New to Who

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

Last year I was randomly searching through Netflix and came across Dr. Who. Having heard about it I decided to give it a try. I remembered seeing promos for the show on tv but didn't know which Doctor it was. Once I found out, I pressed play on "The Eleventh Hour." I really enjoyed the episode and would have continued if I hadn't got caught up with other shows. Now I have time to really start watching

 

[Skellington]

That whole era is great, but I think you should consider going back as far as "Rose", the first episode of the show's revival. It assumes you've got a blank slate, and there are many superb episodes between it and "The Eleventh Hour".

 

[TedShatner10]

I'd start with "Rose". On rewatching S4 on DVD recently, I found the RTD era, despite its faults, to be a bit more rewatchable than the more recent Moffat seasons and even some of the The Mill's visual effects look solid after all these years.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Smith's first episode. Good place to start.

Although I would suggest that you go back and watch Silence in the library (s04e08/9) to get a real feel for the character of River Song who is going to be very important to the coming season.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

Thanks for the suggestions! Btw Guy, long time, no see

 

[Guy Gardener]

Shit! I knew there was someone I was forgetting to stalk.

I promise, I will do better.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

By all means, stalk away.

 

[Guy Gardener]

You're on my list, no need to get pushy.

Have you made any headway Who yet?

 

[Doctorwhovian]

There's also the original show, which ran from 1963-1989, and the TV movie from 1996. They're all in the same continuity, although given it's a long running series there are of course some 'canon hiccups (As with Star Trek).

The classic series though is very low-budget, so be prepared for that, there's a lot of cheesy effects, sets etc. and the writing is not quite as complex as new Who (with some exceptions). The 60s (which is in black and white) started the series, with William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton but unfortunately a lot of that era is missing although the show from the seventies on is intact (although some of the Pertwee era suffers from color loss). The Seventies for many is often considered the golden age of Doctor Who, with two popular Doctors (Jon Pertwee and especially Tom Baker) in the whole decade. Despite some production updates, the show struggled in the 80s, and was cancelled in 1989 with Sylvestor McCoy in the lead. The original show is also in a different, 'serial' format, with multi-part stories, usually in length from four to six episodes (Each about 20-30 minutes each), with about five stories per season.

The 1996 TV movie featured Paul Mcgann as the Doctor (With McCoy returning to regenerate), but didn't launch a new series. Finally the series was brought back in 2005 with Eccleston (Although the fate of the Mcgann incarnation wouldn't be revealed until 2013's short "Night of the Doctor").

Doctor Who has also had spinoffs. The first, K-9 and Company, only lasted one episode in the 80s and featured popular companions Sarah Jane Smith and the robot dog K-9. More sucessful was "Torchwood", which also focused on former companion Captain Jack (John Barrowman) and a team of alien investigators. The show ran for four seasons. There was also Sarah Jane Adventures, which also featured Sarah Jane, which ran for five seasons until the unfortunate passing of the lead actress, Elisabeth Sladen.


Doctor Who's also got of course, a lot of novels and also a long-running audio drama series in which a lot of the previous Doctors and companions participate.

 

[Nightowl1701]

(although some of the Pertwee era suffers from color loss).

Eh, not so much anymore. Colorization's come a long way, and they were able to recover the color signal from some B&W film recordings. May look slightly off at times, but the whole Jon Pertwee era is now in color.

 

[Marten]

Smith's first episode. Good place to start.

Although I would suggest that you go back and watch Silence in the library (s04e08/9) to get a real feel for the character of River Song who is going to be very important to the coming season.

The only reasonable places to start would seem to be Rose or 11th hour. Apart from River Song, it's mostly a clean slate with Matt Smith's Doctor. But even though 11 is my favourite doctor, there are a lot of good stories during the RTD era, so I'd start with Rose anyway.

 

[Iamnotspock]

the writing is not quite as complex as new Who (with some exceptions).

It depends on how you define "complex"; the original run (I just can't call them "Classic" and "New" - it's all one show in every way that matters, albeit divided into several distinct eras with several 'jumping on' points, and with a 15-year break between seasons, plus the "New" run is a decade old) didn't wear its complexity on its sleeve the way the modern era does, but was often deceptively very clever and mature, particularly the era produced by Philip Hinchcliffe in the mid-'70s.

