Doctor Who For Dummies

io9 wants to give you the low-down on Doctor Who but holy smokes, do you see all the words on that page? Sure there are pictures, but c'mon. I may be a scifi fan, but I have a "life." Reading all that would take as long as an entire episode of Firefly, and you know which of those I'm gonna pick. AMIRITE? So let me give you the abridged version of everything you need to know about Doctor Who:

• Chicks don't get it. Unless you are in a relationship where the woman is legally obligated to stay with you or you have possession of her car keys, for Time Lord's sake, don't bring up the Doctor.
• They recycle the Doctor, and they recycle the stories. If you don't know the villains, don't sweat it. By your second Doctor you'll realize that with every new Doctor, the Cybermen can't be far behind. Whenever he gets a new face, the Daleks are back. It's comforting, really.
• The companions aren't what you think. Yeah, we're all pretty upset about that. The companions are mostly there as a mechanism for delivering backstory. So worry not, Dr. wh00b, everything will make sense once The Doctor 'spains it to his womenfolk.
• His face is supposed to look like that. The latest Doctor looks a little more... swollen than the previous ones. That is apparently - and mind-bogglingly - as expected.

Speaking of the companions, have you seen this video? Geez, Karen Gillan is so Scottish she freaking glows. Let me save you some time: she doesn't start talking until 5:10 into it, but you might as well skip straight to 5:54. She talk pretty.

Comments

[Adam]

Actually, since the revamped series relaunched in 2005, chicks really have got it. The only 1980s days of Who fandom being a boys-only club are gone, kaput, finished.

Even amongst children…

[oof! blam! argh!]

I agree that the new series is certainly more accessible to everyone. When I talk about who gets it or doesn't, my scale is based on the amount if sniggering and eye-rolling that comes from the other end of the couch where my legally obligated spouse sits, occasionally joined by my daughter.

Lost gets the most because the story line has spun out of control, and the characters have been reduced to talking in painful, deliberate riddles to prevent the audience from understanding too much. I think it's more tolerable because even I agree that the male characters are dreamy, so even if all they do is run from one end of the island to another, at least the scenery is nice.

Battlestar Galactica got less because the female characters were strong, the drama was more visceral, and it didn't suffer from the cyclical story lines that Doctor Who tends toward - when the Daleks showed up, AGAIN, it couldn't help but feel rehashed even though they were now candy-coloured. Everyone in the house was anxious to see who Starbuck would beat up this week. Meanwhile the companions, while not complete damsels in distress, certainly couldn't drink and screw and murder and fly and command (sometimes all at once!) like the ones on Galactica.

In short, I think other scifi series were more likely to draw in new female fans while Doctor Who draws female fans who are already into scifi, and some percentage of what girlfriends we scifi nerds can scare up.

[Adam]

This may be a country thing - in the UK, Doctor Who ain't a cult TV show - it's a mainstream, in the top 10 most watched shows each week, just behind the main soaps. It's watched by people who don't ever watch any other scifi.

Families sit down and watch it together as one of the major pieces of Saturday night TV. Lost and Battlestar Galactica are adult shows. Doctor Who's a family show. There's a huge difference.

[oof! blam! argh!]

Definitely a country thing, yes. Dr. Who in the US has long been relegated to under viewed and under appreciated Public Broadcasting Stations. Now it's primarily shown on the basic cable SyFy Channel (because SciFi was too constrictive a branding). SyFy is possibly best known for the laughably low quality of their original movies, so Doctor Who has to overcome that tainted pedigree before it is even out of the gate.

I lovelovelove that The Doctor is a family tradition over there and is breeding wee scifi fans. Although "The Empty Child" would have given me nightmares for weeks. OK - did give.

[Adam]

If Dr Who isn't giving small children nightmares - then it's not doing its job. :)

[kallen]

buh?! chicks don't get it? I GET IT! but... maybe i'm not a "chick". ;P

[kallen]

p.s. LONG LIVE TOM BAKER!