Dr. Who

The Doctor’s TARDIS

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television program produced by the BBC. The TV Series depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe (primarily here on planet Earth) in a time machine called the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) that flies through time and space, and appears to be a simple blue police box. The Doctor, along with a few friends and companions, faces a number of foes while working to save civilization in general, help people even if they don’t need it, and righting all wrongs that he and his little group may encounter.

The series is sited in “Guinness World Records” book as the longest-running science fiction television show on earth, and is the “most successful” science fiction series of all time, in terms of its broadcast ratings, book and DVD sales, iTunes traffic, as well as all estimated “illegal downloads”.   The Show has been recognized for its creative stories, as well as the many inventive low-budget special effects during its original run, which began on November 23, 1963 and played until December 6, 1989.

By popular demand a full length TV Film was released in May of 1996 and the  TV series was revived in March of 2005 and continues today.

The show is most definitely a large part of British popular culture in the U K, and elsewhere it has become a cult television favorite. Dr. Who has influenced generations of British television professionals, many of who have grown up watching the series. It has received recognition from critics and the public as one of the finest British television shows ever, including the award for Best Drama Series in 2006, and five consecutive wins at the National Television Awards from 2005 to 2010.

The Doctor has been played to date (2011) by no less than eleven actors. The transition from one actor to another is successfully written into the plot of the show as a type of “regeneration", whereby the main character of the Doctor takes on a new body and, to some extent, a new personality as well. The images of the 11 actors are shown below:

Since the Doctor is an alien “Time Lord”, he naturally has the ability to regenerate his body when near death. This little trick was first introduced into the storyline as a way of continuing the series when the writers were faced with the exodus of lead actor William Hartnell in 1966, it has since continued with obvious success to be a major element of the series, allowing for the recasting of the lead actor when the need is required.

I can foresee a big problem for the future of the series however, as I have learned through my research on the topic that in no less than two previous episodes as well as the 1996 TV Movie it was reported that a Time Lord was limited to only 12 regenerations.

Personally, I have not had cause to follow the long running exploits of Dr. Who, which is now a big event on the relatively new network: BBC America as well as BBC One, but quite obviously a lot of people do. In truth, I expect the TV Series is “over my head”.  Ha, the show even has its own web-site at http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw.  

Sources …                                    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who#Changes_of_appearance            http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw