An unenlightened Yank needs Doctor Who help...

[Ilikemilkshake]

True Tennant's run wasn't free of some crap but I think he had many brilliant episodes, Blink, Midnight and Waters of Mars probably being my favourites.

I can't think of any Smith episodes that stand out (for being good anyway)

Vincent and the Doctor, The Doctors Wife, Lets Kill Hitler and lots of people like the silence episodes. I think Tennant slightly edges out on the number and quality of the better episodes, but Smith's time has had a better consistency with only a handful (that pirate one for example) being genuinely awful (and even then, they're just boring or too samey=, whereas Tennant had to sit through quite a few really bad ones(the one with the manpigs)

Guess this one is down to personal preference but I thought those 3 episodes weren't all that great... although that's probably mainly due to my dislike of Rory and River Song.

This series has actually had 1-2 good episodes, the one with the ghost house was pretty good.. other than that I think it's been consistently bad with the apex of awful being the one with all the singing.

I guess the thing to take away is that with such a varied show you're never going to please everyone and I'm definitely someone who isn't pleased with the show as it currently is. Some people are really liking it with Smith right now and that's great for them but personally I'm just waiting for the next doctor to really mix it up.

 

[BrotherRool]

Guess this one is down to personal preference but I thought those 3 episodes weren't all that great... although that's probably mainly due to my dislike of Rory and River Song.

This series has actually had 1-2 good episodes, the one with the ghost house was pretty good.. other than that I think it's been consistently bad with the apex of awful being the one with all the singing.

I guess the thing to take away is that with such a varied show you're never going to please everyone and I'm definitely someone who isn't pleased with the show as it currently is. Some people are really liking it with Smith right now and that's great for them but personally I'm just waiting for the next doctor to really mix it up.

I don't actually like the Doctor's Wife (but that's not a Song episode), Gaiman's got a sort of grubby style that doesn't sit well for me but I do love Rory so Lets Kill Hitler was good for me.

Vincent and the Doctor on the other hand is one of my favourites.

I don't know if this latest series has been bad as such as ridiculously flawed. Like each episode had the potential to be a really good episode, even the singing episode looked good, the actual singing sounded nice, the alien market was fun and Clara had some good personal moments. They've all just been ruined by poor pacing or a really awful resolution etc. I don't think there's been an episode in the second half the couldn't have worked if a few more things had gone right.


EDIT: I do want a new Doctor after the 50th though. Because Smith didn't have a character arc and he's achieved his role, he was a break from the seriousness that was just getting to the point of overwhelming. And selfishly I don't want him to do more than David Tennant did =D

 

[Grim153]

For any Whovian (or potential Whovian) I'd suggest you take a look at tardisblue.net. It's a free website with a legal license to show Doctor Who episodes (old and new), and streams them 24/7 (and they air the new episodes at the same time as the BBC). Generally they'll run through all the new series' (2005 and on), and then show a classic series. They also have a bunch of fun extras they show occasionally.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

It's best to go through Old Who with a sort of "Best of..." Guide, otherwise it can be really hard to take due to the old fashioned pacing...

Here are some Personal Favorites of the old doctor stuff though...

Genesis of the Daleks (4th Doctor)
The Seeds of Doom (4th Doctor)
The Caves of the Androzani (5th/6th Doctor)
Dragonfire (7th Doctor, but mostly just so you can catch the introduction of Ace)
Remembrance of the Daleks (7th Doctor)
The Curse of Fenric (7th Doctor, easily is best story)
Ghostlight (7th Doctor)

After you hit the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleson, 1st Season of the New Doctor Who) the pacing gets modern and the show is much easier to take and while there are a few terrible episodes from 9 to Current I really can't say there are any seasons you shouldn't watch.

 

[frizzlebyte]

I've personally never been much of a Doctor Who fan, and I've never felt like my "geek" cred was threatened. Then again, I've never been much for following trends, either, and Doctor Who has always seemed like a "trendy geek" thing. It seems a bit overrated to me, but it is fun to watch, certainly.

 

[Stryc9]

I started with the modern ones from 2005 onwards and then discovered that one of the several PBS station I get runs the old series every weekend and started watching those apparently right when they started over again with the first Doctor and have been watching those pretty much ever since.

There used to be this cool little primer on the BBC's Doctor Who page but it's been long since taken down, a friend showed that to me when he introduced me to the show and it gave all kinds of information on the Time Lords and the different Doctors and companions and some of the bigger points in the history of the show and so on, they really should have left it alone as it's quite useful for new viewers.

