# What's so great about Doctor Who? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 20, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186 "2010-05-20T21:41:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/41 "2010-05-21T20:44:59Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > I can’t believe the BBC recommended this to you as a first episode. Where did they do that? A previous poster asked who told me to watch _School Reunion_ and I said the BBC because that’s the episode that happened to be on the BBC at the time. I was channel surfing and I landed on _Doctor Who_ so I figured I’d find out what all the hubbub was about. I never said that they recommended it to me as a first episode. 😛 ---
**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:** [May 21, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/42 "2010-05-21T20:47:45Z")
> [@Sean\_Factotum](#): > > HA! In an episode of _Coupling_, which was Moffat’s romantic-comedy series on BBC a few years before he started writing for (and now running) _Doctor Who_, there was a scene in a furniture shop where one of the characters gave three reasons for having a sofa, and the third one was “hiding from Daleks,” and was said as he ducked down behind the sofa. 😃 ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/PxVHealguGs/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/PxVHealguGs?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque (The sofa line is at about 4 mins in, but the whole clip is hysterical!) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/43 "2010-05-21T20:55:33Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > A previous poster asked who told me to watch _School Reunion_ and I said the BBC because that’s the episode that happened to be on the BBC at the time. I was channel surfing and I landed on _Doctor Who_ so I figured I’d find out what all the hubbub was about. I never said that they recommended it to me as a first episode. 😛 Oh, right, sorry. What BBC channel is currently showing a four year-old episode? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/44 "2010-05-21T20:57:44Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Oh, right, sorry. What BBC channel is currently showing a four year-old episode? It was yesterday at around 2pm on BBCA, channel 264 on Direct TV. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/45 "2010-05-21T20:58:48Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > 😃 > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxVHealguGs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxVHealguGs) > (The sofa line is at about 4 mins in, but the whole clip is hysterical!) Okay, I had the specifics wrong (but did remember the Daleks part). Thanks for the link. I hadn’t seen any of these episodes in awhile, and enjoyed it once again. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/46 "2010-05-21T21:01:27Z")
> [@fluiddruid](#): > > I’d recommend **Midnight**. Ah, isn’t it great that we all have our own favorites. It’s diversity of opinion that makes this rainbow-colored world go around. However… are you people _insane_? Meet me in the spoiler box.[spoiler]Midnight is a good episode primarily because it subverts our expectations: no visible monsters, no running, essentially no companions, and… perhaps the biggest twist of all… nobody listens to the Doctor. Sometimes it takes a while, but people always listen to the Doctor. Words and ideas are his greatest weapon, so it’s chilling first to see his words have the opposite of the intended effect, and then to see his voice actually stolen and turned against him. But the power of the episode comes from the audience having been immersed in those tropes. Otherwise it might as well be an episode of _The Twilight Zone_, or _Twelve Angry Men_ in space. It is in no way representative of _Doctor Who_; it’s virtually the anti-_Who_. (Coming to BBC Three… “Auntie Who”!) Plus, there is no human point of view in this episode, and really no completely sympathetic human characters. If you aren’t at least a little bit invested in the Doctor, I think the episode is going to fall flat. Finally, somebody who’s not already inclined to give the series a lot of breaks is bound to wonder why everyone at this enormous futuristic space resort appears to be a middle-class Brit from the early 21st-century. **Blink** , on the other hand, shows us professorial doctor, inventor doctor, jokester doctor, and at least a glimpse of action-hero doctor, all from the point of view of characters who don’t have a clue as to who the doctor is, which is perfect for a first- (or second-) time viewer. Sally Sparrow is a great POV character too – better, I think, then Rose in the pilot. Plus the weeping angels are much less laughable than the plastic people.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/47 "2010-05-21T21:09:49Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > That’s a really good choice of first episode actually. It’s not one I’d have picked before, but on reflection everything you say is correct. > > And what **Eyebrows** says. ^^^^ Yes. Midnight. Great ep. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/48 "2010-05-21T21:11:10Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > Ah, isn’t it great that we all have our own favorites. It’s diversity of opinion that makes this rainbow-colored world go around. However… are you people _insane_? Meet me in the spoiler box.