The Doctor is a traveler, a wanderer in the fourth dimension of space and time. He’s also an alien from the planet Gallifrey, and a hero dedicated to fighting evil wherever it occurs.
Accompanied by his TARDIS, his sonic screwdriver and his companions, the Doctor has fought horrors both on Earth and farther afield, and sent children of all ages hiding behind the sofa for almost half a century.
And since half a century is a long time, we thought we’d provide newcomers to the show with an overview of the story so far…
More than just the Doctor’s longest running companion since the series returned 2005, Amy Pond is also one of the few to have travelled with him for over a decade (the only others being her husband Rory and daughter River, of course).
Part of the first married couple to travel in the TARDIS, Amy is also the Doctor’s mother-in-law, a position which has not exactly been loaded with perks. From being cloned, having her memory erased, her baby kidnapped and her daughter grow up to become the Doctor’s murderer-slash-wife, poor old Amy really has had a tough time aboard the TARDIS. With her departure rapidly approaching we’re wondering if it might all be getting a little too much.
See: The Eleventh Hour, Let’s Kill Hitler, The Angels Take Manhattan
[FOR IGN REFERENCE http://www.shadowlocked.com/images/stories/whoreviews/colin_baker/timelash/timelash_bandril.jpg]
With seemingly every sci-fi publication imaginable taking polls on viewers’ favorite Doctor Who monsters of all time, spare a thought for the critters that are best left forgotten. Languishing at the bottom of any Who fan’s scariest monster list, past mutant bubble-wrap arms and burping wheelie bins, are the Bandrils.
These barely animated glove puppets wouldn’t look out of place in an episode of the Muppet Show’s Trek-spoof “Pigs in Space”. At least there you’d be able to laugh at the Bandril’s high-pitched threats of world obliteration without feeling guilty.
See: Timelash, The Muppet Show
Before the Borg, there were the Cybermen- human beings whose humanity had been taken away, their emotions removed, their bodies replaced with machine parts and weird... jug handles, I guess?
Initially from Earth’s long lost twin planet Mondas, the Cybermen used to be grim reflections of ourselves, but over time their emotionless exteriors became increasingly less convincing until they were stomping around shouting “Excellent!” and being ridiculously allergic to gold.
Is it any wonder, then, that when Russell T Davies brought these villains back he wiped the slate clean by giving us a new origin story about an alternate universe Earth driven crazy by mobile-phone ear-plugs?
See: The Tomb of the Cybermen, Rise of the Cybermen & The Age of Steel
Now twelve-hundred years old, the Doctor has come a long way from his days as a bohemian adventurer pottering about the universe with his granddaughter and a pair of school teachers. He’s lived through eleven bodies, been exiled to Earth, become president of the Time Lords, was put on trial by them (twice), wiped out the Daleks (almost), fought in a time war, ended a time war, turned human and got married.
Never cruel and never cowardly, the Doctor has always been a relentless force for the good in a universe of terrors. With him around it’s safe to be scared.
See: Doctor Who - all of it
It’s a testament to the core structure of Doctor Who that the Doctor’s stories translate so well to other media and with a show as long-running as this it’s unsurprising just how many tie-ins to the show there are.
Let’s start with Doctor Who Magazine, the longest running TV tie-in magazine ever, whose comic strip served as a proving ground for such luminaries as Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons- creators of Watchmen. Then there are the vast quantities of novels that kept Doctor Who alive during its dark days of cancellation in the 90s. Big Finish Production’s audio adventures also served a similar function, bringing back classic Doctors to record missing adventures with former companions- a range that continues to this day.
And those are just the tip of the ice-berg; how could you forget the charming 60’s Dalek movies featuring Peter Cushing, or the Doctor’s recent forays into the world of video games? Doctor Who is truly a universe too big for just the small screen.
See: Doctor Who Magazine
For a children’s show, Doctor Who has never been one to shy away from terrifying moments, particularly during the gothic horror era of Tom Baker’s early series which notably featured a particularly violent cliffhanger involving the Doctor’s head being held underwater.
