Line #266 Series/DoctorWho


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9	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doctor_who_logo_2023.png]]
10	[[caption-width-right:350: ♫ ''[[Music/DavidBowie Time may change me, but I can't trace time...]] ♫'']]
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13	->''"It all started out as a mild curiosity in a junkyard, and now it's turned out to be quite a great spirit of adventure."''
14	-->-- '''[[Characters/DoctorWhoFirstDoctor The First Doctor]]''', "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E7TheSensorites The Sensorites]]"
15
16	''Doctor Who'' is a British television institution, and the [[LongRunners longest-running science-fiction series in the world]]; first airing on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC TV]] on 23 November 1963. Created by Canadian television producer Creator/SydneyNewman (''Series/{{The Avengers\|1960s}}''), it takes place in and established the Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}, which has a continuous and [[BroadStrokes constantly adapting]] story involving many different timelines, and also spawned the truly vast Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse.
17
18	The premise of the show is (somewhat) simple enough: it follows the adventures of a [[HumanAliens humanoid alien]] -- the Doctor (real name unknown) -- and their various companions through time and space. The Doctor is a renegade of sorts, having left their home planet of Gallifrey, and travels around the universe in a [[SapientShip living and sentient]] {{time machine}}, the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), and meets many foes, ranging from heavily armoured robots to killer microbes to {{Eldritch Abomination}}s to members of the Doctor's own people, the Time Lords.
19
20	Part of the longevity of the series is that when the actor playing the Doctor leaves, the show gets around this by killing the character off, only to [[TheNthDoctor "regenerate" the Doctor into a new form played by someone else]]. As a result, the same character has appeared in the series from the very beginning, but their new personality and new tastes give the show [[{{Retool}} a distinctly different atmosphere]] with each regeneration, leading the producers to treat the introduction of a new Doctor as a soft relaunch of the series. The show also frequently changes companions -- over its history, only a relative handful have ever actually stayed longer than one or two seasons -- and once again, the change in companion is also treated as something of a relaunch, especially in the 2005-present era, where the stories are more frequently told from their perspective.
21
22	The show originally ran from 1963 to 1989 (with an 18-month hiatus in 1985-6 caused by ExecutiveMeddling, during which it "rested" and saw only a radio drama air), before being pulled from the airwaves after the conclusion of its 26th season; the BBC has always insisted that the show was merely placed on hiatus, but the general understanding is that it had actually been cancelled. In the "Wilderness Years" when ''Doctor Who'' was off the air (1990-2004), independent productions ranging from DirectToVideo [[LowerDeckEpisode companion adventures minus the Doctor]], stories about monsters from the series, spoofs, InNameOnly stories featuring former Doctors on the show, licence-restricted stories featuring no familiar characters from the series, audio releases, and anniversary specials technically kept the franchise alive.
23
24	A MadeForTVMovie aired in 1996, in which the Seventh Doctor returned at the end of his life and regenerated into the Eighth. This was created [[BackDoorPilot as a pilot]] for an American-led revival, but although the Eighth Doctor became part of the continuity as a whole, no actual return of the series resulted due to the film's poor ratings in the United States (it was, however, a success in the UK). Throughout the remainder of the decade, Creator/TheBBC made attempts to relaunch the series with another film in theaters, to no avail, and between 2001 and 2003 produced a series of webcasts which it considered in every way an official continuation of the series (insofar as the Beeb ever indicates what is and isn't canon). It is possible more would have been made, but a very exciting development on the television front was made in 2005, as the BBC [[ObligatoryJoke regenerated]] the show.
25
26	Despite the season counter being reset to one, this new "{{Revival}} Series" is a direct continuation of the 1963-1989 "Classic Series", rather than being a ContinuityReboot, and the first Doctor depicted here, the Ninth Doctor, was a successor to the previous eight incarnations instead of a reimagining. The Revival Series has radically upgraded production values (the original series is notorious for its [[SpecialEffectFailure/DoctorWho often rubbery monster prosthetics]] and bad ChromaKey), shorter [[StoryArc story arcs]] but much more continuity throughout, and deeper CharacterDevelopment and romance to the series than what the first 24 seasons depicted.[[note]]Deeper character exploration began with Seasons 25 & 26, but the Revival Series is where this greater elaboration really started kicking in. Romance was teased throughout the Classic Series and started showing up in the TV Movie, though the Revival focused more on it.[[/note]] As such, 2023 marked the show's 60th anniversary. The original show lasted 26 "seasons", whereas the new annual runs of episodes are called "series": officially, the show went from Season 26 to Series 1, and so on; despite this, it's important to note, once again, that the Revival Series is still very much a continuation of the Classic Series, though it doesn't rely on viewer familiarity of the show's continuity with its predecessor, allowing it to remain accessible to newcomers as well as to longtime fans. Even subtracting the 16-year "interregnum", the show still holds the record of longest-running English-language sci-fi series, with its nearest rival being the 12-season run of fellow UK series ''Series/RedDwarf''.
