Doctor Who

The Show

Doctor Who is the longest ongoing sci-fi series in history of television. It started in 1963 and ran until 1989 where it was temporarily frozen. It attempted a restart with a 1996 movie, but the circumstances were not yet ripe. The show finally started again in 2005 and is currently still running, continuing at least until 2010, but probably longer. Throughout this history the show has maintained the same continuity, thanks to the fact that the main protagonist The Doctor (aka Doctor Who) is an alien capable of "regeneration" upon the time of death or when he grows old. This rejuvenates and replaces all the cells in his body, effectively changing his appearance and somewhat his mannerisms and personality (because it also changes the brain). In this way, the series has been able to continue with different actors without resorting to "remakes" or "reimaginings" or "spinoffs" like Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica. There were a couple of unsuccessful attempts at making spinoffs (One during the original run and one more recently, both based on the rather twee disposable sidekicks Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 the tin dog), and one more successful, the recent Torchwood. Torchwood is Doctor Who with a large dose of GRIMDARK, along with a literally immortal lead character with a Charisma score so high that Alpenhorn-mancers turn gay for him within a sixteen mile radius. Everyone is gay for Captain Jack Harkness.

The 10 actors who portrayed the character onscreen to date, clockwise from top-left.

The show is heavily episodic, with the Doctor travelling through time and space in his TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space) and landing in different historical periods on Earth and elsewhere in the universe, often when there is some sort of trouble or disturbance nearby. The Doctor protects the flow of history, preventing paradoxes and manipulations and attempts to stop evil and violence everywhere. This gains him the enmity of his own race, the Gallifreyan Time Lords who have pledged to use their time-travelling technology only to observe but not interfere. Even so they often ask the Doctor to act on their behalf. The time lords got a bit shit towards the end of the original run, and were unceremoniously killed off en masse during the gap between the original and new runs in an offscreen "Time War".

The show has become iconic in British culture and science fiction fandom around the world for many reasons, amongst them:

• Having been around for fucking ever. Even if you were born during the window when Dr Who was not being made, the chances are you remember it from re-runs or carefully archived bootlegged copies made by that one uncle you had (No, not that one).
• Cheesy low budged effects and monsters which gave the show a special charm and made it rely on story instead of flashy visuals.
• The TARDIS machine which has a "chameleon circuit" which allows it to change external appearance to fit into different enviroments where it "lands", its inside is much bigger than the outside, potentially infinite, thanks to the space-time technology it uses. The Doctor's TARDIS got its chameleon circuit busted and is permanently stuck in the iconic shape of a 60's british Police Box.
• The character of The Doctor and his eccentric figure, with his alien traits like regeneration and a double heart.
• The show has been known to be aimed at a younger audience but scare them at the same time, so "hiding behind the sofa" has become a phrase connected to it
• It also retains a big following amongst older fans because its two-sided nature; it is largely easy-going, tongue-in-cheek and comical but often turns to darker and serious tones, with good storytelling.
• Comical yet fearsome enemies like the Daleks (Pepper-pots with death rays and the best E-VIL VOI-CES E-VER), Sontarans (Huge domed heads, eyebrows and foreheads of a 4e Tiefling) and Autons (Shop Dummies of Death) and memorable "supervillain" antagonists like The Master, a rival Time Lord, and the ever-wrinkly Davros.
• Hiding behind the sofa from the aforementioned Daleks was such a common event in the lives of several decades of children that the phrase "Hiding behind the sofa" has entered Britfag slang as a slightly tongue-in-cheek way of saying "Shit scared".
• Various toys, gadgets and gags the Doctor uses, amongst others a 'Sonic Screwdriver' tool and the use of jellybabies candy to distract or bribe people.

The Doctors

The Doctor can regenerate 12 times, resulting in 13 different versions of himself. He is currently in his 10th incarnation, meaning that he's had ten official actors so far. That's them around that logo, starting top-left.

