Doctor Who...In The Beginning.

[Green_Fairy]

i heard somewhere that dr. who is the longest running sci-fi show in history. i also heard that a whole bunch of early reels were destroyed in some war...but i dunno how credible that is.

[Pony_Boy]

ok silly question but what exactly is the plot of Dr Who ? despite being in my late 20s and hearing about Dr Who for years I have never ever seen an episode or know much about it at all

anyone want to volunteer to gime me a Coles Notes tutorial? lol

[pitmonkey]

If I heard right," fanatics" were writing and producing radio shows to keep it going.

[WageSlaveofDoom]

Look for the episodes written by Doug Adams. There's a pretty decent re-creation of his best episode, called "Shada," with an older Tom Baker narrating the parts of the episode that got lost. If you've ever read "Dirk Gently," you'll know the story, but it's still pretty awesome for the insight into the Doctor.

There are definitely hints of Peter Davison and Tom Baker in David Tennant's performances as the Doctor. I have to say, I wasn't thrilled with Mr. Tennant when he first took over for Christopher Eccleston(Gods, how I wish they would make some more episodes with him!), but he quickly grew on me. Between the two, I was easily re-hooked for good this time...

I think my favorite companion was Romana, the Timelady. Lalla Ward, anyway. She was as intelligent as the Doctor(sometimes moreso), but didn't have the savvy and charm he always showed off. Rose was pretty cool too, but I think she was a bit overused...

[Anthony K. S.]

I found it interesting to watch the Doctor interacting with himself, literally, in the episodes The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors, and The Two Doctors.

One thing that I always found it a bit curious . . . Of the Doctor's various incarnations, no two of them ever seemed to particularly like each other. Which seems odd, since they were all, effectively, the same person.

Look for the episodes written by Doug Adams.

Every time that somebody mentions Douglas Adams being a Doctor Who scriptwriter, I keep thinking of something he said back in 1993.

Douglas Adams's specialty was, of course, humor, a la The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Often times, however, according to Adams, the way that humor went into Doctor Who was not the way that he intended it to.

"A danger one runs, and I kept on running into this problem, was that any time you have something in the script that is clearly meant to be funny in some way . . . Everybody immediately thinks, 'Oh, we can do silly voices, and silly walks, and so on,' and I think that's exactly the wrong way to do it." - Douglas Adams

After that, I would often watch the Doctor Who episodes that Adams had written and wondered what would have been different if Adams's intentions had been strictly followed . . .

...I may never sleep again.

It could be worse . . . or maybe not.

One of the great regrets of Doctor Who fans is the fact that many episodes of the earliest Doctors - William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee - no longer exist on videotape.

Call it careless, call it stupid . . . The geniuses at the BBC had destroyed all of the negatives for many of the early Doctor Who episodes, without ever bothering to check to see if those episodes existed on videotape anywhere else.

In 1993, it was stated that there were 110 episodes of Doctor Who "still missing" . . . I don't know how many of those they might have found in the years since then. But a lot of those episodes are, sadly, gone forever.


One last point . . . It has been well-established that Time Lords have 13 lives. After that 12th, and final, regeneration, it's all over.

William Hartnell . . . Patrick Troughton . . . Jon Pertwee . . . Tom Baker . . . Peter Davison . . . Colin Baker . . . Sylvester McCoy . . . Paul McGann . . . Christopher Eccleston . . . David Tennant . . . Matt Smith . . .

That's eleven. So the poor guy only has two lives left . . . ?

(Well, hey, he's lucky. We have to make do with just one life, total.)

I wonder what they're going to do once they've exhausted the Doctor's full 13 lives . . . ?

[Eric the Grey]

That's eleven. So the poor guy only has two lives left . . . ?

(Well, hey, he's lucky. We have to make do with just one life, total.)

I wonder what they're going to do once they've exhausted the Doctor's full 13 lives . . . ?

There is at least one instance where the Council of Time Lords overrode that restriction, giving The Master an additional life for "helping them" as it were.

I take that to mean the lives a Time Lord can have are like a (USA) Presidential term of office, 4 years, with the possibility of 4 more, and that's it. Not something that life prevents, but rather, the rules.

It's possible that, since the Time Lords are all gone except for The Doctor, and The Master, who's to stop him from regenerating over and over and over....



Eric the Grey

[Jester]

One thing that I always found it a bit curious . . . Of the Doctor's various incarnations, no two of them ever seemed to particularly like each other. Which seems odd, since they were all, effectively, the same person.

