RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media Doctor Who, the complete first season DVD is out today

For all of you you haven't watched this show, go get this set right now.

The premise of the show is the doctor is the sole survivor of an alien time traveling race that died off a long time ago. He is approximately nine hundred years old and has taken several different forms over the years, all human looking. I don't really know that much about the history and what has happened in the fifty year history of the show. But I didn't need to know a lot to enjoy it.

Christopher Eccleston (The doctor) sold me on the show. He can be both light and funny and dark and menacing. This guy is a great actor and I really hope to see him become a bigger star.

I figured I'd give the series a shot based how excited some of the posters here were for the show. (they know who I'm talking about) I ended up loving it. Here's my thoughts on the series:

Ep.1 Rose

A great intoduction to the series. It sets the tone for what the show will be about. Rose is the name of the doctors new companion. She started off kinda weak but she got much better each episode. She's basically the guide for new viewers of the show.

Ep.2 The End of the World

The first one I really loved. This is the one where they really show you how far they will go with the show. It takes place in the year five billion, just before the sun is about to explode.

Ep.3 The Unquiet Dead

This one was another great episode. The doctor and Rose travel back in time and run into Charles Dickens. My favorite scene is when the doctor is telling Dickens about his great novels he hasn't written yet.

Ep.4 and 5 Aliens of London and World War Three

Humanities first contact with aliens happens in this two parter. I didn't care for these that much due to some bad humor and some unbelievable moments.

Ep.6 Dalek

The first one with the Daleks. It takes place in Utah where a warehouse of space artifacts are being stored. Its a good introduction to the daleks, but I still felt it lacking in information. Rose gives a great performance in this one.

Ep.7 The Long Game

This one takes place in the future in a giant satellite that broadcasts all TV shows to the planet. Its basically a set up for future episodes.

Ep.8 Father's day

This episode deals with what just about everyone would want to do if they could travel in time. Meet a family member they hardly knew. A very emotional episode.

Ep.9 and 10 The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances

The two best episodes of the season. Its set in London during World War two. It also introduces a new Character named "Captain Jack Harkness" who is also a time traveler and a somewhat rival of the doctor. Both have plenty of action and emotion, at the end of the second part I was nearly in tears. This is where Ecclestion really shined. Its a shame he was only in this season. These two episodes are well worth the sixty or so bucks for the series.

Ep.11 Boom Town

Another episode featuring the aliens from 4 and 5. I didn't care for this one that much, but it did deal with some heavy issues well.

Ep.12 Bad Wolf

This one also takes place in the satellite from episode 7. Its a spoof of reality shows and another one that wasn't up to par in my opinion, but it seems that everyone else really liked it. It also sets up for the season finale.

Ep.13 The Parting of the Ways

The season finale, it involves the invasion of the Daleks and the introduction of the new doctor. Eccleston and Billie Piper (Rose) both give great performances, but I was let down by Eccleston leaving the show.

Buy it at Amazon.com. Its 65 bucks new but well worth it considering all the extras it comes with.

Over all its well worth buying, and hopefully some other fans of the show will convince others to but it better than I did.

Well said, Rex!

If anything can bring new viewers into this show, it's this season. Without a doubt, one of the finest sci-fi shows out there. Adventure, heart, action, wit, the bizarre side of the universe, time travel, and a main character who's been a mystery for over forty years. There's nothing like Doctor Who out there...

For those of you interested in catching up with everything that happened before this season.

I'm kinda pissed. Seems that the packaging was changed for the American release long after I preordered mine. This is what the British got (and what I was expecting):



And this is what I got:



I would have ordered it either way; but, damnit, the original packaging is much cooler.

Doctor Who [TV Series]
The quintessential "mortgage lifter" for many a financially flagging PBS station, the long-running British science fiction series Doctor Who was not always a big favorite in America. The series detailed the wide-ranging adventures of Doctor Who, a 750-year-old denizen of the Planet Gallifrey, who came to earth in human form by way of a London police call-box. In truth, it wasn't a call-box at all, but instead the Doctor's TARDIS, a vehicle which enabled him to travel through space and time. Garbed in a floppy hat, tattered overcoat, and colorful muffler, and hopelessly addicted to "jelly babies," Doctor Who embarked upon his various journeys through the cosmos, accompanied by a succession of attractive female earthlings. Debuting in England on November 23, 1963, Doctor Who ended up the longest-running science fiction series of its kind in TV history, remaining in active production until the fall of 1989 (not counting the 1965 feature film Doctor Who and the Daleks and a brace of "revival" episodes in 1993 and 1996). Since no one actor could be expected to devote his life to the series, it was decided early on for Doctor Who to be periodically "regenerated," obtaining a new body and personality in the process. Thus, the character was portrayed by eight different actors: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker ,Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann (Richard Hurndall briefly essayed the role in the series' special 20th anniversary episode in 1983). Though incredibly popular in England and Europe, the series had a hard time getting started in the United States. Time-Life Inc. offered the series for commercial syndication in 1970, 1972, and 1978. Each time, station managers were either resistant to the property, or ran the program in "fringe" timeslots, often showing the serialized episodes out of their proper order. It helped matters not at all that American TV reviewers poked cruel fun at the series, reserving their nastiest comments for the program's tacky production values (which, to dyed-in-the-wool fans, was actually part of its charm). Only when the series began popping up on local PBS stations in the late '70s did Doctor Who finally build up a loyal and dedicated fan following in America. By the mid-'80s, the series was one of the highest-rated noncommercial programs on the market, literally rescuing more than one educational TV outlet from bankruptcy. Though Doctor Who has not offered a new episode since 1996, rumors persist that the property will someday be revived, utilizing the state-of-the-art digital special effects that it so richly deserved in its glory days. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide


Thank you for posting that, Rex. I'm having a lousy day and reading it helped.

I have many of the episodes listed on tape.

I first saw Dr. Who on PBS during summer, 1979. It was part one of "The Sontaran Experiment", an early Tom Baker episode. They showed it twice in one week. I just happened upon it by chance. It looked dumb to me, so I didn't watch future episodes.

December, 1983...I was very upset by recent events in my life. My partner at the time said , " Here, watch this show with me, you'll like it. It will relax you."

It was Dr Who - " The Time Monster ", a Pertwee episode. At first, I was prepared NOT to like it, but then I loved it! I watched the episodes when I could, and began taping them..I have many Hartnell and Troughton shows, and all of the Pertwee and Tom Baker episodes.

Tom Baker remains my favorite doctor. I did a painting of him. It's on my living room wall.

OOh thanks for the info.

Are the episodes uncut? I know BBC cut the DVDs for UK release of Hustle and having seen the first 3 episodes as they originally aired, I know AMC edited them.

Gotta wonder if DW survived where Hustle didn't.

Was 'Hustle' cancelled?

Holy fucking shit! I soooooo want that 40-disc megaset! But...$700?? No way in hell...

Doc, from what I hear, the Brit packaging (i.e. TARDIS box) has glue issues. Seems the edges become easily frayed, and it falls apart after a few uses. That might be why they re-packaged it, I don't know. I've just read the complaints on Outpost Gallifrey, is all...

A friend of mine bought the set & the main complaint she had was the fact the boxes were always crumpled slightly, so a mint one is a rarity.
She also had some faulty disc problems too.

The BBC are notoriously weak on DVD issues, and the only BBC shows that get good treatment are handled by outside companies like the Red Dwarf set.