# Things I've learned from watching "Doctor Who" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061 "2009-11-18T20:12:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/41 "2009-11-19T20:01:38Z")
From the Old Doctor Who: Other Time Lords will probably be evil. If The Doctor didn’t “do it” with Peri he’s got to be gay. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/42 "2009-11-19T20:05:03Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > The surface of lots of planets look remarkably like a gravel pit. The SAME gravel pit. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/43 "2009-11-19T22:57:12Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > Most of Earth is England. I can’t really fault them for that. Since it’s an English show, it’s going to be Englishcentric, just like American shows are Americentric. > [@dropzone](#): > > The SAME gravel pit. The BBC gravel pit, or quarry, for that matter. [hijack]One thing I never understood about the original version of the show. I heard that in the UK, the role of the Doctor was one of the most sought-after TV roles, but yet the special effects and props budgets were really low.[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/44 "2009-11-20T00:51:26Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The TARDIS always transports the Doctor to a critical or cataclysmic point in time. If the Doctor sightsees on Mars, it will be on the day the mars colony blows up. > > I think they even discussed this in Doctor Who. There’s currents and eddies in time that the TARDIS locks on to. If you visit Shakespeare it will be on a critical day that the earth is nearly destroyed. > > Nifty plot device. lol So, what you’re saying to me is: “Eddie’s in the time stream”. “Yes” And this is his couch? You take your British time travel stories where you can get them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/45 "2009-11-20T01:38:51Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Pssst…post 16 I actually posted before you but y’know how it is. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/46 "2009-11-20T01:45:29Z")
> [@Kal](#): > > I actually posted before you but y’know how it is. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. Ah, gotcha. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/47 "2009-11-20T03:42:52Z")
Experienced time travelers, with rooms full to bursting with clothes from nearly all times and planets, nevertheless rarely if ever dress apropriate to the time period and place. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus\_alba](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quercus_alba/32/4061_2.png) [@Quercus\_alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus_alba)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/48 "2009-11-20T04:46:53Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I can’t really fault them for that. Since it’s an English show, it’s going to be Englishcentric, just like American shows are Americentric. Just watched “Monsters vs. Aliens” with the kids, which contains this line from a news reporter: “Once again, a UFO has landed in America, the only country UFOs ever seem to land in.” I immediately knew that the writers had never seen an episode of Doctor Who… ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/49 "2009-11-20T04:58:06Z")
… or a Godzilla movie ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/50 "2009-11-20T09:18:21Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > [hijack]One thing I never understood about the original version of the show. I heard that in the UK, the role of the Doctor was one of the most sought-after TV roles, but yet the special effects and props budgets were really low.[/hijack] There are a couple of things here: firstly, I’m not sure there’s any logical connection between the attractiveness of a role, from an acting point of view, and the size of the special effect budget. Secondly, I don’t think the role of the Doctor ever _was_ one of the most sought-after. ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/51 "2009-11-20T10:43:38Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > OK, this is obviously a take-off of [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=539310). But anyway, things I’ve learned from watching “Who”, both old & new: > > 1. Just because a man travels around the universe in the company of a succession of nubile, 20something female companions and never, ever, ever makes a move on them doesn’t mean that he’s gay. > > What else? If you are not seen fucking your hot companions then most people won’t realise what really goes on in the TARDIS. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2009, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/52 "2009-11-20T10:43:55Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Experienced time travelers, with rooms full to bursting with clothes from nearly all times and planets, nevertheless rarely if ever dress apropriate to the time period and place. Well, that probably comes with the experience – when you start out on this whole time-travelling thing, you’re probably really concerned about blending in and not disturbing the course of history and stuff like that, but once you get a bit of mileage on your TARDIS, you realize that deep down, people don’t really care all that much if you dress funny, and you might as well wear something comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/53 "2009-11-20T19:12:46Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Well, that probably comes with the experience – when you start out on this whole time-travelling thing, you’re probably really concerned about blending in and not disturbing the course of history and stuff like that, but once you get a bit of mileage on your TARDIS, you realize that deep down, people don’t really care all that much if you dress funny, and you might as well wear something comfortable. People don’t notice a blue police box in ancient rome(well, they did, but it didn’t come across as any more then “interesting artwork”) so why would they notice the Doctor’s clothes? As a collary, the only time period where anyone noticed that Martha was black was 1913 England, despite her probably sticking out less there in Elizabethian England. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/54 "2009-11-20T20:09:54Z")
Actually, Shakespeare called her a blackamoor and an Ethiop, if I recall correctly. ETA: But he meant it in a nice way. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2009, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061/55 "2009-11-21T08:14:46Z")
After Martha asked the Doctor if she was in danger of being carted off as a slave and commented “Not exactly white in case you haven’t noticed” he advised her to simply act as though she owned the place as that is what had always worked for him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-ive-learned-from-watching-doctor-who/518061.md?page=2)