Doctor Who

[Cody MacArthur Fett]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Doctorwhotitles2007.jpg

Need I say more? This is a thread to talk about the longest running science fiction in the world (You can tell it's old because I said science fiction and not sci-fi). The Doctors, his companions, the spinoffs, and the many many adventures therein. Enjoy. :happy:

[TransWarpDrive]

My brothers and I started watching Doctor Who back in the early 80's, when the local PBS station showed the Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee episodes on Sunday nights. Even our dad got into Doctor Who after a while. He preferred Jon Pertwee's Doctor, however, because Pertwee's Doctor was more of a "take-charge," serious kind of guy. Dad didn't think much of Baker's Doctor; he thought Baker was a buffoon.

[canuck31003]

I have fond memories of watching Doctor Who -- BBC was the only English language channel I received in Austria. Beggars can't be choosers. :P

Peter Davison is my favorite Doctor Who actor. Perhaps because he was the first I saw. I also liked Christopher Eccleston, and disappointed he only stayed one season.

I wonder what triggered the demise of each Doctor -- poor ratings, maybe?

[Twila Starla]

Doctor Who is actually my favorite TV show right now! :thumbup:

I started watching with my mother about a summer ago, toward the beginning of Christopher Eccleston's work as The Doctor (thank you for re-runs, BBC and Sci-Fi), since then, I have watched all three seasons, and am watching season 4 once a week now. I have also offically started watching Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. :D

So, yeah, I'm Who crazy! :cool: :laugh:

[TransWarpDrive]

I have fond memories of watching Doctor Who -- BBC was the only English language channel I received in Austria. Beggars can't be choosers. :P

Peter Davison is my favorite Doctor Who actor. Perhaps because he was the first I saw. I also liked Christopher Eccleston, and disappointed he only stayed one season.

I wonder what triggered the demise of each Doctor -- poor ratings, maybe?
No, the actors grew tired of the role and wanted out. The writers came up with the whole regeneration angle to explain why the Doctor's appearance kept changing (and it freed the casting director from having to search far and wide for someone who looked like the actor who left).

[Cody MacArthur Fett]

I have fond memories of watching Doctor Who -- BBC was the only English language channel I received in Austria. Beggars can't be choosers. :P

Peter Davison is my favorite Doctor Who actor. Perhaps because he was the first I saw. I also liked Christopher Eccleston, and disappointed he only stayed one season.

I wonder what triggered the demise of each Doctor -- poor ratings, maybe?
No, the actors grew tired of the role and wanted out. The writers came up with the whole regeneration angle to explain why the Doctor's appearance kept changing (and it freed the casting director from having to search far and wide for someone who looked like the actor who left).
That, and it opened up new and exciting ways to kill characters off without any uproar from the fans.

[lunchmeat]

Tom Baker was and still is my favorite Doctor. I've seen a couple of episodes of the current run. So far it hasn't drawn me in the way the old series did.

[TransWarpDrive]

Tom Baker was and still is my favorite Doctor. I've seen a couple of episodes of the current run. So far it hasn't drawn me in the way the old series did.
Yeah, ol' Tom was quite a Doctor, wasn't he? IIRC, he was even married to one of his co-stars for a while - Lalla Ward, the first actress to play Romana, a female Time Lord (Time Lady?).

[TransWarpDrive]

They're showing a new episode this coming Friday on SciFi channel. The promo talks about how the Doctor's trying to stop a war somewhere, and gets help "from an unexpected source." Then they show a young, shapely blond woman step out of a portal (door?) and address the Doctor: "Hello, Dad."
- How's that for a plot twist? :blink:

[canuck31003]

For those interested, apparently the bbc uploaded some documents pertaining to the early days of Dr. Who.

From the article describing the documents, a description of Dr. Who:

"A frail old man lost in space and time. They give him this name because they don't know who he is. He seems not to remember where he has come from: he is suspicious and capable of sudden malignance; he seems to have some undefined enemy; he is searching for something as well as fleeing from something. He has a 'machine' which enables them to travel together through time, through space and through matter." --bbc.co.uk (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7736130.stm)

They first wanted to make the Tardis invisible! I can't imagine the show without the police box/phone booth.

[GoTeamGirl]

I must have a thing for people saving the world, because I've started to love this show. And the Doctor...well, he saves the world quite a lot.

Anyway, I thought it a good time to mention that the 10th Doctor is going to regenerate tomorrow night in the U.S.

[TransWarpDrive]

...Anyway, I thought it a good time to mention that the 10th Doctor is going to regenerate tomorrow night in the U.S.

I thought Time Lords could only regenerate seven times at most....:huh:
What kind of loophole did they figure out for that rule?

[GoTeamGirl]

...Anyway, I thought it a good time to mention that the 10th Doctor is going to regenerate tomorrow night in the U.S.

I thought Time Lords could only regenerate seven times at most....:huh:
What kind of loophole did they figure out for that rule?

This link says twelve:
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Regeneration

I suppose the episode tomorrow will make ten regenerations, and the series will be that much closer to a permanent finish. Unless the Doctor somehow obtains another cycle...but I don't see why he would want to live that long (or why the BBC would risk overstaying the Doctor's welcome).

[TransWarpDrive]

...Anyway, I thought it a good time to mention that the 10th Doctor is going to regenerate tomorrow night in the U.S.

I thought Time Lords could only regenerate seven times at most....:huh:
What kind of loophole did they figure out for that rule?

This link says twelve:
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Regeneration

.

Okay, I stand corrected. You're right; it is twelve. And having seen the "Dr. Who" episode in which they established the twelve-regeneration limit (The Deadly Assassin, starring Tom Baker as the Doctor), I remember it now thanks to the link you supplied. Wonder why I thought they only had seven?:hmm:
I must have confused it with something from another series, I guess...

[GoTeamGirl]

Seven is a good number...Although if it had been only seven, a few actors would not have had jobs.

I find it ironic that in the new episode the Doctor commented that the Time Lords live too long.

Anyway, Matt Smith is the new Doctor. I rather liked the 10th Doctor, better than the ones I've seen (unfortunately, I haven't seen too many Doctors) but I think the 11th could be interesting. His beginning, short as it was, got me interested.

At the end of the day I'm rather glad my cable company provides BBC America. I didn't even know we had it until July, when my family wanted to watch Torchwood.

[TransWarpDrive]

Our local PBS station is also showing the new Doctor Who episodes!
In fact, I just happened to tune in tonight to a repeat of the 2008 episode, The Unicorn and the Wasp, and discovered something. The actor who played Colonel Hugh Curbishley, an actor named Christopher Benjamin, also portrayed theater owner Henry Gordon Jago in the 1977 Doctor Who storyline, The Talons of Weng-Chiang!* I thought his face looked familiar, so I checked on the Internet Movie Database's website and sure enough - it's the same guy!:biggergrin:

(*That was during Tom Baker's run as the Doctor.:alumnus:)