Doctor Who - Classic Series

 

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Buckle up as this might be a bit of a long post. I grew up overseas and so the few years, or summers I spent here in the states was often filled with watching American TV. Don't get me wrong, I had my favorite Japanese TV shows for sure, but I couldn't see Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, MASH, Solid Gold, and so many other fun shows in Japan. They were only shown here in the states - like the Muppet Show!! My uncle was big into Star Trek - the original series but I never really got it. I did love Star Wars and Star Trek just didn't have the same action in my opinion.

Fast-forward to starting college in the states. A good friend of mine started talking about Doctor Who. I didn't know what that was and so one Saturday eve (as that was when it was being aired on PBS) I snuck into her dorm room and watched it with her. I thought it was a lot of fun, plus cheesy special effects, and there was a camp factor that intrigued me. I watched it a few times with her, but never on my own. After a while we stopped watching together but it was always in the back of my mind, and I always thought I should watch it. Fast-forward again and I started hearing about the New Doctor Who. This was probably around the time that some of the classic Who series were being released on DVD. I looked at the classic Who series and thought they looked like fun but I didn't really know which Doctor I had been watching back in college, nor was it really something that I wanted to watch - at the time. Years later, my nephew and my friends daughter both started talking to me about Doctor Who and how much they loved it. They were talking about the new Doctor Who series, not the classic. I had another friend whose son wanted to be Jack Harkness for Halloween - and so I figured out that he was also part of this Who Universe. And he was being played by John Barrowman who I knew from a musical theatre perspective. Finally when I got around to getting a TV that could stream shows, I found the new Doctor Who on Netflix? Amazon? and started watching it from the first episode with Rose and the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston). I enjoyed it quite a bit and kept watching through the Christmas Specials and finally bought "The Husbands of River Song" episode because people kept talking about it. 

At that point I had become a fan and started looking up information about the series. I learned that it had originally begun as an educational show for kids to teach them history - as the Doctor would travel to the past and so kids could learn about the Mayans, and Marco Polo, etc. I found that fascinating and so I started my journey. Using Netflix and renting DVDs from them, I started in 2012 with "Doctor Who: The Beginning." Originally shown on TV in 1963, this Doctor was portrayed by William Hartnell. Hartnell played the Doctor from 1963 - October of 1966, three full seasons as he regenerated towards the start of season four. The shows were in black and white, and scanning the titles - there was certainly a bend toward history: An Unearthly Child (set in 100,000 BC), Marco Polo, The Aztecs, The Reign of Terror. Interesting sidebar is that the very first episode was aired the day after Kennedy was shot, and so it was re-aired the following week. 

The difficulty of trying to watch all the episodes in order is that at the time the BBC had a process of re-using tape/film. Because of that process, there are a lot of episodes that are gone. I have sat through some where some scenes are still available, but others aren't but the audio is and so I watch a still photo while hearing the audio of what is happening. It is a fun and interesting way to follow a series - not fully recommended but not as bad as you might think. Now, one aspect of Doctor Who is that he doesn't die but regenerates into a new body. Same character, but new body so slightly different personality as well. The first regeneration took place at the end of the second series of Season four (this was back when the show was more serial and you would tune in each week to see a new 25 minute episode of the series). Patrick Troughton took over the role of Doctor Who in November of 1966 and played him until June of 1969. Hartnell, in my memory, was very much a teacher and historian - a bit strict and also focused on the education aspect (as much as possible). When Troughton took over there were still historical episodes but they all now had a science fiction aspect to them as well. While I started watching in 2012, I took some big breaks to watch other shows and so I started my Second Doctor in 2015 and finished him in 2016. I enjoyed Troughton as the Doctor. 

Jon Pertwee took over as the Third Doctor and played him from January of 1970 through June of 1974. All of his episodes are in color. At this point in the story, this Doctor is banished from space travel and so he is stuck on Earth. He still gets into plenty of adventures and I quite enjoyed Pertwee. Though like the previous Doctors, and quite a few of the ones following through out the classic Doctor Who - there is sexism. The Doctors travel with at least one companion - mostly women. Hartnell has his niece, along with two others. They change through out the seasons which is fun because it always brings new energy to the show. As a rule, I have enjoyed the companions - though there is one who rubs me the wrong way but that is more of how she was written I think. At the start of season 11, Pertwee's last season, the companion changes to be Sarah Jane Smith, as played by Elisabeth Sladen. [Sidebar: She eventually had her own series named the Sarah Jane adventures which took place here on earth, but dealt with space creatures - including some she had met while traveling with Doctor Who. While the show is certainly geared toward children, they are fun to watch.]

The Fourth Doctor was played by Tom Baker and is probably the best known of the classic Doctors - he of the long scarf. Baker played the Doctor for seven seasons - from December 1974 to March of 1981. I started watching the Baker seasons starting in 2017 and finished in 2018. I really like Baker as the Doctor. I am pretty sure that it was him, or the 5th Doctor who I watched back in college. By this point the majority of the stories are pure Science Fiction. While I don't consider myself to be a fan of Scifi as a rule, there are certain aspects of the genre that I do enjoy. Doctor Who is clearly one of them. 

Peter Davison took over the role in January of 1982 and played the Doctor (with the celery on his lapel) until March of 1984. One of the Doctor's companions at this time is Tegan - a very strong female role that I quite enjoyed. I started and finished his series in 2019. Following Davison was Colin Baker, in a very colorful coat, playing the Doctor from March 1984 - December of 1986. There were changes going on at the BBC during this time so the show was put on hiatus for a while. While parts of me liked Baker, he tended to be demanding, and bossy, and his companion was Peri Brown - who, in my view, was just afraid of everything and complained about everything. I don't think Peri was a good addition to the show at all. 

One thing to remember, and what I find interesting about this whole series is that the Doctor is continually learning and growing as a character. How could he not? So each regeneration may provide a new body, personality, and mindset, the experiences are still there in the mind. And it feels to me that this is clear as the years go on. Sure the writing needs to stay with it, but it feels like the actors they bring in may bring their own spin on the character, but the history is still there. September of 1987 introduced the Seventh Doctor played by Sylvester McCoy. I found him to be a joy to watch. Quirky but smart....though with a bit of a dark side as well. The darkness was leading toward the end of the Classic time frame when ended in December of 1989. I watched the Baker episodes in 2020, and started/finished the McCoy episodes in 2021. There was a film which was the only time you see the Eighth Doctor played by Paul McGann. I watched this not very good film in 2021. 

During this whole time, I had also been watching the new Doctor Who - either streaming it, or renting a few of the newer episodes from Netflix. More on that soon.