Doctor Who: where to start?

[bliebblob]

As a relatively new newwhovian all I can really say is that starting from the reboot works just fine. Every now and then you won't quite follow but just bear in mind that's mostly intentional.
What you should pay attention to however, is that there have been a bunch of 60 minute specials that you can't skip without missing vital events. But depending on how or where you get the episodes, these specials could be available somewhere seperate from the normal episodes or simply won't be available at all. So I recommend keeping an eye on the episode list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doctor_Who_serials so you don't accidentally skip episodes.

 

[ninjaRiv]

I didn't start until the first appearance of Tennant. If you go from there, you get the best stuff (imo) and you can just work your way backwards from there.

 

[Trololo Punk]

I similarly asked the exact same question on this forum about a year ago. I was advised to start with David Tennant (#10). I'd say thats a really good place to start. Then whenever I would run into something out of my understanding I'd just wiki it and I would be good to go.

So yea, for my two cents. I would say start with Tennant.

 

[saintdane05]

I'd start with the episode "The Impossible Astronaut". Its one of the stranger episodes, but just bring a friend. If my fifty year old mom can understand it, so can you.

 

[CaptainThom]

Start with the ninth doctor(Christopher Eccleston) he brought the series back in a way that was accessible to a generation unfamiliar with doctor who and did a great job, from there you can move onto the 11th&12th doctors (David Tennant and Matt Smith).

With doctor who don't expect to understand the lore because it will contradict itself.

 

[Frezzato]

I'd say start with Tom Baker...

I second this. Tom Baker is my favourite doctor!

Totally agree with you guys. I started watching Who when Jon Pertwee was around, didn't like it very much. I saw a later episode with Tom Baker and was confused (as I missed the whole regeneration explanation), but I still watched the show because Tom Baker had such charisma.

Also, some of the Tom Baker episodes were written by Douglas Adams. Instant classics right there.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Also, some of the Tom Baker episodes were written by Douglas Adams. Instant classics right there.

IMHO, unfortunately not. "City of Death" was a truly great story, yes, but the other stories Adams wrote were, IIRC, "The Pirate Planet" and "Shada", both of which had some good ideas, but were woefully executed and had some truly dire dialogue.

Shada in particular should have been better than it was. Now, it's true that it was never finished, but what we have has almost no redeeming features. Parts of it almost seem like a Monty Python sketch about a really boring show that tries to be epic but doesn't go anywhere.

 

[Frezzato]

Also, some of the Tom Baker episodes were written by Douglas Adams. Instant classics right there.

IMHO, unfortunately not. "City of Death" was a truly great story, yes, but the other stories Adams wrote were, IIRC, "The Pirate Planet" and "Shada", both of which had some good ideas, but were woefully executed and had some truly dire dialogue.

Shada in particular should have been better than it was. Now, it's true that it was never finished, but what we have has almost no redeeming features. Parts of it almost seem like a Monty Python sketch about a really boring show that tries to be epic but doesn't go anywhere.

To be honest, the only Adams-penned episodes I was thinking about was City of Death (meaning four episodes). I was never able to seem them back to back. I didn't know about Shada though, and I looked up The Pirate Planet just now and it doesn't seem familiar at all. In fact, I suspect I missed those episodes entirely!

*EDIT* Incredible, it never occurred to me to look up Doctor Who on Netflix Instant. I can't believe I'll finally get to see every episode now! Thanks, man.

 

[Thaluikhain]

To be honest, the only Adams-penned episodes I was thinking about was City of Death (meaning four episodes). I was never able to seem them back to back. I didn't know about Shada though, and I looked up The Pirate Planet just now and it doesn't seem familiar at all. In fact, I suspect I missed those episodes entirely!

The Pirate Planet was part of the Key to Time arc, with the first Romana.

Shada...well, there was a strike, and it was never completed. They released a thing with Tom Baker explaining what happened in the missing bits, though, and they sorta redid as an animated thing with Paul McGann.

It has a kinda mystique as the unfinished story, but like DNF, this is much greater than the thing itself.

...

As an aside, City of Death went through lots of rewrites (there's one or two elements that used to make more sense then they did in the finished version), it wasn't just Adams writing it.

 

[Frezzato]

The Pirate Planet was part of the Key to Time arc, with the first Romana.

Shada...well, there was a strike, and it was never completed. They released a thing with Tom Baker explaining what happened in the missing bits, though, and they sorta redid as an animated thing with Paul McGann.

It has a kinda mystique as the unfinished story, but like DNF, this is much greater than the thing itself.

...

As an aside, City of Death went through lots of rewrites (there's one or two elements that used to make more sense then they did in the finished version), it wasn't just Adams writing it.

For the life of me I can't remember The Pirate Planet at all and I likely missed it entirely. I had to rely on the local PBS station which would purchase the broadcast rights and show one episode a week. If I missed a week then it was SOL. Sometimes the show would just disappear or broadcasts would go unannounced and I lacked the discipline as a child to check up on it.

Have you watched Doctor Who since the beginning? I'm watching the first episode now and it's interesting how

Spoiler

the show just opens with The Doctor and three companions in The Aztecs. It's strange because I remember seeing this Doctor and I wondered what I had missed. I assumed there was an establishing 'origins' episode but this is it right? This is the origins episode?

 

[Thaluikhain]

Have you watched Doctor Who since the beginning? I'm watching the first episode now and it's interesting how

Spoiler

the show just opens with The Doctor and three companions in The Aztecs. It's strange because I remember seeing this Doctor and I wondered what I had missed. I assumed there was an establishing 'origins' episode but this is it right? This is the origins episode?

Er, no, the first story was "An Unearthly Child", followed by "The Daleks" and "Edge of Destruction", then "Marco Polo" which is missing, then "Keys of Marinus" then "The Aztecs".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/index_first.shtml

"The Aztecs" is fairly early, and one of the better historicals (also apparently one of the most accurate depictions of the Aztecs), but not the first.

 

[bak00777]

I usually tell my friends either start with the reboot. or to jump into second season of the reboot when David Tennant takes over.

Personally my first episode was in like season 3 or 4 of the reboot, then i went back and started watching them on Netflix. If my friends like the reboot then i introduce them to classic episodes, usually with Tom Baker as the Doctor.

 

[Frezzato]

Er, no, the first story was "An Unearthly Child", followed by "The Daleks" and "Edge of Destruction", then "Marco Polo" which is missing, then "Keys of Marinus" then "The Aztecs".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/index_first.shtml

"The Aztecs" is fairly early, and one of the better historicals (also apparently one of the most accurate depictions of the Aztecs), but not the first.

Damn, The Aztecs is the earliest episode listed on Netflix Instant. Same thing with Amazon Prime. It looks like both of those services lack seasons 2-4 as well. I may have to start buying the DVDs then. Thanks for the info.

 

[YuberNeclord]

Damn, The Aztecs is the earliest episode listed on Netflix Instant. Same thing with Amazon Prime. It looks like both of those services lack seasons 2-4 as well.

Yeah that is where a huge hunk of the missing episodes of doctor who [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_who_missing_episodes] occur. While there isn't much missing from season 2, Seasons 3 and 4 really took a pounding. Also it looks like tomb of the Cybermen is the only episode from season five that is still intact.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Good evening, escapists.

I've heard many good things about this series. I've heard that ist has good story, characters, humour and other things. But I also know, that first seasons were filmed somewhen in the 1950-s and were lost. So I am also kind of lost.

Help me out guys. Where sould I start to fully understand the lore?

To FULLY understand the lore?

Then you'd have to start with the 1950s first episode.

However, the new series does do an excellent job during its first season of introducing the audience to the world of Doctor Who.

If you'd rather start with the classics, then the 3rd Doctor isn't a bad starting point. You'll get to meet UNIT and the Brigadier. And you can move on into Tom Baker for the "best" seasons of the classic Who.

The problem with starting with the first episode is that the show didn't really come into itself for a few seasons, and a lot of the first (and most of the second) Doctors have had their episodes lost due to the BBC storage people being idiots (in the 1960s and 1970s. I'm sure the people working there now are awesome).

 

[Poppy JR.]

I would definitely start with the Christopher Eccleston revival, but be sure to watch an episode or two of Tom Baker's episodes. Baker really is considered by many to be one of the definitive portrayals of the Doctor, and he's my favorite non-revival doctor. David Tennant's episodes are truly fantastic ( no pun intended, Whovians) and Matt Smith also brings his own unique style to the character.

 

[Smiley Face]

I have to say that Blink may be one of the worst Doctor Who episodes to start off with, on the grounds that (good as it may be) there is not a proper Doctor Who episode, the Doctor himself plays pretty much a cameo role in the whole thing.

You'd think that, but considering the opening episodes for Series 1,3 and 4 of the new series, it still works great as a first episode to watch. It provides an intrigue into The Doctor by using him as a side character (Which he sort-of was in the first ever stories), actually has time travel worked into the story in a logical manner, introduces one of the best monsters of the new series and most importantly, shows the heights the series can reach.

It's definitely an episode to sell the show to someone with.

I have to disagree - I've tried that, it failed, and looking back, I can see why - you can't sell someone on Doctor Who with Blink, because Blink is so atypical of Doctor Who - and that is what makes it so effective in Doctor Who - you're not expecting it, it takes you out of your comfort zone while still being Doctor Who, which makes the horror of it more effective. You need to be familiar with the way Doctor Who works for it to have its full effect - it wouldn't be fair to show someone it right off the bat.

EDIT: As to the Original Topic, I myself started with Christopher Eccleston, and I would say that it is certainly an excellent place to start, probably the best - It's designed to be a starting point, for a contemporary audience no less, it does it well, and your alternatives are to start at the VERY beginning (which is so different and degraded it's not the best place to start), in the middle of the early doctors (Haven't seen it myself, but it seems it runs the risk of anachronisms which might put off a first time viewer), or later, with Smith (which seems better to watch as a continuation of the previous series - although as an upside, there's less of a risk of Smith-hatred as a result of Tennant-withdrawal).

 

[Thaluikhain]

The problem with starting with the first episode is that the show didn't really come into itself for a few seasons, and a lot of the first (and most of the second) Doctors have had their episodes lost due to the BBC storage people being idiots (in the 1960s and 1970s. I'm sure the people working there now are awesome).

That's a bit harsh, nobody knew that DVDs would be invented, and nobody expected the show to still be popular years later anyway.