So maybe you’ve watched all of the new series of Doctor Who, from Eccleston on, but the older Doctors are a mystery to you. Maybe you want to see Sarah Jane Smith in all her young nubile glory. Or maybe you’ve never seen any Doctor Who because you’re a completist and want to do it “right.” Where’s the best place to begin?
Option One: Begin at the Beginning
Well, you could start with the first Doctor… but it won’t be easy. For one thing, it’s in black and white, and slower paced. While I’m not afraid of “classic” television, some find it harder to get fully engaged.
More importantly, however, the BBC displayed a stunning lack of foresight back in the 60s and 70s, and many of the episodes from the first three doctors were ruined or destroyed. While there’s been a massive effort worldwide to restore as many episodes as possible, some are still incomplete – including, for example, part of the episode with the very first regeneration ever. If the completist in you will be driven insane, stay away from this option.
Option Two: Start With Pertwee, Like Your Parents Did
Most people consider the Third Doctor to be the beginning of a kind of golden age for Doctor Who. For one thing, he was the first Doctor in color. He was the first Doctor for many Americans – when PBS first started airing episodes in the 70s it was Pertwee who introduced them to the TARDIS. Thus, whether due to the influence of the Baby Boomers or simply by being an American, I tend to think of Pertwee as the first ‘modern’ Doctor.
It’s not a bad place to start, to be sure; however, Pertwee’s reign is a little different from the others. Due to budget constraints a well-thought plot twist, he stays on Earth more often than some other Doctors. Some of the most memorable enemies and companions come from this Doctor, but if you want rock quarries alien planets, you might do better to start a little later.
Option Three: Tom Baker and His Scarf
Whether he’s depicted on The Simpsons or Robot Chicken, most people think of Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor, when they think of Doctor Who. He’s one of the most popular Doctors, for sure, and the one that has seemed to stand out over time. It’s probably easiest to find episodes with this Doctor, both because of his popularity and because his reign lasted for seven years.
Option Four: Whatever You Find
Now, does that mean that you can’t start at any other point? Absolutely not! I myself have seen a pretty random collection of older episodes, from the Second Doctor to the Seventh. I’ve seen a few episodes in order, but I’ve not yet seen every episode from a given Doctor (except the most recent, Ninth Doctor-on ones).
I don’t think watching out of order has really diminished my experience; I have enough of a “feel” for most of the Doctors that it’s fun trying to read their personalities into the more recent actors (“I think I spot a little of Third Doctor!”). When I come across a topic that I want to see more about, I can look up the appropriate episode without worrying about jumping ahead.
Also, a benefit of the older series is there’s very little “spoilers.” We know the basic premise of the Doctor; now we just jump into the adventure at random… just like one of his companions.
So what approach would recommend for someone new to the older Doctor Who? Do you think we should stick with the Ninth on and leave the older episodes in the past? And if you’ve seen past series, how were you introduced?
However you choose to approach it, I highly recommend watching older Doctor Who episodes if you’re entertained by the new series. Soon, you too will have even stronger opinions about whether the Doctor should get involved with a companion or how the Master should behave, and you’ll be rooting for this or that old companion to make an appearance (like me). You might even start referring to today’s season as Season 31 (okay, I don’t do that). Who knows? You might even have a new favorite Doctor.
About j
Although the soundtracks to all the missing episodes exist and in many cases the telesnaps exist. Some excellent reconstructions do mean you can actually watch the missing stories.
Just a little errata, all of the Jon Pertwee episodes remain intact. There were a few episodes in colour that were tossed away, but black and white prints survived so one can see all of Jon Pertwee’s episodes, mostly all in colour.
For people new to the show and would like to check out older episodes I would start with watching any episode that has enemies in it the Doctor still battles. There are many episodes from all of the Doctors where he battles the Daleks, Cybermen, Silurians, the Master, or the Sontarans.
Of course, starting with Tom Baker and Sarah Jane Smith, you couldn’t go wrong.
I started with the beginning of the Third Doctor and went on from there. I might go back and watch some of the Patrick Troughton episodes.
I don’t think a Doctor fan doesn’t HAVE to go back to the Third Doc, but they should not skip the Fourth.
What was fun was figuring out that, as Ten wanted to be Five, Eleven wants to be Three. Hurrah for Venusian aikido!
I started with Tom Baker, and… in many ways he’s still “my doctor”. That said, I think appreciating the pre-Eccleston Who requires a certain mindset. It’s different. It’s MUCH lower budget, and significantly lower production value in terms of acting and direction. It pains me to say it, but I think the current team would do much more justice to a script like City of Death than Tom Baker did.
