Dr. Which?

April 9, 2018 6:33 AM

My 11yo daughter likes Star Wars, and loves math and Harry Potter. But she wants to burnish her nerd cred by also becoming a Dr. Who fan, and asked if we could watch it together. Where should we start??

FYI although I’m a HUGE Star Wars, Star Trek, Douglas Adams and comics fan, I’ve never seen a single episode of any season of the show, and know nothing about it other than there’s a Tardis, daleks, and a bunch of different Doctors. Looking forward to your recommendations, thanks!

posted by ericbop to Society & Culture (19 answers total)

The first episode of the 2005 reboot with the Ninth Doctor. It's called "Rose" and is considered series 1, episode 1.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:38 AM on April 9, 2018 [44 favorites]

Since the show hadn't been on TV for 15 years prior to the reboot, it assumes zero prior knowledge of previously aired episodes. It was specifically targeted towards children who hadn't even been born yet when the last episode of the old series had aired. Even when old villains are re-introduced, they are done so with enough exposition that if they are new to you, it all makes total sense and you get a little backstory given to you as well.

Each series is ~12 episodes and they skipped whole years here and there, so it's not as daunting as you might think to get caught up to 2018 starting in 2005. Just be sure to watch the Christmas specials--don't assume they are Star Wars Christmas Special trainwreck irrelevancies. They are proper episodes and frequently important.
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:42 AM on April 9, 2018 [14 favorites]

Indeed, the Christmas special A Christmas Carol would be one good place to start - it is a riff on A Christmas Carol in a typical Doctor Who genre rip off way.

I'd go a bit earlier, to something like The Genesis of the Daleks which is from the mod 70s. It's a little creaky but fairly modern and establishes certain things about the Doctor. But really you can dip in in lots of places - just be prepared to like some but not others and move on. Don't start with Colin Baker (6th Doctor, mid 80s) serials.
posted by hawthorne at 7:04 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

Agreeing with soren. My daughter and I started watching the reboot series on Netflix a couple of years ago, all the way through Eccleston, Tennant and Smith. No need to have seen all the originals, though there are some references that work better if you have (I watched Doctors #3 and #4 in my college days). Indeed, I tried to get my daughter to watch some Tom Baker episodes with me for nostalgia value, and she wouldn't have any of it.
posted by briank at 7:05 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

Start with Rose.

Adjust the audio on your system because it's muddy. Otherwise, enjoy.
posted by jbenben at 7:24 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

For what it's worth, my daughter started with the first Matt Smith episode ("The Eleventh Hour", episode 1 of series 5 of the reboot) and then worked her way backwards through the previous series while waiting for new seasons, in true time traveler fashion. I occasionally clued her in on some references and call-backs, but I don't think you miss anything crucial. You probably want to be caught up by the time you hit the end of series 7 and the special 50th anniversary episode "The Day of the Doctor"
posted by Rock Steady at 7:36 AM on April 9, 2018

FYI although I’m a HUGE Star Wars, Star Trek, Douglas Adams and comics fan

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised (like I was when I got into the 2005 reboot at a friends' urging) at how much of an influence Doctor Who was on Adams with Hitchhiker's Guide and Dirk Gently. When I first read the books, I was largely oblivious to the extent to which Ford Prefect is basically a slackerized parody of the Doctor; the first Gently book is also a names-changed rewrite of one of Adams's own (unproduced) Doctor Who scripts.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:01 AM on April 9, 2018 [6 favorites]

Additionally, some of Tom Baker's episodes are basically 100% Adams ' work (City of Death and Pirate Planet) and Life, The Universe and Everything, was originally intended to be a Doctor Who story.

I'd be tempted to start off with Christmas Invasion, The christmas special between Eccleston and Tennant which is the first David Tennant episode. Now that I think about it, it references Hitchhikers Guide as well, briefly.
It introduces the Doctor mid-regeneration, then he's unconscious for a bit and then he turns up to save the day.
I think it works quite well as an introduction to the world and builds up some anticipation about who the Doctor is quite well.

Rose is a decent choice also, but for me, starting at Christmas Invasion gives you a big start into a show that's found its feet and then when you go back to Eccleston you get a bunch of nice payoffs.

Stick with post-2005 Who (Eccleston onwards) for a while. Classic Who has a lot of great stuff, but the pacing and effects are very much from an earlier age.

Some highlights (in terms of episodes which are notable or interesting or personal favourites):
S1E01 Rose (great introduction to the Doctor and to Rose)
S1E06 Dalek (a nice intro to the iconic enemy)
S1E09 and 10 Empty Child and Doctor Dances (Captain Jack two parter, lot's of good stuff in here)
Chrismas Invasion (Intro to Tennant)
S2E04 Girl in the Fireplace
S3E10 Blink (Great episode, but it's one of the Doctor Light ones, where the Doctor isn't in it much to ease filming schedules, which makes it not a great intro episode. Quite scary, but should be ok for an 11 year old)
S4E08 and 09 Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead (intro to River Song.)
S5E01 The eleventh Hour (Matt Smith and Amy Pond's first episode)
S6E04 The Doctor's Wife (Written by Neil Gaiman, and a great episode)
S8E08 Mummy on the Orient Express (I think the best of Capaldi's early stuff)
S9E11 Heaven Sent (An interesting puzzle box type episode)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 8:38 AM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

If you skip Eccelston and Rose, you skip all the nuance available to the viewer through the Tennant years. Also, I think, the introduction of most of the superior story lines.

