Where to Start with Doctor Who?

[DarthSutekh]

There's a tv/movie reviewer on Bliptv called sfdebris who has an introduction to doctor who that is really well done, giving several jumping on points and if someone doesn't want to watch them all a 'best of' list.

Jumping onto the First Doctor can be hard for some as back then TV drama even a sci-fi one was more like a stage play caught on camera than the TV acting modern audiences are used to. The missing episodes of the first two doctors make it even harder.

I also recommend if you do watch the original series watch it as intended, in 30 min episodes. Some of the redundancy you get if you watch straight through a story makes more sense this way.

I also recommend younger viewers have wikipedia on standby to look up 50 year old pop culture references.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I'd start with the Eccleston Doctor from 2005 (?) and go on from there.

If you feel like you're really fascinated by the Doctor, hunt down DVDs/videos of the earlier doctors.

There are some pretty good ones. A particular stand-out for me would have been City of Death with Tom Baker's Doctor. Story written by Douglas Adams.

 

[Mark CMG]

The old series was geared more toward a younger audience, it seems, so I'd suggest starting with the new series and maybe checking out the old series if time permits. If you do check out the old series, I would also suggest beginning just after a regeneration at some point, as it might help with continuity of storylines.

 

[SteveC]

I'm going to agree with what most other folks have said: start with the reboot in 2005. If you don't have that much time, I'd say jumping in at any episode where his assistant changes can work fairly well, since a lot of the storylines after the reboot involved recurring friends of the assistants (something that was not as true in the earlier series).

If you like it and want to go back into the older series I'd suggest starting with John Pertwee and Sarah Jane Smith (the first episode with her is called the Time Warrior) and then watch them in series through the Tom Baker era. If you're hooked, you can continue onward from that point. To be honest, although I dearly love the show, I didn't really appreciate the last couple actors playing the Doctor, which was why I was so pleased with the reboot.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I'm going to agree with what most other folks have said: start with the reboot in 2005. If you don't have that much time, I'd say jumping in at any episode where his assistant changes can work fairly well, since a lot of the storylines after the reboot involved recurring friends of the assistants (something that was not as true in the earlier series).

If you like it and want to go back into the older series I'd suggest starting with John Pertwee and Sarah Jane Smith (the first episode with her is called the Time Warrior) and then watch them in series through the Tom Baker era. If you're hooked, you can continue onward from that point. To be honest, although I dearly love the show, I didn't really appreciate the last couple actors playing the Doctor, which was why I was so pleased with the reboot.

Good ideas. But I'd suggest that watching the first story, An Unearthly Child, should be done at some point. Just to see where it all started.

 

[SteveC]

If you want to see Craig Ferguson's take on Doctor Who, there's this musical number [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9P4SxtphJ4"]here[/ame]

It was intended as an introduction for American audiences who have never heard of the Doctor.

Warning: this is EXTREMELY silly.

EDIT: If you're wondering who Craig Ferguson is, he's a late night talk show host that comes on sometime after David Letterman and sometime before dawn. He's really quite funny, and a huge Doctor Who fan as it turns out.

 

[Tonguez]

I'm going to be different and suggest you start with Tenant's Doctor. Of the new incarnation, I beleive his run captures the 'theme' of the Doctor as a whole (both old and new) better than Ecclestone or Smith. Ecclestone's Doctor had the harder edge which was appropriate given the circumstances but not archetypal and so far Smiths story relies a lot on the audience having some background knowledge. I really like Smith and Eccestones portrayals but I think that Tenant will give a better introduction of who the Doctor is...

 

[Morrus]

I'm going to be different and suggest you start with Tenant's Doctor. Of the new incarnation, I beleive his run captures the 'theme' of the Doctor as a whole (both old and new) better than Ecclestone or Smith. Ecclestone's Doctor had the harder edge which was appropriate given the circumstances but not archetypal and so far Smiths story relies a lot on the audience having some background knowledge. I really like Smith and Eccestones portrayals but I think that Tenant will give a better introduction of who the Doctor is...

I disagree. Decapitating Rose's character arc and the introduction of Captain Jack for the sake of 13 episodes (which include classics like Dalek and Moffat's WWII two-parter) isn't what I'd recommend. Even if you don't find the first series quite as good as the others (and I must say that Dalek is an actual masterpiece in how to reintroduce a scary monster), it's still pretty darn good and I wouldn't recommend deliberately missing it.

I will say that the CGI in the very first episode (Rose) is awful, though. I think they switched companies after that one. That said, having been watching Terra Nova recently, that show has some sub-Who special effects and it's supposed to be a grandiose display of Spielbergian special effects on TV.

 

[Dire Bare]

I'll be different here . . .

While I loved the older Dr. Who as a kid in the 80s, I have a hard time getting back into any of the classic Doctor Who series as an adult. I even had a hard time with Eccleston's and Tenant's runs as the Doctor. But right now I'm enjoying Matt Smith (the current Doctor) quite a bit. And it isn't even because I'm in love with Karen Jillian (Amy Pond)!

I also enjoyed the Torchwood spinoff quite a bit.

 

[Morrus]

I also enjoyed the Torchwood spinoff quite a bit.

You are different!