It DID have strengths though: it was gloriously low-fi. One thing I find a little hard to take about the newer Whos is that… you just don’t have monsters that were made out of cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, a whisk and a plunger anymore. That same lack of production value that I decried in the above paragraph gives it… I dunno, sort of a sense of authenticity. It’s a total geek show from a time before being a geek was sort of cool. And because there was no money in it- only people who loved it worked with it. And it was british sci-fi, which is fun to contrast with the american shows of the time.
But I do think that you need to approach it knowing that it isn’t going to be a smooth transition into a post-eccleston Dr Who… If I were making a recommendation to someone wanting to see a little more Who, it would be to adopt the right air of anthropology, and then select by rating from netflix, starting with the highest ratings first.
As one who is a long time Whovian (I have watched since I was 7), I will offer my advice here. While I am sure I leave certain recommendations out, I think that on the whole, many would agree that the episodes mentioned are good ones to watch first and then proceed through the corpus. I think starting with Tom Baker’s first season is one of the best ideas. The stories are, for the most part, very well done and easily accessible. A caveat to this is that the first season is composed of stories which lead into one another. While not a story arc, they do begin where the last left off. Each story is independent, though for continuity, it is better to watch them as a set. That said, they are not all available on DVD yet.
That caveat aside, Tom Baker’s first 5 seasons set a groundwork which I feel makes all earlier DW more accessible. While a great deal of good DW happened in the 60s and a fair amount of good sci-fi therein, during Hartnell’s reign DW was firmly children’s programming and made motions towards being mildly educational. By the end of Troughton’s period, this was markedly less the case. By Pertwee’s period, it was certainly not the case. It was trying to compete with more than just children’s programming. That said, the producers at the time imbued it with enough 60-70′s ambiance that it can feel rather too campy. These are not my criticisms, merely observations which can turn people off when they are not already sure of what to expect in older DW.
The following suggestions are all on DVD. I’ll append further suggestions of early viewing if you have access to VHS or to watch online. It has been my xp that the best way to introduce someone to DW after they’ve watched the new series, is to begin with selective Tom Baker episodes (Ark in Space, Genesis of the Daleks, Pyramids of Mars, Deadly Assassin, Robots of Death, Horror of Fang Rock, Invisible Enemy, Talons of Weng-Chiang, eps from the Key to Time, City of Death) and then supplement that with Troughton (Tomb of the Cybermen, The Invasion, Seeds of Death, The Mind Robber) and Pertwee (Spearhead from Space, DW and the Silurians, Inferno, Curse of Peladon, The Three Doctors, The Sea Devils, Carnival of Monsters) and some McCoy (Remembrance of the Daleks, Silver Nemesis, Battlefield). Colin Baker (recs. Vengeance on Varos, Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet and The Ultimate Foe) and Hartnell (The Daleks, The Keys of Marinus, The Aztecs, The Romans, the Space Museum, The Chase, the Time Meddler) are for advanced viewers, who are real fans. Davison (The Visitation, Earthshock, Mawdryn Undead, Warriors of the Deep, The Caves of Androzani) add at your own discretion.
While a good regeneration episode, The War Games (Troughton, 10 eps long) is advanced viewing, if only because it is so long. However, the Caves of Androzani is an exquisite regeneration episode, arguably the best Davison episode, and certainly one in which he absolutely shines should be viewed whenever you choose.
It is best to try and break up long stories or leave them until later while someone is still learning to appreciate older DW, as the longer stories tend to have a pace unto themselves. That is one of the first obstacles that must be surmounted. Stories are not paced as stories. Once one is comfortable with the internal pacing of episodic viewing the longer ones can become 2 or 3 night endeavors. Or can be watched all in one go if you’re into them!
For what they are worth, these are my opinions.
Currently unreleased titles worth viewing:
Hartnell: The Sensorites,
Troughton: The Krotons
Pertwee: Terror of the Autons, Colony in Space, The Daemons, The Mutants
T. Baker: Revenge of the Cybermen, Terror of the Zygons, The Face of Evil, The Sun Makers, Meglos
Davison: The Awavening, Frontios
Well, I won’t give any advice, but I will say that I was someone that spent about a year watching old Tom Baker episodes on PBS and was flabbergasted and disappointed when the Doctor regenerated in one episode (while my older sister, decidedly not a Doctor Who fan, taunted me from the kitchen) and stopped watching. I actually had no idea the Doctor could “die” like that and my pre-teen self was somewhat devastated. I never watched another episode again, until now, in my 40s, when I’m going back and doing the super-completist watch: every single episode (with reconstructions for lost episodes) from the first Hartnell until whatever it is at by the time I get to it. I’m currently on “The Aztecs” (still first season, first Doctor), and am looking forward to watching the series develop to the Baker-era style I remember and then to see what I missed afterwards.