Doctor Who

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Any other fans of Doctor Who out there? I'm curious to see what your experiences of it are. There's a wide range in the Whovian community, I know that much.

I'm British, so it's basically a national institution for me. I got into it when I started reading the old Target novelisations at the age of 4- it was few more years before I realised it was a TV series "too!" I don't have a TV, so I'm a year or two behind watching Nu Who on DVD. I've also dipped into the spin-off novels, audio dramas and comics a bit. I mainly watch Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi at the moment, but that was after a recent Tom Baker / Sylvester McCoy spree...

I used to watch the Tom Baker Doctor on PBS when I was in high school. Sort of lost touch since.

I've seen all of New Who (9th Doctor forward) and two other episodes. I like it for the most part. They keep retconning stuff but that's due to new writers changing what older writers established. Ten is my favorite Doctor and Clara is my favorite companion. I think the series 7 episode The Rings of Akhaten is underrated and beautiful. I'd like to see more of the classic episodes but I'm already signed up for 3 streaming services that don't have them and I don't think you can find them for free.

I enjoy Doctor Who. I've seen the 5th season (revived era) and some other isolated episodes and scenes. I feel like I haven't seen enough of it to claim that I have a thorough grasp of the universe, but I certainly enjoy references to things like Daleks, Weeping Angels, and the Tardis. I like the wit and humor of the show, but its ability to access my fear and grief responses is unnerving, so that keeps me from wanting to seek it out to watch more. I rarely feel like I have the emotional energy to spend on entertainment that sparks negative feelings; I watch mostly comedy for that reason.

Must admit, Season 10 left me mildly traumatised... the horror side of the show was very much to the fore, with a large helping of Existential Dread.

Clara's a massively underrated character. She gets called "bland" a lot, but she's anything but! She's incredible under pressure- the more extreme the situation, the better she seems to function. Not a twisted ankle in sight.

Tom Baker- still a huge icon! My mum had a home-made Tom Baker scarf. I get the impression that before David Tennant, Tom's was the only version of the Doctor to have much of a following outside the UK. He starred in it for seven or eight years- more than twice as long as the original Star Trek ran for.

PhD, if I were to watch another season, which one would you recommend?

I love Doctor Who, got into it back to front though- I was a Torchwood fan first

I remember watching the original ones as a kid, though my parents banned me in the end as I was having nightmares about the cybermen.

Love the nu-who series, I fell behind a few years ago due to a combination of work/uni pressures. Getting back into it now that they are all on BBC iPlayer. I also was fortunate enough to end up working at the Dimensions convention here in the UK- I ran all the sound and video in the main hall. Was lucky to meet heaps of the classic Who actors and some of the new ones, Sophie Aldred who played Ace is lovely to meet and Sylvester McCoy is an absolute hoot and very nice man to boot. If you get the chance to see them together at a convention take it!

Carpeta- I would reccommend starting with the Eccleston ones and then carrying on from there as things from early on have implications in later seasons. If you fancy hitting up Torchwood as well I would say wait until you've seen the Eccleston episodes. Then watch Season 1 of Torchwood. After that, you want to watch David Tennant up until The Stolen Earth and Journey's End, then season 2 of Torchwood.

I can't comment on the classic Who series, I don't know them well enough.

Maybe season 4 would suit you? It has some stone-cold classic stories, plus Catherine Tate being extremely funny as the companion to take your mind off the horror! (Funnier than in her own sketch-show, for my taste.) It gets a bit angsty towards the end, but they all do.