Doctor Who Starting Points

Doctor Who has been on for over fifty years. Starting a show that’s been on that long seems daunting, especially when you consider how many actors have portrayed the Doctor, and how many writers, producers, etc. have worked behind the scenes. For this reason, I’m presenting four possible starting points and the pros and cons of each one.

1. “An Unearthly Child”–starting with the first episode seems the most logical place. The problem is many of William Hartnell’s episodes are still missing. Also, some concepts that later defined Doctor Who’s mythos aren’t present, such as the Doctor having two hearts, the sonic screwdriver, or UNIT. Those come in later eras.

2. “Spearhead From Space”–this is the first episode to be filmed in color, and starred Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor. It’s a great starting point and will introduce you to UNIT and its commanding officer, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. (Although technically, both were introduced in Troughton’s era.) Of all the eras, Pertwee’s era has the most earthbound stories, as the show was finding ways to work with the limited budget. Beginning with “The Three Doctors”, the show becomes less earthbound. The Master is introduced in this era, portrayed by Roger Delgado, in the episode “Terror of the Autons”. While some of the episodes’ colorized versions are missing, the black and white prints still exist, and I hear some of those have been retouched so that they are now colorized.