Beginner's Guide to Doctor Who

So you have heard the hype and want to begin watching Doctor Who. Great!

Things that you need to know before going in:

• The series has been on for nearly 50 years. You DO NOT NEED to start at the very beginning.
• You can start at what they call Season 1 which began airing in 2005.
• As of right at this moment, there are 6 seasons.
• A season is 13 episodes.
• Season 1-5 are streaming on Netflix Instant.
• Season 6 is on DVD.
• You need to watch them in order. Skipping around will confuse the hell out of you.
• There are some episodes that are not that great. Suffering through them will be worth it in the long run.
• The series is meant to be watched by the whole family so some stuff may seem a bit dumb and goofy.
• The Doctor is NOT Sherlock Holmes. He is more like a mixture of Batman and Captain Picard.
  
• Torchwood is a spin-off of Doctor Who and it is meant just for adults. There are two seasons of that and two mini-series movies. They don't interlock well with Doctor Who like Angel and Buffy did.
• The Sarah Jane Adventures is also a spin-off of Doctor Who and it is meant for tweens. Sarah Jane traveled with the Doctor back in the 60s and has appeared in Season 2 & 4 since.
• The Doctor doesn't die. He regenerates. There have been 11 actors who have played him. 3 since 2005. You will be upset when the Doctor goes and you will be leery of the new one. This is normal. It takes a few episodes, but you will come to realize that he is still the Doctor.
• The show will make you cry. Some episodes more than others. If you can make it through "Vincent and the Doctor" without being a weepy mess, you have no soul.
• The show will make you laugh. Some episodes more than others.
  

The show was aptly summed up by Craig Ferguson in this cold open sketch:

(In case the embedding doesn't work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9P4SxtphJ4)

These are all the things you really need to know to get going. Enjoy!

More on My Doctor Who Theory

If you have not read my Doctor Who Theory, please read it HERE.

I have been re-watching the whole series in order from when it restarted. I had been looking for clues in Season 4 and 5 to support my theory for obvious reasons, but I found more back up in Season 2 of all places.

In episode 13 "Army of Ghosts," Jackie Tyler (Rose's mum) talks to Rose while in the TARDIS.


Jackie: You even look like him.
Rose: How do you mean? *pause* Suppose I do, yea.
Jackie: You've changed so much.
Rose: For the better.
Jackie: 'Suppose.

They go back and forth and then...

Jackie: What happens when I'm gone?
Rose: Don't talk like that.
Jackie: No, but really. When I'm dead and buried you won't have any reason to come back home. What happens then?
Rose: I don't know.
Jackie: You think you'll ever settle down?
Rose: The Doctor never does, so I can't. I'll just keep on traveling.
Jackie: And you'll keep on changing. In 40 years time, in 50, there will be this woman. This strange woman walking through the market place on some planet a million miles from Earth. She's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore. She's not even human.

BAM! Right there. Jackie is describing Amy/River. Amy Pond continues traveling with the Doctor. Her parents are gone. She has no reason to go back to Earth especially with Rory traveling with them. She changes as only a human can seeing what the Doctor sees and doing what the Doctor does. She'll seem more like a Time Lord than a human because all of her adult life was spent with a Time Lord. River is all over the place and clearly hasn't settled down. By the thickness of her diary, we know that River spends a lot of time with him - maybe 40 years. Amy Pond would be unrecognizable as herself, but maybe only recognized as River Song.

Again, I could be totally wrong and they could be going in a completely different direction, but there sure seems to be a lot of evidence pointing in this direction.

I'm hoping to take a class on Science Fiction as one of my electives this summer. I'm really hoping an assignment or major paper will give me a reason to write about Doctor Who. This is the completely arbitrary reason I have given myself to re-watch the entire series again.