Where to start with Doctor Who?!?

[Phelpzy]

I've been wanting to watch tho forever and never gotten around to it cause hell there's 11 doctors, but my question is which doctor do I start with? My friend told me start at the new season 1 with the 9th doctor and I tried one episode and didnt like the actor, is the 11th Doctor a decent place to begin? Season 5 to be exact

[Phil Clark]

Ah hell, bite the bullet and watch ALL the Doctors, starting with Doctor number one. You only have about 50 years of episodes to catch up with.

But in all seriousness... You could jump in at just about any point and just wait for a new companion to get some of the back story. They tend to go over the big points whenever a new companion comes aboard, since they are learning about the Doctor for the first time themselves.

[Phelpzy]

Netflix nd Amazon Prime have from season 1-7 so ill just hop on at 5 since there's a new companion then as well

[Surtur]

Honestly? I'd start with the 10th Doctor. Best one hands down to me(at least of this new generation of doctors). Don't get me wrong I thought the 9th was ok and the 11th is..not terrible. However, ever since watching the newer series(which covers the 9th,10th, and 11th) I found it hard to enjoy the older DW stuff. The 9th Doctor can be good it just depends on the episode, the 2 part episode that ends with the one called "The Doctor Dances" which introduces Captain Jack from Torchwood is especially good.

[Ood Omega]

A great jumping on point for new viewers to start from in the new era is Series 5 (2010) the episode The Eleventh Hour. This is Matt Smith's first adventure as The Doctor and introduces Amy & Rory who become the companions until midway through series 7. Another episode to start from would be Series 1 (2005) episode Rose. Its Christopher Eccleston's introduction as the 9th Doctor and the first episode of the modern era. I highly recommend checking out the First Doctor William Hartnell. You can find a good deal of his adventures online for free on sites like youtube. Definitively checkout the stories An Unearthly Child & The Daleks.

[Phelpzy]

A great jumping on point for new viewers to start from in the new era is Series 5 (2010) the episode The Eleventh Hour. This is Matt Smith's first adventure as The Doctor and introduces Amy & Rory who become the companions until midway through series 7. Another episode to start from would be Series 1 (2005) episode Rose. Its Christopher Eccleston's introduction as the 9th Doctor and the first episode of the modern era. I highly recommend checking out the First Doctor William Hartnell. You can find a good deal of his adventures online for free on sites like youtube. Definitively checkout the stories An Unearthly Child & The Daleks.

I tried "Rose" and didn't care for the 9th Doctor

[Phil Clark]

Rick Baker is for many in the US the best Doctor ever. I love the Rick Baker episodes, but I also like the Pertwee and the Sylvester McCoy episodes. I have mostly enjoyed virtually all the doctors. Even the McGann movie wasn't horrible. I also like the Peter Cushing 1960's movies. They were basically adaptations of the First doctors episodes (if memory serves) but with a doctor that was younger and more active than Hartnell.

[ChrisIII]

^Tom Baker (Unless you meant Colin),

Basically there are quite a few differences between Doctor Who's original series and the 2005 version. Both are (mostly) in the same continuity, and are meant for family audiences. However, the old series does have low production values (The SFX, costumes, sets and often locations were limited), several tonal shifts, and almost every story was a serial, broken into a few parts/episodes usually played over a month (Of course these days you can watch all the episodes back to back instantly).

New Doctor Who has a higher budget (Although still fairly low at times), mostly runs at about 45 minutes, and although the multi-episode stories are shorter, each season usually has some kind of arc going on, which is revolved in the season finale. Also the Doctor's status has changed for reasons elaborated on in the first season.


Basically the series revolves around the travels/adventures of an eccentric and somewhat mysterious "Time Lord" (A race who has mastered time/space travel) who goes by the name The Doctor (Hence the title, Doctor Who? since his real name is a big secret). Sort of an exile or pariah from his own people, the Doctor's transportation is the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension In Space) which can go anywhere in time and space. However the Doctor's model is old and doesn't always work correctly.

Also the Doctor has the ability when near death to regenerate his body. This usually results in the Doctor having a new body and personality, although his basic traits remain the same. The length of a Doctor in the role often depends on how long the actor is willing to stay, but is also dependent on ratings or the production changes.

The Doctor usually travels with companions (Usually humans although there's been a few robots and aliens), often one at a time although there's sometimes more. Some companions usually stick around for a bit, and might even continue travelling with the new Doctor after a regeneration. However, they usually eventually go home, get stuck in another dimension, or in some cases, die.

The Doctor also of course makes many enemies: The Daleks are the main ones, they're basically Octopus like radioactive mutants encased in a battle armor shell who wish to conquer or destroy all life; the Cybermen, who have replaced their flesh with robotic parts and eliminated their emotions; and the Master, an evil time lord who wishes to rule over all (and, like the Doctor, has many incarnations).


Regarding the OP's review of Rose, Rose is often considered a weak pilot, and is mainly just setting up the companion. The next episode "End of the World" is a better intro to the series IMO, it deals with the time travel, introduces the new status of the Doctor and has more impressive FX.

[Matt]

Man up and start with An Unearthly Child.

[ChrisIII]

There's a bit of an issue with the black and white WHO-due to some BBC policy a lot of the stories from the Hartnell and Troughton eras were lost or destroyed (This also effected to a degree the Pertwee era as well-all his stories are intact but some have lost certain elements such as color, picture quality although some have been restored). Although some have been recovered. The biggest losses are to Patrick Troughton (Although his final season is mostly intact).


So it's impossible to be a Doctor Who completist because of that, although some materials such as audio tracks, photos, scripts and novelizations are all intact.

[Phil Clark]

^Tom Baker (Unless you meant Colin)

I never mean Colin Baker. Don't like him much. Tom Baker. That is what I thought, why my fingers typed Rick I have no idea. But yeah... Tom... So sorry Tom. Didn't mean it. I like you. Really. I really do. I once met Tom Baker. Somewhere I have a picture of my wife with him. We did a lunch at a con to get a bit of one-on-one with Tom Baker. My wife has a thing for curly hair and asked if she could run her fingers through his hair. He said yes. She was in heaven. Nice guy.

[Phil Clark]

Man up and start with An Unearthly Child.

Funny... I did... sort of... I was born the year Doctor Who began. That's right. This year I hit the big five-oh...

[Juggernaut Punch]

Season 1 of the new series.

If you're extremely lazy or unsure about the show, start with Season 5 of the new series.

[G. Wayne]

I was right there with you a while ago. I kept seeing ads in the back of Previews that showed Billie Piper with Eccleston AND Tennant, and then Freema Agyeman with Tennant and I was confused as hell. Also wasn't crazy about going back and watching the original series, as I'm loathe to watch -anything- from that era that isn't giant and from Tokyo.

Finally got around to starting with the "new" series with Eccleston, and save for Donna Noble, enjoyed it thoroughly. Up until a few episodes after the Silence, anyway, when the friend I was watching the series with lost interest. >.<

Even with all the history the show is still pretty easy to follow, and if you've ever read a comic book, you'll have no problem with Doctor Who science. Well, you may have a problem with it, but at least Stan Lee will have prepared you for some of the technobabble they dream up.

[Captain Jim]

As someone said earlier, there really isn't a bad place to start. You could just start when the new shows begin the day before Easter; that should be a good time (though the Christmas special from a few weeks ago would be even better).

Here's the thing though: you can't just watch one or two episodes and decide you don't like the lead actor on the basis of that. It takes a handful of episodes to get a handle on the character. And anytime there's been a change in doctors, it's always taken me several episodes to fully warm up to him.