I went through all nine seasons of the X-files, the latter 4 seasons, on Netflix instant watch. Now I find i kind of miss that. I want to watch a new show, but I’m not sure what to watch.
I love paranormal or sci-fi type stories, but i vastly prefer “professionals looking into the unknown” rather than kids chasing it down or even family. This is why I don’t just watch Supernatural, btw, it seems entertaining enough, but I am just not as interested in the antics of two young men doing this on their own.
I began to think Dr. Who might be a good show. However, I know very little about it:
There is a time traveling doctor who uses a time machine called a TARDIS
his enemy is the Daleks, these weird little robots
he has many different forms. I don’t remember if he’s reborn as different doctors, or what.
?
I have no idea what else he does. I do know that what I’ve heard of him sounds delightfully snarky. Will I enjoy this show? What’s the plot, his reason for being? Where do I even start? Help!
Start with New Who–that would be the one that has Christopher Eccleston and Billy Piper in the first season (David Tennant replaces him in season 2). It’s available on Netflix Instant, and since its whole point is to reintroduce Doctor Who to a new audience, the first episode answers a lot of the questions about who he is (he’s a Time Lord), what he travels in (the TARDIS), and what he does (be the most clever person in the universe). Every week there’s a new mystery/monster/threat for him and his companion to face, but he’s all about problem solving and he’s got a very…expansive outlook. He’s not a professional looking into the unknown, but his experiences aren’t exactly random either. It’s actually really hard to tell sometimes if he went somewhere on purpose, if the TARDIS took him there, or if it was just an accident that he showed up in time to stop the New Big Menace.
It is a kid’s show, but it doesn’t have its darker, more serious episodes. I’m sure people will be in right away to tell you who their favorite Doctor is and that Blink is the best episode of television ever (mine is Nine and Blink isn’t the greatest thing ever). Some of the episodes are hit-or-miss, but some are really, really wonderful. There have been 5 seasons of New Who now with 3 Doctors, so plenty to catch up on (he regenerates when he dies into a new man but with all his old memories etc. he’s essentially immortal).
I wouldn’t worry about Classic Who right now. Maybe if you really, really dig it, you’ll want to watch some old episodes with Four or Five, but it’s a completely different type of show, and it’s not for everybody, IMHO (that is, I love New Who but the classic episodes are soooooooooooooooooooooooo boring).
Not to confuse matters too much, but another one to look at ( also available in HD from Netflix streaming ) is Torchwood, which is a more adult-oriented spin-off from Dr. Who. I’m working my way through it right and while there are things I don’t like about it ( including the spin-off character from Dr. Who ), it has its moments.
To add some other background information as a New Who fan.
The Doctor is a ‘Time Lord’, which means he’s an alien from the planet Gallifrey. Most of his people were killed in a huge time war with the Daleks, and the Doctor is either the last survivor or one of the last. He travels through time and space in his TARDIS, usually just trying to be a happy-go-lucky tourist, but he normally ends up running into nefarious aliens of some sort or another that he has to outwit.
The Doctor also has a soft spot for planet Earth, and has often stepped up and declared himself as Earth/the human race’s guardian and champion against alien threats who try to conquer, demolish, or who are negligent of how their own activities might affect the planet. He usually travels with a human ‘companion’ and tries to show them cool bits of earth’s history and humanity’s future.
There are several recurring alien ‘baddies’ besides the Daleks, these include the Cybermen, (metal humanoids who try to ‘upgrade’ people into more Cybermen,) and the warrior Sontarans.
Whenever a Time Lord is very badly wounded, his body will regenerate, and usually this means that he or she assumes a completely different physical appearance and a distinctly altered personality. That’s the explanation for the different forms of the Doctor.
The Doctor isn’t really ‘a doctor’…he is The Doctor. (The title/name is self-selected.)
He is what’s called a Time Lord - a time travelling alien from the planet Gallifrey. It’s not uncommon, though not universal, for Time Lords (and Time Ladies) to take a title as a name and just run with it. For example, there are also The Master, The Rani, The Monk, and The War Chief. Some of them, their original names are known, others (like the Doctor), they’re not.
