Why is Doctor Who so popular?

I got into it from reading reviews that were positive. I assumed it was going to be campy and like I remembered from when I was a little kid.

The reviews I read were very positive, saying people should watch the show not expecting it to be sci-fi. It encouraged the viewers to watch the show with the following perspectives:

1)A fairy tale for each human companion
2)A tragedy for the Doctor himself, who is cripplingly alone

When I started watching thinking about it like that, I was immediately hooked.

Because it’s awesome. Sorry, I really can’t explain it any better than that. There’s just so much Crowning Moment of Awesome. Maybe Doctor Who just isn’t your thing. Or, maybe you somehow watched the crappy episodes.

Dr Who?

It’s at times hilarious, at times dramatic, at times incredibly emotional. If it’s not for you, that’s fine, but after watching the first 4 or 5 episodes of the new series (starting in 2005) I was completely hooked.

I did notice that about the show and it seemed cool. One second it’s all goofy and wonky, then it becomes serious and dramatic.

I tried to watch it too and was not impressed. And I hear people rave about it all the time! I’ve been spoiled by 9 thrilling seasons of the X-Files, and really it doesn’t get better than Mulder and Scully so I’m also probably difficult to please.

One time someone told me I should watch “Ghost Whisperer” and I laughed so hard I cried when I finally did.

I’d heard good things about it off and on and had watched an episode or two from the Russell days, but I didn’t really get on board until a youtuber I had a lot of respect for did a video on the 2010 Christmas Special. Yeah, I didn’t have a chance when I gave it another go starting with series 5 (new who).

I remember all the Doctors, first hand. So, indoctrinated as a small child, I live with the permanent desire to make sure I have seen the latest episode. I agree totally with @Imadethisupwithnoforethought as the whimsical side of the Doctor is really what has saved him from extinction. The character is deeply kind and lonely, gifted with absolute optimism and the ability to express great depths of sadness, as well as fun. What’s not to like?
I had a total crush on Tom Baker when he was Who, was very fond of his predecessor Jon Pertwee, thought David Tennant was lovely, but can’t warm much to Matt Smith. He’s doing an ok job, but Amy Pond is a better character. Now I’m over 50, I don’t think I can be weaned from the WhoMeister.

@deni surely you jest. XFiles was on for 9 seasons, sure, but no way in heck was it on for “9 thrilling seasons”. 6, tops. :-P

“The unexpected, unadvertised solution which kisses it all better is known as a deus ex machina – literally, a god from the machine. And a god from the machine is what the Doctor now is. A decent detective story provides you with enough tantalising information to allow you to make a stab at a solution before the famous detective struts his stuff in the library. Doctor Who replaces this with speed, fast talking, and what appears to be that wonderful element “makeitupasyougalongeum”. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I would dare try to jump-start a spaceship that looks like the Titanic by diving it into the atmosphere… but I have to forgive the Doctor that, because it was hilariously funny.

People say Doctor Who is science fiction. At least people who don’t know what science fiction is, say that Doctor Who is science fiction. Star Trek approaches science fiction. The horribly titled Star Cops which ran all too briefly on the BBC in the 1980s was the genuine pure quill of science fiction, unbelievable in some aspects but nevertheless pretty much about the possible. Indeed, several of its episodes relied on the laws of physics for their effect (I’m particularly thinking of the episode “Conversations With The Dead”). It had a following, but never caught on in a big way. It was clever, and well thought out. Doctor Who on the other hand had an episode wherein people’s surplus body fat turns into little waddling creatures. I’m not sure how old you have to be to come up with an idea like that. The Doctor himself has in recent years been built up into an amalgam of Mother Teresa, Jesus Christ (I laughed my socks off during the Titanic episode when two golden angels lifted the Doctor heavenwards) and Tinkerbell. There is nothing he doesn’t know, and nothing he can’t do. He is now becoming God, given that the position is vacant. Earth is protected, we are told, and not by Torchwood, who are human and therefore not very competent. Perhaps they should start transmitting the programme on Sundays.”

—Terry Pratchett

I friggin’ hate Dr. Who. It is the most inconsistent work of fiction ever created. Inconsistent in tone, inconsistent in logic… the only mark of consistency in Dr. Who is that 9 times out of 10 an episode will feature the Doctor and his stupid friends being cornered by a horde of slow-moving creatures who aren’t necessarily zombies but are functionally identical and are probably played by the same extras wearing different masks.

I used to love Dr Who but some of the later episodes are too fast moving and muddled for my taste. I prefer a plain story well told. Dr Who is a fairy story set in exotic locations where we don’t understand the rules. Our values are tested in each episode and triumph, which is reassuring.

I watched it way back when, when the only people watching were D&D players and computer geeks. I tolerated it, because that’s who I was hanging out with. Didn’t love ti enough to watch any of the new stuff (and was rather puzzled that such a low-budget, unassuming program got re-invented).

It just is. The TARDIS is the ultimate “safe place dimension” where all is eventually found and restored and…crap, I don’t even know how to describe this. It just is. I’ve loved the Doctor forever…

@MrItty Stop that! I found almost every episode to be good. There were a few that were really out there and Scully did get on my nerves at times but that show was so well written and there were never holes in the plots like with so many other shows (cough Ghost Whisperer)....and David Duchovney is SUCH A HUNK how could I look away for a second!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@deni – even after Mulder and then Scully left the show?? You, my friend, are a true fan.

true fan™

@MrItty Huh? They continued the show without them?

@MrItty @Blackberry Well Mulder got abducted and was gone for a while, but the 2 new agents were actually really good. Believe me I was quite skeptical (LIKE SCULLY, ONE MIGHT SAY) that there were new actors so late in the series but they weren’t bad! And the episode plots stayed good too. Scully never left though. I thought the underlying government conspiracy thing was genius too. I think most people who have seen X-files never saw enough to realize that there was something bigger than just aliens in that show. Which I also think is why a lot of people didn’t love it.