[spoiler]Midnight is a good episode primarily because it subverts our expectations: no visible monsters, no running, essentially no companions, and… perhaps the biggest twist of all… nobody listens to the Doctor. Sometimes it takes a while, but people always listen to the Doctor. Words and ideas are his greatest weapon, so it’s chilling first to see his words have the opposite of the intended effect, and then to see his voice actually stolen and turned against him. But the power of the episode comes from the audience having been immersed in those tropes. Otherwise it might as well be an episode of _The Twilight Zone_, or _Twelve Angry Men_ in space. It is in no way representative of _Doctor Who_; it’s virtually the anti-_Who_. (Coming to BBC Three… “Auntie Who”!) > > Plus, there is no human point of view in this episode, and really no completely sympathetic human characters. If you aren’t at least a little bit invested in the Doctor, I think the episode is going to fall flat. > > Finally, somebody who’s not already inclined to give the series a lot of breaks is bound to wonder why everyone at this enormous futuristic space resort appears to be a middle-class Brit from the early 21st-century.[/spoiler] > **Blink** , on the other hand, shows us professorial doctor, inventor doctor, jokester doctor, and at least a glimpse of action-hero doctor, all from the point of view of characters who don’t have a clue as to who the doctor is, which is perfect for a first- (or second-) time viewer. Sally Sparrow is a great POV character too – better, I think, then Rose in the pilot. Plus the weeping angels are much less laughable than the plastic people.[/spoiler] Yes. Blink. Great ep. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/49 "2010-05-21T21:19:21Z")
I recently started watching **Doctor Who** , starting with _Rose_ and going forward chronologically. I’m…ambivalent. There have been some really awesomely creepy episodes and some real clunkers. _School Reunion_ was a clunker for me, FTR, probably my second least favorite episode, despite the presence of Giles. (My least favorite was, I think, _The Idiot Lantern_, which was just boring and took me ages to watch because I kept thinking of other, more interesting things to do.) I just finished the second season and really enjoyed the finale, so right now I’m looking forward to watching the third season, the first two disks of which I have on hand at the moment. I’m getting the DVDs from my local library, so you can’t beat the price. My only hard complaint is that the writers seem to fall back on a couple different themes/plot lines a lot. The first is having lots of aliens chanting in unison, which is no longer scary, you guys. Seriously, knock it off. The second is that the Doctor misplaces the TARDIS. This is how I imagine the writing sessions going: Writer 1: What should we do in this episode? Writer 2: How about…the Doctor misplaces the TARDIS? Writer 1: Wait, haven’t we already– Everyone else: BRILLIANT! Ha ha ha! That’ll make for an intriguing story! Writer 1: No it won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/50 "2010-05-21T21:53:54Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > It was yesterday at around 2pm on BBCA, channel 264 on Direct TV. Ah. I think they are showing the new ones about a fortnight behind, if that interests you. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/51 "2010-05-21T21:56:26Z")
Thanks for the tip, but if I’m going to watch a specific episode I’ll just pirate it. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/52 "2010-05-21T22:11:19Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > If you’re going to judge the show by its effects, then there’s no point in watching. **Doctor Who is about story, not effects.** There are certainly bad episodes, and the earlier ones may seem a bit dated, but overall, the show has produced a greater percentage of first-class science fiction than any other, and the new incarnation is the best SF on TV today. (My bolding). This is exactly the point. _Doctor Who_ has always been about stories and character, and it’s always been _clever._ It’s always been a show that values intellect over action. As **TW Dukes** pointed out, the Doctor’s chief weapons are reason and persuasion - he famously never carries a gun (which made his use of one in _A Time Of Angels_ a bit of a shocker to me). Instead, he saves the universe with a screwdriver and a defective spaceship. I started watching the show back in the eighties, on PBS, during the Tom Baker/Peter Davison/Colin Baker era, and I can tell you that it was the most original sci-fi on TV then. The very first of the NuWho episodes I saw was _The End of Time_ - which, of course, was David Tennant’s last. And yet that was probably the best episode I’ve seen. The Doctor’s compassion for Wilf and the Master, his snarky humor (“Worst rescue EVER!”), his grief at his impending death which does not stop him from sacrificing himself - this is classic _Doctor Who_. Of course, **A Clockwork Melon** , if you don’t like it, you don’t like it. There’s plenty of good sci-fi out there - no point in wasting time on a show you don’t care for. _De gustibus non disputantum est._ ---
