Doctor Who News Links

Tim Bennett examines the history of Doctor Who:

Debuting a 30-year-run on the BBC the day after President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, "Doctor Who" was originally a children's show. A serialized version of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine," the series' young target audience was treated to stories of a grandfatherlike time traveler and his police-box shaped spaceship, the TARDIS. Plots alternated between history and science fiction.

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The NYT entry from a few days back is now available via the Sun-Sentinel without the need for registration.

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Out of Madison, WI:

...it's really quite a hoot, faithful to the goofy charm of the original series while doing the serious upgrading and improving that was so desperately needed. Right from the opening credits, which use the spacey original theme music and show the Doctor's TARDIS, which looks like a 1950s emergency phone booth, winging through space and time, you know you're in good hands.

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Reuters gets in on the action.

In this 13-part series from BBC, and now offered to Sci Fi Channel, Christopher Eccleston brings plenty of oomph to the title role, a time traveler who is as mysterious as he is clever. Billie Piper plays Rose Tyler, the young woman he meets under dire circumstances in the first episode and who becomes his cohort in the fight against an alien nation out to survive by eating the kishkes out of Earth.

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More obscure websites come out of the wainscoting like a mislaid killer sheep.

The deal, brokered by Lisa Hofer, Director Co-Production & Sales, BBC Worldwide Americas, grants SCI FI Channel the first run rights for series one with an option for series two. The award-winning series will premiere on SCI FI beginning in March, airing Friday nights at 9.00pm.

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A rather nice article, I think.

Although the series has been seen on PBS over the years, "Doctor Who" never really developed a massive fan base in this country. Competition from shows like "Star Trek" certainly held it back, and its chintzy foreign flavor didn't always translate well. But it did acquire a rabid cult following that now sponsors several "Who"-oriented conventions (last month's L.A.-based Gallifrey One conclave was the 17th annual).

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The New York Times gives the series a good, hard look

Like so much British science fiction, especially Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series, this "Doctor Who" has a goofy, homemade quality; it's less interested in gizmos than in characters.

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Wow, is this overblown, or what?

With 13 episodes, a new Doctor and companion, and countless new monsters - and a couple old ones - the new series of Doctor Who spearheaded by executive producer Russell T. Davies is more than just a revival; it's the restoration of a national tradition.

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They get it mostly right, anyway.

The world's longest ongoing sci-fi series has kicked around the time-space continuum since 1963. Over 40 Earth years, the time travels of the mysterious Doctor and his sidekicks have grown from a British children's show to a legend.

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The only real downside they see is the poor special effects.

In a nutshell: Blowing up the planet in episode two? How do you top that? But here's betting you'll be dying to find out: You needn't know anything of past series to become quickly addicted to this series' seemingly endless quirky charms.

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A mildly condescending introductory article from the Hollywood Reporter.

Executive producer (and lead writer) Russell T. Davies has a good thing going here, even if it does seem absurd at times for monsters and other such horrific creatures and events to spring out of nowhere, or at least to spring from a mood completely discordant with the weirdness that suddenly descends.

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Honestly, I'd never heard of Scripps Howard News Service until now

In another story, one of the Daleks, those classic robots with the long rod that chat "Exterminate, exterminate," appears.

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Doctor Who has now, somehow, piqued the interest of independent filmmakers.

The special effects and production quality of the series has taken significant leaps forward from the last version of the series. The ‘live TV’ look of the series has been replaced by the slick and polished look of a normal TV show.

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The San Jose Mercury News provides us with their attempt at an introduction to the new series.

What has changed is that this Doctor, as played in the first season by Christopher Eccleston from "Elizabeth" and "28 Days Later," is more robust and active than his predecessors. His latest assistant, a London shopgirl named Rose Tyler (pop singer Billie Piper), is as much the hero as the Doctor, coming off as Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a British accent.

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Another introductory article, this one from AZ Central:

The new "Doctor Who" brings the series into the new millennium, which means top-notch special effects and mature writing chock-full of delights that adults and kids can both enjoy.

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EclipseMagazine offers an article introducing Doctor Who to the masses.

The New “Who” is every bit as intelligent, witty, charming and scary as the best of the series’ earlier years. Davies has revamped old foes like the Daleks and the Autons – as well as creating some devilishly cool new foes. The series is darker than the “Stargate” shows [with whom it shares the distinction of being one of the only two truly open-ended premises in SFTV] but not nearly so dark as “Battlestar Galactica.”

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