I don’t think I could explain it any better than this: http://www.cracked.com/blog/how-dr.-who-became-my-religion/

@Esedess WOW!!! That is it!!

@Esedess : Yes! I once named a dog Gallifrey. I loved it when people understood the reference right away…

@Aethelflaed Haha! That was exactly my reaction. The correlations he points out in his article are so obvious and true that when I read it, I couldn’t help but wonder how I myself had never made the same observation. It really hits the bulls-eye!

@JilltheTooth HA! Nice~ That’s a cool name for a pet!
Similarly, I have a framed picture of the TARDIS printed on a dictionary page. Every once in a while I’ll go on chatroulette with it hanging in the background. IF people know what it is, it’s always the first thing they comment on. Usually something like, “THAT’S A F*CKIN TARDIS!!!!!!” Instant connection. =]

And then when they can tell you what TARDIS stands for…Nerdvana!

For a time, I didn’t like Dr Who, because it was too loud and just plain silly – the early episodes – but it got better and I finally became a regular fan.

I watch it partly for the same reasons I watched it 20 years ago, and partly because it is so much better now that they have a budget and actual script-writing. It has it’s serious moments, it’s “good mystery” moments, it’s funny moments, and most importantly the new series can laugh at how campy it is.

@JilltheTooth No, pretty much any n00b knows that one. Ask them what the Cloister bells mean or what Romana’s full name was ;)

@Qingu I take it that you haven’t watched any of the new series then. I mean, that sounds like something from the Tom Baker years. You are entitled to your opinion, but I also can’t shake the feeling that you just don’t get it.
As for Terry’s comment, if you cannot suspend disbelief enough to consider anything other than the hardest of hard SF to qualify as “science fiction” then you are an elitist twit. Comedy and Deus Ex Machina are not reserved solely for flat planets resting on four elephants standing on a giant, interstellar turtle. It is blatantly obvious that Sir Pratchett is missing the point. Maybe he needs to read @Esedess‘s link!

I know the Doctor Jesus Christ Tinkerbell moment Prachett’s referring to and it was really bad. I needed medical assistance to roll my eyes out of the back of my head. Thankfully low points like that are relatively rare.

And Moffat has made a point of moving the Doctor away from the superhero he’d been built up to in the RTD days.

@fundevogel I agree that that moment was the low point of the series, and I rolled my eyes back far enough to see my own brain, but it really isn’t fair to judge the series based on rare moments like that. You are correct that Moffat is going a little less,“Jesus Christ: Superstar”, and a bit more “tragic hero”, showing the downsides to being nearly immortal.

Oh wow, just started watching Dr. Who and it’s truly engaging in a “Do I really have nothing better to do? And the answer to that is, yes.” kind of way. : )

It’s the time travel element of the show that hooks. That fantasy of being immortal and being the ultimate spectator of everything and anything in all of space and time. It’s the fantasy of feeling like a god.

@mazingerz88 There are times where you find that he battles just that, like in A Good Man Goes to War probably one of the best episodes in the entire series.

@jerv Thanks for the head’s up. Looking forward to that episode. : )

@jerv do you want to just ask Fluther what the best episode ever was of Doctor Who or do we just sit here and twitch wanting to shout out our favorites?

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought Nah. You can ask if you want. I’m about to sign on the World of Tanks and kill some things.

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought Best ever? I have no idea. But Midnight’s my favorite.

@fundevogel “The Family of Blood”. John Smith ended just the way that doctor did when you re-watch it.

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought Whoa, I never noticed that. I wonder if they did that on purpose?

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought @fundevogel

I’ve seen that episode like 3 times. What are you talking about here?

@Esedess Both characters saw their…transformation as a death and accepted it only grudgingly.

I love that this post has produced so many responses. Dr Who has iconic status in UK Television, in part simply because it’s been around so long. But, it hasn’t been continuous. As with any TV prog, it has had it’s downers, going off air for what (purists will know) a decade or so. But, generations called for its return and have been glad of it.

Christopher Eccleston is an a-list proper-job Thesp here in Blighty, his Doctor was really rather grown up – slightly less fun than the previous versions. But, his ability to embody the fey, asexuality of the chap, coupled with a very believable optimism and some of the best storylines ever, saw the Doctor brought back to life. I watched because (see my earlier post) I had to. But, with the plots so good, was hooked anyway. This is a kid’s programme, it fulfils a safe fantasy space for slightly older children, who know a ‘best friend’ when they see one.

Eccleston moved on, as it was obvious he would, not being quite light enough in acting terms to enjoy the kudos of the role… I think! David Tennant then came along and… melted people. A Marmite (yeast extract spread) type of Dr for those young enough still to hold a torch. For an old ‘un like me, back to yearning whimsy. Those eyes… But, someone to have a crush on, never to actually investigate sexually. In fact, it may even be that the Doc has no naughty bits. He can snog, but never go further. Totally safe, never dirty. Peter Pan, the ten year old boy-next-door who collects spiders/snails/worms in a jar.

It’s a magical kid’s program. Sometimes the storylines are better than others. But, consistently, this character can evoke a warmth in those who watch, because he can be a mate, a friend, an adventuring spirit, a protector. Love ‘im. Sorry to go on…

Can’t be helped, I still hold a torch for Tom Baker’s Dr, and if Time Travel really is ‘timey-wimey’ then who knows?

me, @JilltheTooth, @Aethelflaed – lets form a fanclub. Or at least make Who biscuits to dip in our tea…sorrysorrysorry it has me in its grasp it’s the… WHOOOOO oooo

ooooh