 

[wakeup]

theres a lot more geeky shows trust me. the new doctor who is purely aimed at kids. or at least that's the excuse i tell myself for all the bad storytelling and cheesy dialogue.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Zoop

Again, it's nothing personal. Peter's a great guy, without a doubt, but somebody had to fill the bottom row. It's just that he had the disadvantage to follow Tom as lead character, and became maybe a bit too serious-minded as a character. Even still, this does not make him bad. I like all of the Doctors, really. There were indeed some great episodes on David too. His last one was great, as was Earthshock, The Five Doctors, and so on. But...it was not until I grew up a little that I appreciated the darker nature of his episodes.

I wasn't correcting you or anything, no need to justify your position on him, all good mate

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

I first encountered Baker (4th) when PBS aired the Doctor Who episodes when I was a kid. So, of course, he is my favorite.

However, I have noticed one major thing about the series over the years. Even when you only have the equivalent of $20 to do all of your special effects, you can still connect to your audience if you have good characters and good stories. Sure, the timing and pacing of the older series seems slow to a more modern (read: younger) audience, but the STORIES were what hooked you and kept you coming back to see the next story arc.

Unfortunately, over the last few seasons, the writing has dropped a little bit in quality. Part of it I put down to the modern need to make each story arc BIGGER and the risks the characters face ALL THE MORE MONUMENTAL!!!!1!! That particular problem is most certainly NOT limited to Doctor Who, but has plagued entertainment writing since the concept of entertainment writing was invented. Special effects have simply amplified that quality it seems.

For me, the most grating issue I have with the current way the stories are written isn't even the whole "the power to overcome this danger is through GOOD FEELINGS and HEART! Clap your hands if you believe in fairies! Tinkerbell must live! Actually, it's how the sonic screwdriver has gone from an interesting tool that is handy to have to becoming the great wizard's wand that can literally do anything (including apparently holding up huge stone doors).

 

[Johnny Impact]

Start with Eccleston (2005).

I grew up watching the old, super-cheesy episodes with Baker and Pertwee, so I have a fondness for them. Occasionally ("Dalek" in particular) you will not share the shiver of delighted fear at the reemergence of a classic enemy. Most of the time you won't be missing anything.

Just pay close attention to everything the Doctor says. He does exposition so fast I don't always catch it even when I know what he's talking about.

 

[Little Woodsman]

As a die-hard fan of the old episodes I have to say--most of the people here are right, start with Eccleston's first
episode. {Shrug} It is made for people who are not familiar with the series.

Aaaand....even if you find yourself not liking/getting in to the show, at least watch the episode Blink.
It's amazing and enjoyable as a stand-alone even if you don't like the rest of the series.

As others here have pointed out, Netflix has most or all of what you need, or if you are one of those rare
people like myself who doesn't have a Netflix account, Amazon Instant Video has the episodes available as
well. (That's how I watch them.)

 

[Little Woodsman]

If you really wanted, you could start at the beginning with the first Doctor, and watch every episode ever...

Actually, no you can't.

There are roughly 100 episodes which simply no longer exist. I looked into it earlier this year, and discovered that you can't get some episodes from the 60s and 70s, because they were destroyed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_missing_episodes

This is why I can never watch Dr. Who. I am a bit OCD when it comes to serial shows like this. If I can't watch all of them from the beginning, I'm not going to watch them at all. I have the same problem with comic books

But for someone without my particular affliction, I think jumping in around 2005 is the commonly accepted convention.

This is sadly true but many of these episodes have been reconstructed as novelizations. With many *many* thanks to the
amazing Mr. Frazier Hines who saved *every* *one* of his scripts in his 3+ years playing the companion Jamie.

 

[mooncalf]

If you don't want to start with rebooted doctors, try Tom Baker, the fouth doctor with the scarf.. I think one of the best blends of the doctor's reccuring mix of eccentricity and acuity.

 

[Robot Number V]

You know, the first six seasons are all streaming on Netflix. And you can start with the 1st season (that is, the first season of the reboot) and you'll do just fine. I'm American too, and that's what I did.

