The Doctor Who primer

[Cutter John]

A very charming little fan-made music video made up of lots of little clips from the shows history. Hopefully informative for noobs, and nostalgic for us old-timers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68JLFdu18yw&mode=related&search=

 

[Pingfah]

Does anyone think this forum is getting more popular?

Everytime I look at the front page, DW consistently has numbers approaching those of Misc and General Sci-fi.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yeah, I saw that video awhile ago (probably in my thread about combination of opening sequences). It's a good tribute video with a lovely appropriate song. A little heavy on the Tenth Doctor, I think, but that's not terribly surprising. And not enough Romana I. And I don't think I saw K-9 at all.

 

[Cutter John]

^ There was one quick shot of him on the riverbank with the 4th Doctor. From Full Circle I believe. But I think that was it.

 

[Csalem]

Pingfah said:
Does anyone think this forum is getting more popular?

Everytime I look at the front page, DW consistently has numbers approaching those of Misc and General Sci-fi.

I've noticed that also. It has more topics and posts than Lost and SG and nearly more posts than BSG. It is doing very well. Though it probably helps that the show has such a long history than discussions on a wide range of topics can appear, along with Torchwood and Sarah-Jane adventures. The Books don't seem to be discussed, but on a side note I saw the first Torchwood book in a shop the other day but am not buying it.

 

[Pingfah]

^ Given that the books are usually a slightly inferior experience to the show, that's a definite no!

 

[WillsBabe]

Cutter John said:
A very charming little fan-made music video made up of lots of little clips from the shows history. Hopefully informative for noobs, and nostalgic for us old-timers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68JLFdu18yw&mode=related&search=

Very nostalgic. The shot of Sarah Jane leaving with her posessions really took me back. She's holding a toy owl. Those were really popular toys for girls at the time, I remember my friend having loads of them!

 

[V\'ger]

I wouldn't be so harsh on the books. They kept WHO fandom alive and many of the new series writers, such as Gareth Roberts, Paul Cornell, and even RTD himself-wrote for the line during the Wilderness years. Some of the concepts from the books have also made their way into the series.

 

[23skidoo]

I wonder if it isn't time to unpin this version of the primer and update it with more detail about the Tenth Doctor, Rose, etc.?

Cheers!

Alex

 

[Smiley]

Brendan Moody said:

Smiley said:
Is there a relatively affordable way to get Doctor Who DVDs in the US?

I'm not quite sure what you're asking. With the exception of the 1996 tv-movie, which probably won't be released here due to complicated rights issues, every classic Doctor Who story that is released in the UK is eventually available in R1 as well, usually with a lag of less than a year. Availability in retail locations can be spotty, especially lately, but Amazon.com and other online companies always sell them. The MSRP is $25 for a single-disc release, $35 for a two-disc story, and $50 for a three-disc box set, but many retailers discount them, and the MSRP also drops eventually. dvdpricesearch.com is a good place to check for releases that fit your definition of relatively cheap.

The new series boxsets are also being released here, after each season completes its run on Sci-Fi. They retail for a steep $100.

I'm back after doing a little more research. I used Season 16, The Key to Time, as a case study. All six serials are out on DVD currently. Buying all six new from Deep Discount DVD would be $79.44. Even during the 20% off sale, that would be $63.55. That's more than I'm willing to pay for a season of television.

Besides buying used or scouring eBay for local sellers, what options are there for the casual fan? Will there ever be price drops or actual season sets for the classic Who? Even Star Trek, which gouged its fans on initial release, gave TOS season sets and has already slashed prices on TNG and DS9. What chance is there of something like that happening for Who?

 

[Brendan Moody]

Smiley said:
Will there ever be price drops

Well, as I alluded to in my earlier post, the MSRP drops $5 on each release after a few years, but I doubt that's enough of a drop to help you much.

or actual season sets

Yes. Once all the individual stories in a particular season have been released, there will sometime later be a season set at a somewhat reduced price. I don't know that that lower price will appeal to you much, though.

Also, a couple seasons will probably be released as boxsets to begin with. Examples include Season 16 (now available in Region 1 and soon to be replaced in both R1 and R2 with a spiffier version) and Season 23 (not released anywhere yet).

Even Star Trek, which gouged its fans on initial release, gave TOS season sets and has already slashed prices on TNG and DS9.

Classic Doctor Who is even more niche than Star Trek, and each individual story these days has about as much in the way of extras as a full season of Trek. None of which helps the casual fan, of course, but that is why the prices are so steep, and why they're not likely to go down all that much, even over time.

 

[Smiley]

Thanks for all your help, Brendan. It sounds like my best bet for now is to borrow some of these from my Whovian acquaintances, at least until I know what clicks for me.

 

[Roshi]

Good news everyone! I've just started to watch Season One with Eccleston as the Doctor. And I must say I'm quite enjoying the show. I was somewhat exposed to the show before that. I saw the TV movie once, like, 10 years ago and was left somewhat intrigued. And then I saw the Curse of the Fatal Death when I lived in England.
This show is... FAN-TAS-TIC!!!

EDIT TO ADD:
There's been a persistent rumor among Pink Floyd fans concerning Doctor Who's Theme and the song One Of These Days. Can you confirm?

 

[Australis]

Does 'One Of These Days' sound like the Who theme? Yes, as does 'Sheep' from the album Animals.

 

[Roshi]

^The part with "The Lord is my shepherd"? Ok, I get it. It must be the bass rhythm!
Thanks Australis :thumbsup:

 

[Csalem]

It seems a lot of people are getting into Who these days. Wonder if we could petition them to rename the board...

 

[Samson88B]

Daniel_Fullard said:

Bookwyrme said:
Thanks!

I've been picking up episodes from past Dr. Who's in a hit or miss fashion, and that means that I'm watching the first doctor one week and the sixth the next, so it's nice to have a good overview that is also fairly spoiler-free to help me fit things into some sort of framework.

I wouldnt worry too much about watching them in any sort of order or framework. The only ones Id say you must watch it order are Trail of a Timelord Season, Key To Time Season and Season 1 of the new run.

Actually, Jon Pertwee's last season has a loose story arc concerning Metebelis 3, and Tom Baker's first season (except for Robot) deals with the space station Nerva.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

V'ger said: The Doctor, in order to bring an end to the war, presumabely destroyed both Gallifrey and the Dalek fleet, an incident which also caused him to regenerate into the Ninth Doctor

Really?

Is there anything canonical that says the Time War was responsible for the 8th Doctor's regeneration into the 9th?

I don't recall that particular regeneration being dealt with at all. I always wondered why. Do TPTB just think it's not important (I can't imagine why they would), or do they have something big planned that's yet to come?

I mean, it's the only regeneration we've never seen. There must be a reason why. What is it?

(I mean, even if Paul McGann refused to do a regen scene, they could get around that, like the 6th>7th scene in "Time and the Rani" where Sylvester McCoy just wore a Colin Baker wig!)

 

[The Nth Doctor]

It's not mentioned on screen, but it's assumed by most that the Time War is the result of the regeneration. The reason why it wasn't shown is because Davies didn't want the audience to get use to McGann and then five, ten minutes suddenly switch to Eccleston for reasons a new audience wouldn't understand right away (and find it off putting).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

So does this mean we'll never know?