The Official Doctor Who Thread

[Beta Link]

To combat the Official Star Trek Thread, I have created the Official Doctor Who Thread! After all, I consider it basically to be the British Star Trek. So let's get some discussion going! How about Season 4 which started last Saturday (in the UK only though)? The Sontarans are supposed to be in the 4th and 5th episodes. I've also heard rumor that Davros is going to reappear at some point.

[Prrkitty]

Darthy will know *anything... I mean everything* about Dr. Who... so await his arrival :)

[Brasel]

I just started watching the new series with my wife. I'm really excited about it, as its been the hot topic of conversation around here since I've been gone. It just sounds so great.

[Dann Woolf]

To combat the Official Star Trek Thread, I have created the Official Doctor Who Thread! After all, I consider it basically to be the British Star Trek. So let's get some discussion going! How about Season 4 which started last Saturday (in the UK only though)? The Sontarans are supposed to be in the 4th and 5th episodes. I've also heard rumor that Davros is going to reappear at some point.

So many "Space and Time" jokes to make, so little time...

[Beta Link]

For those of you who don't know, and are interested, the first episode of Season 4 (Voyage of the Damned) is airing in the US on the Scifi channel tonight (April 18th) at 8:00 Eastern Time!

[rock_nog]

I've never really seen Dr. Who. It's one of those shows that I've been meaning to, though, like Red Dwarf. Blast you, BBC, and your superior television programming! We Americans are the superior lifeforms! EXTERMINATE!

Sorry, got a little carried away there. Anyway, yeah, need to get around to watching me some Dr. Who, but I want to start out with the old stuff, so I can try and get my bearings.

[Prrkitty]

A lot of the older Dr. Who stuff isn't even available anymore... thanks to it being destroyed.

Darthy - any idea if the really older shows (ie: the Doctors before Tom Baker) are available for sale anymore/anywhere? Since you live over on that side of "the pond" ... does the BBC even sell the older shows?

[Darth Marsden]

Really Prry... Google tells all. You should know that by now. And if Google doesn't, then Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_DVD_releases) does.

Sadly, some of the old B&W Who episodes (mostly Patrick Troughton's, but also a fair bit of William Hartnell's as well) no longer exist, as the film they were recorded on was wiped to make room for newer shows. However the full audio soundtracks were recorded and numerous tele-snaps were taken, so it's been possible to create reconstructions of the missing stories which, while not perfect, are at least watchable. One notable exception to this is The Invasion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invasion_%28Doctor_Who%29), in which the two missing episodes are fully animated reconstructions made by Cosgrove Hall, of Danger Mouse fame.

rock_nog: The new series of Doctor Who was made so that people who hadn't seen the original series didn't actually have to watch the old ones to get into the show. However, that said, I do have a few recommendations for each Doctor: William Hartnell's An Unearthly Child (available in the 'New Beginnings' boxset with The Daleks and The Edge of Destruction), Patrick Troughton's The Tomb of the Cybermen, Jon Pertwee's Inferno, Tom Baker's Genesis of the Daleks, Peter Davison's The Caves of Androzani, Colin Baker's Resurrection of the Daleks and Sylvester McCoy's The Curse of Fenric, along with the Paul McGann TV movie that you bastards didn't watch in favour of an episode of Roseanne. Grr.

Beta_Link: The Sontarans ARE in Episodes 4 + 5 - Episode 4 is even called The Sontaran Stratagem. There's also some people confirmed to appear in the series, which could well be considered spoilers, so:
-=SPOILER=-

...and here endeth the lesson. Any questions?

Seriously, I love talking about Who to those willing to learn. Ask away!