Doctor Who on Sci-Fi - ongoing thread (merged) (1 Viewer)

The original series ran for over 20 seasons (1963-1989 and a TV movie in 96), has 8 different Doctors and over 700 episodes. The new series is NOT a remake or a redo (like Battlestar Galactica), it is a continuation of the old series with Christopher Eccleston as the new and 9th Doctor. I recommend checking it out and you can start out without having never seen any of the previous episodes.

What is it about? It is about a Time Lord who travels through time thwarting disaster at every turn.
Here's a link with Info about the new show and old show.
www.scifi.com/doctorwho

Looks like the title was cut off. This starts the 17th of March (Tomorrow) on Sci Fi.

Actually, I would tell them to stay FAR away from the sci-fi page. The thing is laden with spoilers.

Dont worry about having to do "homework" to understand the show. Everything you need to know about the series is self contained in "Rose". Just watch and enjoy and everything will ok.

never seen it before, i'll have to give the good doctor a try

True, but it really will add to your enjoyment to know the following basic information. I promise there are no real spoilers:

(1) Doctor Who is a member of a race of people called the Time Lords who basically patrol time and space righting wrongs acrossthe galaxy. The Doctor always has a companion (nearly always a woman from Earth).

(2) The Doctor's time machine is the TARDIS (I can never remember what the letters stand for and I've watched the series practically since the start). This is in the shape of a Police box (once a common sight in the UK, but long since superceded; basically it was like a phone box/shelter from bad weather for police officers). The point is that the TARDIS is much bigger on the inside than it appears from the outside.

(3) Across the previous series, the Doctor has transformed his [it's always been a he] body every once in while. Supposedly this is part of a regeneration cycle that occurs when the body is damaged. The fact that it allows the writers to change the actor playing the Doctor is purely coincidental.

(4) There are a lot of jokes in the new Doctor Who about the Doctor having a northern accent. This is something that will pass over the heads of a lot of non-Brits. Typically, the Doctor has been played by an actor with an accent from the middle classes living in the south of England (i.e. what is considered 'posh' and educated by a lto of Brits). A northern accent is considered a bit too 'down to earth' for a galactic superhero (imagine Captain Kirk with a down to earth Bronx accent and mannerisms and you get the general idea).

Hope this helps, and do watch the show - it has been a big hit in the UK with hardcore fans and newcomers alike.

One minor piece of trivia - much of the series is supposedly set in London. However, most of it was filmed in Cardiff (about 10 miles from where I live), which for thsoe of you really clueless about geography, is the capital of Wales (much of the funding for the programme came from BBC Wales, one of the regional branches of the BBC).

Have they started selling radio controlled toy Daleks over your side of the Herring Pond yet? Just wait ...

What is the Tardis?

Tardis stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. It's the Doctor's machine for travelling through time and space.
It's also his home. The strange thing about the Tardis is that it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

The Tardis once had the ability to change shape to blend in with its surroundings, but its "chameleon circuit" broke.

It is now stuck in the shape of a blue police box - which was a common sight in Britain in the mid 20th Century.

That's because the Tardis is dimensionally transcendental, with the inner regions occupying a parallel plain of existence.

You're good Robert!

This is one of those shows that gets better the more episodes you see, as everything ties together -- very much like Buffy, which is very influencial across the Atlantic. I hope that if anyone "isn't sure" about the show, they'll stick through the first series. It's only thirteen episodes, and it's hard not to be hooked after that. It's just a shame that so many articles about the show have included spoilers, such as the end-of-series "transformation" into David Tennant -- the guy who played Barty Crouch Jr. in the latest Harry Potter movie!
, a fact I'm glad I didn't know beforehand. But I guess it would be impossible keep that a secret now.

An episode people have had problems with (initially) is episode four: ("Aliens of London" -- you know, the one with all the stupid "farting alien" gags)
... keep going if it strikes you as unbearably stupid; you'll be glad you did. It's a campy show with a harsh dramatic edge, and it strikes the balance perfectly I think. After the demise of Firefly it's nice to have some good serial sci-fi on TV.

Hated Aliens of London. Probably the only clunker.
The very last episode of series one is damn good.

I had watched these a while back but it was fun to watch them again. Sci-Fi did a decent job with them but it is apparent that the Brit structure for commercial television is different than the US because the breaks for commercials seemed awkward. Do they have less commercials than we do? They seemed to break for commercials in weird spots when it was apparent throughout the show there were natural break points.

