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Where to jump into Dr. Who
The Last Gent
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Ok, so, a few months ago, I watched the season premiere, with the new Doctor. I'd never seen any before. So, I thought it was interesting, but I was kind of scared off by all the implied continuity I was ignorant of. I'm one of those people who doesn't like missing out on plot points.
So, if I were to seriously watch this, where would I start? I know it was cancelled in the 80s, and this is now the third....set of adventures....or whatever, in a revival. Could I theoretically go back to when the revival started and watch from there without continuity being a pain? Or do I need to go back to the 60s/70s/80s/whatever? I know a good chunk of the 60s stuff doesn't exist anymore either, so I guess THAT can't be important.
So, where to jump in and not have to worry about continuity? I'll confess, if I had to start in the old days I might not bother, there's only so much time in a person's life.
So, if I were to seriously watch this, where would I start? I know it was cancelled in the 80s, and this is now the third....set of adventures....or whatever, in a revival. Could I theoretically go back to when the revival started and watch from there without continuity being a pain? Or do I need to go back to the 60s/70s/80s/whatever? I know a good chunk of the 60s stuff doesn't exist anymore either, so I guess THAT can't be important.
So, where to jump in and not have to worry about continuity? I'll confess, if I had to start in the old days I might not bother, there's only so much time in a person's life.
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Though if you absolutely want to, you can pull up Wiki's episode list and work your way through Netflix.
So sci-fi fans are used to starting from the beginning for every show, which means that Doctor Who seems very off-putting because that isn't really possible, at least with the older version of the show that started in the sixties, because there is so much of it. Also, the older show did not really have continuity - each story was almost completely self-contained.
So, as others have said, start with the season where Eccleston was the Doctor, because that's when the series got relaunched, and that's where the current continuity got going.
That said, if you're going back and picking things up on DVD or whatever then you might as well start at the start of the reboot and begin with Eccleston as it's all excellent watching.
Yeah, if the Doctor says something like "This reminds me of the time I was cornered on the 4th moon of Shpinkzoid 7, back to back with Wyatt Earp, fighting off a horde of Chumblies", don't go looking for the DVD, he says crap like that all the time.
e.x
just word spoilers, no plot points
season 1
season 2 or 3?
current season
Steam/PSN/XBL/Minecraft / LoL / - Benevicious | WoW - Duckwood - Rajhek
Fixed that for you. I don't think Season 3 had a word/words, but I'm not sure.
Keep in mind that the 2005 season was after the show had been off the air for 20 years. If they had started it up again with lots of continuity, they weren't going to get any viewers under the age of 40. Doctor Who is extremely accessible, and continuity is as fluid as the writers want it to be.
I'd say that River Song is pretty big. You could catch up on that by just watching that two-parter though.
The start of the reboot with Eccleston is a good point and if you want to know any current plotlines and shit, start there.
If you are impatient, I don't see any reason you couldn't start with the new season. It starts reasonably fresh off, like others have said there is only the River Song plot line, which you can get caught up with by watching the two parter from the previous season.
No need to start any earlier than Eccleston. In fact, I would recommend not watching any earlier doctors until you get comfortable with the current stuff. I personally went back and watched some older stuff after watching all the new stuff. The fourth Doctor is quite good, but the production values resemble a church play at that point.
I think that watching that two-parter might make people REALLY want to watch the rest of Tenant's run.
If you're going to start somewhere, it might as well be beginning with a Doctor. I don't think you'd get quite the sense of things (Rose and the Doctor's relationship for instance) if you skipped about or started in the middle.
I'd say start with Eccleston. Or you could start with Smith if you don't plan on going back or are short on time.
EDIT: You won't be "lost" (haha), but you'll be missing out on quite a bit.
They will reference a lot of creatures from the earlier stuff, but never enough to make you go "Huh?" and on the whole I found this a really engaging place to start at. If you start later on in the series, which starts bringing in a lot more overarching plot points (like the stuff with Rose) you are probably not going to know what's going on. Anyway, the recent seasons are pretty short; only around fourteen episodes apiece, so it won't take you too
I hope you enjoy it. I went into it just because my husband wanted me to watch it so badly and wasn't expecting much since I'm not a big sci-fi fan, but holy shit. I probably saw my first episode about three months ago and I adore it now; it really is a near-perfect mix of action, comedy, and horror, and there were times when I was honestly sitting on the couch bawling my eyes out, which I didn't expect. Then again, I am a weak emotional female, so whatever.
Season 3 was
The specials after Season 4 was
Tenant doesn't drop all of Eccleston's baggage.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
Thanks for the help, I'll put it on my list.
And yeah, like I said, I did watch the new season premiere (with the bowtie man, Smith I believe) but there seemed to be a lot of continuity. It felt like I was supposed to know what was going on when I really didn't. Also the very end of the episode he scares away the aliens by basically going "hey here's all the awesome stuff I did past seasons."
Which is why it's a good idea to start either with Eccleston or Smith. With Tennant, you have a season or character growth with Rose that might confuse you in parts, and if you jump in where Martha or Donna, you're still dealing with a lot of repercussions from Rose leaving and how the Doctor handled that.
Thats actually kinda common. The Doctor just tends to know.... everything.
Oh right. Well, that just shows how memorable I thought Season 3 was.