h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Should I start now?

The thing is, I've been poking about in Pinterest, and there are loads of Dr Who pins, and I don't get any of them. And I feel like I'm missing something.

I've just never had the urge, in 40ish years, to watch Dr Who.

And if I should start now... where do I begin? Do I really need to go back to 1965 to "get" the whole thing? Or is the new Who a whole different thing, based on the original idea?

What, exactly, am I missing?

If only we had a time machine..........

The whole thing is so self-referential now that, like any soap, if you start watching you will only understand 10% of the story initially. You might get lucky and come across an episode that stands on its own merits, but this is far more likely if you go back to a pre-restart series.

Perhaps if you tell us what you do know, the community could have a go at suggesting where to start.

I'd suggest getting hold of, and watching the following:

"Robot"
"The Ark in Space"
"The Sontaran Experiment"
"Genesis of the Daleks"
"Pyramids of Mars"
"Robots of Death"
"The Pirate Planet"
"City of Death"
----------
"Dalek"
"The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances"
"Blink"

If you want to cut it down a bit, just do:
"Genesis of the Daleks"
"City of Death"
"Dalek"
"Blink".

But expect not to "get" everything. Hardly anybody "gets" everything - there are often subtextual things going on that I'm sure are almost meant to be missed by 99% of the audience. Last week there were snippets of dialogue from past shows included, but so far down in the mix that even with a high-range surround sound system I struggled to isolate them enough to tell what they were, let alone what they signified.

Ultimately, however, you'll miss out. Doctor Who, I think, only really works as a show if at some point between the ages of three and ten you saw it and were TERRIFIED by it, to the point of barely being able to watch. That was my experience as a child, and I'm grateful to a former girlfriend who allowed me to mildly traumatise both her children by watching it with them and experiencing it through their eyes.

I would suggest starting at the beginning of "New Who". Yes, you won't get some stuff but then neither do I, and I watched it way back when. I still enjoy it though.

Perhaps a glance at one of the entries on here would be useful for a little bit of background. I do think you would get more out of it with a little more knowledge. Just do a search on Doctor Who, but this one looks quite good: A215993 . It's mainly about "Old Who" but has been updated to the latest Doctor (Matt Smith)

Of course, it may not be your thing at all, but maybe a quick read of that entry above would help you reference some of the comments you've been reading.

Deb

That sounds like a fabulous argument in favor of watching Doctor Hoo -- er, Doctor Who.

I've never watched it either. The early years of the series came during the years when I was in college. Seriously, I was too busy studying to watch any TV except for "Laugh In." I heard about Doctor Who -- the public television station in my area played it, as well as "Monty Python," "Fawlty Towers," "To the Manor Born," Herriot's series about being a veterinarian, "brideshead Revisited," etc. Those I watched, but not Doctor Who. My nephews watched it...

I watched it from the age of 10 for as long as I could, but I was never terrified?!?!? I was fascinated. But if you've never felt the urge to watch it, Broelan, I'm nor sure it'll grip you. The new ones are fine to watch because the companions being so new to the job, there's a lot of exposition goes on. The first episode with the ninth doctor was about as scary as it gets.

The first time I saw 'Doctor Who', it was the 1980s, it was in Greece, and The Doctor was Tom Baker. I thought it was hilarious, but then, I was a not-very-grown-up adult. I don't think I would have been frightened by angry BBC salt shakers as a kid, but back then, I was watching 'The Twilight Zone', and was only frightened by Billy Mumy.

I'd recommend a sampling of the old series, just for the flavour. You can find them anywhere. The First Doctor is funnier than he means to be - watching people act ve-ry slow-ly can be rather .

Then go watch all the new ones. I haven't had a chance to see the latest season yet, but the rest of them are pretty well done. Methinks they take themselves too seriously these days, but hey, that's the 21st Century for you. I preferred Peter Davidson making jokes about celery, myself.

Beware, though - these people are as bad as Trekkers. They memorise everything and argue about 'canons'.

Watch this:

*ahem* I think Paul McGann was simply wonderful as The Doctor. Eric Roberts made a great Master, too...

As bad as Trekkers?

If you want WOW ZAPPO entertainment watch New Who. If you want good stories watch Classic Who.

There's also brachiation, not unlike the Trek universe. But I'm probably guilty of keeping the Trek franchise going. I go to see each new movie that they release. "Into Darkness" is one that I plan to see when it comes out. Trek movies are like calorie-free candy: you go to see them, and hour after you've left the theater there's hardly any memory of what you've just seen. No lessons to be learned, no calories to cling to your waist, no memories to appear in your dreams the next night. All in all, not a bad deal.

Well put, Paul. Although I like 'First Contact', which is suspiciously like a real movie.

I did like the one in which Data [the android from the Next generation series] sings and dances irving Berlin's song "Blue Skies." I always did like Data better than any of the other characters.

Next thing you know, people will admit that they never read/watched/listened to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Normally, I wouldn't bother much with the old series, but I think it'd be worth whilte to watch the first episode, Unearthly Child. To get a bit of the mystery of the Doctor, I'd watch Blink. Then I'd start with the first episode of the new series or the first Matt Smith episode. As has been stated, it'll take a minute to get acclimated to the show.

"The first episode with the ninth doctor was about as scary as it gets"

Sorry, but I have to take issue with that. "Rose" (for that was the title) was an entertaining romp, and the five year old and three year old with whom I shared the pleasure loved it. Their "fear" was the sort of "playing along" type fear that kids get when you chase them round a playground with a polystyrene sword shouting "aharrrr!". Next time they saw dummies in a shop they were ecstatic ("look! Dummies!") and dared each other to go over and touch them.

By complete contrast, you've got "The Empty Child", and the frankly terrifying part where Richard Wilson's character... changes. Also the sequence in the one with the werewolf where the thing was stalking, unseen but audible, round the outside of the library where the characters were trapped. The same two kids were at least slightly traumatised, at the time, one of them sitting on my lap shaking, apparently wanting to get up to hide behind the sofa but too scared to move. On a visit to the Imperial War Museum months after seeing "The Empty Child", they wouldn't go near any display featuring a gas mask. The fear those two episodes gave them was more along the lines of the fear kids get when you chase them round a darkened car park with a machete growling "Time to play."

Furthermore, at least the first half or so of the very recent haunted house episode was properly creepy.

I agree with Hoovooloo, you'll never look at a gas mask in the same way again.

It's on record that the original autons episode, featuring Jon Pertwee as the 3rd Doctor, was the one which frightened the most children - based on the number of complaints from parents. Certainly my little brother wouldn't watch Doctor Who for weeks after it.

Broelan, you do realise Douglas Adams was script editor once?

I seem to recall something about that.

I'm enjoying everyone's input though! Granted I probably could have found out anything I wanted about Dr Who by searching the internet, but I asked here for a reason.

Please continue

Whatever you do, do NOT just pick whatever episode happens to be scheduled on TV.
I did that once and hated it. (it was an episode from the third series of New Who, can't remember a thing about it now).

Then I actually used my brain, and went back to the beginning of the new series, and I've been hooked ever since.

I'm now ploughing my way through the classic episodes (I've arrived at the end of Doctor One, so far), along with watching the new ones as they are made available.

So my advice would be, start at a point where there's a new companion, as they'll have stuff explained to them too.

Starting with the beginning of Doctor Nine worked for me.
As others have said, his very first episode ("Rose")is not really scary, but I do think it gives a sense of the fun that's to be had.
The beginning of Doctor Eleven would work too.

... Or go back in time and watch it on TV in 1963.

Brolelan, further to the Adams connection, try City of Death (in fact I'm very surprised it's not yet been mentioned); if you have read Dirk Gently, you might find elements of it oddly familiar.

I refer the honourable researcher to post #3, wherein 'City of Death' was mentioned repeatedly.


Geggs