Nowadays the show steers clear of realistic violence, preferring instead to explore more psychological or fantastical scares. Children should be able to hide behind the sofa without worrying about the dangers the Doctor faces happening to them.
See: The Deadly Assassin
Gallifrey is the Doctor’s home world. Situated in the constellation of Kasterborous, its burnt orange landscape houses the the citadel of the Time Lords. This wise and ancient race, whose powers are fueled by a huge black hole beneath the planet’s surface, regarded themselves as superior to the other inhabitants of the universe. This was until the Dalek Empire came knocking.
In the Time War that followed, Gallifrey was lost, trapped out of time by the Doctor in a last ditch attempt to prevent the horrors of the war leaking out into the rest of the universe. For all we know it remains there still, doomed to live the final days of the war for the rest of eternity.
See: The Deadly Assassin, The End of Time Part 1 & 2
It’s only natural that we consider the Doctor the hero of his own show, but spare a thought for those he travels with.
When the Doctor actually chooses his companions (something that happens surprisingly rarely) he prides himself on taking only the very best. Usually these people are dissatisfied with their lives, aware that they are destined for greater things and the Doctor’s skill is to take this people and let them grow and flourish; transforming an ordinary shop worker in a goddess who can wield the power of the time vortex, or a London Temp into a human-Time Lord capable of destroying an entire Dalek empire.
From Captain Jack to Rose to Martha to Sarah Jane Smith- these people are just like us. And if he’ll take them, he could come back for you.
See: The Stolen Earth & Journey’s End
Possibly the greatest piece of Doctor Who merchandise ever devised- the Third Doctor himself, Jon Pertwee, talk-singing over the Doctor Who theme.
Released in 1972 ‘Who is the Doctor’ was the first time the Doctor Who theme had been given lyrics and is something that must be heard to be believed.
Whilst you’re at it, check out the poignant (and non-Who related) B-side to the original single that recounted the fortunes a faded stage magician, entitled ‘Pure Mystery’.
See: Who is the Doctor?
The Doctor’s favorite food- jelly babies have been considered a delicacy by the Doctor ever since his second incarnation, however it was Tom Baker’s Doctor that made them iconic. Brandished his little paper bag wherever he went, the fourth Doctor used them regularly to break the ice, once prevented a man committing suicide and even threatened a gang of savage natives by holding a “deadly jelly baby” to a fellow tribesman’s neck.
Nowadays jelly babies have been replaced by the more biscuity jammy dodger as the Doctor’s confectionary of choice, a far more impractical treat in our opinion- think of the crumbs!
See: The Face of Evil, The Sun Makers, Doctor Who (TV movie)
The ultimate pet/portable turret/smarmy computer/chess opponent, K-9 was actually the property of another doctor- Professor Marius- who felt a bit guilty about trying to infect our Doctor with an alien virus whilst possessed so gave him K-9 as a way of apologizing.
There have actually been a number of different versions of K-9 over the course of the Doctor’s travels; the first being left in a parallel universe with his companion Romana, the second on Gallifrey with Leela, whilst Sarah Jane Smith managed to get through two models all by herself (which isn’t that surprising considering how often the tin dog would break down).
K-9 has also starred in his own spin-off series, but we don’t like to talk about.
See: The Invisible Enemy, Warriors’ Gate, School Reunion
There are many legends about the Doctor throughout the series, but most of the time they are entirely fictional. Oncoming Storms, Predators and Sainted Physicians are all very well, but the ultimate crossover reference came in the 1989 story Battlefield.
When a group of space age knights from a parallel universe invade a sleepy English village on the hunt for a demon, they immediately recognize its protector- the Doctor - as their wise and ancient advisor; the wizard Merlin.
See: Battlefield
Steven Moffat is Doctor Who’s current lead writer and executive producer. After winning BAFTAs for his timey-wimey scripts for the Tenth Doctor it was only natural that Steven would take over the mantle of the show from previous incumbent Russell T Davies upon the Doctor’s regeneration.
Steven hasn’t just been busy with Doctor Who however, and any fan of the show would surely be missing out if they didn’t check out his revamping of another British icon, Sherlock Holmes, in a series he co-created with fellow Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss.