I agree, stick with this series. It started off as a curiosity for me (who really only liked the Baker version of Who from decades ago) and ended with it being a favorite series of mine. Yes, the Aliens of London stuff kind of blows but it has some great moments in it and things that happen in that episode reverberate in a lot of ways on into the season and beyond in a spin-off tentatively entitled "Torchwood," about Earth's attempt to defend against alien invasions when the Doctor isn't around.


There is also a pseudo sequel to this ep. later in the season that totally makes up for it, in my opinion. And less farting, too.

I really hope this generates enough of a following to justify getting the second and third seasons. I have seen the Christmas special

with David Tennant transforming into new Doctor
and it was excellent. A ripping yarn and a great continuation of the first series. And it has more Rose Tyler. Which is a good thing.

Keep an eye out for clues in the background during each episode. Signs, graffiti, innuendos...they all add up by the end of the season.

Any newbies see it? Thoughts?

The BBC has NO commercials. I was wondering what the original running time was for these episodes. How much is getting cut to fit the 15 minutes of commercials? Any of our Brit friends know?

Well, I just popped in my region 1 (Canadian) DVD to take a look at the running time of the first episode and it clocked in as 44:11. So, I would imagine that Sci-fi is not cutting anything out.

So there are no commercials on the BBC? Sweet. It occurred to me while watching the DVD that there were no fade outs during the episode (where they would put commercials). I just assumed that they did some tight edits for the DVDs so you wouldn't see the where the commercial breaks were.

Ric

It took me a bit to get used to commercial breaks for this show. I knew the BBC didn't have commercials during a show. I also got used to watching Dr. Who on PBS and DVD, without commercials. Good show, i will buy it on DVD July.

Count me as one of the "dissidents" who actually enjoyed "Aliens of London". In fact, I found it to be one of the stronger episodes of the season.

Also, the production team's accomplishments in blending digital effects with real life situations clearly show what the original Dr. Who series was missing all along: special effects convincing enough not to distract us from the storyline. The poorly done effects and shakey sets of the original series are what pushed me away from most of the series. But now, the effects are an integral part of the environment making for a much better presentation and a more convincing story.

Next week's episode, "The Unquiet Dead", isn't one of my favourites story-wise, but it does show another special effects element that was missing from the original series. I won't say what it is, but don't start looking for it all over the place and "miss the show" in the process! Just enjoy the show.

Out of curiosity, are any of the "Dr. Who Confidential" segments being shown on Sci-Fi? They're a terrific history lesson on the series, and the production team were very careful not to spoil any of the upcoming episodes.

Sort of - some independent Who retailers have started carrying them, but no big stores (Like toys R us and whatnot). I managed to get mine - my god, that thing is sexy.


Oh, click this for a bit of fun: Who is Doctor Who?

One thing that I didn't get that maybe old Whovians can answer is the neat subplot of the Cult of Who...these people who follow his exploits as this weird person who shows up at all horrible historical events. Sadly, they killed off this guy in the pilot episode but still it was neat. Anyway, the new Doctor makes it pretty clear that he JUST regenerated before this episode (comments about his face and ears being telling). Yet all the historical pictures were of this current doctor even though he hadn't been around that long? Writer's gaff or do all old references of the Doctor change when the new one regenerates??

I think "The Unquiet Dead" is very good with the Doctor and Rose going back in time for that epepsidoeFor the people who have seen it, what are youf favorite episodes or do you think we should wait until they air?

I'd been given a copy of an upcoming episode ("Dalek") a few months ago, so I had a taste of the show then. Thoroughly enjoyed "Rose" last night, but fell asleep without a recorder running on "The End Of The World."

I am troubled, though, by what I saw of the second show.
The setting looked much too much like Doug Adams' "The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe" for my taste.


Admittedly, that was just the first 15 minutes or so. I'll watch it again, along with the others as they air.

And though I don't count myself as a rabid fan, I have gathered as much of the Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee material as I can easily get - do enjoy the early shows.

Well, he does have a time machine. Maybe he hasn't done this stuff yet (although he does reference having been on the Titanic). I doubt we'll actually see any of these scenarios on the show, but it's not hard to explain that the Doctor and Rose visited these other eras in between adventures.

Although I think it would be fun. Even though the Doctor has always been able to travel in time, I can't remember him ever having very many brain-hurting paradox/oroborous type adventures. I think fans would get a kick out of remembering what was shown in this episode somewhere around Episode 10 or so.