alt title(s): The Doctor; Nu Who
Doctor Who has thrilled,
terrified and
aroused three generations of fans. It debuted in 1963. It takes place in and established the
Whoniverse which has a very loose and lax continuity, even discounting the
Expanded Universe.
The show originally ran from 1963 to 1989 (with a 18 month hiatus in 1985-6 caused by
Executive Meddling, during which it "rested"). A
Made For TV Movie, aimed as a pilot for a new series aired in 1996, but nothing else resulted. In 2005, a
Revival, still in the same
canon, began and has just finished its fourth season. There will be a 2008 Christmas Special, then four (not three, as some have reported) Specials in 2009, before a fifth season in 2010.
The basic premise of the show is the story of the Doctor.
Not called "Doctor Who", he is known only as "The Doctor". He travels in time and space in his
Cool Ship and
Clown Car Base, the TARDIS. Along the way, he fights (
usually without firearms, but he will kill if need be) evil aliens and sometimes evil humans.
The Doctor is an alien, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. He has now become one of the
Last Of His Kind, following an off-screen Time War destroyed his home planet and people. He has two hearts, some degree of psychic ability and... regeneration.
When the Doctor comes close to death, he can change into a new form. This has meant that the main character has been played by ten actors to date (not counting other actors in non-canon productions). They are referred to by fans as "
The Nth Doctor". That's them around the edge of the logo, starting top left.
- William Hartnell (1963-66): An eccentric, grumpy old professor-type with an air of mystery about him.
- Patrick Troughton (1966-69): The Buster Keatonish clown with Beatle haircut who liked to play a recorder. Carried a massive number of useful things in the pockets of his coat.
- Jon Pertwee (1970-1974): The suave Edwardian gentleman. Spent a great deal of time stuck on Earth and often aided by UNIT and The Brigadier.
- Tom Baker (1974-1981): The Bohemian, famous for a very, very long scarf. Probably the best known of all the Doctor's incarnations, due to his long-term tenure. If you don't know who Tom Baker is, close your eyes and think of Doctor Who. That's him.
- Peter Davison (1981-1984): The young cricketer, somewhat vulnerable, but highly noble, especially in his Heroic Sacrifice. The actor was already well-known, having played a vet on All Creatures Great And Small and many fans never really forgave him for replacing Tom Baker. A few tropes seem to follow this Doctor around like a plague... especially this one.
- Colin Baker (1984-1986): A Darker And Grittier (and certainly more unstable) Doctor, his default emotions were righteous indignation or preening self-obsession. Wasn't averse to fisticuffs to get out of a desperate fix. During his first (one of two) season, the show got in trouble for being too violent). Wore a multicoloured coat. The only actor to be fired from the role, after Executive Meddling had him fired. He refused to reprise the role only to regenerate, so they Dropped A Bridge On Him. Has in recent times been Rescued From The Scrappy Heap due to his stellar performances in the Big Finish audio dramas.
- Sylvester McCoy (1986-1989): Began as a sort of bumbling goof, but became a more mysterious and enigmatic figure after the show got a little Darker And Edgier (after back-pedalling away from it) in its last two seasons. He turned into a borderline Knight Templar, fond of XanatosGambits, and a bit of a Knight Templar Parent to his companion Ace. These qualities came even more to the fore in the Expanded Universe New Adventures novels which came out between 1991 and 1996, when the series returned. And when it did, we had:
- Paul McGann (1996) From the Made For TV Movie, which currently, nobody quite has the rights to release, though Sci-Fi Channel in the UK showed it recently.
- Christopher Eccleston (2005). Riddled with Survivor Guilt from the Time War, the Ninth Doctor was dark and moody at times, but also prone to manic behaviour. Most "street" looking Doctor, with close cropped hair and beat-up leather jacket. Made a Heroic Sacrifice.
- David Tennant (2005-2010). Beware The Nice Ones personified, the Tenth Doctor is a rather manic one at times. He's prone to going off on long unrelated rambles, speaks very quickly, but may subject you to a Fate Worse Than Death if you pass up the chance at redemption he'll inevitably offer. Chick Magnet, something that also applies to his actor. Has recently announced his tenure as the Doctor is coming to an end.
The Doctor is not alone in his travels. For the purposes of
Exposition and for someone the audience can identify with, he has had a large number of companions (
not like that, unless you're dealing in fanfic, in which case it seems to be almost mandatory). Companions are almost always young, usually female and usually attractive. Though it's true that, traditionally, companions tended to serve one of three roles, plot-wise:
- "Doctor, what's going on?"
- "Oh, Doctor, whatever shall we do now?"
- "Save me, Doctor!"
it's also true that a surprising number of them have been surprisingly kickass since surprisingly early in the show's history. See also :
List of characters.