 

[Volpone]

As a classic Who fan, whose missed a lot of the nuWho, "The Eleventh Hour" saved the show for me. I caught a couple episodes with Ecclestone and more with Tennant. My take on the Tennant stories was that he basically ran around frantically and waved his sonic screwdriver at things until the Magic Resolution. Watching his last episode, I very nearly said "well, that's the end of Dr. Who for me," but on a hunch, I decided to give 11th Hour a shot and it had all the magic of the old series--with considerably better production values.

Once you catch up on the new series...I don't know. You can start at the beginning with "An Unearthly Child." That's very different from the television we're used to these days. It was essentially shot live so there are spots where the actors flub their lines and sometimes it looks more like theater than television, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

My other choice would be were so many people my age got turned onto Who: early Tom Baker. "Robot" through to about "The Horror of Fang Rock" is, for my money, excellent. Yes, the FX are often terrible, but the acting and writing are enough for me to suspend disbelief.

On further thinking, yeah, I'd start with "An Unearthly Child." Because the show gets a bit rough around the edges towards the 1980s, and so watching them in order builds up some goodwill to slog on through to the end. And the original opening credits are cool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzY-vEpUNac

 

[Nightowl1701]

So, to sum up:

Start with "The Eleventh Hour." If you like what you see, keep going 'til you've caught up to Matt Smith's last episode, then backtrack to "Rose" and follow that through to David Tennant's last episode. If you're still up for more after that, you can either continue on to Peter Capaldi or jump all the way back to William Hartnell in "An Unearthly Child" and enjoy the Classic Series. But... pace yourself 'cuz you've got 26 years of episodes (+ a TV movie) to get through. (Don't worry, you'll be forgiven if you jump ship somewhere around Colin Baker's/Sylvester McCoy's era. Everybody else did.)

 

[MacLeod]

"Rose" is a good starting point for new viewers, as others have mentioned it was the first episode of the modern era so was designed to re-introduce the show.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

"Rose" certainly starts with more of a blank slate than "The Eleventh Hour." But I think a lot of it depends on your tastes. There was more of a romantic angle to the Doctor during the Eccleston & Tennant years. I prefer Smith & Capaldi as more asexual professor types. I also think Smith & Capaldi have gotten more interesting companions with Amy, Rory, & Clara. During the Eccleston/Tennant years, Rose & Martha were OK but a bit basic & boring in their personality types. Donna was a lot of fun because of Catherine Tate's performance, although she didn't get as much focus as the other companions.

But, overall, it kinda doesn't matter where you start. While there have been some ongoing character arcs, each episode is generally a stand-alone adventure. There's something to be said for doing what I did when I started by jumping around a lot and seeing what you like. (One way to start the classic series: "The Five Doctors." It's a decent sampler to give you a taste of each of the first 5 Doctors.)

(although some of the Pertwee era suffers from color loss).

Eh, not so much anymore. Colorization's come a long way, and they were able to recover the color signal from some B&W film recordings. May look slightly off at times, but the whole Jon Pertwee era is now in color.

True. Although the halfassed colorization job on "Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Part 1" looks terrible.

 

[diankra]

Well, the IotD1 thing is the best result of recovery from a poor b&w print. Only alternatives wete b&w or recolour from scratch... which is pricey, and maybe less accurate to the original.
.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

Yeah, Rose certainly did start kind of blank apart from the Autons (Who actually aren't referred to as such, just as Nestenes). Classic elements do eventually crop up in the first season, such as the Daleks and a brief use of UNIT.


Eventually the series gets more confident with the references to classic WHO and returning enemies, especially in seasons 3 and 4.

Eleventh Hour has a lot more continuity, using several clips from the classic series, as well as previous Nuwho stuff in the Atraxi's hologram.

 

[Ithekro]

In "Rose" you have the mystery guy that is the Doctor. The audiance isn't too sure about him, but he seems more or less like the good guy. He's got a time machine, so that's something.

In "Eleventh Hour" you meet the madman in the box that is the Doctor. You are definately not sure about this guy, but he seems like fun, so we keep watching. Then he sells himself as the commanding hero...who is still quite the madman. To were you want to follow this guy's adventures.

"Unearthly Child" we meet an old man in a box with his odd granddaughter. We don't know who he is. Or what he is. Or if he is even a good man. But we are curious.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

For anybody wondering, I've watched the first 5 episodes of series 5. I will never be able to look at angels again without getting a bit freaked out!