What would be a good introduction to Doctor Who?

@karasu91: Pffft. THE episode of Ten's era is Midnight, hands down.

A bad episode to introduce someone to the series with, though. It's such an unusual episode that it'd probably give people a wrong idea of what the show's about.

edited 15th Sep '11 6:45:45 PM by Sporkaganza

An Unearthly Child. Hop to it.

Well, I finally decided to start with "Rose." My opinion? Awe. Some. The living plastic was Accidental Nightmare Fuel at its finest, but thanks to The Doctor I couldn't stop laughing at most of it. Nine is all kinds of coolness. Yes, I totally would be his companion, thank you very much.

Nine is great! He's such an underrated Doctor.

Christopher Eccleston is one of my favorite Doctors. Really wish he stayed on longer.

He was FANTASTIC!

But of course, Ten is brilliant and Eleven is cool!

@mort: There is nothing accidental about that nightmare fuel.

When you pothole Nightmare Fuel it re-pots to Accidental Nightmare Fuel now, because people kept getting it mixed up with High Octane Nightmare Fuel. It's really shown how misused Nightmare Fuel was used before - loads of pages have entries that don't make sense anymore because of the change.

edited 16th Sep '11 2:37:16 AM by Sporkaganza

@Sporkaganza:...Let me tell you a secret: I agree with you on Midnight. Actually, it was my first ep, and I LOVED it. Still today one of my very favourites, and one that I would recommend - just not as an introductory ep. The reason I said Blink was The Episode of the Tennant Era was because it was IMHO a better introduction to DW than Midnight - and, the outside perspective added another layer of danger. You know that there's a 99% chance of the Doctor making it - these new guys, however? An absolutely brilliant ep, scary, tense, and that doesn't require foreknowledge of the show? How could I not recommend that?

Good choice! Nine's the best. Eccleston rules.

Chris Ecclestone's Doctor was indeed fantastic. The first series of New Who is certainly one of the best.

Never was completely sold on David Tennant, to be honest.

edited 17th Sep '11 7:49:05 AM by pagad

My friend who introduced me to Doctor Who first saw Blink. It is indeed a good starter episode.

I started with Blink, and I think it's a very good indicator to see whether or not you would like Doctor Who. I'm catching up on all the "good episodes" on Netflix, before moving onto the rest.

And a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey...

DON'T QUESTION MY METHODS!

Speaking of a Steven Moffat episode, I have another dilemna; exactly how scary is "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances"? I've made it through the first three episodes with no scarring, but nothing freaks me out more than Body Horror and a Painful Transformation. Should I skip the thing or not?

Absolutely not. The body horror, while undoubtedly scary and unnerving, is a short process and most of the infectees have already completed the process. Plus, it introduces a new semi-regular companion and has some nice comic moments, particularly in the second part.

Skip them and you'll be skipping the best episodes of series 1.

All right, I know what to do; when Dr. Constantine starts coughing and saying "Mummy," I'll just flip to a different tab on my Firefox and wait for the scary music and bone-cracking to stop. I'll be fine!

I may not have a sofa to hide behind, but I have the power of my mouse!

I know, right? Laugh at my eventual Sanity Slippage at the hands of Steven Moffat. I'll probably end of with all kinds of wonderful phobias. And yes, I am quite freaked out by the idea of someone's face mutating into a World War Two gas mask. What I hate is watching a perfectly normal human being slowly, graphically turn into something it's not.

Yes, I am aware of tradition, but watching it on a computer screen in your room where there is no sofa makes it quite hard.

And I do intend to get a little scared; I mean, I'm going to watch "Blink" when I get to it. At night. In the dark.

edited 22nd Sep '11 12:56:26 PM by Mort08

Oh lord, you're this freaked out by The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances?!

You're going to have fun watching this show.

@Mort08 ...Didn't you know that the traditional way to watch Doctor Who is cowering behind the sofa? If you're nor being freaked out at some point, the show's not doing its job... ^_^ Still, already this freaked out in anticipation... I think I like you already.

By the way, this show isn't nearly as scary as people said it was. I am, at the most, temporarily creeped out by some of the stuff.

The Empty children? Temporarily creepy. The Weeping Angels? Temporarily creepy. The crack in the wall? Creepy for about two seconds until the eyeball appeared.

Maybe it's because I've read House Of Leaves, and my mind has become fortified against true horror. NEVER AGAIN!

A friend of mine told me "The Empty Child" isn't actually that scary, but it comes in the certain type of High Octane Nightmare Fuel that gets to me most. I'm willing to give that scene a try before really freaking out, though.

I'll keep that in mind. None of the stuff in the show has actually scared me yet. That's mostly thanks to the Doctor, who seems to have the ability of turning Nightmare Fuel into Black Comedy. Well, Nine does, anyway.

Well, I haven't. I'm fresh meat.

edited 22nd Sep '11 7:19:57 PM by Mort08

I don't think the transformation's that bad. It can be creepy, but it's tempered by the unintentional Narm provided by the CGI. It ended up being cheeseier than it was scary for me.

Yeah, it was very narmy.

Doctor Who can be quite scary (the dolls in Night Terrors for example - FUCK THAT), but only a bit of it will really stick very long to those who have been exposed to true fear (like The Thing and House Of Leaves.

edited 22nd Sep '11 7:16:52 PM by KSPAM