Doctor Who

This is perhaps one of the finest sci-fi series ever made. The idea is simple; a timelord who travels through time and space in a TARDIS (in the shape of an old Police Box)with various companions to fight the forces of evil in the Universe.

The budget was never large, but the ideas and effort were outstanding. It started going downhill after Peter Davison finished his turn as the Doctor, mainly due to poor stories and weaker scripts, but with the right budget and some seasoned writers, this show could be very great again.

Well worth watching for the ideas alone - especially some of those in the Tom Baker era, this has a massive worldwide following and deservedly so.

Doctor Who was my childhood. This show was, and still is, awesome. Right from the start, it was set apart from sci-fi shows at the time. This show was originally intended to be educational. But all that changed one fateful day in 1963. Yes, that's right, I'm talking about... the Daleks.

These monsters were one of the few things from sci-fi that could illicit pure, unadulterated terror in me. Other monsters eventually cropped up over the years, like the Cybermen, Sontarans, Silurians, Sea Devils, the Master, the list goes on...

In short, there is a reason this show has spawned countless spin- offs, a TV movie, and has lasted for 50 years.

It is because it is a staple of British television. Even cancellation couldn't stop this gem.

After 16 years in development hell, barring the aforementioned movie, Doctor Who returned.

I first found Doctor Who on the PBS network in the early eighties, with Tom Baker. Harry and Sarah must be his Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, I thought. He was some eccentric scientist. At the end of his first adventure, "Robot", he, Harry and Sarah enter this blue cabinet, the strangest noise in the world is heard, and the cabinet disappears. Now the stumper was Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart's non-chalant reaction to the vanishing box. LIttle did I realize there was nearly twenty years history to what I was watching. I knew nothing about Time Lords, Gallifrey or what a Tardis was, let alone a walk-in police call box, something not found in America.

I missed Harry's departure and thought the actor must have just quit the show, but he did show up later. Then Elizabeth Sladen left and I had no idea what to expect. Gallifrey? What was Gallifrey? He has to go back and get Sarah.

The Gallifrean adventure was followed up with the introduction of Leela, the jungle girl. When she stormed into the tardis, I knew I was watching a show I could not begin to predict. K-9? Need I say more? I was destroyed when Leela left, and with Romanadveratrelunder's arrival I just sat back and went for the ride. When Lalla Ward (Romana II) left, I was a little more braced for what I was watching. So I thought. As Tegan, Nyssa and Adric watched, the Doctor saw all his old friends, then his old enemies. What did this mean?

Enter Peter Davison. I would learn that what I had just watched, five episodes a week, like a soap opera in a matter of eight months, was a twenty year old character. Tom Baker had already quit being the Doctor by the time I started watching it.

Davison's reign would be short and not as thrilling as Baker's. After Davison was Colin Baker, whose tenure was even shorter. Sylvester McCoy was an alleged attempt to get back to the second Doctor. In between waiting for new episodes, existing episodes from back to William Hartnell, the first doctor, and 'An Unearthly Child' would be shown. There would even be the movie to re-introduce the Doctor with Peter McGann taking over for Sylvester McCoy and Eric Roberts as the Master.

But today, it is Tom Baker's term that was so spectacular. The first three actors greatly set the pace for the character, but it took Baker to bring him to America. As Baker would say on the 25th anniversary, Doctor Who was fun, fun, fun.

And it was.

Doctor Who ran for 26 years, and its last episode was as fresh and imaginative as its first.

The show chronicles the adventures of a time-and-space traveling alien who wanders the universe battling evil conquerors, ruthless corporations, and other exploiters of the innocent and oppressed. Every few weeks, the Doctor would travel to a different planet or time, allowing the show's cast, setting, and tone to constantly change. Even the Doctor himself was periodically replaced by a new actor, "regenerating" his body whenever he was on the verge of death. This format gave the show an amazing freshness and allowed it to last for over a quarter of a century without becoming stale.

Since the show's cancellation, Doctor Who has been sustained by hundreds of books and radio shows. Although the concept is beginning to seem a bit old now, great "Who" stories are still coming out all the time.

