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Ask Slashdot: How/Where To Start Watching Dr. Who?
stinkfish writes "I am a big fan of science fiction, especially good TV science fiction. For some reason Dr. Who is a show I have watched very little of. My question to Slashdot is, whats the best strategy for enjoying this classic show? Looking at the wikipedia page on Dr. who, I see there are 11 Doctors, so is hard to pick a good starting point. If it was just up to me, I would start watching from the very beginning. But I know my wife would not watch a show that dated, though she is a science fiction fan herself and enjoyed a few seasons of Torchwood. So where do I start? Here's an article on this topic; is there more to say?"
You aren't alone. I never got into this show, and I've just never been particularly interested in trying.
And you know what else--I thought "Lord of the Rings" was boring (both in book and movie form), "Babylon 5" was poorly written and acted, and the movie version of "Starship Troopers" was much better than the book. There, I said it.
I assert that being a geek doesn't mean having to like *everything* associated with geek life. And if you have to FORCE yourself to get into it, you're probably going to take all the fun out of it anyway.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
With Billie Piper and C. Ecklsteiner.
Then, David Tenet.
Then - I haven't seen them, but get caught up.
From there - you'll know the flavor of Doctor you like, and be able to make a more informed choice.
The nice thing about a Time Travel series - is you need not watch it sequentially!
...and watch some future episodes
If there's one season worth skipping, IMHO it's Trial of a Timelord. Colin Baker's probably my least favorite Doctor...
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
Start with the 11th Doctor.
It's a sort-of fresh start and while it does reference the past Doctors, if you're interested in knowing more - look up the episode on Wikipedia and I'm sure a bigger nerd will have linked to the past episode.
The biggest things that came back from past episodes were the Steven Moffat episodes from the previous seasons - those might be worth viewing just to catch up and also to see how good Doctor Who can be if in the hands of a good writer.
Previous Steven Moffat stories:
Series 1:
1.9 "The Empty Child"
1.10 "The Doctor Dances"
Series 2:
2.4 "The Girl in the Fireplace"
Series 3:
3.10 "Blink"
Series 4:
4.9 "Silence in the Library"
4.10 "Forest of the Dead"
Just listing those episodes reminds me of a lot of the stuff introduced in them that are referenced in later episodes.
All browsers' default homepage should read: Don't Panic...
That show came to prominence in the late 70s on PBS in the US. For this viewer, his era is then only one that matters. Watch an episode featuring him, and you'll know why.
would be like watching Enterprise, and not wanting to watch original Trek because it was dated and didn't have bucket-loads of CGI for space battles.
He's good, but for the full flavour, you need some of the early stuff.
Start with 'An Unearthly Child', then 'The Daleks' - the first two stories of Hartnell. Try 'Tomb of the Cybermen' - the first existant Troughton. Watch 'War Games', then 'Spearhead from Space' to get the transition to Pertwee's doctor. Most Pertwee stuff is pretty good, but with special mention for 'Terror of the Autons'. Tom Baker had a lot of good stories, but again, special mention for 'Genesis of the Daleks', 'Pyramids of Mars', and 'The Masque of Mandragora'.
Peter Davison is a little harder to pick and choose, as they were running loosely-connected plot arcs over entire series at this point, but 'Earthshock' is a good one.
From Colin Baker, I'd pick 'Vengeance on Varos', and for Sylvester McCoy, 'Battlefield', and 'The Curse of Fenric'.
Remember, budgets were pitiful, it spent a lot of time being perceived as a children's show, and yes, they did script pacing differently back then. Sets are wobbly, some effects are woeful, and some acting isn't up to much. But underneath are stories, characters and entire mythologies that make something greater than the sum of their cardboard spaceships and bad chromakey effects.
The Daleks, the Cybermen, the Doctor himself, these will be myths and legends long after everyone's forgotten Firefly.
I'll take a shot at Firefly -
Joss Whedon's inclusion of the killer pixie character ruined the show.
The source material was set in the time of Reconstruction after the Civil War, dealing with how the crew, essentially former Confederates dealt with becoming even a marginal part of the new "world" should have been the focus.
Killer Pixie - as you label her, was a real game changer and such changes will always upset the balance of a narrative. The dustbins of obscure works are populated with books, comics, etc, which could have sailed along smoothly, but for someone who thought they had a better idea - often the creator of the work itself.
River could at any moment appear in the role of Deus Ex Machina, to bail Mal and the good crew out of any jam. That's tough for any fan to swallow, it's like having a reset button you can press any time things get ugly. Build in some high degree of unreliability could restore some of that balance ("ah, crap she's suddenly in a coma and can't come save us, looks like we have to get out of this one ourselves!")
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
... who is at least faithful to the novels' main character as depicted by Flemming, and it's Lazenby.
All other are showman ruining splendid, dark, brutal stories, and turning them into a Hollywood sanitized farce.
And co-starring in this movie is Diana Rigg, making it by far the best Bond ever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Her_Majesty%27s_Secret_Service_%28film%29
A friend of mine put this together as a "essential guide" to the classic Doctor Who:
http://woodelf.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/essential-doctor-who/
I highly recommend it.
Dan Bongert <*> http://www.tiltingatwindmills.net
This is a Chao. A Chao says "Mu."
But most importantly, you need a sofa.
It is essential to have a sofa so that you can hide behind it during the "scary" bits.
