Hello, please forgive me for any mistakes I make as I am very new to Doctor who and to this board on the forum.

I've always been a science fiction fan and fan of good stories, but somehow I never got into Dcotor Who, I never watched it. When I was visiting some friends, I had the oppurtunity to watch the first episode of the new series (Rose) and really enjoyed it, and realised what I had been missing out on all these years, and since then ordered the first series DVD. I'm really enjoying them and have made it to the ninth episode, but my friends have told me that the ninth doctor (Christopher Eccleston) is replaced at the end of this series (13 episodes).

Because I have only just got into Doctor Who, I find it almost difficult to imagine without Christopher Eccleston as the doctor now, and have no idea how the change will take place.

My question is, is the new doctor played by David Tennant as good as/better than Christopher Eccleston in your opinion, but if possible, please without any spoilers for the later seasons. The main reason I am wondering, is whether or not to try and 'ration' these 13 "rare gold" episodes or not (I'm strange like that ) or whether it's fine to go through them and enjoy the next seasons as well (at the moment, I want to watch more, but don't want to go through it too quickly at the same time).

My friends think that it was a step down from Christopher Eccleston's portrayal as the ninth dector and that the new doctor doesn't seem to care or feel like he did, and was just focussing more on trying to be funny. Would you agree?

I am sorry if you think this is a silly question, and I know this topic has probably been discused before, but my reason for posting was to ask the question without getting spoiled for the tenth doctor and later seasons, if possible.

My final question is that I would like to get into the older series as well, and it seems the only way to do this is through DVD boxsets, but when browsing through amazon, I found it a little difficult to know where to go. There doesn't seem to be any particular organisation in doctors/series, episodes seem to be missing, and Amazon seem to only be selling partial parts of the collection as well. Any advice for a Doctor Who newbie?

First thing - there are episodes missing. The BBC has, I believe, all the audio, but several video, especially of the Troughton years, are missing. I think something like 108 of the 250-odd episodes from the first six years are still missing. I may be wrong, but that's what I remember.

Anyway. I personally like both 9 and 10. They are very different, but there have been great and rubbish episodes/villains in both (as with all docs, really) so I wouldn't say 10 is worse than 9. That's just my opinion though, others may (and, if I know this forum, will - quite vehemently!) disagree. One thing I would say, though, is that that is the point of the Doctor - no two regenerations are going to behave in the same way because, well, they're not the same! Hartnell's Doctor and, say, Davison's doctor are completely different, so there is no reason whatsoever for Eccleston and Tennant to be the same, although I do think the darker side of 9 should be developed on in 10 - and I think it is being/will be.

My personal favourite Doc is 4, although I also have a soft spot for 5, 9 and 10!

David Tennent is as good as Christopher Eccleston. He dose play it differently, but that is the point of Doctor Who. Every incarnation is slightly different. They are all very different to Wiliam Hartnell (the first doctor) who didn't seem to care about anyone except his grand daughter Susan. Outpost Galifrey has a very good list of all the episodes.

It can be difficult to accept changes from one Doctor to the next especially if they have been in the role for a long period. To me none of the doctors from the classic series that came after Tom Baker lived up to the role at the time. With the new series and the chance to go back and revisit the other doctors many years later I think they all did a good job. I still have my favourites (T. Baker, Ecclestone and McGann) but like them all. The transition from Ecclestone to Tennant was pretty easy to accept as Ecclestone was only in the role for 13 episodes and much of the focus was on rose so that gave it a continuity in series two.

Thanks for the replies and helping a Doctor Who newbie, very much appreciated

I'd read about the different doctors, but without having seen any other doctor yet, it's something I've yet to experience. I guess the transition will be a little harder for me to accept seeing as I started with Eccleston (so became what I thought of as Doctor Who, and didn't even realise there different doctors idea when I started) and haven't yet had a chance to watch the old series or get used to the format yet.

I guess my main fear is rushing through the 13 episodes of this season I'm watching, and then getting disappointed and wishing I hadn't (if you know what I mean), because at the moment, I'm feeling Doctor Who is the most perfect program I've ever watched

108 of 250 episodes of the old years missing? Eek! Have they actually been lost, or do they just not have the rights to them, or have they just not been put out yet but will arrive? For someone getting into Doctor Who and wanting to get into the old series too, is there anywhere you'd recommend starting?

Thanks very much
Last edited by Kotori : 18-04-2007 at 15:40

Some points in reply to your question:

Missing video:

The first two Doctors are missing video for various episodes, especially Troughton's. Pertwee has a few missing colour segments that have been replaced with black and white. Tom Baker and later Doctors are intact.


Good stories:

Genesis of the Daleks (Amazon search http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...&Go.x=0&Go.y=0)

Here the Time Lords offer the Doctor the chance to erase the Daleks from history itself. Excellent Dalek introduction and back history, with Davros, their creator, as well! Also features Sarah Jane Smith (you can see her in new series no. 2, episode 3, School Reunion, as well). Sarah was a companion to the Doctor for 3 years (1 year with Pertwee and 2 with Tom Baker - doctors 3 and 4 respectively).


Doctor comparison (9 and 10):

True, the "Hamlet Doctor" is a bit of a downer sometimes, but number 9 gives some amazing performances. The emotional hangover from the death of his race has left him damaged and running largely on autopilot. Number 10 (Tennant) will be a stark contrast to 9 mostly because of the effect Rose has had on the Doctor and his experiences with her had allowed him to deal with some of his angst, leaving him calmer and perhaps able to move on...