One of the most controversial discussions in fandom is whether
Doctor Who is a (to quote a line from a newspaper article which used to explain the show's appeal on the blurbs of the
novelizations: "Children's program that adults adore", a "family show" or a "
Dark And Edgy show like
Battlestar Galactica meets the
X-Files, at midnight in an unlit cellar! Constant death and misery! Pain! Lots of pain!" In the opinion of Steven Moffat (soon to be show leader) it's fundamentally a children's programme that adults can appreciate; if an episode of Doctor Who isn't
scaring the beejezus out of entertaining the kids, it isn't doing its job properly. But others would disagree.
In strictly factual terms,
Doctor Who's producers worked for BBC Television's drama department rather than the children's department. But this is possibly because a children's department didn't exist when the show was commisioned. It was origninally intended to be an educational show explaining science and history to children and at different points in the show's really long run different producers have had different things to say on this. We said it was a controversial question!
Since the beginning, the show has had a high number of deaths which are unpleasant in many cases, although never particularly gory (in fact the new series is probably the most bloodless the show has ever been). Indeed, Nu Who seems to follow the rather odd philosophy of "Bad guys kill people, good guys kill themselves."
The show also shows a marked variation in its style. Episodes range from the comedic to the very dark and the science fiction goes all over the place on
Mohs Scale Of Sci Fi Hardness. In fact, calling it sci-fi is not entirely accurate- fantasy would be better, with many people who dislike other
Science Fiction loving this show.
The show also has a variance in overall style between executive producers. We are currently in the
Russell T Davies era, a time of much in-jokes,
Lampshade Hanging and big epic stuff.
Steven Moffat will replace RTD (as the fandom calls him- that or Rusty) for the 2010 series. Expect
Nightmare Fuel, lots of it...
No discussion of the show is complete without mentioning its
Theme Tune, which has a number of variations and the varying
Title Sequences. When Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire first created the theme tune in 1963, electronic music was very much in its infancy- this was arguably the very first electronic theme tune, and the original was actually put together by hand. For the very first version, the electronic beeps, boops, and other sounds were created, and then the tape containing them was spliced together in the proper order to create the song. The current version is by Murray Gold. The original title sequence, inspired by feedback, was
Nightmare Fuel for some.
The show has two spin-offs in the form of the
Darker And Edgier Torchwood (
bisexual alien hunters in Cardiff) and the (somewhat)
Lighter And Softer The Sarah Jane Adventures (Beloved ex-companion and
You Meddling Kids.)
Tropes common to each version of the Doctor, include:
- Affably Evil: Several of the Doctor's recurring foes, mostly The Master
- Alien Invasion: Almost constantly
- Aliens And Monsters
- Aliens Of London: Trope Namer
- Aliens Speaking English: justified due to Translator Microbes. Mostly.
- Well, the Doctor claims it's psychic translation in the new series, and it has been shown not to work when he's unconscious.
- Always Save The Girl
- Ancient Astronauts: Earth has been visited a lot over its history
- Anyone Can Die: Unless someone happens to be a historical figure, there is a good chance they will die before the end of the episode. The Doctor and his companions are not immune to death, either. Not even Adric. Especially not Adric.
- The Apple Falls Far: subverted: the sonic screwdriver falls far in "Evolution of the Daleks," but not as far as it looks.
- Arc Words: A staple of the new series
- Arthur Dent: The Doctor's many companions.
- Asshole Victim: Jeremy Baines in Human Nature
- BBC Quarry: Filled in for hundreds of planets over the years - and not necessarily just for Doctor Who. An anecdotal account exists of the Doctor Who and Blakes Seven crews shooting in the same quarry on the same day.
- Big Creepy Crawlies: The Zarbi in The Web Planet
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Any number of critters, not least of which is the Doctor himself (two hearts? really?).
- Bloodless Carnage Usually. A few stories, mainly in Season 22 (this contributed to the series' first hiatus) have gotten pretty gory. Mostly, the series shies away from such things.
- Britain Is Only London: Considering that the TARDIS can travel anywhere and anywhen in the universe, a disproportionate number of episodes take place in present-day London.
- British Series: Do we really need to explain?
- Catch Phrase: nearly every Doctor has at least one)
- The current Doctor has two- "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" and "Allons-y!". In season 4 he picked up "Molto bene" as an occasional one.
- Also: "... Run!" (The ellipsis is important.)
- In his first appearance in the new series, the Doctor introduces himself with the line, "Nice to meet you, Rose. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"
- Changed My Jumper: The Trope Namer
- Clown Car Base: The TARDIS
- Cool Ship: Subverted, The TARDIS can go almost anywhere in time and space yet from the very moment it first appeared on screen it was old, obsolete, and barely functional. It's gotten worse since then.
