I always knew of Doctor Who. I remember when I was very young my parents on the PBS. I was too little to understand what was happening. My most vivid memory was of the Doctor’s mechanical pet K-9. Something about a cute robotic dog resonated with me as a five year old. I even built my own… out of legos. After that I saw the TV movie released in 1996. I was maybe 11 or 12 and enjoyed it but never followed up after that. I knew they started it up again in ‘05 but never watched it. Oh how foolishly ignorant I had been. In no small part thanks to my Netflix account and after the urging of several friends, my brothers, coworkers, and even my mom and dad I just marathoned the entire new series. If I wasn’t a true nerd before I am now.
It really says something about the quality of a series that premiers with an episode about aliens made of sentient plastic who want to use manikins to concur the Earth, to hook someone so thoroughly. Some episodes are so cheesy and campy yet keep themselves grounded through the characters providing an emotional core. All the three actors to play the titular Doctor are able to bring to life a sense of wonder, witty intelligence, and make nerdiness cool. Christopher Eccleston, acted and looked the most badass. He had his anger and unhappiness closest to the surface. His companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) helped level him out and bring him out of the darkness. David Tennant was probably my favorite. He had very animated facial expressions which vibrantly conveyed his emotions. He had the best onscreen chemistry with his costars. Rose and the doctor didn’t just have fun together, Tennant and Piper seemed to as well. Later his character was more driven by pathos and tragedy than fun. Regardless, Tennant brought out the doctors eternal hope. After the 10th Doctor’s regeneration, Matt Smith was a hard sell, but I was quick won over. He seemed to be the most intelligent of the three, and pulled off the Doctor’s rapid fire stream of consciousness the best. After all of the 10th Doctor’s tragedy it was great to see him reborn as an energetic happy adventurer leaving behind his predecessor’s darkness. In fact Smith’s # 11 has a child like sense of optimism about him.
The tone of Doctor Who is truly unique to science fiction. Often Sci Fi epics take place in a ridiculous fantasy setting, and either play it completely strait (like Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Star Wars, or Firefly) or turns it into a farce (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxty, Land of the Lost, Futurama). Both make for fun and fascinating stories, but usually a sci fi epic choices one or the other. Doctor Who is able to do both. A great example of this are the episodes dealing with the Slitheen. The Slitheen are aliens who are intent on destroying Earth to via nuclear warfare to sell the radioactive waste. They are large aliens with baby faces who steal the skin of fat people for disguises and fart alot. Even with such ridiculous enemies this for a gripping and exciting adventure. When the Slitheen return it makes for an interesting story about the nature of good and evil, and potential for redemption or forgiveness. The villains of the amazing episode Blink are Weeping Angels. The angels are described as the only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. They feed of life energy of their victims by sending their enemies back in time and absorbing the days they could have lived. They’ve evolved a perfect defence, a quantum locking mechanism which turns them to stone while being observed. Though this is a fanciful concept the potential horror is astronomical. Due to the nature of time travel historical characters can be added to the mix. Van Gogh paints the TARDIS. Winston Churchill is an old friend of the Doctor who wants to used Daleks to win World War 2. William Shakespeare is able to defeat a group of alien witches by out rhyming them. Agitha Christie solves a murder mystery where the killer is an alien wasp! There’s almost no accounting for sanity at all.
The Doctor and his relationship with humanity is fascinating as well. TV Tropes has a trope called the The Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism. Some stories show humans to be special like Star Trek. We evolve into something greater than we are. Others strip away all illusions we have about ourselves portraying our race as monsters. A good example would be Battlestar Galactica. The Doctor see us as both. Humans in the Whoniverse cause some of the greatest horrors yet at the same time are capable of the greatest wonders.This article on Cracked postulates that the Doctor is a god to humanity. I largely agree with this. The Doctor is a benevolent higher being who despite humanity’s flaws, is genuinely impressed with the human spirit. When asked why he cares about the earth, because he is not of this world, re replies “No, but I’ve put a lot of work into it.” It make sense that a savior god would try to bring out the best in such a race. He watches over and protects us from forces of evil that would destroy us. He can’t save everyone but he does try. Even the worst enemies are given one chance at forgiveness. Not to mention when he dies and comes back his arms are stretched out at the sides in the form of the crucifix. Because I’m not an overtly religious person, my mind immediately went to another character who protects humanity, is the last of his kind, is viewed as a god by many, and wants to see the best in people… Superman. Both characters are the archetypes for a messiah rendered in science fiction rather than religion. Though each’s interpretation is heavily influenced by their American and British sensibilities. (Maybe that’s an article for another day).
I now have a problem. I finished the entire new series of Doctor Who. I’ve loved every episode but I’ve condensed 5 years of epic sci fi into less than a month. I want more and I have to wait for it to start again.
On a scale of one to Epic Dr Who as a series thus far gets a 9.999 (That may be the highest rating I’ve given yet!)
On a Scale of 1 to Epic (Epic = 10): 