Start from the beginning and don't look back. (There's a few jokes there, but spoilers ;))
posted by jbenben at 8:56 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

Rose or Eleventh Hour. Both were designed to bring new viewers into the show.
posted by betweenthebars at 9:02 AM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

I think starting with Eccleston is ideal, because he works as a perfect 13-episode introduction to who the Doctor is and what he does, up to and including the inevitable regeneration. With all of the other post-2005 Doctors, you don't get that thrill of rediscovery until much further down the line and they've gotten at least three or four seasons under their belt. A lot of the joy of the Tennant years is finding new sides to a character who you'd first gotten to know with Eccleston.
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:14 AM on April 9, 2018 [4 favorites]

To help set your expectations and get your bearings, I recommend Craig Ferguson's Doctor Who cold open song, which is a perfect explanation of why The Doctor matters and what is great about the character.

♫ One thing is consistent though and this is why the show is so beloved by geeks and nerds ♫
♫ It's all about the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism ♫

posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:23 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

I think you should start with the first Matt Smith episode.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 11:07 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

every time they 'reincarnate' it's a different actor and that takes a lot of getting used to, so i'd pick one actor/doctor and start at their first show. As to which, don't ask me. I liked Ecclestone, but he only did one series (?) so you'd have to do another pretty quick, whereas the one after him was hugely popular. Also, she won't score many nerd points watching the older shows as others her age won't have heard of them, so i'd go with modern ones.
I had a Dr. Who annual when i was young and loved it. Don't know if you can buy them now (probably worth something, mine went long ago!) but do they do them now? They were great. (Annual = thick A4 hardback book with lots of stuff about your favourite tv show, comic or whatever, mainly stories but also puzzles and stuff, usually a couple of inches thick.) We didn't have smartphones and youtube though, youngsters now probably wouldn't like them.
posted by maiamaia at 11:31 AM on April 9, 2018

I'd start with Matt Smith's Doctor/"The Eleventh Hour" and backtrack later to Eccleston and Tennant (and classic Who) if she's into it. First, there's a big leap in production values between Eccleston/Tennant and Smith -- the latter looks like "modern" TV, the former is noticeably dated even to my adult eyes, let alone to someone who wasn't even born yet. Could be your daughter won't care at all! But I usually err on not throwing more barriers to immersion in front of new viewers than necessary. Secondly, the main female character of seasons 5-7, Amy, has a more "magical" backstory than Rose's*, and is introduced to us as a kid, so that might be more appealing to a young Harry Potter fan.

Of course I'm going to contradict everything I just said about production values and also suggest The Sarah Jane Adventures, the kids' Doctor Who spinoff which was arguably superior to the main show and stars a tough, smart older lady as the lead with a cast of great kid characters.

Lastly, I'm not a classic Who expert, but if she wants to try the old serials I'd suggest Third or Fourth Doctor (especially Three with Jo Grant or Four with Sarah Jane and Harry).

*Some people complain about this, which I think is silly. The whole point of Doctor Who is that it contains multitudes and can tell pretty much any kind of story you want to tell.
posted by bettafish at 11:31 AM on April 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

I also agree with starting with Matt Smith's Doctor, seeing if she's into it, and then going back to Eccleston. Reason being is that Matt Smith is kinda goofy and lighthearted, Amy meets him as a child, and it's a good entry point for an eleven year old.

I'm not eleven years old, but I got into Doctor Who as an adult via Matt Smith and wanted to soak up more of the history and the stories so I double backed to Eccleston and caught myself up. Doesn't take very long and I didn't feel like I missed out doing it this way. On the contrary, my interest was piqued.
posted by vivzan at 1:47 PM on April 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

Just a tip, if you start with Smith--in the ending of Season Five, Amy the companion (probably who your daughter will identify with) straight-up gets shot by her boyfriend (against his will) and dies, the Doctor is sent away in an unescapable prison, the TARDIS blows up, and all the stars start to go out. None of that takes, of course, but it might be a bit intense for a sensitive eleven-year-old, at least without a little advance preparation. I mean, it's meant to be a family show, but the last minutes of "The Pandorica Opens" creeped me out.
posted by praemunire at 2:34 PM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

My son wanted to get into the show around the 50th anniversary, when he was 11 or so. He wasn't raised on much TV and we'd tried starting with Rose a year or so prior and it was too intense for him. So we started with the First Doctor and watched a selection of episodes from each of the classic Doctors. The pace of television sure was different, but it was enlightening to see how much the character has changed/not changed since the beginning. By the time we got to the modern show, he'd been prepared and was sufficiently wowed.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this formula for everyone, but it was truly fascinating to see 50 years of time passing in the span of 6 months or so. But if the Eccleston season is too cheesy for you, then seriously don't go farther back.
posted by rikschell at 2:56 PM on April 9, 2018

Are you going to watch the whole thing? Start at the beginning.
Want to try it out? I don't know about your kid, but I always tell people to watch "Blink".
It doesn't really require much series knowledge, is a great episode, and if you don't like it then it's probably not your show.
posted by bongo_x at 9:32 PM on April 10, 2018