To my knowledge not a whole lot of things in the entertainment medium can say they been around for 50 years and still have a worldwide following. Even fewer still can make the claim that they’re still making new material today. Today we look back at a strange man in an old police box that’s bigger on the inside. This time we look at the one and only Doctor Who.

 

Now let’s hope the jump is a little more dependable than the TARDIS.

On November 23, 1963 An Unearthly Child aired on BBC television introducing the United Kingdom, and later on the World, to the Doctor. A strange main who can travel through time and space. Now when the show started it was intended as a bit of an educational program, where shows that took place in the past were supposed to teach the children watching a little history. And show that took place in the future were supposed to show them a little math and science. All wrapped up in serialized adventure type of show. The educational aspect of the show was phased out but the adventure stayed and the show has been more or less a main stay ever since. Yes there was a hiatus after the show was cancelled in 1989. But it was brought back as a one hour show back in 2005, and still going strong.

 

Now there have been several versions of the Doctor over the years. In movies, stage plays, audio drama and comics. But for the purpose of this review I will be sticking to the TV show proper, after all with it none of the other things would exist. Then I wouldn’t have a subject for this review.

 

Let’s start out with the main character, the Doctor himself. A Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, although we didn’t know that right away. No, major information was added to the character over time. Things like regenerating when he was near death, that they have two hearts or that they can regenerate twelve times were added to the mythos as it was needed. But outside of that he’s generally ultra-intelligent, and shows it often, with a strong moral code. He also has a tendency to take command of the room when trouble starts. Traveling the time and universe, often with a companion, more on them later as well, and often challenging whatever evil he comes across. But because of this particular lifestyle he’s often damaged or hurt to the point that he can’t go on. In those cases he must regenerate into a new body. Still the Doctor in spirit, but with a different personality and quirks. The reason behind this was the original actor, William Hartnel, was getting too sick to continue the role so instead of canceling the show the producers came up with the idea of “Renewal”, later to be known as regeneration, to keep the show going. And I don’t think the show’s popularity would have lasted this long without it.

 

Let us take at the various incarnations

 

The First Doctor

The first incarnation we met, and despite his advanced age also the young’un of the bunch. Traveling with his Granddaughter Susan, he initially your typical grumpy old man, also somewhat mean spirited as well, such as when he basically kidnapped his first two human companions after they wouldn’t believe his ship could travel through time. But he eventually mellowed out into a more friendly grandfather type of figure the more he traveled with them, although he could still be stern when he needed to be. Just don’t call him “Doc”, he hates that. His regeneration does come with some mild confusion as some believe the planet he was on a drained his life energy somehow while some believe he “died” of old age. But he was still the first and therefore set the standard and foundation for everyone after that followed.

 

The Second Doctor

Affectionately known as the cosmic hobo by the fandom he continues the kind father figure model. Often acting in a bumbling way to lull his enemy into a false sense of security before defeating them. Although on a couple of occasion he did get a little flustered when his initial plan doesn’t work like it should have. This is also the Doctor who met UNIT and its commander. And in a bit of trivia he is the first doctor to use a sonic device, that he ironically used to loosen a screw. He’s also the first Doctor to be forced to regenerate after being put on trial by his people and exiled to Earth.

 

The Third Doctor

Basically the James Bond-ish Doctor of the bunch, with the regular use of his sonic screwdriver and other gadgets and being a master of Venusian Aikido. Because of his exile, and removal of his knowledge of time travel (don’t worry he gets it back later), he has little choice but to work for UNIT, United Nation Intelligence Taskforce, and their commander Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stweart (although he’s normally just called the Brigadier) as its scientific advisor. Under the name of John Smith of course. Because of the show 10 year anniversary at the time he’s also the first Doctor to meet himself.

 

The Fourth Doctor

The bohemian as he is often called(seriously look at that scarf), and the Doctor with the longest television reign, seven years. In some ways the most alien like of the bunch in his actions and demeanor. But always willing to offer somebody a jelly baby, a bag always seemingly being in his pocket. I would say he was also the most curious, once when his companion at the time suggested that they should leave a particularly dangerous looking place saying, “And not know where I’ve been? I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.” He also has the distinction of being the first Doctor to find out his time was almost up.

 

The Fifth Doctor

A more mellow incarnation after the being so loud and brash. Also the youngest looking, with Peter Davidson being the youngest person cast to play the Doctor at the time. This Doctor was more willing to hover in the background than become the center of attention. And while as not as easy to anger as some of his other incarnations he did have his moments. He also had an allergy to a certain type of gas which the stick of celery on his jacket would react to. Still not many people can pull off a decorative vegetable. Didn’t really use the Sonic Screwdriver in any of his adventures.

 

The Sixth Doctor

With a very unique style of dress (the coat alone screams this) this Doctor was the most arrogant of all his incarnations. Often belittling or talking down to his companion, but he could show some compassion on occasion. He is also the one who’s more willing to kill an enemy. Not that the Doctor hadn’t killed before, he has when he thought he had no other choice, with him it was on the table more often. He was also put on trial again, being prosecuted by his future self, more on him later. I should also point out the show was put on hiatus during his time, to return eighteen months later. He’s also the first Doctor who tried, and almost fixed the Chameleon Circuit.

