Who is the doctor in doctor who
Doctor Who Explained
doctor who is returning for its 11th
season this year with Jodie Whittaker
taking the lead as the eponymous doctor
as a fan of the show it's always
exciting when a new doctor enters the
TARDIS it gives the show a fresh new
slate to work from a renewed sense of
energy and a snazzy new outfit for the
doctor to wear but most importantly it
offers the perfect jumping on point for
any newcomers to the show each new
doctor offers a soft reboot of sorts
and that big reset is amplified this
time around with the introduction of a
new showrunner a new writing team new
music and new cast hell even a new logo
what I'm getting at is this is the
perfect entry point for anyone that's
been thinking about checking out that
weird British sci-fi show but might
being scared off by 55 years of dense
history law and well stuff like this so
for all of you thinking of jumping
onboard or for those fans that just want
to get excited about the new season
here's a primer on everything you need
to know about Doctor Who but before we
get into our Doctor Who 101 make sure to
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[Music]
okay so doctor who is a British sci-fi
series that's tied airing on the BBC way
back in 1963 the show follows The
Adventures of the doctor a member of an
alien race known as the Time Lords more
on them later who for all intents and
purposes appears as a human he travels
around the universe in hazel now
technically her TARDIS a spaceship which
appears as a British police box why well
because police phone boxes were anywhere
and everywhere in Britain during the
swinging sixties and it needed to
disguise itself to blend in then it
broke and it's been stuck in that
disguise ever since right so notable
features the TARDIS well firstly it can
travel anywhere in space and time like
anywhere dawn of man end of the universe
round the corner bottom of the ocean
anywhere and secondly it's bigger on the
inside
spear on the inside inside the mouth
it's bigger on the inside
is it unnoticed the main upshot of these
two key features is that an episode of
Doctor Who can take place anywhere and
at any point in time so for example in a
normal season of the show you can have
episodes jumping from medieval England
to the far-flung reaches of the universe
via well
[Music]
in my opinion this is one of the show's
strongest selling points it's dizzying
sense of variety the show crosses genres
blends time periods and features plenty
of event of set pieces sometimes all at
once while that might sound scattershot
it places the characters and their story
arcs front and center keeping the
ongoing story grounded goodnight
along for the ride is usually an
assortment of companions who effectively
act as the audience is way into the
crazy adventures of the doctor these
characters typically humans are there to
act as foils for the madcap musings of
the doctor giving the audience a
relatable presence amid the hectic
action in some ways they act as the main
character of the show with each new
season typically starting afresh with
the story of the new companion and nine
times out of ten they instantly get
themselves into trouble lending the show
to main source of dramatic peril some
have lived some have died and some are
tragically sucked into alternate
dimensions right in front of our
misty-eyed faces yeah it's a bit of a
roulette travelling with the doctor the
trouble usually comes in the form of a
rogue's gallery of monsters chief among
them the iconic Daleks truth be told the
doctors adversaries define the show
nearly as much as the Central Time Lord
himself and over the years we've had
some cracking monsters there's the
aforementioned Daleks basically space
Nazis that look like salt and pepper
shakers the Cybermen a race of coldly
logical cyborgs the master essentially
an evil version of the doctor the
silence a sinister alien species that
you forget about as soon as you stop
looking at them and the creepy weeping
angels stone gargoyles that can only
move when you take your eyes off of them
but I'm getting ahead of myself let's
get back to the doctor and crucially who
is he or she and why have there been so
many I am the doctor I'm the doctor I'm
the doctor I'm the doctor
hello I'm the doctor so as you can
probably tell there have been a lot of
doctors 14 to be precise and they're all
different versions of the same character
the simplest way to explain it is like
this whenever a Time Lord dies he or she
can regenerate their body into a
completely new one effectively making
them immortal as part of this
regeneration the doctor can change his
appearance style personality sense of
humor and of course gender but most
importantly the doctor retains his
memory all the knowledge and experience
he's accrued over as many lifetimes
that's how the show gets around having
to reboot every time an actor wants to
vacate the TARDIS and while the doctor
essentially remains the same person it
also allows each actor to bring their
own style and personality to the role
basically all 14 doctors are the same
character keeping the show nicely in
continuity all the way back to 1963 okay
let's get into Doctor Who's notorious
continuity as it's definitely one of the
hardest things to get your head around
there are two distinct areas of Doctor
Who the classic era that ran from 1963
to 1989 and the revival area that's been
airing since 2005 the classic era covers
the 1st to 7th incarnations of the
doctor while the revival run covers
doctors 9 through to 13 and if you're
wondering the 8th doctor appeared in a
standalone TV movie that aired in 1996
and is largely best forgotten but the
upshot is that both eras exist in the
same continuity and it all runs
chronologically well as chronological is
you can get for a show about time travel
it's really not necessary to go back and
start watching the show from season 1
unless you have time to watch 840
episodes if so be my guest but if you
really want to go back and check out
previous seasons there are loads of
great starting points you could go and
start with Christopher Eccleston right
back at the beginning of the revival era
or you could skip ahead to when David
Tennant or Matt Smith was the doctor
there are plenty of options to explore
previous seasons of the show whether you
decide to start the latest season or
back and explore previous doctors you
should now have the essentials covered
while doctor who has a reputation for
bargain bin monsters endless corridor
running and British twee it's a show
that's full of heart spirit and a sense
of adventure and I cannot recommend it
enough especially for anyone who likes
sci-fi horror adventure comedy westerns
time travel action romance you get the
point it's great go check it out
and if you're keen for more Doctor Who
content definitely subscribe to GameSpot
universe as we'll be breaking down the
latest episodes of the new season
starting from Monday the 8th of October
and we'll be getting stuck into what you
can expect from the new season in a
future video but in the meantime if you
have any questions queries or thoughts
about Doctor Who chuck them in the
comments below or come and find me on
Twitter and I'll see you next time