• William Hartnell (1963-1966): A mysterious grumpy old professor. Didn't like to have humans tag along with him, but changed his mind after a while. Extremely intelligent (like all Doctors, duh), but also short-tempered. And a pretty good fighter, despite being old: Once beat up a big man in fisticuffs, while laughing. The Daleks and Cybermen were introduced during his time.
• Patrick Troughton (1966-1969): A cosmic hobo. Likes music, and plays recorder. More of an anti-authority figure than his predecessor. Looked like a total idiot, made his enemies underestimate him, and ran away quite a lot. It was also during his time that his race, the Time Lords, was first introduced.
• Jon Pertwee (1970-1974): A gentleman and a dandy. Spend a lot of time stuck on Earth, thanks to his stupid race putting him on an exile. Could do Venusian Aikido and liked fast cars. The Master, his arch-nemesis and a fellow Time lord, was introduced: He tried to conquer the world with plastic chairs! We're not kidding.
• Tom Baker (1974-1981): The bohemian, a total weirdo, who liked candy and had an extremely long scarf. Very good in playing a fool: No one could be as stupid as he seemed. Could switch from manic to serious in a single moment. The most well-known Doctor, probably due to his long tenure. Davros, the creator of the Daleks and a total maniac, was introduced.
• Peter Davison (1981-1984): Pretty much the complete opposite of his predecessor. Very much human, very noble, liked cricket. Had the youngest actor. Some people hated him just for replacing Tom Baker. People died a lot during his time: Sometimes there was literally no one left but him and his companions - or, in case of his last story, only his companion.
• Colin Baker (1984-1986): An unstable maniac. More violent than the rest of his incarnations put together. The whole show became bloodier during his time. Thought he was awesome, despite always wearing that awful coat. Generally regarded as being the worst Doctor, at least in the TV shows, but became much more awesome in the audio.
• Sylvester McCoy (1987-1989): Started like a goofy wacky fellow, but became more serious later on. Seemed like a god walking among lesser people, and could probably out-manipulate Tzeentch. During his time, they started to turn onto some big questions, like who the hell the Doctor actually is, but then the show got cancelled. Bummer.
• Paul McCann (1996): A romantic. Told people to make the best use of their limited time on this world and embrace their lives instead of being all emo and crying in a corner. But he also told that he was half-human, which is a lie. The books and audio fleshed him out a bit. Too bad his movie didn't make well enough in America to spawn a new series (damn you America!).
• Christopher Eccleston (2005): The only survivor of a horrible Time War, which we're never going to see. All the other Time Lords died in it. Dark and moody, probably because of the survivor's guilt, tended to hide in behind a horribly manic and happy behavior. Was pretty dependant of his friends and companions: Often found himself in a kind of fix where he couldn't do shit. The first Doctor not to wear weird clothes.
• David Tennant (2005-2010): Probably the happiest of all Doctors, a total crackpot. Talks a lot of technobabble, at like 90mph, sometimes of something completely unrelated. Attracts a lot of women. Oh and, when he'll offer you a chance of redemption and says that he can help you, you bloody well should take that offer! Because otherwise he'll punish you, bad. Seriously, the guy can be a total asshole.
• Matt Smith (2010-): Who the hell is this guy? Pretty much all we know is that he's even younger than Peter Davison was. We'll see next year.

The RPGs

There have been two Doctor Who RPGs published to date, one by FASA, using the Star Trek RPG system and another by Ian Marsh and Peter Darvill-Evans. The FASA game was notable for its poor knowledge of Doctor Who continuity and offical fluff, the Time Lord RPG was closer to the series and sported a simpler system, along with mechanics that tried to emulate the show (macguffins, bench thumping etc). Neither game became well known or sucessful.

A new game is being developed by Cubicle 7 Entertainment (SLA Industries, Victoriana, Starblazer Adventures), this time in conjunction with the BBC and based on the most recent series.

External Links

• Site of the Time Lord RPG by Marsh, with free downloads of all the material avabile.

• Cubicle 7 Entertainment site. They currently have no info on the Doctor Who RPG because it is still in playtesting.