Current Events > Gonna start watching Dr. Who

(+) Yeah! (+)

When should I stop?

Are you starting with the classic Doctor Who, or with the 2005 reboot? I can't offer any advice on classic Who. For New Who, watch everything. Are there seasons that aren't great? Sure. Will you like some Doctors more than others? Absolutely! But no, it is all worth it. Each episode could be anything, with any level of quality. That's part of the charm.

Except...maybe skip Jodie's last season about the Flux. You'll know it when you see it. Don't skip her last special, though, as it was easily the best thing she did. Every special after that was fire.

If you can't get in to New Who, and you are sure of it, check out the most recent Christmas Special. The next season of Doctor Who coming in May is a sort of reboot and is, apparently, meant as a good jumping in point for new fans.

I just could not get into that show, even with the 2005 reboot.

darkmaian23 posted...

Except...maybe skip Jodie's last season about the Flux.

Disagree. Parts of that were fun and Dan with extra space in the spoiler to obscure the name's length was a fun companion.

I need to go back and finish Flux, but I was enjoying it more than Jodi Whitakers first two seasons. The writing in those was pretty awful, and thats saying something when talking about Doctor Who.

And Im not comparing that Doctor Who was political- the show frequently has been. Nothing fun was going on and three companions made the show bloated. Because Flux was down to one companion, the show felt like it could breathe more. Plus, Flux not worrying about how goofy the show generally is was another benefit imo.

I still think Nu Who peaked with the a long time ago, but like Capaldis final season, Whitakers seemed like they were finally course correcting.

Start with 2005 and stop if you get bored

I got in with NuWho and stopped like half way through Jodies first series. I hear the second is better. I'm also intruiged by the new doctor because I like the actor so maybe I'll catch up one day.

I would start with The Third Doctor as he is the earliest with all his episodes intact and just work your way through to the latest episodes.

I can't advise you on Peter Capaldi's last season or Jodi "Can't act for toffee" Whittakers seasons as I have never watched them and never will.

If you are still interested you could try to find The First and Second Doctor episodes that are intact and watch those as well.

Third doc is the best imo, but there are good episodes for any of them. Twelfth is the last one worth watching through imo

I actually started watching classic Doctor Who a few months ago on Tubi (free and on-demand).

Started with the first doctor and the first episode but it felt so dated I couldn't finish the first story arc. The women were walking tropes, screaming like wild cats at every hint of danger. The doctor was incredibly stupid and endangered everybody so he could explore. Also it starts with four or five main characters (too many) and the middle aged man feels more like the main character but he's boring.

So I skipped to the second doctor and got a few excellent story arcs. The first one was the best though. A lot of early Doctor Who is missing so they had to animate it. The Power of the Daleks is a perfect Dr Who story which gave me Fallout vault 101 vibes. This arc was one of the better animation styles I've seen that they've gone with and it looks like Archer, sadly they don't keep the same animation style afterwards.

Highly recommend even if you only ever watch one Doctor Who arc, then you have to watch the power of the daleks.

Hayame_Zero posted...

Start with 2005 and stop if you get bored

This. The series varies randomly on quality depending on your personal taste but it's not like there's an abandon ship moment. If you're hooked from the start you'll probably enjoy all of it to some extent. If not, jump off whenever.

I started years ago with 2005 Doctor Who. I enjoyed the first doctor but I actually lost interest during the doctor everybody likes.

Maybe it's just that it doesn't feel alien enough. There's something about the old Doctor Who, the retro effects, cheap sets and puppets and props that make it feel more mysterious.

I absolutely loved the series from the 2005 seasons until the last season of uh... Matt Smith's Doctor. It started to fall off for me then. Then I entirely lost interest during Capaldi's first season and haven't watched since.

darkmaian23 posted...

Except...maybe skip Jodie's last season about the Flux.

Hard disagree, I think it was great.

Error1355 posted...

Then I entirely lost interest during Capaldi's first season and haven't watched since.

Yeah, that was a nadir. But Capaldi's final season is (mostly) better, as is the whole Whittaker era.

darkmaian23 posted...

Are you starting with the classic Doctor Who, or with the 2005 reboot? I can't offer any advice on classic Who. For New Who, watch everything. Are there seasons that aren't great? Sure. Will you like some Doctors more than others? Absolutely! But no, it is all worth it. Each episode could be anything, with any level of quality. That's part of the charm.

Except...maybe skip Jodie's last season about the Flux. You'll know it when you see it. Don't skip her last special, though, as it was easily the best thing she did. Every special after that was fire.

If you can't get in to New Who, and you are sure of it, check out the most recent Christmas Special. The next season of Doctor Who coming in May is a sort of reboot and is, apparently, meant as a good jumping in point for new fans.

/topic

Thanatos_the_Great posted...

Yeah, that was a nadir. But Capaldi's final season is (mostly) better, as is the whole Whittaker era.

One day I'll get back into it, but I feel like I'm going to need to hear it's back to its peak again before I sink hours into a show. I barely watch anything these days so I'm rather choosy at times lol.

People who are overly critical of Whittaker's tenure are forgetting how bad the writing actually was in the RTD era. I've been rewatching it with a group of friends on Discord and a lot of episodes are actually pretty rough and/or unnecessary.

Off the top of my head, the Lazarus episode. That entire second half didn't need to exist at all lol

And then there are the obvious callouts like Love & Monsters and how Davies doesn't understand what a "Christmas special" is supposed to be. He just takes a regular script for a non-Christmas-themed episode, sets the date to December 25th and adds a Santa robot, and says "good enough".

Yeah, I still believe that the first Tennant season had some of the worst episodes in the series. Everyone always shit on Moffat and compared him to Davies, but Moffat seemed to get Who way more.

I always thought that Moffat's seasons were the modern era at its peak. The overarching storylines were handled much better; Davies handled his foreshadowing with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.