DOCTOR WHO
So, would you like to travel through time and space with this guy?
(above picture taken from www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho)
He calls himself the Doctor. And he travels in this thing:
Which is called a TARDIS. Stands for 'Time And Relative Dimensions in Space'. Looks like a phone box, specifically a 'Police Box'(not going to bother going into details there) from the early 1960s on the outside. And on the inside it's one heck of a lot bigger.
OK...before people's heads explode...I'd better start explaining some stuff.
Doctor Who is the UK's contribution to top quality scifi - heck originally it was probably the world's first top quality scifi program...way back in 1963. The show started out in black and white(well it WAS 1963) and originally relied on telling it's stories through a series of mini-series. The basic formula being: Take one cocky alien 'Time Lord' from the planet Galifrey(aka the Doctor) add in a few contemporary Earth Joe or Jane Averages(or whoever else he could find) to join him on his travels and throw wherever and whenever the writers felt like(though the Doctor did get stuck on contemporary/near contemporary Earth for a few years at one point). Mix in bad guys of choice and stir.
This formula certainly worked for a long time. The original show lasted to 1989, with the Doctor gaining regenerative powers(allowing seven different actors to play him during that period alone). Also allowing some recurring nemisis to become legendary(the ultimate-killing-machine Daleks, the android like Cybermen and the evil Time Lord 'The Master')
After that, a one-off TV movie was done in 1996 featuring yet another actor to play the Doctor. And then finally in 2005 an all-new TV series got shown- featuring another new face for the Doctor - Christopher Ecclestone. Which is where I came in. The new series relies more on a regular episodic format.
After doing a 'fantastic' job as the Doctor, Chris quit the role and has been replaced by David Tennant...who, being a fan of the old-school series in a previous life, definately knows what he's doing, allowing some more idealistic varients into the Doctor's character as he saw off would-be invaders of present day/near future Earth the Sycorax while discovering the existence of Torchwood, an organisation set up on Earth to combat alien threats while he's away - though in a fashion too heavy handed for his liking.
The interesting part being that Torchwood was now apparantly set up by Queen Victoria who was "not amused" at the light-hearted style of the Doctor's protection of her from a werewolf in Aberdeenshire 1879. Of course the word 'plothole' springs to mind here - as various incarnations of the Doctor have turned up on 20th century Earth and Torchwood have never been anywhere near him!
The Doctor's currently working alone with his previous companions Martha Jones and the 51st century American nutter known as Jack Harkness opting to return to life in 2008 Britain, Martha deciding to return to a normal life after her relationship with the Doctor didn't work out the way she wanted it to emotionally, Jack deciding to return to his day job of head of Torchwood Three. The group's last mission together involved saving Earth from the Master but now the Doctor's got another problem...the Titanic's just crashed through the walls of the TARDIS!
In the meantime here's a list of the guys that have played the Doctor so far, with a review of the Ecclestone era from me already up. If you want to submit a review of any other era email me here
Most of the images from the table below come from www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho
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William Hartnell(1963-1966) |
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Patrick Troughton(1966-1969) |
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Jon Pertwee(1970-1974) |
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Tom Baker (1974-1981) |
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Peter Davidson(1982-1984) |
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Colin Baker(1984-1986) |
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Sylvester McCoy(1986-1989) |
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Paul McGann(1996) |
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Christopher Eccleston(2005)*19/11/05* |
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