Television remains the ultimate format for Doctor Who, however, and the series has something to offer for just about everyone. The early episodes, starring William Hartnell, were mysterious and realistic in tone, and are terribly underrated by the show's fans. Tom Baker, the most popular Doctor internationally, had a succession of wild and colorful adventures that are more entertaining and a lot funnier than most of the sitcoms on TV today. In its dying days, when Sylvester McCoy was in the lead role, Doctor Who became highly allegorical and politically charged.

Every Doctor's era has some merit, though some are obviously more inspired than others. In the early 70s and early 80s in particular, the show suffered from some poor production values and repetitive plots, but even the bad episodes are fun to watch and often redeemed by some strength – good performances, an interesting plot twist, etc.

Lovers of modern, flashy science fiction will probably laugh Doctor Who off the screen because of its modest special effects, but nevertheless it remains one of the most visually inventive TV shows ever made. Episodes like Tomb of the Cybermen and Remembrance of the Daleks contain unforgettable images that stack up to anything Hollywood produced on a 100x bigger budget. If you want to pick the show's visuals apart, you can, but you'll be doing yourself a disservice if you don't suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to be drawn into the Doctor's universe.

I may be in the minority, but I enjoyed the 1996 TV Movie that attempted to resurrect Doctor Who years after its cancellation. I don't buy the argument that Doctor Who couldn't survive in today's big-budget entertainment arena. The intelligence of the X-Men and Spider-Man movies has convinced me that a slick, cerebral version of Doctor Who could be produced today that would be faithful to the not-so-slick, cerebral original. But regardless of whether Doctor Who returns or not, it remains one of the great TV shows of all time. It still wins awards even today, and enjoys widespread popular and critical acclaim. Even Doctor Who's detractors only serve to prove that the show is famous enough to draw criticism!

In short, Doctor Who is smart, fun, and endlessly creative. It has kept me entertained for over fifteen years, and my enthusiasm for it has barely waned. Science fiction is in a dumb rut right now, so you could do a lot worse than look back at this show, one of the genre's crowning achievements.

The sheer volume of Doctor Who episodes makes briefly commenting on all aspects of this wonderful show a challenge. However, I can make some recommendations for new viewers.

If the ONLY thing you want from science fiction is special effects, then Doctor Who is not for you. The quality of the effects are often admirable when the shoestring production budget considerations are factored in, but Doctor Who never really equaled the special effects of other shows. What Doctor Who does deliver is keen attention to character, dialogue, and plot. Doctor Who was always something more than its 1963 b&w kid's show origins suggest, and over the years it evolved into a program that could make some very clever, thought-provoking comments and observations while at the same time delivering a fun and suspenseful adventure.

Cliffhangers were what made me a fan from the beginning. Unfortunately, Doctor Who tends to be shown now in movie-style blocks. This dilutes those marvelous cliffhangers. Every episode of the show is about a half-hour, but most stories had at least 4 parts. At the end of each part, the Doctor or one of his many companions faces seemingly absolute, inescapable doom of some kind or another. I was lucky enough to first see Doctor Who on PBS, one half-hour episode per week-night. My friends and I had to wait a whole agonizing day to see the Doctor's clever escape or rescue. I don't know how the UK fans had the patience to wait a week. If you can, you should try to preserve the breaks too in order to get a real sense of the show, even if you just pause a few moments between parts.

One more thing to remember is that the Doctor is enigmatic. We still don't know everything there is to know about this renegade Time Lord. Part of the fun of the show is learning about the complex character and his history. But rest assured, his hearts are always in the right place.

So which episode should you start with? Every fan has a favorite Doctor and episode. I think you can't go wrong with "Remembrance of the Daleks" (1988). The 7th Doctor and Ace are a great team. Or try "City of Death" (1979), a terrific 4th Doctor and Romana story set in Paris. But ask around and check the web; other fans will send you in other directions. That's the most fun thing about discovering this show, there are so many directions to explore.