The Daleks are not his only enemies, just one of the most recognizable. They’ve appeared once or twice in almost every season, though not always as the only, or main, antagonist. (They’re also not robots, but if you haven’t seen the show, it’s certainly understandable that you wouldn’t know that.) Other major enemies include the Master, the Cybermen (who, like the Daleks are cyborgs), the Sontarans, and others, of course. Most of his enemies, I’d wager, appear in one story, and then never appear again (though some will be referenced)…though the recurring enemies could be the majority…I haven’t actually made the lists to compare.
Regeneration… It was introduced when they first actor to play the Doctor (William Hartnell) had to leave due to health issues, and they wanted an interesting way to explain replacing him (with Patrick Troughton). They’ve since expanded on the concept, which is a part of Gallifreyan biology - several other Time Lords have been shown having Regenerated, to cover an actor change, or for dramatic reasons, as well. The Master - for whom, it’s become part of his character* - Romana, and Rassilon being the most prominent ones.
Regeneration comes with a change in appearance (usually making the Doctor significantly younger), and personality (though the base personality remains intact, the details change**). It can be done 12 times (theoretically), and the Doctor, being on his 11th incarnation at the moment, can, theoretically, do it twice more…but they’ve already set up that that’s not a hard limit, so if the show survives to the point that he’ll run out, they can easily get around that.
Regeneration isn’t a ‘get out of death free’ card, though - there are ways to prevent it, which the Doctor has been threatened with, or been worried about happening at several points.
The other most prominent aspect of the series is the Doctor’s Companions - which is just what it says on the tin (although the canonical list of Companions stretches the meaning a bit to include people he only hung with for one story). The single largest group of Companions are human females, though he’s travelled with both sexes and a couple other species (including 2 Gallifreyans - Romana, and his granddaughter, Susan), as well as several robots. In the new series, all, save 1, have been human, and the majority have been women (split 8/4***).
With the Master, he doesn’t always regenerate normally - in fact, IIRC, he burnt through all of his regular regenerations, and started resorting to other methods rather early in his appearances.
** The Doctor is always arrogant, brilliant, and manipulative but benevolent. Usually somewhat silly, but a dark side is always there. What the ratio of these qualities is, and whether he’s brave or a coward, and more cerebral or physical, will change up when he regenerates - after the switch from Nine to Ten, he actually spent a lot of time wondering aloud just what kind of Doctor he was going to be this time.
*** Oh, hell, I’m footnoting, anyway, might as well list the new series’ companions… (In no particular order, and nothing else spoilery save that they made the ‘Companion’ list.)
Female: Rose, Martha, Donna, River, Astrid, Abigail, Lady Christina
Male: Mickey, Rory, Jack, Wilf
Two original series companions - Sara Jane Smith and K9 - have appeared on the new show…and both have, like Jack, gotten spin-offs.
My husband started me out with some of the Tom Baker episodes, when they were gearing up to relaunch the series with Ecclestion, and he wanted me to have a proper grounding.
The effects, of course, are pure shit. They are beyond laughable. But if you can get past that, I found the “Key to Time” series of episodes* to be generally good, except for the Power of Kroll. The second in that series is The Pirate Planet, which was written by Douglas Adams, BTW.
Baker is great as The Doctor - sometimes insouciant, sometimes goofy, sometimes snarky, sometimes deadly serious, and often a weird mix of several of those. It’s a unique character. I’d say the closest archetype you could match him up to is the trickster (Anansi, Br’er Rabbit, etc.), but he’s like a trickster crossed with a paladin.
*The Ribos Operation, The Pirate Planet, The Stones of Blood, The Androids of Tara, The Power of Kroll, and The Armageddon Factor
As a longtime fan of the original series in its many mutations, I would nonetheless also suggest watching the new show first, and then digging into the old show if you find yourself drawn to it. But, it is often claimed that people end up preferring the incarnation of The Doctor that they first encountered, in which case you had better start with Tom Baker, or else your appreciation of the show will be forever corrupted.
Here’s a subjective account of the various eras in the show:
First Doctor - William Hartnell (1963–1966)
Black & white, crappy film quality. A crotchety old Doctor traveling with his granddaughter. It was meant as a kid’s show, and so they try to sneak in lessons about history and shit. But sometimes the drama can be surprisingly noir.
Second Doctor - Patrick Troughton (1966–1969)
I haven’t seen much of this, but it certainly seems like going in a different direction from Hartnell.
Third Doctor - Jon Pertwee (1970–1974)
It is often suggested that they were going for a sort of James Bond-style Doctor. Pertwee plays a dignified and well-dressed Doctor, forced to remain on earth by the Time Lords, so he works with the United Nations Task Force to fend off a constant stream of attempted alien invasions. Assistants include Joe Brand and Sara Jane Smith. The Master shows up a lot.
Fourth Doctor - Tom Baker (1974–1981)
Tom Baker is a charming and comical Doctor, and this period also included the script editorships of Anthony Read and Douglas Adams. This was also the era of such companions as K-9, Sara Jane Smith (again), Leela (warrior of the SevaTeam), and Lady Romana Dvora Trelundar, Nyssa. On the other hand, also Tegan. And some people don’t like Adric. Of course, these are the episodes I am most familiar with, so the fact that I think of this era as chock full of keystone episodes may involve some selection bias. But, The Key of Time sequence took place under Baker. That ain’t hay.
Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison (1981–1984)
Another dignified Doctor. Bland in comparison, but solid stories most of the time. Unfortunately, he had Teagan, Turlough and alas Peri for companions. But also Nyssa for a while.
Sixth Doctor - Colin Baker (1984–1986)
Occasionally, someone will admit to liking this doctor. I don’t know of anyone who admits to liking Peri or Melanie. I have yet to manage to sit through the whole Trial of the Timelord.
Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy (1987–1989, 1996)
McCoy was a professional clown or something, and it shows in his antics. Charming, though darker than Tom Baker’s Doctor. Computer effects are getting better at this point. Even in the 80’s it was shocking how 80’s the show looked at this point. Ace comes in as a companion – spunky, though she seems cloyingly so now that I’m no longer a teenager.
Eighth Doctor - Paul McGann (1996)
TV Movie. American Television. Bad.
Pretty good Doctor, though. And Eric Roberts had a great face for use as The Master. Unfortunately, they decided to make The Master into something more like The Terminator.
Ninth Doctor - Christopher Eccleston (2005)
The series revival. A goofy, fun Doctor from the guy who played the asshole in 28 Days Later. The show gets faster paced, not always for the better, and the special effects budget is no longer quite such a source of campy amusement. I was annoyed that they dropped one of the signature aspects of the show – that the Doctor was previously always distinctively dressed. Eccleston’s Doctor wore the generic costume of the era – leather jacket over t-shirt and slacks.
Tenth Doctor - David Tennant (2005–2010)
Another comic Doctor, just differenter. Martha Jones, yes. Not everybody cares for certain plot developments that involved certain old enemies played by certain guys from Life on Mars, but nothing in it bothered me more than Eccelston’s unimaginative costuming.
I am leaving today at 3, so I won’t be able to answer for a few days. Most likely I will throw it on Instant watch and start next week. I’ll look more into it before then and figure out which one I want to see…but thank you all, and please feel free to keep adding more info!
Eleventh Doctor - Matt Smith (2010- )
I’m too new to the Whoniverse to attempt to describe his place in the pantheon, but his Companion is hands down the most gorgeous thing ever to travel through time.
Matt Smith has yet to engage me. Too many histrionics. Karen Gillan is very pretty. Arthur Darvill was pretty much in the K9 category until his CMOA in the last two episodes - I won’t spoil them.
People here have covered it well. You do have to remember that, though the current series is a continuation of the original run, it’s much different, with far more character depth. The first seven doctors were about story and adventure, but rarely dealt with real emotion and, though there was story continuity, there wasn’t much emotional continuity. The Doctor was not emotionally affected by things until the new series began (some say he is too much that way).
I’ve seen all the Doctors over the years and, overall, I prefer Tennant right now.
What made the show great were the scripts. It was the best-written SF series of its era; anything that looks bad today was far worse everywhere else. The scripts overcame the lack of budget for big special effects.
