Doctor Who is Back!

Any Doctor Who fans out there? For those not familiar, Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television series which began broadcasting in 1963. The main character, called The Doctor, is an alien scientist and time-lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in a ship called The Tardis, which looks like an old-fashioned British police box (similar to a phone booth). This gives him the ability to travel in space and time, usually with some human companions.  One of the Doctor’s special abilities is to regenerate into a new body (played by a different actor) when he passes away. At this point, there have been thirteen different Doctors. Many fans were shocked when he recently regenerated into a female body! This female Doctor is being played by actress Jodie Whittaker.

It has been announced that a new season of Doctor Who will begin in early 2020, starting with a Christmas 2019 special which will be broadcast worldwide in the evening on Christmas day. It has also been announced that Jodie Whittaker will be returning as the Doctor along with her current group of companions: Graham O’ Brien (Bradley Walsh), Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole), and Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gil). Chris Chibnall will return as head writer and executive producer as well.

Each Doctor has a unique personality, and fans all tend to have a favorite Doctor. Probably the two most popular were Tom Baker (Doctor number four) and David Tennant (Doctor number ten). Tom Baker was known for his extremely long scarf and pocket full of “Jelly Babies” candy. David Tennant was known for his good looks and sense of humor. Personally, my favorite Doctor has always been Jon Pertwee (Doctor number three). What I liked about Doctor Three was that the character had more “James Bond” type action during his time, which seemed to work well for Pertwee.

Most Doctor Who fans also have a favorite villain. Generally, the three most popular “bad guys” are the Daleks, Cybermen, and the Master. The Daleks are a mechanized race of evil creatures who want to control the universe, kind of like alien Nazis. The Cybermen are evil part-human, part-robot creatures. The Master is an evil fellow time-lord from Gallifrey who is like The Doctor’s “Moriarty.”

New seasons of Doctor Who can be seen on BBC America, and re-runs can be seen on other cable channels such as Retro TV. By searching the Library’s collection you can find most episodes on over 80 DVDs. There have also been spinoff novels, comic books, graphic novels and audio episodes like Doctor Who Classic TV Adventures.

You can read more in books such as Doctor Who by John Peel,

Doctor Who: The Early Years by Jeremy Betham,

Inside the TARDIS: The Worlds of Doctor Who by James Chapman, or

Doctor Who FAQ by Dave Thompson.

There have been hundreds of episodes of the show, which have taken us to many different planets and time periods. Where will the show take us from here? Who knows, but it should be a fun ride!

- Jon P., Hickory Corner Branch