No, the issue with the missing video is that BBC destroyed much of it! They reused the tapes, erasing large segments of Doctor Who in the process.

Video has been recovered from as far away as Africa, Canada and Australia. Viewer recordings of episodes, telesnaps of the TV screens and manual recording of audio through the air in front of the TV screen have also been used to reconstruct old episodes. Gaps remain, however. Large parts of the first two Doctors' episodes are held together with reproduction of the audio but only still frames that begin to move only when you get to the next recovered video segment.

Doctor who is currently being released as individual stories with one "boxset" a year of related stories. This is because if they are released in order the difficult to remaster early B&W stories would all be out first (they don't tend to sell as well as colour ones) people that are fans of the later Doctors only, would have to wait along time for there Doctors to appear on DVD (the release rate is limited by both the work required of the restoration team and the wish to maximise sales of individual titles). It was recently annouced that 2Entertain wish to release season boxsets as they become viable (all individual stories remastered an released for that season). There are also issues with missing episodes and stories, 2Entertain hope to release more animated episodes/stories as they did with The Invasion.

Everything from Baker onwards is intact, and most of Pertwee...it's Troughton who's hit worst. Every now and then an episode might turn up, but it's seriously unlikely.

I would recommed the first ever serial, The Unearthly Child - the first four episodes for Classic Who - it's the introduction, and it still stands up as being good TV. Other than that, Genesis Of The Daleks is a good one. Also, Logopolis is a personal favourite episode.

I also would check out The Tomb of the cybermen. A great 4 parter starring the 2nd Doctor Patrick Trougton.

The Genesis of the Daleks is great and Davros is a scarey villian. I wonder if he will ever reappear in the new series?

The thing to remember is that everyone has their "first doctor" - just think of the original fans of Hartnell in the 60's when nobody (apart from some clever producers) would have imagined that the character could regenerate into somebody else entirely - and then suddenly this Troughton guy turns up and everything changes...

The success of each of the regenerations in the past is the only reason we're still talking about the show 40 years later, let alone watching a ninth or tenth doctor. The transition from Ecclestone to Tennant has been handled as well as any other, and although yes - there are changes - the tenth doctor's outings have been every bit as successful as the ninth. So leap right in, enjoy the second series, and look forward to the third too (which is currently airing) - so far, it's quite possibly the best of the lot...

The missing colour episodes for the 3rd doctor is becouse the tapes were accidently wiped, though luckily the show was widely francised and copies were sourced back from other TV broadcasters around the world.
The early shows are lost as, like other classics such as "The Likely Lads" and "Steptoe & Son" it wasnt considered economic to keep them.
That sounds mad now, but at the time video tape was very expensive and even film cost money to archive. The rules back then were that a show could be broadcast twice, any more times & all the actors had to be paid repeat fees. Hence it was considered better to spend money on new productions rather than keep what was considered to be redundant shows.
A lot of what would now be considered ground breaking plays and serials have been lost.

i know this isnt a grat way, but you can find the plot of a story on wikipedia. it has pictures! this is a good way to get the jist of episodes that are lost or unreleased.

Just to clarify, that's 108 of the 250 episodes from the 1960s, not the entire run. Everything from 1970 onwards survives and, as of last Saturday, there are 727 episodes. So, minus the missing 108 leaves 619 for you to discover.

For the full story of the loss and recovery of Doctor Who take a look at Doctor Who in the BBC Archives from the Articles and Information section of the Doctor Who Restoration Team website.

They do turn up in locked rooms in the basement of TV Centre from time to time... though I think most of those have been found by over-zealous cleaners now...

Thanks for all the help everyone, very much appreciated. Looks like I have a lot of orders to be placing and episodes to look forward to watching

I was wondering, do you know if there are scripts available to purchase (or even existent) for the old episodes (particularly those not available in television form?).

Scripts for missing stories/episodes are available online just google doctor who scripts. There are some photonovels on the bbc doctor who site and other reconstructed stories/episodes on You Tube.

Anotrher way to at least capture the spirit of the original docots is the serial books. I believe a lot of the original episodes have been written up as books.

To put it another way:
56.80% of the '60s episodes available
85.14% of all episodes available

wikipedia has helped me loads! I used to watch Dr who (Tom Baker IS the doctor!) but was too young to really understand all the sub-plots, i never watched it when it came back on, but i started watching Torchwood-not realising it was a spin-off or connected in anyway to DW until i saw the cybermen! (DOH!)
So out of interest i watched some of series 2 and got so into it all that i downloaded the whole of series 1+2 and me and my partner sat glued solidly infront of the TV watching them back to back for a whole weekend!!
Because i'd seen a few episodes with David Tennant i really wasn't looking forward to watching the 1st series with a different Dr, but they are both excellent in their own ways.

But yes wikipedia is my lifeline cos there are still many things i don't know but be warned-only look something up on there when you have a few hours spare cos you just keep linking and linking to other pages trying to find out more!!

Both my sons are hooked now as well!! Not that they have much choice- I even made my 11yr old turn the footie over the other day cos Dr had started!!

I read a lot of the Target novels when a kid - tbh most of my memories of early Who are probably from the books rather than the actual TV shows!