Dr. Who Chronology

POSTED BY: pachelbel
UPDATED: Tuesday, August 3, 2010 04:36
VIEWED: 8273
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PACHELBEL

Friday, June 11, 2010 12:56 AM

Ok. So I've never watched Dr. Who until the new series started. So far, I've watched series 1, series 2, and am at episode 13 of series 3. My question is: Where do I go after series 3 is over? In what order do I watch series 4, The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, and The End of Time. Have I missed any? I gather The End of Time falls in between series 4 and series 5?

For extra credit, where does Torchwood fall with all of this? And is it worth watching any of the older stuff?

I have to say that series 3's episode Blink was one of the most clever singular TV episodes I've ever seen.

Ok, thanks!

AURAPTOR

Friday, June 11, 2010 1:27 AM

Another addictive show which I've some what resisted fully involving myself in....though I've seen a season or 2. Not real up on the whole back story, or the original series.

Is it necessary to go back from the very beginning and watch all I can, on DVD, to fully " get " the series ?

" Being correct does not excuse a violation of form " - Ducky, NCIS.

STORYMARK

Friday, June 11, 2010 4:59 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by pachelbel:
Ok. So I've never watched Dr. Who until the new series started. So far, I've watched series 1, series 2, and am at episode 13 of series 3. My question is: Where do I go after series 3 is over? In what order do I watch series 4, The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, and The End of Time. Have I missed any? I gather The End of Time falls in between series 4 and series 5?

For extra credit, where does Torchwood fall with all of this? And is it worth watching any of the older stuff?

You've got the order correct. Though there's also the animated web mini-series "The Infinite Quest" which takes place during series 3, which is available on DVD (and is pretty good), and another I forget the name of which is a solo Doctor story (and is unspecific as to timeframe) which is not yet out on DVD (but is decent).

Many of the old stories are fun, but they are very cheesy and the production quality is generally horrible. And no, they're not essential for understanding any of the current version.

Season 1 of Torchwood takes place during season 3 of Who, with season 2 taking place during Who's 4th - in both cases ending before the multi-part story at the end of each season of Who. The third season/miniseries, Children of Earth I suppose is concurrent with the Who specials, but does not cross-over.

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CYBERSNARK

Friday, June 11, 2010 5:01 PM

In fact, the current version has plenty of jumping-on points throughout its run; generally whenever a new Companion (Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy) comes on, the Doctor ends up having to explain everything all over again. Though there is some overlap (old Companions occasionally turn up again), for the most part everything important gets touched on onscreen (who the Doctor is, where he's from, the Time Lords, the Daleks, the Tardis, etc).

-----
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MENDUR

Friday, June 11, 2010 5:03 PM

"In what order do I watch series 4, The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, and The End of Time."

New series one = Christopher Eccleston as 9th Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose

Note: Watch "Children in Need" special feature before second series.
New Series two = David Tennant as 10th Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose

New Series three = David Tennant as 10th Doctor and Freema Agyeman as Martha
Animated "The Infinite Quest" is during season three and should be watched any time before episode 11.
Torchwood Series one is simulataneous with this series, and should be watched before episode 11.

Note: watch the "Time Crash" special feature before series four begins.
New Series four = David Tennant as 10th Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble
Torchwood Series two and Sarah Jane Adventures Series 1 are simultaneous with this series and should be watched before episode 12

The five specials in order: The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, and The End of Time (2 parts).

The one thing I'm NOT sure of is where in the time line the "Wedding of Sarah Jane" episode (or the rest of Series 3 of Sarah Jane Advenures) fits. Some time in the middle of the specials, probably.
"Torchwood: Children of Earth" should be watched before "The End of Time" but has no definite timing otherwise.

Did I miss anything?

EVILDINOSAUR

Friday, June 11, 2010 5:51 PM

Looks like everyone's taken care of the order questions for you.

As far as older Doctor Who's, some of them are good, others not so much. Personally my favorite of the older doctors is Tom Baker, the 4th doctor I think. I watched quite a few of his episodes and they were amusing.

