Doctor Who...In The Beginning.

[Jester]

I, like much of, you am a Doctor Who fan. Great show, brilliantly written and acted in its current incarnation.

And that last phrase is the important one. "In its current incarnation." Because, to be honest, I just recently became a fan of the show. I may have seen an earlier episode once, back in the eighties, but I can't say for sure if I did. In any case, my experience with The Doctor is completely confined to modern times, with Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and, shortly, Matt Smith. And BBC America On Demand has been running the new series from the beginning, with the Eccleston season, and now into the first Tennant season, and I have not only been catching up on many episodes I've seen and really acquainting myself with the timeline (which was always rather "wibbly wobbly" for me, to borrow a phrase from The Doctor), but also catching episodes I never saw before.

And that brings me to my question. For those of you who remember the earlier run of Doctor Who, do you think it would be worth my effort to use Netflix to view the earlier Doctors? I am not asking the fanatics, because being fanatics, they will unquestionably say yes. I am asking the fans that can step back and be honest and say, "Well, a lot of them sucked" or whatever.

So, opinions? Should I harrass Netflix for the next several months and immerse myself into the original Doctor Who series? (Which would have the added benefit of helping me not spend as much money as I do when I am out and about at the bars here.)

What d'ya think?

[AriGriffin]

I watched a few of the old Who on Netflix Instant play. They were campy and very low-tech, but for the most part they were fun to watch. Then again, I watched Dr 1 & 4.

[AnaKhouri]

The earlier Doctors are the best in my opinion. I am not a particular fan of Doctors 1 and 2, but Patrick Troughton (2) could be very funny and whimsical. 3 is Husband's favorite; he is funny and imperious and grandfatherly all at the same time. 4 is the most popular of the Doctors; he is also funny and bizarre and very faintly sinister. 5 is my favorite, but then I'm female (he was popular among the ladies; he was the youngest of the Doctors until David Tennant, I believe). 6...most people hate 6, but then poor Colin Baker just didn't have much to work with, writing-wise. I was fond of 7 as well, but he took over in the show's declining stages and again didn't have much to do.

8 only existed for that wretched FOX movie at the end of the 1990's. It's impossible to find a copy of that damn TV movie, for good reason; I think everyone involved bought up all the copies and destroyed them out of shame.

Here are my personal recommendations:

Doctor #1: The Dalek Invasion of Earth
Doctor # 2: The Tomb of the Cybermen
Doctor # 3: Spearhead from Space/The Three Doctors/Inferno
Doctor # 4: Pyramids of Mars/Genesis of the Daleks/City of Death
Doctor # 5: Remembrance of the Daleks (I like the Daleks, can you tell?)
Doctor # 6: Eh....you might want to skip him
Doctor # 7: The Curse of Fenric

The 7th Doctor had my favorite companion, Ace (who liked to blow shit up) and the 6th Doctor had the worst (Peri, who sucked generally).

Hope this helps. All those eps should be available in the U.S. Sure the special effects usually suck, but that's part of the charm.

Edited to add: You don't need to watch the earlier episodes in order at all, you can catch on no matter where you start. I have never watched them chronologically.

[Gerrinson]

Tom Baker, who was I believe Dr. #4, was awesome. David Tennant played a very similar Doctor and, in fact, the striped scarf that he tries on when getting dressed was worn by Tom Baker's Doctor.

I watched them on PBS when I was a kid and loved it, though the effects have probably not aged that well. K-9 was on the series then, which only helped fuel my interest, of course.

I haven't watched any of the older ones, but as long you don't mind campy special effects, there are probably enough good ones to make it worth your while.

[Jester]

Campy special effects are tolerable if the writing and acting are good.

Hell, I loved the Flash Gordon movie. Still do! And not only were the special effects questionable (though I suppose good for the time), the acting really wasn't that good overall, with Ming and the Baron as notable exceptions.

[pitmonkey]

Here is a site to watch them- http://www.doctorwho-episodes.com/
Yes the early shows are campy, but thats the fun of them.

[ArcticChicken]

\http://www.doctorwho-episodes.com/
\

...I may never sleep again.

[SG15Z]

I too am a recent Whovian. I'm only into the current run. I've been wanting to watch some of the earlier stuff but have yet to get a chance. But thanks to the link above I have no excuse. Something tells me I'll be watching a lot of Doctor Who for awhile. lol

BTW I'm gonna miss David.

[Green_Fairy]

...I may never sleep again.

agreed! i've been crushing on dr. who ever since i first saw tennant (i even convinced a past boyfriend to cut his hair like him. sad, i know). then i found out that it's been on for yeeeeeeeeeears. and i said to myself "holy sleepless nights batman...i gotta watch that!" and now i can. i'm so happy i don't have words. only sounds.
eeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

[pitmonkey]

So sorry for the lack of sleep..right It is well worth it!!!

[Eric the Grey]

Here is a site to watch them- http://www.doctorwho-episodes.com/
Yes the early shows are campy, but thats the fun of them.

All I can say is, WOW! (no, not the game).

That site has season 1 (the original) that NetFlix didn't have. Sweet!

As to Jester's question, I'd say you owe it to yourself to see at least a few of the first episodes, if only to see where it all started. The Doctor was the one to go to to figure out everything, other men in the episodes were there for muscle, or to be knocked around, and the women were there to scream.

The original concept was for an educational show, made into science fiction to get kids to watch it, and you can see it early on.

Beyond that, the others may or may not be to your taste. Each new actor brought his own special form of acting to the role, so the character changed every time, but that kept it fresh and different, IMO.

My only other suggestion would be to watch the Tom Baker episodes. He was, by far the best of the old crew, IMO. He was the first one I watched when I was young, and I still think he's the best.


Eric the Grey

[pitmonkey]

Dr Who started out as an after school show for kids, so the first shows are corny and the plots are very lame. There is allot of stuff that happens off screen that is never seen. The early shows will give you back ground for later shows.

[Racket_Man]

Here is a site to watch them- http://www.doctorwho-episodes.com/
Yes the early shows are campy, but thats the fun of them.

yup most of the early shows during the W. Hartnell/P. Throughton/J. Pertwee era are campy, have marginal special effects (yes you can see the piano wire in some scenes), and some of the acting is not great.

the big problem was that when a fire occured at the (???) BBC archives a lot of Dr 1 and 2 espisodes were lost. they have found some copies, I guess around the world. looks like this site had most of them.

darn no sleep for me either

[Eric the Grey]

yup most of the early shows during the W. Hartnell/P. Throughton/J. Pertwee era are campy, have marginal special effects (yes you can see the piano wire in some scenes), and some of the acting is not great.

Well, remember that most of the very early Dr Who shows were aired live, not recorded, so there was NO editing at all.

I read that at the end of one episode, Hartnell turned to the camera and completely broke character and wished the audience a Merry Christmas, which got him in a lot of trouble.



Eric the Grey

[Shpepper]

Oh I think I love the poster of the link. Thank you Thank You Thank You ! ! ! ! ! ! !