I am by no means an expert on The Doctor, but I have been led to understand that when a Time Lord regenerates, not only is his body different, his personality is somewhat different as well (as exemplified by the various incarnations of The Doctor), sometimes drastically so. So it doesn't seem all that odd to me that one incarnation may not be too impressed or fond of another incarnation.

But we can look at this in an even simpler way. Look at your own life. Break it down into various times. The person you were as a child is not the same as you are now. You may well have been quite different in your twenties than in your forties. In essence, a different person. To put it in Time Lord vernacular, a different incarnation. And it is certainly feasible that one may not like how one was (or one later became) from the viewpoint of a different time.

To put it simpler and more personally, if the man I am now met the guy I was when I was in high school, I would kick my own ass. Why? Because I was a sniveling, simpering, tentative, idiotic wuss. Sure, I'm still an idiot, but at least I'm no longer a wuss.

It's possible that, since the Time Lords are all gone except for The Doctor, and The Master...

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I often am), but I thought that The Master was gone now too, since he refused to regenerate when his "wife" shot him, and he died in The Doctor's arms.

[Eric the Grey]

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I often am), but I thought that The Master was gone now too, since he refused to regenerate when his "wife" shot him, and he died in The Doctor's arms.

Yea, but then after his body was cremated, there was that quick scene with "someone" picking up his ring....

I've always figured he'll back. Time may prove me wrong, but I doubt it. The Master was never one to go quietly, or for long.



Eric the Grey

[Racket_Man]

Yea, but then after his body was cremated, there was that quick scene with "someone" picking up his ring....

I've always figured he'll back. Time may prove me wrong, but I doubt it. The Master was never one to go quietly, or for long.



Eric the Grey

when I saw that scene I "thought" it might be his "wife" retriveing the ring (the hand kinda looked female). and I also thought, knowing the Master's previous actions, the ring might contain a copy of or the actual Master's personality.

After reading the last 2 Harry Potter books, I wondered if JK Rowling might have used the Master as a pattern for Lord Voltemort ie. evil, consorting with the worst of wizard kind, picking up all kinds of "illegal" magic, loner, schemer, having backup pieces of "souls"/plans to keep living or trying for "immortality", etc.

[gaspode]

Well,it seems that the Master is back,tonight on "Children in need" we will get a preview of the Christmas special and the Master is in it,maybe he will be he one bringing about the Doctors downfall and regeneration.

Will keep you informed(unless you don't want to know of course)

[SG15Z]

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I often am), but I thought that The Master was gone now too, since he refused to regenerate when his "wife" shot him, and he died in The Doctor's arms.

Maybe he is, maybe he's not. That's up to spoilers and recent previews for the Christmas special to settle.

[Eric the Grey]

Well,it seems that the Master is back,tonight on "Children in need" we will get a preview of the Christmas special and the Master is in it,maybe he will be he one bringing about the Doctors downfall and regeneration.

Will keep you informed(unless you don't want to know of course)

I wasn't going to spoil anything, but I suppose spoilers are out now, so yea, I saw that as well when I watched "The Waters of Mars."

There was a lot of speculation on the identity of the hand that picked up the ring. I'm of two minds on it. Either it was his wife, who was sent to retrieve it and use it to bring him back, or it was the Rani, also spared from the fate of the time lords by hiding.

I can't wait for the Christmas special now.



Eric the Grey

[Jester]

Time may prove me wrong, but I doubt it. The Master was never one to go quietly, or for long.

I wouldn't know. My entire knowledge of and experience with The Master are from the episodes I've seen with the new series, i.e., Professor Yana and the "Prime Minister."

As for the Christmas special....what in blazes are y'all talking about? And remember, we get a lot of stuff here rather delayed from the U.K. So please, try not to spoil too much for your American brethren, okay?

[Eric the Grey]

I wouldn't know. My entire knowledge of and experience with The Master are from the episodes I've seen with the new series, i.e., Professor Yana and the "Prime Minister."

Which is why I didn't mention the most recent events/previews of upcoming shows.

As for the Christmas special....what in blazes are y'all talking about? And remember, we get a lot of stuff here rather delayed from the U.K. So please, try not to spoil too much for your American brethren, okay?

The most recent show aired recently in the UK, but some of us on this side of the pond aren't above finding a way to watch it only slightly delayed. If you're interested, PM me.

However, suffice it to say, there's interestin' shtuff on the way.



Eric the Grey

[SG15Z]

The most recent show aired recently in the UK, but some of us on this side of the pond aren't above finding a way to watch it only slightly delayed. If you're interested, PM me.

I have no idea what you're talking about.....