- This doesn't prevent the TARDIS from being one of the coolest ships in Sci-Fi.
- Creepy Child: In Remembrance of the Daleks, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and Human Nature/The Family of Blood.
- Crew Of One: Rarely has the Doctor had a companion who could fly the TARDIS, or do much of anything besides simple button-pushing.
- Though in the most recent episode, the Doctor pointed out that a TARDIS is supposed to be piloted by six people at once, and the reason it has so much Explosive Instrumentation going on is because the Doctor isn't quite filling in perfectly for the other five - though the fact it runs at all is probably proof that he's just that good.
- Crowning Moment Of Awesome: Many. Check this page.
- Crowning Music Of Awesome: Murray Gold's scores.
- Crystal Spires And Togas: Gallifrey, usually, and several other alien examples
- Cyber Cyclops: The Daleks
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: The Cybermen, one of the oldest examples of this trope as they first appeared in 1966
- Death Ray: Everywhere.
- Die For Our Ship: Some fans were and are very keen to see Rose do this, though the ship she's getting in the way of isn't quite so solid. For fanboys who are annoyed that the Doctor is no longer an asexual old man, the ship Rose needs to die for is Doctor/TARDIS. For fangirls who are infuriated at Rose's supposed Mary Sue qualities, the ship Rose needs to die for is Doctor/Fangirls. On the other hand, many Doctor/Rose fans were calling for Martha's death in the wake of Rose's departure, starting even before a single episode featuring Martha had been aired.
- Some fans liked Rose well enough, but felt that her story had its resolution at the end of the second series and weren't too happy [[with her coming back, and the Stalker With A Crush-ish details thereof]].
- Evil Counterpart: The Master, The Rani, The Valeyard.
- Evil Me Scares Me: The Valeyard.
- Executive Meddling: The show's cancellation following the Sylvester McCoy era has been explicitly, if not exclusively, pinned on BBC executive Michael Grade's personal distaste for it.
- Faceless Goons: Sontarans, Judoon, Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors and so many more...
- Fake American: In the few times they've had one, it's almost never been a real American.
- Fan Of The Past: The Doctor's been shown to be rather fond of Earth's history.
- Fanon: Pretty much every question that's gone unanswered has fan theories, some more widely accepted than others.
- Fan Service Pack: (Nyssa and Tegan both changed their looks to get more attractive during the Fifth Doctor's second year.
- Faster Than Light Travel: Just about every spaceship shown, including the TARDIS which is essentially Faster Than Time.
- Fingertip Drug Analysis: The Doctor's Bizarre Alien Biology lets him taste things safely...including human blood. Eww.
- Five Rounds Rapid: Trope Namer
- Flying Saucers Do we even need to explain?
- Foe Yay: Doctor/Master
- Fonzarelli Fix: Thumping things often gets them working again..including the TARDIS. In fact, The Doctor seems to have a couple of mallets around the console for just that.
- For Want Of A Nail / In Spite Of A Nail: Occasionally even in the same adventure.
- Friendly Enemy: The Master, the Monk.
- Fun With Acronyms: Come on now...there's one that's been used at least a dozen times on this page alone.
- Gannon Banned / I Am Not Shazam: Repeat after me; He is the Doctor, not Doctor Who (except in Peter Cushing's two non-canonical movie outings). The show is "Doctor Who," not "Dr. Who" or "Doctor Who?"
- To be fair, Douglas Adams made the same mistake, and he wrote for the show.
- And the Doctor himself was the first person to drop the phrase in show. When called Doctor Foreman, he responds "Doctor Who?"
- Didn't stop malevolent computer WOTAN from requesting the presence of "Doctor Who" in The War Machines, though.
- The Second Doctor also refers to himself as Dr. Von Wer. (Dodgy German for "Doctor Who".)
- Genius Cripple: Davros. C'mon, he's blind, has one arm, and is in a Dalek-base wheelchair.
- Genius Loci: The TARDIS, others
- Genre Savvy: After various aliens make a mess of London each Christmas for three years in a row, the citizens pack up their bags and leave for the country for the holidays.
- Ghost City: several times
- Government Agency Of Fiction: UNIT and Torchwood, among others.
- Heel Face Turn: Salyavin, aka Professor Chronotis, in Shada.
- He Who Fights Monsters (Rather, He Who Outsmarts Monsters After The Mundanes Fail Miserably At Five Rounds Rapid)
- Hey I Know You: The fourth season takes this to the extreme. Let's see, that's Rose, Martha, Jack, Jackie, Mickey, Sarah Jane, Francine, Harriet Jones, and probably one or two I'm forgetting.
- Hidden In Plain Sight (The TARDIS, many other examples.)
- Historical In Joke (Hello, it's a show with time travel...)
