tennant is a cutie and the stories are fresher. Blink was fun. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/11 "2009-04-15T19:03:29Z")
As an introduction, you could do worse than [this episode](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8n15y_william-hartnell-super-season-an-un_shortfilms). ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/12 "2009-04-16T02:03:24Z")
Ooh, and when she digs the Who stuff thoroughly, then get started on Torchwood! ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/13 "2009-04-16T02:10:54Z")
speaking as the wife in this scenario, I agree with everyone else that the Eccleston era is the right place to start moving on nicely to the Tennant term. I’ve been mildly interested in Dr. Who all these years that my husband’s been trying to show them to me, but the new episodes are much more likely to appeal to women with the first doctors to have any sex appeal and storylines that include romance and sexual tension. Now I wouldn’t miss one. Hopefully you won’t mind her totally crushing on David Tennant. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/introducing-the-wife-to-dr-who/493129/14 "2009-04-16T02:13:56Z")
Honey, if she gets a shot at David Tennant I’ll gladly divorce and congratulate her at the same time…