27
28	The BBC has their own freelance [[http://www.restoration-team.co.uk/ Restoration Team]], devoted to restoring and remastering episodes from the 1963-1989 run to as much of their former glory as possible, as well as doing some additional touch-ups to amend some of the... [[SpecialEffectsFailure less graceful moments]]. In the process, they have pioneered a number of brand new restoration techniques, such as Reverse Standards Conversion (recovering PAL footage from NTSC copy), Chroma Dot Colour Recovery (using leftover dots to recolour a black and white copy) and Vid FIRE (increasing the frame rate of a film copy to that of the original video), which have since also been applied to other vintage TV shows. Until 1978, the BBC had a policy of junking episodes they thought they no longer needed; as a result, the master tapes for many episodes that aired from 1964 to as late as 1974 were in fact demagnetized for later reuse. Since 1978, a concerted effort by fans and the BBC itself has resulted in many episodes being recovered, as recently as 2013. At present, 97 of the 253 episodes from the 1960s remain missing from the BBC archives, though it is widely speculated that a number of episodes have been located. That said, audio recordings survive of all the missing episodes, and all of the incomplete or missing storylines have also been adapted as novels over the years. In more recent years, the BBC has even commissioned animated re-creations of missing episodes for DVD release, making use of reference photographs and utilizing the audio recordings.
29
30	The show has spawned several spinoffs within its canon Franchise/{{Whoniverse}}, which have occasionally crossed over with the main series. Except where noted, these take place in (then-)present-day Earth.
31
32	* ''Series/K9AndCompany'' (1981), a failed PilotEpisode with the Doctor's former companions Sarah Jane Smith and K-9. The episode aired as a Christmas special in 1981.
33	* ''Search Out Space'' (1990), a one-off special edition of ''Search Out Science'', a children's education programme, with Creator/SylvesterMcCoy and Creator/SophieAldred returning as the 7th Doctor and Ace, and joined by K9.
34	* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' (1999 - present), prominent audio stories overseen by longtime Dalek and Cyberman voice actor Creator/NicholasBriggs and starring virtually all the surviving original TV actors from the classic era, several from the new series and some from other spin-off shows. Takes place in a variety of eras and worlds, as with the TV series. Although considered canon by the BBC from the start (and explicitly as of 2013's [[Recap/DoctorWho50thPrequelTheNightOfTheDoctor "The Night Of The Doctor"]]), Creator/BigFinish also has many different timelines/continuities, and includes adaptations of existing works from the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse. Due to the audio series' sheer size and complexity, it plays by the rules of the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse: the TV series sometimes contradicts or overwrites the audio stories, or adapts them for the televised continuity. Prior to 2015, Big Finish only had the rights to feature characters from the original 1963-89 era, plus the Eighth Doctor from the TV movie (but no other characters from the film); since then their licence was expanded to include every Doctor, Companion, and Monster introduced in the revival series, but they are expressly forbidden from using the incumbent TV Doctor or stuff from their era until their time on the show has ended.
35	* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' (2006 - 2011), a DarkerAndEdgier (as well as HotterAndSexier) series focusing on Ninth Doctor companion Captain Jack Harkness. On indefinite hiatus after four seasons as producer/showrunner Creator/RussellTDavies is currently focusing on other projects, although beginning in 2015 Big Finish Productions (see above) started producing audio dramas featuring the original cast.
36	* ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' (2007 - 2011), a LighterAndSofter kid-friendly spinoff focusing on Sarah Jane Smith (the second attempt after ''K-9 and Company''). K-9 put in semi-regular appearances. The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, and original-series ''Who'' characters TheBrigadier and Jo Grant guest-starred in one serial each. The series ended production after four and a half seasons due to the death of star Creator/ElisabethSladen.
37	* ''Series/{{K9}}'' (2010), an Australian children's show (produced by a company other than the BBC) which continues in the spirit of ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures''. It takes place in a late-21st-century {{Dystopia}}n London and features an upgraded version of the robot dog that had been PutOnABus back in the 1977 story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E6TheInvasionOfTime The Invasion of Time]]". A single season aired in 2010. In late 2015 plans were announced for a movie to premiere in 2017, but no further official comment has been made since then and there is no indication of such a film being released; the series itself is considered to now be concluded. Does not contain any ''Doctor Who'' concepts except for the central character, due to rights issues. (Due to the BBC's copyright policy in the seventies, the rights to K-9 himself are owned by the character's co-creator Dave Martin, and were separately licensed by him for this show.)
38	* ''Series/{{Class\|2016}}'' (2016), premiering Autumn 2016, this series revolves around a group of sixth formers at Coal Hill School as they deal with typical teenager issues: [[BreadEggsMilkSquick relationships, school life, monsters from space attempting to destroy all of existence...]] turns out that the Doctor travelling through time again and again made the walls of space and time stretch thin around Coal Hill, to the point where they are about to burst. As such, who knows what kind of monster might take the opportunity to slip through next. A more adult-oriented series than ''Doctor Who'' aimed at the YA crowd (therefore allowing sexual content and violence similar to ''Torchwood''), and produced originally for streaming on BBC Three. [[ShortRunners Cancelled after its first series]] due to low streaming and broadcast viewership numbers, though Creator/BigFinish would later resurrect it in the audio format.
