Any doctor Who fans here? need a little help

[Proverbial Jon]

the master is an evil timelord and the timelords are near extinction, the doctor being one of the last.

so what are time lords? and if there's an evil dude screwing with time ... how the hell could he even be stopped?

The Time Lords are an ancient race of people who have developed the ability to travel through time. As a species there isn't that much remarkable about them aside from the fact they have two hearts (a binary vascular system) and can "regenerate" if they become injured to near death. Apparently Time Lords can only regenerate 12 times (which gives the 13 incarnations) but the Master found a way to live beyond that. Time Lords CAN be killed and not have a chance to regenerate however.

Their time travelling technology is in the form of vehicles which have been called TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions In Space) mostly by the Doctor at first but it seems all Time Lords use the same acronym. There have been many models and the Doctor's TARDIS has been described as an antique when he aquired it (It is at least 700 years old). TARDISs don't all look like Police Boxes from 1960's England, they can change their appearance to suit the environment in which they land. But the Doctor has never bothered to fix the "Chamelion Circuit" which allows it to do this. Well, he did once, but it was short lived...

There have been several renegade time lords as well as The Master but only The Master has popped up in the new series. When he gains enough power and influence, The Master pretty much is unstoppable and just downright evil. In the old series he was just a renegade who wanted power but the new series has him written as more of an unfortunate victim of the time vortex; he stared into it as a child and went crazy.

The "Last great time war" as it is often referenced in the new series is something that occured between the old and new series and has not actually been televised. You might be better off reading this: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Last_Great_Time_War Basically all the Time Lords, along with the Doctor's home planet of Gallifrey, were wiped out, leaving the Doctor as the only living Time Lord... possibly. Who knows, the Whoniverse is HUGE!

 

[Rathcoole]

It would take days to try to explain the whole doctor who canon. even the series rarely follows it's own history, if something does not fit they just play it off as a result of messing with time. which has to be the biggest cop out in TV show history. but regradless I will try my best.

1. The master is an evil timelord and long term rival of the doctor. his character has been shown in all different ways. In a few novels staring the 2nd doctor he is similar to the doctor only willing to imploy violent measures to resolve things, where as during the original series run he was just a megomaniac looking to rule the universe. While in the new series it is claimed he is simple insane after staring into the heart of time as a child. He is also the only timelord known to have successfully surpassed the 13 body limit.

2. Timelords are an race of beings from Gallifrey. Using advanced technology they are capable of traveling though time and space using machines called a "tardis". sometime between the original run and the new one they entered a war the dalaks. The doctor fearing the results of the battle. Dicided the best solution to the problem would be to simple destroy both races. Which he did (there is more to it than that but trying to streamline it as much as possible)

3. As for the doctor himself he is a Timelord fugitive. After having stole a tardis from a musuam ( A primitive model that when combined with the doctors lack of knowledge of how to pilot it leads to it being pretty unreliable ) So far the doctor has been though 11 bodys. but hints in the early series and books suggest that the original doctor my not have been his first incarnation.

That is the basics of what you wanted to know anything else you want to know just ask and I will try to explain. Also no point trying to start from the beginning of the show. Because of the BBC handling of shows in the 60's and 70's very little of the first few series's remain.

 

[WolfThomas]

Apparently Time Lords can only regenerate 12 times (which gives the 13 incarnations)

I think they've retconned that was mainly a social convention/law enforced by the Timelords, that now the Doctor can regenerate as often as he needs. It was rather arbitary in the original series with them being able to grant or remove regenerations to timelords.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Apparently Time Lords can only regenerate 12 times (which gives the 13 incarnations)

I think they've retconned that was mainly a social convention/law enforced by the Timelords, that now the Doctor can regenerate as often as he needs. It was rather arbitary in the original series with them being able to grant or remove regenerations to timelords.

Ooh right. I wasn't too sure on that one anyway. Always did seem a little strange that you could regenerate 12 times NO MORE and NO LESS! I'm happy for the Doctor to just keep on going. I guess there's no one left to really take away his regenerations now anyway.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

Nooooo! You're doing it wrong. There is very little internal logic to the Doctor Who stories.

Just accept it as a bit of fun and you'll do fine.

People name the different incarnations of the Doctor by their number, so I think the current actor Matt Smith is the 9th, but I'm only a casual fan so I could be wrong. This will all be up on wikipedia.

Matt smith is the eleventh doctor, personally if you were to start watching i would recomend series 2 episode 1 and work forward.

B-but... then he'd miss The Empty Child!

 

[Jatyu]

At most, you'd only have to watch the new series... of which there are already 5 seasons. If you wnat to pick it up easily, start from season 5, this is when the latest doctor started (a new doctor basically just means a new actor). Season 5 was quite good and explains the story quite well for newcomers. Plus it leads into season 6 really well.

 

[weker]

the master is an evil timelord and the timelords are near extinction, the doctor being one of the last.

so what are time lords? and if there's an evil dude screwing with time ... how the hell could he even be stopped?

also how did they become extinct? i heard the doctor did it but why?

**edit** and who's the 9th?

cant remember the 9th (could be the 9th doctor because he regenerates which is when they switch actors if thats the case its Christopher Eccleston who i like myself and was also the dr to reboot the franchise for the modern generation P.S still my favorite).
they became near extinct through fighting in a time war with the darleks which if you dont know are a synthetic species intent on exterminating everything (their heavily based on nazis)
the master egomaniac intent on not destroying but controlling the world.
time lords only genetic difference is a second heart (which seems to have knock on effects) they are one of the most advance races and have incredible technology like time travel.

 

[weker]

I just only got into doctor who a few days ago, i remembered watching a few episodes about some time ago living trees that want to eat everyone and i kinda liked it ... also i've been getting into season six on iplayer and i have almost no clue about the stuff my friend talks about

"the master, timelords (i know the doctor is one but i have no clue about what they actually are) .. some kind of extinction"

can someone put this all into a nutshell for me and maybe recommend where to start?
i was thinking episode 1 season 1 XD and even though my mate seems to know alot about the show than i do ... he admittedly doesn't know that much and we didn't really get into it.

so what season should i start at to ease me into the series?

Christopher Eccleston is technically the ninth as paul mcgann did a film which kinda of counts but there has been the animated series and also rowan atkinson did a comedy episode so Christopher Eccleston is anywhere from the 8th to the 11th dr

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Christopher Eccleston is technically the ninth as paul mcgann did a film which kinda of counts but there has been the animated series and also rowan atkinson did a comedy episode so Christopher Eccleston is anywhere from the 8th to the 11th dr

Christopher Eccleston is the official 9th, since the Rowan Atkinson's parody (the curse of fatal death, I think it's called, and I really recommend it to anyone who wants a good laugh) went through something like 4 regenerations in as many minutes and is obviously non-canon. And wasn't the animated series with David Tennant?