**Author:** ![ivan732](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/aeb1de/32.png) [@ivan732](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan732)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/53 "2010-05-21T23:00:09Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > This is exactly the point. _Doctor Who_ has always been about stories and character, and it’s always been _clever._ It’s always been a show that values intellect over action. As **TW Dukes** pointed out, the Doctor’s chief weapons are reason and persuasion See, this is where I disagree - I don’t think Doctor Who is about intellect and reason at all. Instead, what always happens is that the characters are faced with some baffling, perilous situation, and then the Doctor solves it with some kind of technobabble explanation that makes no sense if you think about it for more than two seconds. The entire premise of the story is routinely waved away in this frustrating fashion, meaning that most Doctor Who tales are slightly unsatisfying. So it’s certainly not hard science fiction. It’s not even soft science fiction. It’s almost a genre of itself. I think it owes more to Edward Lear than Isaac Asimov. Witty, whimsical, but ultimately nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/54 "2010-05-21T23:17:53Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Thanks for the tip, but if I’m going to watch a specific episode I’ll just pirate it. Fair enough, you could have asked for advice if you were bothered at all. You clearly aren’t, so whatever, it’s a big old world out there. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/55 "2010-05-21T23:32:55Z")
> [@ivan732](#): > > So it’s certainly not hard science fiction. It’s not even soft science fiction. It’s almost a genre of itself. No fucking way! > [@](#): > > I think it owes more to Edward Lear than Isaac Asimov. Witty, whimsical, but ultimately nonsense. Hey, exactly, you got it. Asimov had his virtues, but he was surely lacking in minor things like characterisation, humour, female characters. Even Susan Calvin was basically a soulless robot. Hint: Asimov’s future techs are just as much bollocks as anything in Doctor Who. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/56 "2010-05-21T23:35:28Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > The second is that the Doctor misplaces the TARDIS. Does he? I’m having a hard time thinking of examples of this in new-Who other than _Blink_. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/57 "2010-05-21T23:38:40Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > A previous poster asked who told me to watch _School Reunion_ and I said the BBC because that’s the episode that happened to be on the BBC at the time. I was channel surfing and I landed on _Doctor Who_ so I figured I’d find out what all the hubbub was about. I never said that they recommended it to me as a first episode. 😛 Yes you did. **TWDuke:** Second, who told you to start with “School Reunion”? **AClockworkMelon** : BBC did. ---
**Author:** ![ivan732](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/aeb1de/32.png) [@ivan732](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan732)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/58 "2010-05-21T23:57:17Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Hey, exactly, you got it. Asimov had his virtues, but he was surely lacking in minor things like characterisation, humour, female characters. Even Susan Calvin was basically a soulless robot. Hint: Asimov’s future techs are just as much bollocks as anything in Doctor Who. Yes, I don’t know why I picked Asimov as an example, because I don’t think much of his writing. Or of science fiction as a whole, come to that, because most of it is ultimately, as you say, bollocks. Better to compare Doctor Who to mainstream popular fiction, in which we expect and get plots that make a reasonable amount of sense. Doctor Who’s problem is that it must have an intriguing SF-style premise, and it is very difficult to get from there to a satisfying explanation. They always have to fall back on vague hand-waving. Sometimes it does work, when a strong premise and a witty script make up for the plot holes. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/59 "2010-05-22T00:07:38Z")
School Reunion was really more of a Sarah Jane Adventures episode. The Slitherians and their farting are typical of the 12 year old audience that SJA targets. Doctor Who usually is a little more mature. Blink is a good example. Once in awhile Doctor Who gets a little silly. But, it is meant for a older audience then SJA. > [@Smeghead](#): > > School Reunion was one of my least favorite episodes, for what it’s worth. I like Doctor Who because it doesn’t take itself too seriously. No one tries to make sense of the Tardis and the Doctor’s technology. You have to accept that it somehow works. The stories are whats important. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186/60 "2010-05-22T00:21:29Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Does he? I’m having a hard time thinking of examples of this in new-Who other than _Blink_. I haven’t even seen _Blink_ yet, I’m apparently not that far into the series. The fact that I’m already tired of this trope and it happens at least once more does not please me. The most recent example of it that I’ve seen was in _The Impossible Planet_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-great-about-doctor-who/540186.md?page=4)