There's a few episodes written by Douglas Adams, writer of Hitchhikers, that are definitely worth watching if you enjoy the Adams' unique sense of humor and writing style.

I also enjoyed watching one of the very first, possibly the first, episodes where the doctor first encounters the Daleks, it's pretty funny seeing how pathetic the Daleks were in there early days. Genesis of the Daleks is also good to give you some backstory and the Daleks and Davros.

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DAVESHAYNE

Friday, June 11, 2010 7:49 PM

The old Dr. Who is a bit different than the current version. The pacing is a bit slower on account of the serializing and the production values (effects, sets, etc.) are low, low budget but there are a lot of good stories there. I am particularly fond of the Tom Baker (4th doctor) years especially season 16 - The Key to Time season but there is good stuff to be found throughout.

David

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LWAVES

Friday, June 11, 2010 9:48 PM

Of the original series Doctors Tom Baker was the best and the point where I started watching the show. They say your first Doctor is the one that stays with you. I also really liked Peter Davison as he had a lot of energy, was the youngest (at the time) and had one of my fave companions.

As stated you don't need to watch all of them but if you do you can't really go wrong with the Dalek episodes, especially Genesis Of The Daleks. The Cybermen ones are usually pretty good and so are the ones with The Master. Fairly obviously it's why they keep coming back in the new series.

City Of Death and The Pirate Planet were two of the episodes written by Adams and are up there with the best.

The Deadly Assassin is a great conspiracy story set on Gallifrey and is notable for being the only story without a companion (so far). Plus the ending gives a little hint as to why The Doctor left Gallifrey in the first place.

And for a bit of fun you could do worse than watch the multi-Doctor stories, The Three Doctors and The Five Doctors. It's great to see them play of each other.

Just some ideas if you want to try some older episodes.

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OPTIMUS1998

Friday, June 11, 2010 10:12 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mendur:
"In what order do I watch series 4, The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, and The End of Time."

New series one = Christopher Eccleston as 9th Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose

Note: Watch "Children in Need" special feature before second series.
New Series two = David Tennant as 10th Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose

New Series three = David Tennant as 10th Doctor and Freema Agyeman as Martha
Animated "The Infinite Quest" is during season three and should be watched any time before episode 11.
Torchwood Series one is simulataneous with this series, and should be watched before episode 11.

Note: watch the "Time Crash" special feature before series four begins.
New Series four = David Tennant as 10th Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble
Torchwood Series two and Sarah Jane Adventures Series 1 are simultaneous with this series and should be watched before episode 12

The five specials in order: The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars, and The End of Time (2 parts).

The one thing I'm NOT sure of is where in the time line the "Wedding of Sarah Jane" episode (or the rest of Series 3 of Sarah Jane Advenures) fits. Some time in the middle of the specials, probably.
"Torchwood: Children of Earth" should be watched before "The End of Time" but has no definite timing otherwise.

Did I miss anything?

thank you,thank you, thank you, and thank you!
I have all the boxed sets, but for some reason i can never remember where the torchwood @ SJA Series fall in the over all chronology. must print this out....

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IMNOTHERE

Sunday, June 13, 2010 5:08 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by pachelbel:
And is it worth watching any of the older stuff?

It depends whether you like Marmite

- you probably had to grow up with it. Its worth catching up on some of the Tom Baker episodes since he's probably the most likely candidate for the "definitive" Doctor (not that you can expect any consensus on that).

However, if you're only going to watch one story from the old series, I'd make it "Genesis of the Daleks" (In which the Doc is ordered by the Time Lords to end the Dalek threat for once and all by going back in time and preventing their creation) - not because its the best story, but because it is important back-story for the Dalek episodes in the new series and explains a lot about why the Doc tends to lose his cool when the sink plungers start waving.

Quote:

I have to say that series 3's episode Blink was one of the most clever singular TV episodes I've ever seen.

Don't think you'll get much argument there: its definitely on the Best. Episode. Ever. shortlist (and I don't think its been equalled). "The Girl in the Fireplace" from the previous season comes close, I think (the story feels as if Douglas Adamas has returned).

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