Well it is if you're a kid or have them, that is. Hiding behind the sofa during Dr. Who is apparently a tradition in the UK, practised by many youthful Brits.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
I would tell you to start with the season that started with the current Doctor. Then go back and start on a season when a new Doctor starts. Every doctor has his own arc and don't really cross over each other much. In some of the newer ones, you won't make the connection to some of the "older" characters that make guest spots, but then when you work your way back to the season where they show up originally, you'll be like, "Oh, OK I get it now". Someone else put it in another of the comments that the great thing about a time traveling show is that you don't have to watch them sequentially. That's kinda true, but I'd say its nicer to watch the episodes of a season that way, and to watch a Doctor develop from the start of his first season as the Doctor. Good luck with catching up.
One minute the Doctor is all serious, then he's all giggling and babbling with this totally forced, maniacal grin. It seemed like there was nothing in between. If anyone acted like that in real life, their friends would be urging them to seek mental help.
I think that was the point. He'd been responsible for the destruction of his entire species in the Great Time War and then had spent a lot of time alone. He was pretty unhinged, and certainly suffering from post traumatic stress problems. One of the major plot points for the new series has been that he needs to have humans with him to keep him approximately sane.
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Haven't seen any with the new kid yet - he looks way too young for the part.
He's done very well. Becoming younger makes sense, if Time Lord psychology is anything like human. When he was young, he wanted to regenerate into older, more distinguished looking, bodies so that he'd appear mature and wise. Now he's old, and approaching his final regeneration, he's concerned about his mortality and recapturing his youth, so regenerates into a young body.
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Also, if you watch them chronologically, then you'll just have weird experiences, like wondering why the doctor keeps wearing the same clothes for years at a time, and nobody commenting about the smell.
You should be aware that there are episodes that were lost in fires etc. So if you start from the beginning, you might be disappointed. Starting from the new series (2005) is probably OK for the uninitiated. If you watch the old series, you have to be prepared to watch some cheap sets and bad writing. Most of the sets were done with cellophane and papier mache. It is fun to watch, but if you watch the "confidential" series, the commentary refers back to the old series, where necessary.
I grew up watching the occasional Dr Who on PBS...the original BBC America. I think it would be hard to watch the low production values today. Stick with the current series starting with Christopher Eccleston in 2004. The production values are much, much higher and the stories aren't serialized. When I was a kid, you'd need an entire afternoon to get though three major plot points. Now, you get a story you can enjoy then move on with your life.
Watch this series before trying out Torchwood. Things will make a lot more sense if you do. Torchwood is a spin off of the 2004 re-launch.
Only the dead have seen the end of War. - Plato
There are really four epocs of Doctor Who. Epoc 1: The Black & White years. Doctors 1 & 2 (Hartnell & Troughton). The show in its earliest days. While there are things to be enjoyed here for hard core fans (like me) it's probably not for everyone. Unfortunately, many of the shows in this era do not survive, so it's impossible to fully appreciate or judge the first two doctors as fully as we might. Epoc 2: The Cheesy years. Doctors 3 & 4 (Pertwee & Tom Baker). Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this era immensely. Jon Pertwee is probably my favorite Doctor. But the budgets and production values of this era is like watching a B-movie when you're used to big-budget Hollywood blockbusters. It can be painful. Still, a lot of seminal Doctor Who lore stems from this era, and for a true appreciation of Who, one must really start at the beginning of Pertwee's era and follow through to the end. (If you start with Tom Baker, you miss such formative events as the debut of The Autons, The Master, Sarah Jane Smith, and much of the background of The Doctor himself, as well as the Time Lords.) Epoc 3: The 80's. Doctors 5, 6 & 7 (Davison, Colin Baker, McCoy). Peter Davison was fantastic. Colin Baker was a joke. Sylester McCoy was intriguing, unfortunately the show ended (at least the original run) on his watch, so we didn't see as much of him as we should have. Cheesiness is still evident, but the show was evolving in this era. If you like the Modern Who enough to want to explore more, you could do well to start with the first 5th Doctor episode and see how far your interest takes you from there. Epoc 4: The Modern Era. Doctors 9, 10, 11 (Eccelson, Tennant, Smith). If you can't enjoy this show from the 2005 reboot, then you have no reason to watch anything earlier. The show has evolved into the modern era and become far more than anything before it. As others have suggested, you can watch from 2005 and get the vast majority of good "Who" without missing much. I have been a Who fan for over 20 years, and watched every extant episode at least once (as well as reconstructions of most of the "lost" episodes). I won't encourage anyone to take their interest in Who as deeply as I do (I mean, get a life, already). That being said, my vote would be to give the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th Doctors a chance. They all have their charms, and if you like what you see, the others might have something to offer you, as well.
Start with either Eccleston (2005 series) / 9th Doc or 11th Doctor (Matt Smith). Both are good to start.
Once you get to Tennant (10th) you can review some old eps eg 4th Doctor ones.
I'd avoid 'web planet' - that was unwatchable to me too.
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Then best start with the new stuff, beginning with Christopher Eccleston then watcdh the older stuff as you come to it
If you want to experience the full thing in "we have no money o vision" and you can't transform yourself to me aged 5 in Scotland on a Saturday night, then try starting with Jon Pertwee then move into Tom Baker.
I never saw the earlier stuff so can't comment, but those two had some cracking stories, the Green Death, the Autons (put me off Daffodils for years), Pyramids of Mars and some Dalek stories