See: Sherlock
The Master is a rival Time Lord; the Moriarty to the Doctor’s Holmes. He arrived on Earth intent on destruction during the Third Doctor’s exile and since then the two of them have brawled across the stars.
Over time we’ve learned that the Doctor and the Master used to be childhood friends, and that the Master was driven insane by the Time Lord president Rassilon who planted a drumbeat in the young boy’s head as a means to escape the horrors of the Time War. This insanity, the Doctor believes, is the root cause of the Master’s transformation into a being of pure evil.
Most of the time though he was just a bit naff - his pantomime plans to humiliate the Doctor becoming so convoluted and contrived that at one point the only way he could have planned his next revenge on the Doctor was by assuming his first dastardly plot would fail.
See: Terror of the Autons, Castrovalva, The Sound of Drums & Last of the Time Lords
This year the Christmas special will be even more special than usual as it brings with it the gift of a new companion in the shape of former Emmerdale actress Jenna-Louise Coleman.
Little is known about how she will be introduced, however Steven Moffat has offered us a tantalizing glimpse of what she’ll be like in the first episode of this series- Asylum of the Daleks- in which she played Oswin Oswald, an astronaut converted into one of the Doctor’s tin-pot foes. Could she be a relative of the Oswin who will end up travelling with the Doctor? Or is Moffat up to his timey-wimey tricks again?
See: Asylum of the Daleks
With Doctor Who filming in both Spain and the US this season alone, it’s hard to believe that it took 9 years for the show to be filmed abroad.
Doctor Who’s first ever overseas shoot was in Paris for the 1972 story City of Death. Written by Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, it involved the theft of the Mona Lisa by an alien that had been splintered throughout different eras of history, a plot which took a back seat to copious shots of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward running through Paris hand in hand- a genuine treat and all-time highlight for Doctor Who.
See: City of Death
Nowadays we’re all familiar with Doctor Who’s series-arcs. From Bad Wolf to Torchwood, Saxon and Silence Falling, each meme serves to frame the Doctor’s exploits in a larger context whilst giving observant fans tantalizing clues to drive each other mad over the internet.
But it wasn’t always this way and, until 1976 when the White Guardian charged the Doctor with tracking down the six segments of the Key to Time, the classic series had never dealt with tale so epic that it spanned an entire season.
Each adventure revolved around the Doctor and his Time Lady companion Romana acquiring a new segment (unhelpfully disguised as either a planet, a princess or some kind of fancy jewelry) and as the series progressed the stakes were raised to universe-threatening levels as the Doctor became a pawn in the battle between the fundamental forces of good and evil.
See: The Key to Time series
The man who brought Doctor Who back, Russell T Davies was already a hugely established scriptwriter and producer long before he got his hands on the Time Lord.
His breakthrough work was the series Queer as Folk, a drama focusing on the lives of gay clubbers in Manchester and including Vince, a Doctor Who fan who watched old Tom Baker episodes after a night out a received a radio controlled K-9 for his birthday.
Russell would then go on to write the one-off mini-series The Second Coming (starring future 9th Doctor Christopher Eccleston) and Casanova- which featured a fresh-faced David Tennant as the eponymous hero.
See: Queer as Folk, The Second Coming, Casanova
Whilst companions come and go, this little whirring tool remains the Doctor’s most faithful of partners. Doesn’t kill, doesn’t wound, doesn’t maim, it also doesn’t work on wood which is a bit of an oversight on the Doctor’s part.
Introduced during the Patrick Troughton’s tenure, it was destroyed during the Peter Davison’s over fears that it was becoming too much of a crutch for the Time Lord. Aside from a brief cameo it was only resurrected when Doctor Who returned in 2005. Now apparently grown by the TARDIS, it has proven itself even more capable than before, both in the show and as a range ridiculously popular of children’s toys- including a universal remote.
See: Fury from the Deep, the Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver Universal Remote Control
Time And Relative Dimension In Space- The TARDIS is the Doctor’s home, its vast interior housing laboratories, living quarters, wardrobes, a swimming pool, a library and seemingly infinite, identical corridors. All while its modest exterior is stuck in the shape of a 1950s London police box.