 

The Seventh Doctor

Starting off as a more comedic type of Doctor he slowly changes into a darker, more chess master type of character. Moving things and people into place for his eventual victory, he once talked a Dalek into self-destructing. Also doing what was necessary to achieve victory, at one point when he realized his current enemy was connected to his current companion and belittled her to the point her faith in him was broken. This was also the Doctor that the show was canceled under. And we wouldn’t see this version on our screens again until 1996.

 

The Eighth Doctor

Regenerating in a morgue after a failed surgery (the surgeon wasn’t aware of his double hearts) after getting caught up in some gang crossfire. What a way to go. Initially amnesiac, he’s  a bit manipulative but in a good way, often telling one thing to help a person improve their life, and in one case possibly saving it. Generally upbeat he’s also the first Doctor to kiss a girl (and he liked it). Now I’ve only seen the TV movie and not read any of the books or listened to the audio dramas, but this review is based on the TV versions. And since this movie failed to get a television show we would be Doctor-less until 2005.

 

The Ninth Doctor

A slightly more darker Doctor then the rest, a survivor of the Time War where he killed his own people in order to stop the Daleks. Maybe a better description would be slightly shell shocked. Sometimes infuriated by the “Stupid apes” around him he only travels with best. But he does slowly open up near the end. But we don’t know how he turned into this incarnation, but he didn’t like his ears.

 

The Tenth Doctor

Generally more upbeat and touchy feely than his previous incarnation he still has a bit of an edge to him in certain situations. He is pretty open with people but early on he didn’t know when he was being rude, yet still not ginger. Despite that harder edge he sometimes displays he will try to save an enemy on occasion. He also held the reason why he had to kill his own people at the end of the Time war very close the his chest. He also a little more willing to fall in love with a person than he was previously.

 

The Eleventh Doctor

The one without the emotional baggage of the Time War dragging him down. While he still remembers it and is more open about what happened in the Time War he’s generally back to who he was before it happened.  Upbeat and generally optimistic about thing, he does admit he has a darker side to him. Once telling a person that that a good man doesn’t need rules and not to find out why he has so many. He also has a tendency to keep particular reasons why he chooses to travel with a particular someone to himself, like Amy with her house too big for one person and Clara, his impossible girl.

 

The “Not the Doctor” Doctor

Introduced at the end of series (season over here) 8, no one knows his role in the Doctor’s history. Some thinks he might be some future incarnation, see next entry. But most things point to the ideas he might have been the Doctor who actually fought in the Time War. But he did something so horrific that the incarnations after him don’t even consider him to be The Doctor.

 

The Valeyard

An evil version of the Doctor, somewhere between his 12th and final regeneration. He went back in time in order to have his sixth incarnation put to death, although deal was made with the High Console that he would get the Doctor’s remaining regenerations. He only made an appearance, in the Trial of a Time Lord story arc in the Sixth’s second, and final, series, but he made a lasting impression. An argument could be made that the Dream Lord, a physic manifestation of the Doctor inner darkness, represents that’s he’s still in there somewhere.

 

The Human Doctor

Essentially a clone of the Doctor(created from his severed hand and the DNA of his then companion Donna). Born in the middle of a major fight with the Daleks his personality is closer to Nine’s than it is to Ten. Left in an alternate reality with Rose, because he was too dangerous in his current attitude and since he had the same feelings for Rose as Ten did. And since he was half human and couldn’t regenerate he could grow old and die with her.

 

Now the Doctor doesn’t travel alone, he has his companions to keep him company and to show the universe to. Generally they’re female, although he has traveled with some male companions. In the early day he traveled with at least one of each. With the Doctor being so elderly in the beginning the male companion’s role was to do the action scenes in the series. Well at least until number Three started busting out the Venusian Aikido. Now he has traveled with some good companion, and some that were annoying or slightly useless (Mel I’m looking right at you for that one). Generally more of a plot device than anything else, they explore, get in trouble Doctor comes in to save the day. In the new series they do some of the same but they also have a new role in keeping the Doctor a little more human, as later in life he has the tendency to go a little dark and angsty if he travels alone for a little too long. And boy could a couple of them get dark and angsty.

 

While I won’t go through all of them a couple of the more popular ones include:

 

Sarah Jane Smith, reporter who worked with the Doctor in his third and fourth incarnations. She’s also the first human companion to have been spun off into her own show, not including the pilot K-9 and Company.

 

And since I mentioned him, K-9 the robotic dog, a main stay in the fourth Doctor’s era he is very popular among the fans. Also had a spin off done in Australia, headed by the man who created him. Cannon to the Doctor Who universe is a bit debatable.

 

Jaime McCrimmon, a lad of the Scottish highlands in the 18th century. Travels with the second Doctor for most of his adventures, up until the Doctor was put on trial and Jamie and the other companion Zoe, a woman from the future, had their memories erased and returned to their proper time. The Tenth Doctor used his name as an alias once.