39
40	There are additionally ''many'' adventures in almost all types of media, often made by the cast and crew of the TV series, which freely contradict each other. Collectively, these are known as the Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse. (The BBC rarely comments on their, or for that matter the TV series', canonicity, causing a fair amount of debate and EpilepticTrees.) Stories outside the TV series tend to be DarkerAndEdgier, and often tackle themes that the TV series can't dive into for any reason, as well as story ideas that were proposed but simply never developed for television. Quite a few stories from the ExpandedUniverse ended up referenced in or even [[RecursiveAdaptation adapted for]] the revived TV series.
41
42	The series has also had ''four'' behind-the-scenes {{Companion Show}}s. The longest-running was ''Series/DoctorWhoConfidential'', which debuted in 2005 and was cancelled in 2011 due to budget cuts (a scaled-down version called ''Behind the Lens'' has since been featured on DVD releases). ''Totally Doctor Who'', a kid-friendly version of ''Confidential'', aired two seasons from 2006 to 2007, its second season featuring an exclusive animated serial titled "[[Recap/DoctorWho2007TDWASTheInfiniteQuest The Infinite Quest]]". A scaled-down version of ''Confidential'' titled ''Doctor Who Extra'' aired two seasons on iPlayer from 2014 to 2015. The 60th anniversary in 2023 saw the debut of ''Doctor Who: Unleashed''.
43
44	For more detailed information, check the [[Analysis/DoctorWho Analysis tab]].
45
46	One more thing: at over 19,000 Administrivia/{{wick}}s, ''Doctor Who'' is one of [[JustForFun/TropeOverdosed the most-linked-to work pages]] here on Website/TVTropes. Maybe that might explain [[WMG/TimeLord some aspects of TV Tropes culture]]...
47
48	!!I am the Doctor, and you are the tropers:
49
50	* For tropes used in specific episodes of the TV series, see the [[Recap/DoctorWho Doctor Who episode recaps]].
51	* For tropes relating to specific characters or monsters, see the [[Characters/DoctorWho Doctor Who characters pages]].
52	* For tropes used in ''Doctor Who'' media outside of the TV show, see Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse.
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54	----
55	!!Recurring examples (that don't fit in one of the three categories listed above):
56
57	[[index]]
58	* DoctorWho/TropesAToC
59	* DoctorWho/TropesDToF
60	* DoctorWho/TropesGToM
61	* DoctorWho/TropesNToS
62	* DoctorWho/TropesTToZ
63
64	[[folder:Individual trope examples]]
65	* [[ArcVillain/DoctorWho Arc Villain]]
66	* [[ArtisticLicenseHistory/DoctorWho Artistic License -- History]]
67	* [[BadassBoast/DoctorWho Badass Boast]]
68	* [[BeenThereShapedHistory/DoctorWho Been There, Shaped History]]
69	* [[BrokenAesop/DoctorWho Broken Aesop]]
70	* [[CallBack/DoctorWho Call-Back]]
71	* [[ChekhovsGun/DoctorWho Chekhov's Gun]]
72	* [[ContinuityNod/DoctorWho Continuity Nod]]
73	* [[EldritchAbomination/DoctorWho Eldritch Abomination]]
74	* [[ExactWords/DoctorWho Exact Words]]
75	* [[Expy/DoctorWho Expy]]
76	* [[Foreshadowing/DoctorWho Foreshadowing]]
77	* [[Hypocrite/DoctorWho Hypocrite]]
78	* [[LargeHam/DoctorWho Large Ham]]
79	* [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall/DoctorWho Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]
80	* [[MindRape/DoctorWho Mind Rape]]
81	* [[MoodWhiplash/DoctorWho Mood Whiplash]]
82	* [[NoodleIncident/DoctorWho Noodle Incident]]
83	* [[TheNthDoctor/DoctorWho The Nth Doctor]]
84	* [[OhCrap/DoctorWho Oh, Crap!]]
85	* [[OneSteveLimit/DoctorWho One-Steve Limit]]
86	* [[Retool/DoctorWho Retool]]
87	* [[RunningGag/DoctorWho Running Gag]]
88	* [[SequelEpisode/DoctorWho Sequel Episode]]
89	* [[ShipTease/DoctorWho Ship Tease]]
90	* [[StableTimeLoop/DoctorWho Stable Time Loop]]
91	* [[StrawmanHasAPoint/DoctorWho Strawman Has A Point]]
92	* [[TimeyWimeyBall/DoctorWho Timey-Wimey Ball]]
93	* [[TitleDrop/DoctorWho Title Drop]]
94	* [[VillainousBreakdown/DoctorWho Villainous Breakdown]]
95	* [[WhamEpisode/DoctorWho Wham Episode]]
96	* [[TheXOfY/DoctorWho The X of Y]]
97	[[/folder]]
98	[[/index]]
99
100	----
101	->''"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E2TheDalekInvasionOfEarth One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.]]"''
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103	%% Let's skip the JustForFun/StatlerAndWaldorf bit here, please. Attacking the wiki is a lot less funny than you seem to think it is.
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Context Series / DoctorWho