When Sydney Newman commissioned this series at the BBC in 1962, nobody expected Doctor Who to become the cultural barrier-breaking phenomenon it became after JFK's assassination in November, 1963. But alas, the show's first ever serial, An Unearthly Child, was re-aired a week later and Doctor Who became an overnight phenomenon that gave people happiness and entertainment after JFK was taken from the world too soon. Of course the following serial that made Doctor Who something more than a trending franchise in the 60s, and that serial which helped Doctor Who shoot right up into the pop-cultural stratosphere , was the story: 'The Daleks'. This story introduced The Doctor's most iconic enemies, The Daleks: cybernetic monsters from the planet Skaro who would shout 'Exterminate!' whenever they kill their prey. And thus science fiction would never be the same after Doctor Who left its mark in a post JFK-assassination world.
This show has gone on to become an out and out classic in its own right, being assessed, loved and critically revered as other British classics like Fawlty Towers, Monty Python's Flying Circus, 'I, Claudius', The Avengers, Thunderbirds and so on; all for very good reasons. Doctor Who's brought along with it SO many classic stories comparable to the best episodes of Star Trek, like 'Genesis of the Daleks', 'Inferno', 'Earthshock', 'The Ark in Space', 'The Web of Fear', 'The Caves of Androzani', 'The Talons of Weng Chiang', 'Pyramids of Mars' and MANY more! These stories never needed high-budgets to execute their high-concept stories: just fleshed-out scripts that were complimented with great actors. Sure the show sometimes succumbs to corny acting from its extras and some of the stories do seem derivative, but overall Doctor Who still makes for some great television watching.
What makes Doctor Who so great anyway? Well, I think it all comes down to the elasticity of its creativity and using the sci-fi genre as a backdrop to ground as many of the series' stories and rules as possible. Sure it bends those rules sometimes, but does that make it boring in the slightest? Hell no. Its non-linear approach to sci-fi world-building is also part of what makes it great: each story can be seen in a non-specific manner if you like. You can essentially mix-and-match whatever Doctor Who stories you'd like to sit through as long as you see all the episodes of that given story. It's like a storybook but in episodic television form. Some franchises can be described as having that very same non-binary appeal to other fandoms like those into Star Trek and Star Wars (which Disney should understand and respect fans' desire to have non-binding canon or orders for how to appreciate their things). Everyone (who's a Whovian) has their favourite Doctor, and mine is The Fourth Doctor because of his beaming smile, his jelly babies and all-round good-guy vibe that adds to his already heroic and fearless demeanor. He's the ultimate Time Lord and many people's childhood icon! Need I really say anymore as to why Doctor Who's great?
Doctor Who gets 5/5 stars. It's more than a show; it's a goddamn legacy in and of itself. One of the very best there is.
This show has gone on to become an out and out classic in its own right, being assessed, loved and critically revered as other British classics like Fawlty Towers, Monty Python's Flying Circus, 'I, Claudius', The Avengers, Thunderbirds and so on; all for very good reasons. Doctor Who's brought along with it SO many classic stories comparable to the best episodes of Star Trek, like 'Genesis of the Daleks', 'Inferno', 'Earthshock', 'The Ark in Space', 'The Web of Fear', 'The Caves of Androzani', 'The Talons of Weng Chiang', 'Pyramids of Mars' and MANY more! These stories never needed high-budgets to execute their high-concept stories: just fleshed-out scripts that were complimented with great actors. Sure the show sometimes succumbs to corny acting from its extras and some of the stories do seem derivative, but overall Doctor Who still makes for some great television watching.
What makes Doctor Who so great anyway? Well, I think it all comes down to the elasticity of its creativity and using the sci-fi genre as a backdrop to ground as many of the series' stories and rules as possible. Sure it bends those rules sometimes, but does that make it boring in the slightest? Hell no. Its non-linear approach to sci-fi world-building is also part of what makes it great: each story can be seen in a non-specific manner if you like. You can essentially mix-and-match whatever Doctor Who stories you'd like to sit through as long as you see all the episodes of that given story. It's like a storybook but in episodic television form. Some franchises can be described as having that very same non-binary appeal to other fandoms like those into Star Trek and Star Wars (which Disney should understand and respect fans' desire to have non-binding canon or orders for how to appreciate their things). Everyone (who's a Whovian) has their favourite Doctor, and mine is The Fourth Doctor because of his beaming smile, his jelly babies and all-round good-guy vibe that adds to his already heroic and fearless demeanor. He's the ultimate Time Lord and many people's childhood icon! Need I really say anymore as to why Doctor Who's great?
Doctor Who gets 5/5 stars. It's more than a show; it's a goddamn legacy in and of itself. One of the very best there is.