- Ho Yay (Oft connected to Foe Yay above, although Jack extends it to Anything That Moves-Yay)
- Impersonating An Officer
- Jeannie Cut (At one time, the TARDIS's travel method.)
- Just Ignore It (in "Blink")
- Made Of Explodium / Explosive Instrumentation (Everything explodes, and if there's a computer, chances are it'll explode in a shower of sparks. Even the TARDIS. Especially the TARDIS.)
- Magnificent Bastard (Take your pick)
- Mega Neko (The Cheetah People in "Survival" and the Sisters of Plenitude in New Earth.)
- Mobile Suit Human (While they don't look a bit human, they fulfill the rest of the trope — the Daleks' large, nigh impenetrable armor hides their small and defenseless bodies.)
- My Card ("The Happiness Patrol")
- Nightmare Fuel (Lots and lots of it. The usual anecdote is about kids hiding behind the sofa or watching it through their hands)
- Particularily during the era starring Tom Baker and produced by Philip Hinchcliffe.
- Or anything written by Steven Moffat. He feeds on fear.
- Non Actor Vehicle (Kylie Minogue, Billie Piper)
- The Nth Doctor (The Trope Namer, natch.)
- Ominous Latin Chanting (The Daleks' new series Leitmotif)
- One Steve Limit (usually obeyed, although one episode gave us Proper Dave and Other Dave)
- Oop North (four of the Classic Doctor actors were either Northern or Scottish. Tom Baker chewed Christopher Eccleston out into little bits for claiming in the press to be "the first Northern Doctor".)
- Parent Service (A lot of it, referred to as "for the dads", although both male and female fanservice occurs)
- Phantom Zone Picture
- Pirate Booty (The Smugglers)
- Psychopathic Man Child: The Celestial Toymaker
- Red Shirt Army: U.N.I.T. soldiers
- Reign Of Terror: The Doctor was there.
- Ripple Effect Proof Memory (exploited in several serials involving direct rewrites of history, most notably the Series 29 ending and its "Year That Never Was")
- Rock Paper Scissors - In one of the novels.
- Scapegoat Creator (just about everyone who's ever worked on the show is this for at least one fan, except possibly Verity Lambert)
- Schedule Slip (Most recently, the series will take somewhat of a hiatus in 2009 to ease the transition between production teams)
- Sickly Green Glow (Most monsters.)
- Somebody Else's Problem (Justifies Hidden In Plain Sight above and Unusually Uninteresting Sight below)
- Special Effects Failure (The BBC was somewhat notorious for giving the set and costume designers of Doctor Who a shoestring budget; That is, a bundle of shoe strings that they were expected to make fifteen monsters out of.)
- Starfish Language (For when the Translator Microbes are broken or otherwise absent)
- Technobabble
- Timey Wimey Ball (Trope Namer. Five Tropes Rapid on this list alone!)
- Translation Convention / Translator Microbes (The new series uses the latter to explain the classic series's use of the former)
- Turn The Other Cheek
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight (The Doctor, despite going back and forth through time and space, never seems to have his outfit questioned, though his companion(s) might. Then there's the queer blue box that pops up in the weirdest places and very few people think to question... even when they do notice it, they're more likely to write it off as Somebody Else's Problem rather than investigate thoroughly.)
- While some of the Doctor's previous incarnation's outfits would probably stand-out anywhere but at a Circus (I'm looking at you, Number Six), the Doctor's recent outfits (Nine and Ten) fall much farther towards looking standard or at least not too unusual.
- Additionally, the TARDIS was justified (depending on if you accepted it or not) in the new series, by the Doctor explaining that it literally generates a Somebody Else's Problem field, making any normal being subconsciously want to look away from the blue box. This explanation coming from his companion's inquiry as the Doctor had fashioned a miniature version of the field to avoid detection by police or rival time-lords, so it not only made sense from a story view-point, it finally answered the question of "Why the hell doesn't anyone notice a giant blue police box just sitting there!?" ESPECIALLY when the Doctor has gone to places like Ancient Rome or 19th Century England.
- Unpleasable Fanbase: Oh so very much.
- The Watson (Often called "The Sarah Jane" for Lis Sladen's assistance in defining the trope)
- The World Is Always Doomed (Well, yeah.)
- Your Head A Splode (The Cybermen, Daleks and others.)
- Zeerust (Despite being light-years ahead of most technology even approaching the end of the universe, the TARDIS is seriously broken and worn out by Gallifreyan standards)
- However by most Gallifreyan standards, TARDISes are probably not meant to be used so roughly and for so long without a tune-up at the least.
- Zeppelins From Another World (Specifically, the another world that the new series's Cybermen came from. The classic series also had its share of dimension-hopping, especially the "E-Space Trilogy" towards the end of Tom Baker's run.)