More than simply a portal to adventure, the TARDIS is occasionally the subject (or cause) of adventures all its own, including sucking planet Earth through its power core, imbuing Rose with all the power of the time vortex, and turning into a woman.
See: Doctor Who (TV Movie), The Parting of the Ways, The Doctor’s Wife
The UNified Intelligence Taskforce- formerly the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce- was founded in the 60s or 70s depending on which Doctor Who story you happen to be watching. Lead by the Doctor’s oldest friend Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (and currently headed up by his daughter) it existed to combat the large spike in alien invasions of the home counties that happened to coincide with the third Doctor’s exile to that exact same location.
The Doctor has worked with UNIT in all but two of his incarnations, watching them grow from a cuddly band of vaguely inept soldiers to a sinister, highly mobile and well equipped fighting force complete with Captain Scarlet-style cloud-bases.
See: The Invasion, Spearhead from Space, The Power of Three
Verity Lambert is widely regarded as the mother of Doctor Who. The first ever female producer at the BBC (and one of the first female television producers full stop) she oversaw the creation of the show that would tragically outlive her.
In 2002 Verity was awarded an OBE in recognition of her contribution to film and television and continued to work as a producer until the day she died in 2007. In the episode ‘Human Nature’, broadcast the year she died, the Doctor paid tribute to her legacy by revealing his parents to be named after both her and Sydney Newman - the head of drama at the BBC when Doctor Who was first commissioned.
See: Human Nature & The Family of Blood
The most enduring and popular new monsters since Doctor Who’s return in 2005, the Weeping Angels have even beaten the Daleks to the top of recent ‘scariest villain of all time’ polls.
Nicknamed ‘the lonely assassins’ due to their quantum-locked nature, the Weeping Angels appear as stone statues whenever they are observed by another living thing. But as soon as you look away, as soon as you blink- they strike; zapping you back in time so they can feed off the energy of the days you might have had in the future.
Each time the Weeping Angels return we’ve seen them gain new, even more deadly abilities- including the ability to manifest from security footage and possess those that look into its eyes. With the epic climax of Amy and Rory’s decade with the Doctor set to feature the Weeping Angels in New York, it’s anybody’s guess what tricks they might still be hiding up their sleeves.
See: Blink, The Time of Angels & Flesh and Stone, The Angels Take Manhattan
The Daleks! The Doctor’s oldest and deadliest foes. Their terrifying rubber plungers were the first aliens the Doctor ever met on-screen and since then they’ve dogged the Time Lord throughout all his incarnations- becoming pop-culture icons in the process.
The mutated survivors of a nuclear war, the Daleks were created by Davros, a crippled and insane scientist who taught them to hate anything different to themselves (including him as it turns out). This hatred has proven to be the perfect survival mechanism however, as the Daleks continue to rebuild their empire in the wake of their conflict with the Time Lords. After being defeated by the Doctor in so many battles, it appears these little pepper-pots may have won the war...
See: Genesis of the Daleks, Dalek, Asylum of the Daleks
That’s right, come November of next year this little show about a madman in a box will have been around half a century. That’ll be 33 series, 238 stories, 11 leading actors and a host of pop-culture icons for all you number fans out there.
As the longest running science fiction series in history, it’s astonishing to see the show exist today almost completely unchanged from its original format with an unwavering appeal that spans generations. The Doctor is truly a man out of time.
See: An Unearthly Child
It’s fortunate that one of the few Doctor Who monsters to begin with Z is also one of the ones we most want to see return in the new series!
The Zygons are a lumpy orange race of shape-shifters whose whispery voice hints at a sinister past of chain-smoking and laryngitis. The Doctor discovered them hiding at the bottom of Loch Ness preparing to unleash a giant glove-puppet dinosaur on London. Aside from the glove-puppet part, these creatures were terrifying, and their prosthetics so convincing that the new production team wouldn’t even need to update them!
See: Terror of the Zygons
Source : ign[dot]com
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