 

And I could go on, I could mention Rose, Romana 1 & 2, well mainly the second one, Amy Pond, Ace, Jo. The list goes on and on. River Song could be a mini review all her own. But I must mention the Brigadier here, a military man through and through who went on to develop a deep respect and friendship with the Doctor. He’s considered to be one of the Doctor’s companions despite the fact he’s never actually traveled with the Doctor. In fact he has been so popular he was brought to back to work with the fifth and seventh Doctor during the original series’ run, and in the Sarah Jane spin off.

 

But to do all of this he needs a way to get where he needs to go, if he intended to go there or not. And that brings us to the TARDIS, Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Or as when Susan first said it, even claiming she named it to begin with, guess the other Time Lord got wind of it and like it so much they took it, Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. A type 40 model that was old and junked when the Doctor “borrowed” it. It is a machine that is bigger on the inside, waaay bigger on the inside, than it is the outside. In a lot of ways the TARDIS is somewhat sentient in its own right, which would make her the Doctor’s longest running companion out of all of them. Stuck in the form of a 1960s police public call box, thanks to a faulty Chameleon Circuit, this is the Doctor standard mode of transportation. Speaking of transportation I have to mention Bessie while I’m at it. The third Doctor’s jalopy he used to get around while he was stuck on Earth. He also had this flying hovercraft.

 

And what’s a good adventure show without an enemy to defeat. While he fought his share of evil human during his runs he does have his own selection of monsters he fights on a fairly regular basis. Back around the third Doctor’s era the show was known for its “Behind the couch monsters”, the stories and creatures were so scary kids would hide behind the couch while they were watching the show. He’s even made few enemies of his fellow Time Lord. As with the companions I’ll just cover a few of the more popular ones.

 

The Daleks, Considered by many to be the Doctor’s arch nemesis they are a race of mutated… blobs would be a good word here, inside a metal shell, they consider anything not a proper Dalek to be inferior, and therefore must be exterminated. First appearing in the first Doctor’s second serial, and have been said to have saved the series. If you ever seen parts 2-4 of that first serial you can see why.

 

The Master, the Moriarty to the Doctor’s Holmes. A Time Lord who’s intelligence is almost on par with the Doctor’s, but with an ego unparalleled. While the Time Lords have some mental abilities the Master can force his will onto others making them do as he says. Later he’s armed with a Tissue Compression Eliminator, which compresses a person into the size of a doll, killing them. In the new series he upgrades to a Laser Screwdriver, which can kill or age a person depending on the setting. Often looking for ways to extend his life, often at the cost of the Doctor’s, and rule the universe like a good bad guy should.

 

The Cybermen, introduced during the First Doctor’s final adventure they are beings who replaced their organic parts with cybernetics. In their first appearance they had very human eyes and mouth behind the masks, but later appearances gave them a more robotic appearances and movement, especially in the new series. Old series Cybermen were often susceptible to gold as it chokes their respiratory systems, and later weapons like arrows or bullet made of gold could kill them. That particular weakness has been dropped since then.

 

The Weeping Angels, a creation of the newer series. Seemingly stone statutes that harbor killers that kill you kindly as Ten once put it. When they were first introduced they sent you back in time them feed on the potential energy of the life you would have lived. Although they can get slightly more violent when necessary, like snapping necks and taking a person’s voice. They appear as statues, until you look away or blink, then they move at a superfast rate to send you back. Their creator is proud because of them because they apparently beat the Daleks in a DW scariest monster poll, twice.

 

As stated before the show format has changed, starting out with serialized adventures, usually lasting 4-6 half hour episodes. Although there was the occasional two parter and a ten part serial. In cases like that something about a planned serial fell through so they extended another one to fill in the gap. With the sixth Doctor the format was changed to a 45 minute serialized show, although it went back to a half hour with the seventh. When it was brought back in 2005 it was hanged to your standard hour long, with commercials, drama with done in one stories, although the was an ongoing story arc for each season. Or in the case of the Eleven a multi season story arc, because not everything is wrapped up neat in tidy at the end as it was in the previous season. Special effects obviously vary from decade to decade, show’s been around almost 50 years after all. Although not always with a big budget.

 

The BBC was usually kind of cheap back in the day, often showing a take, flubs and all, on air. This is why the first Doctor got his occasional stutter as one of his characteristics as William Hartnel would forget his line for a moment before continuing, although this was due to an undiagnosed disease that affected his memory. According to the things I’ve read in order to get a retake, the set would have to malfunction, part of it will fall for example, or the actor would swear on camera in order to get the director to shout cut. Obviously things are different now with the show getting a bigger budget and better special effect. But back then you tried to rely more on the story telling than the effect, something current show runners try to do as well, and it would be real easy to fall into that trap with a show as effect heavy as this one.

 

If you last 50 years you have to be doing something right, even with the breaks and hiatuses. Is the show perfect? No, especially in the early days, in fact that was part of it’s charm. But the show’s ability to adapt, along with some excellent stories, are part of the reason for it’s longevity. And everyone has a favorite Doctor, mine happens to be number 4 just for the record. If you haven’t by now, please check the series out. It is well worth your time, and with eleven Doctors, soon to be twelve, there are plenty of places to start fresh. 4.5 out of 5.