Doctor Who

Doctor Who Title Card

The Doctor. Doctor Who? Exactly. Doctor Who is the longest running sci-fi television show and it will entering its 50th year in 2013.  It began in 1963 and stopped running for a bit in 1989. In 2005, the BBC relaunched the program.  I became a Whovian (Doctor Who fans) last year while flipping through the stations. Doctor Who is a show I have occasionally heard of due to its cult like status but I never gave it a chance. And that night I finally did. Goodness me, what a fantastic decision. Two episodes were shown that night, the first and second from the sixth season of the revamped Doctor Who with the Eleventh Doctor, The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon . Matt Smith took over as the Doctor in the fifth season after David Tennant's reign. He was joined by his companions Amy and Rory. They were trying to destroy the Silence, an alien that you instantly forget as soon as you look away.

Doctors through the Ages 1-11

The Eleventh Doctor? Yep, the eleventh one. The Doctor is a Time Lord and Time Lords can regenerate (duh). So anytime the Doctor is near death or mortally wounded he can regenerate and then BAM! a new actor takes over. Each Doctor has his own little quirks, fashion, and sayings. For example, David Tennant's Tenth Doctor wore converse, an overcoat and his little catchphrase was "Allons-y!". Whereas, Matt Smith's Doctor wears a bow tie and refers to bow ties often with his phrase "Bow ties are cool." Doctor Who's cast is always changing but at the heart of it the Doctor (no matter how many actors play him) and the TARDIS will be there. 

One of things that I love about the show is that it can be summed up in a sentence:  It is about a 900 year old Time Lord traveling through time and space in the TARDIS saving planets with the help of his companions. Or to put it even simpler: It's about a mad man and his box. TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It's a time machine! The TARDIS is a blue (now called TARDIS blue by most fans) police box from the sixties.

Every episode is a new adventure with the Doctor. There are over arching story lines but for the most part you are able to jump in at anytime and enjoy the story. I will admit there are some pretty ghastly looking special effects that look like they cost about 6 dollars to create and some plots that are far from good but there are only a handful. This show also has the strange ability to make the mundane extraordinary and there have been quite a few episodes in which I began looking at the world around me in a different light. When describing the Silence the Doctor spoke about the noises or creaks you hear when you are alone sometimes. He gave them credit for those sounds. Granted it's not something I believe but just an interesting take.

The appeal of Doctor Who is the Doctor and his relationships with his companions and how he changes them or they change him. Every companion is a normal human who he just picks up and takes them anywhere they want to go and each companion realizes just how capable they are. Kinda cheesy, but it works. The Doctor has a big heart (he has two) and is the cleverest man in the universe. Banter is a sure thing in an episode and a few tears as well. 

Doctor Who is my favorite show because it is always sure to illicit a few laughs from me and yet pull on my heart strings. The Doctor is this fantastic man that makes everything better in the end and at times you can't help but feel envious of the companions travelling through the entire universe and time. Who doesn't like a cheesy sci-fi drama at times? I strongly suggest you give it a chance. I might even have to write another blog on it... So much to write about...

Actually Charlie explains it pretty well: