Doctor Who

Since 1963 the sci-fi series Doctor Who has been stealing the scene in the British television screen almost nonstop. Though it went through a short period off the air starting in 1989, and was reduced to a Fox movie in 1996 starring Paul McGann, it came back in 2005 starring a new face, Christopher Eccleston. Though traditionally Doctor Who has been a very British phenomenon, today it was reached fans all over the globe. Viewers in Canada, Australia, USA, and numerous other countries worldwide are now being treated to seeing the new series on their own "tellies." People all over the planet have wondered, just what is it that makes this show so popular?

Honestly, nobody really knows for sure. There has been much speculation, but for most fans, it doesn't really matter. They don't even necessarily know why they like it. The point is they do. Perhaps we should take a closer look at the show that has had Britain mesmerized for nearly half a century...

Doctor Who first aired starring William Hartnell back in 1963. He was an older actor at the end of his career and thought the show would only last a few seasons at most. He thought it would be a nice show to end his career on, but even he did not anticipate the response to the show. The UK went nuts with Doctor Who mania. Children all over Britain were watching it with their whole families on Saturday afternoons, the original airing time which changed to Saturday nights when the show was resurrected in 2005.

The pilot episode, An Unearthly Child, introduced the viewers to a girl named Susan, who turned out to be the Doctor's granddaughter, and her two teachers who follow her home from school one day. What they discover is that she lives not in a house, but a blue police box. At least, they think it's a police box, but it really turns out to be a TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) the chosen vessel for time and space travel by the Doctor. Stumbling inside, they find out it's bigger on the inside than the outside. That episode began their adventures with the Doctor, and they traveled with him for quite a while. When they left, he found new companions on different planets to go exploring with. The premise that really saved the show when Hartnell decided to leave was quite an ingenious idea. Rather than switch the show to focus on the remaining main characters, the producers made full use of the alien theme.

Since the Doctor was an alien, it only made sense that his life cycle should be different than ours. They got somebody new to play the Doctor, and they incorporated it into the storyline. Instead of replacing him with another alien, they said that Time Lords (which is the specific alien race of the Doctor) don't just die, when they use up a body's life energy, they regenerate into a completely new body. Therefore, they could keep the show going indefinitely, and that's exactly what they did. Every time an actor decided to move on, or they decided the show needed to take a new direction, the Doctor would regenerate and the audience would get acquainted with the same Doctor, new face. It really worked well, because that kept story continuity and fan loyalty which would otherwise be hard to raise on a show that constantly switched out the main character. As the Doctors switched over the years, so did the companions. Each Doctor reflected a different side of his personality, which gave you more of an overall view of who this Doctor was really supposed to be.

Different companions would bring out different characteristics, and that made him seem more real. However, in spite of all the show's glory and fame, in 1989 it got cancelled. Fans all over Britain and some in America too, were devastated. The cult tv classic which had captivated fans for years, was just gone. Audio adventures and books continued to be printed, but no new television adventures were added. Then, in 1996 in America, FOX decided to make a movie based off Doctor Who. They got copyrights, got props, used themes from previous shows and put together their own version of the BBC classic. However, as good as their special effects were, the essence of Doctor Who was lost on the American film makers. They associated all the Doctor's strange quirks with being British, which is not how the original story was created. They had the TARDIS, the props, the icons from the series, but they missed its heart. Doctor Who had never been known for having incredible special effects, but it had known great dialogue, captivating story lines, and some incredible actors. The FOX movie had none of the above. It filled the necessary gap for an 8th Doctor, but otherwise left fans feeling empty for the real Doctor. Something had to change.

Then in 2005, BBC came back with a bang. They invited Christopher Eccleston to star as the Doctor, and they got one of the original writers, Russell T. Davies, to write for the show again. It was a major success, taking Britain by storm almost overnight. Doctor Who mania was back stronger than ever. Suddenly, classic fans were watching the new series, and a whole new generation of kids and families, and literally people of all ages were watching the new series and loving it. DALEKS and CYBERMEN (two prevelant species of monsters in the story) were popping up all over Britain television and being recognized for the first time in a long while. Actors from the classic series were being noticed again and things were turning around for the Doctor.

After over 40 years, Doctor Who is still around. Oddly enough, much of the original ideas are still around too. He still travels in a daft blue box. The Doctor still roams the galaxies and ages fixing things and helping people, without a gun and without applause. He's still picking up companions and taking them off for the adventure of their lives, and he's still fighting the good old fight from long ago. Not many television series can claim to have done that when they were started, much less 40 years later. It's no wonder Doctor Who has so captured the hearts of the British public, and now even American and Canadian children are getting a chance to travel with the Doctor and see alien worlds. It is a show based not on special effects or action sequences, it is based solely on incredible characterization and spectacular plot lines. The characters are endearing, and the human companions are believable. Everybody wants to be traveling with the Doctor, not the actual Doctor himself, but his companion. It's effectively drawn in those who watch, and it's taken a flying leap towards the next generation of television.

So, if you get a chance some Saturday night, and you haven't yet watched the fantastic Time Lord in action, try looking on BBC if you're in the UK. If you're in some other place on the globe and can't find it, go to http://bbc.co.uk/doctorwho there you should find all the information necessary for finding out where and when you can view it. Go ahead, it's well worth the time involved.