^ I never owned any DVD's until the new series, so with the 20 years off (not counting the movie), I didn't have any problem adjusting to the new format
I just finished watching Dalek. I would say the quality is definately improving. Somehow, I'm not too attached to the Doctor, though.I suppose that even though I've never seen it before, I still managed to have my own preconception of how he'd behave. Maybe I was expecting someone not so chaotic. Is that the right word? It will be interesting to see how other incarnations of him will be.
Not so chaotic? That's a tough one, Eccelston (First Doctor Actor in the Revival Series) is one of the least chaotic of all the portrayals of the Doctor in Classic or NuWho
Shows what I know! Considering before this week I never even saw an episode, my ignorance is understandable. Oh, well, I'm enjoying getting educated.
I was in your shoes too, coming in as a total newbie when I first watched Rose. For the longest time, I could not puzzle out who or what The Doctor is. Is he a do-gooder or someone more like Loki? Human or Alien? What drives him? Why does he do the things he do? It took me till the beginning of the David Tennant era before I can truly say I have an inkling of what kind of person The Doctor is.
Honestly what got me into Dr. Who was that Epic Rap Battles of History Doc Brown VS Dr. Who (Actually if you don't mind, it's just the Doctor!) and this Women of Dr. Who special they ran on BBC and I kinda got a little sample of 'nuWho' and it sort of whetted my appetite, I do remember watching some of Eccelston's run and a couple of Tennant episodes on PBS - but thanks to the magic that is Netflix - I decided to start with the 10th Doctor's first episode and go from there. I'm in the 4 series now and I have to say within the past month I have reeeally gotten into it. My only lament about nuWho is... the seasons are so short! I guess I'm used to Star Trek or Stargate's like 23-22 episode seasons, so only getting 12-14 is kind of like "aww man it's already the finale?" And I know Tennant's time is almost done. But I do think something like Netflix is a great way to get a new watcher interested. You can hit up a random 'good' episode or just start at the get-go and go fromt here. I was going to start with Matt Smith's first episode, but I felt like I really needed to know more about the previous series before I could appreciate it better. I dunno why I skipped Eccelston's season, but I do recall watching maybe most of it already years ago, so I wanted to see something different before revisiting that. I haven't watched any of the Classic Who straight through, besides a few clips on YouTube. So that may be my next stop - or check out Torchwood. I've been looking for a new series to get into since I've already watched all the Star Trek seasons, SG1 and BSG so Dr. Who was a natural and at least it's still being produced so when I finish the back catalog, I can still look forward to new stuff!
I think Tennant's run helped really define/redefine who and what the Doctor is at his core. And how he was pretty damaged and angry and hurt in his 9th regeneration but Rose helped change all that and how he was able to move past it into the quirky, more complete Time Lord he eventually became by Matt Smith's run - of course I think I still like Tennant the best, but I'm slowly getting to like him too. Although any Who fan has to watch the "Time Crash" special where Tennant's Doctor meets Davidson's Doctor (who incedentally became his father in law - after he married Jenny aka Georgia Moffat - Davidson's real life daughter in like 2011)
Here's a taste of some of what new viewers have to look forward to. Watching this fan video never fails to get me excited about the show. Its 50 years of Doctor Who compressed into seven minutes. I don't THINK it gives away any major spoilers. [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rrSaTHsHNsc[/yt]
That was excellent, someone put a lot of effort into that. It's got me right in the mood for later, 5 hours to go.
I wouldn't call the ninth Doctor one of the least chaotic, he as certainly conflicted and that came to the fore in Dalek.
Oh, certainly conflicted, but, we're apparently interpreting Chaotic in different ways. Chaotic, brings up images for me of David Tigger...er...Tennant bouncing around or Troughton or Smith (And even Baker) seeming to bumble through his adventures or the convoluted schemes of McCoy. The images of Chaotic seem to me to apply to Davison and Eccelston least, and to some extent Hartnell
I recommend The Eleventh Hour to those who I indoctrinate to our cause. At least 80% of the RTD era is unwatchable these days and the ones I suggested start with the (superb) Christopher Eccleston series all fall down when they get to Series 2.
Now, now. Lets not go imprinting your values on new fans. Let them watch and make up their own minds.
The premise of this thread is to answer sbk1234's question, and have different people offer their opinions as to the best jump-on point. Trying not to turn him off Doctor Who would be a plus.