Doctor Who

Alright, nobody asked for it, but I'm giving it. :-)

First off, it is a British Science Fiction television programme.

It started airing in 1963, with William Hartnell as the Doctor. Now, you all may be thinking, "Huh? The guy in the picture couldn't possibly be that old!" I'll tell you. He isn't. William Hartnell stopped being the Doctor in 1966 and Patrick Troughton started being the Doctor then. Now, you're probably scratching your head and REALLY confused. So, I'll put this in an easier format, and if you'll bear with me, we'll get through. Let's start at the beginning, after establishing who originally played the Doctor. That, like I said above, was William Hartnell.

So here are some questions and answers to sort things out...

-Who is the Doctor?
-He is what is known as a Time Lord. But, he is no ordinary Time Lord. "Time Lord?" you may be saying. Ok, we'll back up even farther.

-What is a Time Lord?
-Good question. The Time Lords are basically a race of aliens who enforce the laws of time. Which, is what gets the Doctor in trouble. He likes to get in and help people instead of enforcing the time laws.

-How come they can get away with changing who plays the Doctor?
-Did I mention that a Time Lord (if he or she is powerful enough) can change what they or what others look like? Well, now you know. :-) I mentioned that the Doctor gets in trouble, right? So, when the Time Lords catch him, as punishment, they change what he looks like. Thus, the people in charge of the show can change the actor and get away with it.

Ok, hopefully all questions have been answered for the moment. Notice, that only the actors and what Doctor Who looks like and the personality changes, but the Doctor is always still the Doctor. So, here are the Doctors:

The First Doctor-William Hartnell (1963-1966)
The Second Doctor-Patrick Troughton (1966-1970)
The Third Doctor-Jon Pertwee (1970-1974)
The Fourth Doctor-Tom Baker (1974-1981)
The Fifth Doctor-Peter Davison (1981-1983)
The Sixth Doctor-Colin Baker (1983-1986)
The Seventh Doctor-Sylverster McCoy (1987-1989)
The Eight Doctor-Paul McGann (1996)
The Ninth Doctor-Christopher Ecclestone (2005)
The Tenth Doctor-David Tennant (2005-present)

You'll notice gaps in the dating. That is because, yes, there were gaps in the series.

Ok, onward, for bed calls soon.

The Doctor travels in a time machine called the T.A.R.D.I.S., which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It looks like a blue police call box on the outside, but is much bigger on the inside. He often travels with companions (that's what Rose is), and is constantly being pulled in and out of adventures (and taking them with him!).

Ok, I think that's the basics. For more info on the old series (the 2005 and onward episodes are considered a different section) click here.

For the new one, click here.

Hope this is helpful!

If you get a chance, rent a DVD of it someday. You'll enjoy it!