Beware though: It takes some getting used to. I absolutely HATED the first episode, now there's a poster of a Dalek above my head. (Don't ask, you're not ready) Just...keep with it. I promise, it grows on you.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

To spell out what's mainly been implied so far, the best jumping on point for someone unfamiliar with the series is the beginning of the 2005 series, with the second best being the first episode of Mat Smith's run. Once you've got a good feel for the series, you can start looking into the old show, but I wouldn't recommend watching it first unless you're already a fan of old sci fi shows like the original Star Trek, and even then it would depend on why exactly you like it[footnote]If it's for the writing, you're golden. If it's for much of any other reason, it's questionable.[/footnote].

 

[Dryk]

I don't know if this latest series has been bad as such as ridiculously flawed. Like each episode had the potential to be a really good episode, even the singing episode looked good, the actual singing sounded nice, the alien market was fun and Clara had some good personal moments. They've all just been ruined by poor pacing or a really awful resolution etc. I don't think there's been an episode in the second half the couldn't have worked if a few more things had gone right.

I've been reading speculation about why this is for years now, and I definitely have a pet theory about it now. It's the time constraints. The show is trying to grow but it has to stick to 45 minutes and so it's just becoming a mess, the BBC need to give them the time to tell the stories they want to tell or they have to reign it back to something more manageable in the time they're given.

 

[BrotherRool]

I don't know if this latest series has been bad as such as ridiculously flawed. Like each episode had the potential to be a really good episode, even the singing episode looked good, the actual singing sounded nice, the alien market was fun and Clara had some good personal moments. They've all just been ruined by poor pacing or a really awful resolution etc. I don't think there's been an episode in the second half the couldn't have worked if a few more things had gone right.

I've been reading speculation about why this is for years now, and I definitely have a pet theory about it now. It's the time constraints. The show is trying to grow but it has to stick to 45 minutes and so it's just becoming a mess, the BBC need to give them the time to tell the stories they want to tell or they have to reign it back to something more manageable in the time they're given.

That makes sense, especially since a lot of the really memorable episodes have been two-parters and they had none during this particularly bad patch. In fact having no two-parters this half of the season probably is why it all feels rushed.

But I don't think you can extend the episode length, firstly because kids still have to be able to watch it, and secondly because 45 minutes is about as long as almost any show on television (all the US shows that clock in at an hour are actually only 40-45 minutes long because they have ad breaks. Including 24 =D)

I think the other thing the show could really do with is realising that you can have smaller episodes that are a little less epic (and maybe even episodes without monsters of the week if thats not too radical), that singing episode weirdly enough would actually have been better if nothing major happened in it. And sometimes you can do stuff like Vincent and the Doctor which is interesting in its own right and involves the Doctor being active and doing something useful, but doesn't need fighting and running.


Also, sf-debris just covered the episode where they smash the Doctors sonic screwdriver during no 5's run because it was becoming too much of a crutch for plot resolutions. And we might be approaching that time

 

[Sixcess]

(and maybe even episodes without monsters of the week if thats not too radical)

Apparently there's a ruling from higher management at the BBC that every episode must have a monster. As far back as Father's Day in series 1 they wanted to do an episode with no monster, but the Beeb insisted so they had to add in the flying things.

 

[Sir Shockwave]

what I don't understand is why everyone seems to bash Matt Smith. Now, I have only very very recently begun looking at the good doctor, but Matt Smith is charming, cute and funny...so why the hate? if it's strictly because he's not David Tennat, then that's VERY bad reasoning

Coming from my own perspective, it's not so much that Smith's acting is bad in any regard, so much as it's the problem of various other factors not directly related to Smith - the writing, for example.

In other words, I think most of the hatred drawn at Smith is actually the fault of Stephen Moffat and other writers.

OT: Really, the best advice I can give anyone trying to get into any Doctor Who is to just pick up and watch a serial. Which one? Any of them. Like it? Pick up another. Don't like it? Try a different Doctor/Companion setup. The big advantage Doctor Who has over most shows I can think of is that it really is a pick up and play series - you don't need to know 50+ years of established continuity to enjoy a serial.

This applies to both New and Classic Who eras. Or even the Big Finish monthly range.

 

[BrotherRool]

(and maybe even episodes without monsters of the week if thats not too radical)

Apparently there's a ruling from higher management at the BBC that every episode must have a monster. As far back as Father's Day in series 1 they wanted to do an episode with no monster, but the Beeb insisted so they had to add in the flying things.

Wow, they were talking about shaking things up after the 50th episode, and if that's true, scrapping that ruling should be the first thing to go.

A strength of Doctor Who is it can basically be anything it wants right? They should embrace that