Doctor Who: An Introduction

All these men are the same person. Savvy?

So, I've reviewed a Doctor Who episode, and I've gone over all the cool things I absolutely love about various other shows and at some point I usually end up bringing up Doctor Who because it is one of my all-time favorite TV series out there. However, I always feel bad calling myself a Whovian (Doctor Who fan) because I've only seen the New Series.

I've seen an episode here and there of the old series. I remember one evening I decided to watch what Netflix had, but that was spotty and best and I'm not sure how exemplary The Aztecs is of the First Doctor's run.

Okay, for people new to the blog and modern television or Star Trek fans, I need to explain one thing otherwise you'll all be lost.

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC. It's about this alien who travels through space and time in a space ship that looks like a police box and is called a TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space). The Doctor usually travels with a group of companions who are usually human as act as the audience's connection to the Doctor. Basically, we're too stupid to understand the mad alien with the police box and a magic wand so they put in someone who's also an idiot to translate for us. I know, it's condescending, but that's television for you.

The first episode of the series first came out in 1963... Oh! Look at the calender! That's fifty years ago in November! People can't be doing special things for the big anniversary this year? Can they?

So yeah, from what I've heard, Doctor Who started as a sort of edutainment series for kids, but at some point it began to be geared more towards kids and originated the popular British pastime of hiding behind one's couch. The original run of the show having ended in 1989 (a year after I was born), this series is, in fact, the longest-running science fiction television series out there.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Star Trek!

It's had a huge cultural impact, especially in Britain. However, it has made it's way over here to America over time. Most people at least acknowledge that the Fourth Doctor (from here on known as Scarfy), looks very familiar.

Yes! I'm awesome! Would you like a jelly baby?

However, I don't know if that's because he's been turned into a Simpsons character or because he really was the best Doctor.

Really not lying!

I am in the dark because, again, I haven't seen the original series.  Unlike most New Who fans, I do, in fact, feel quite bad about it. I hate that there's this whole section of Doctor Who that I know nothing about. I hate that the only long-term companions I've met are only Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, Sarah Jane Smith, Jack Harkness, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, River Song, and Clara Oswin Oswald. I know, that sounds like a lot of people for the Doctor to have traveled with, but that's only the past THREE REGENERATIONS. And he pretty much traveled with only one or two at a time! It's ridiculous!

So, anyhow, I'm going to correct this gap in my knowledge and become a True Whovian by watching every Doctor Who episode I can find! From the beginning!

And you're going to read about it.

Every. Single. Episode. I. Watch.

By "episode", I mean "serial". See, I was looking into the old series and I discovered something pretty interesting. For most of the Old Series, the episodes are only half an hour long. However, the episodes only cover a fraction of the plot.  Anywhere from two to ten episodes can make up one complete serial and from the looks of the First Doctor's run, eight serials make up a season.

Anyhow, my first one will be the first serial of the first series: An Unearthly Child.

Geronimo!

... On Monday! Have a Good Weekend!

And I want this.