Nine years ago today

[DWF]

I'm a member of the Doctor Who Columbus fan club and we saw the show as a group, we saw the leaked ep. of Rose and I remember thinking how short it was. And I really remember how good Billie Piper was seeing how she was described as the British version of Brittany Spears, but she turned out to be rather good. And I was alittle impressed by the new console room since it was a huge set. The whole series was upgraded, but as I said it felt very short a mere 45 minutes.

As a child (like I was at the time), 45 minutes felt long enough and much longer probably would have been too long for a child, and I'm pretty sure children and families were the main target audience for the show at that time. How things change as you get older. :P

The original series was a serial show and the eps. were roughly about 25 minutes long. But the stories were longer and while I originally saw the show in it's original format it was changed to the omobus format and really 45 minutes felt pretty short.

 

[Cutter John]

The original series was a serial show and the eps. were roughly about 25 minutes long. But the stories were longer and while I originally saw the show in it's original format it was changed to the omobus format and really 45 minutes felt pretty short.

Yeah, that took some getting used to. Early on the show had a real problem with pacing and a lot of stories felt rushed. They did get better in later seasons though.

 

[MacLeod]

^^^That's an awful teaser. If I was new to Dr Who at the time, that would have turned me off of it completely.

Perhaps, but remember it was 16 years (except for 1 TV Movie) since DW had last been on screens. So all those children who watched DW as akid were now adults. So you would have a certain nostalgia factor of those who watched it asa kid tuning in now with their kids.

As for first episode "Rose" these were it's figures

10.81m viewers
44.3% audiance share
3rd most watched BBC One programme of the week
7th Most watched show in the UK that week

 

[CommodoreKong]

Great stuff, though I didn't see the episode until Sci-Fi aired it in the US (probably months later, I don't remember when exactly). I had heard of Doctor Who and seen a random episode here and there of the old show on my local PBS, but when I saw commercials for the show and saw the praise for the show here I decided to give it a shot since it started the week after the season finale of Battlestar Galactica and I wanted some sci-fi show to watch.

I fell in love with the show from the first episode. I also started watching the old show on my local PBS on Saturday night and got to see most of the 4th, 5th, 6th and the 7th Doctors run before they stopped showing old episodes.

Although I prefer Tennant and Smith to Eccleston he still did a great job as the Doctor and really helped sell the show. The show was obviously quite a bit different from Battlestar Galactica, but it was a lot of fun and a little bit cheesy, while still being able to have big and serious moments.

Since then Doctor Who has pretty much become my favorite show on TV. The fact that they often change out the actors though regeneration and new companions keeps the show fresh for me.

 

[MacLeod]

Well to be fair changing cast does happen in some other long running shows i.e Law & Order.

So you might not be fond of the current Doctor and/or companion(s) but in a few years it changes to a new Doctor and/or companion(s)