Doctor Who is literally the hardest series to get into.

[LaoJim]

As others have said you can start from the beginning of the 2005 run. You probably want to watch the new series in order, especially as during Matt Smiths run the story arcs get ridiculously convoluted. (which can be fun if you are into that).

If you are interested in old series, as others have suggested I'd watch the first episode (An Unearthly Child) which is only a half hour. Then skip a couple of episodes to the first Dalek serial (Called either the Mutants/the Daleks). Then watch the Dalek Invasion of Earth, which is generally regarded as a classic.

Then I would watch one serial from each of the seven initial Doctors to get a feel for the style of each one. (There are a ton of "Best Doctor Who Episodes" on the web)

Don't worry about continuity. The producers never did! All you need to know is:

1. The Doctor is an alien, a time lord, with a spaceship (the TARDIS) that travels in time. He is said to have stolen the Tardis, but this happened way before the first episode and the reasons why are not clear.
2. The TARDIS once had the ability to change shape to blend in with whichever time period it arrived in. Since it is now old and this circuit is broken and it looks like an old London police box.
3. The TARDIS frequently goes wrong and end up taking the cast to unusual places.
4. As an alien the Doctor can regenerate into a different body when his current body is damaged (allowing the producers to change actors whenever necessarily)
5. The Doctor will have one or more companions travelling with him. These are usually from present day Earth (though occasionally they've had human-looking aliens, other timelords, or human from the past or future). Generally, though the acting skills on display vary wildly, you don't really need to know anything about these characters back-stories, they're mainly supposed to be ordinary people (If it is important for the episode to know that Sarah-Jane was a reporter, Sarah-Jane will mention she's a reporter early on in the given episode)
6. There was a period (of about three-four series) where the Doctor was exiled to Earth by the timelords. During this period he couldn't use the TARDIS, but still helped save the world from aliens every week. He was working for UNIT, an alien fighting military organization. UNIT often features in modern day stories.
7. The Doctor has several recurring enemies A) THe Daleks look like pepper pots and want to destroy all non-Dalek life in the universe. B) The Cybermen are basically an earlier version of Star Trek's Borg C) The Master is another timelord who wants to rule the universe.

Thats probably enough to understand basically whats happening in any episode. Since the series is for kids anything else you need to know will probably be explained during the episode. (Again ignoring the Matt Smith episode which do require a much deeper knowledge)

 

[YuberNeclord]

Like a lot of people have said, I'd start with the 2005 relaunch of Doctor Who, the Eccleston era.

I wouldn't recommend starting with the Tennant era, because if you started at say "The Christmas Invasion" I could easily see you pulling your hair out at all the first season references(plus it would probably ruin the first season).

You could theoretically start at the Mat Smith era, because the way they wrote it was almost a clean break from the first four seasons. But still, like Ninjamedic said you'd probably need to watch Blink and Silence in the Library/Forest of The dead before that, at the very least.

And then at any time you want to know more about something that has been referenced, like cybermen or daleks, then you could go back and watch some of the classic episodes to learn more.

Oh and if you can find it, there is a book called "The Discontinuity Guide" by Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping. You could just read that and pretty much know everything about the classic doctor who series without ever watching a single episode.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I haven't watched much, but I would recommend going straight to the hard stuff.

But if you're not going to start with 2005, just be prepared for incredible Britishness. Best to avoid Sylvester McCoy/Colin Baker, nobody seems to like them; although I've heard from a dedicated Who fan that Colin Baker (and the movie doctor Paul McGann, for that matter) did really good radio play editions of Who.

 

[Something Amyss]

Now the largest internet fanbase generator I have not yet examined is the Doctor Who series. But I'm completely stumped. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Check a random episode of the current series?

I'd attest that most Doctor Who fans didn't start watching Doctor Who from a clear starting point. And since a good chunk of Who fans got into the show back when there wasn't really an internet to speak of, I'm lost at how this is so utterly confusing.

So here's the plot: alien with a police box travels through time and space, saving the world and/or universe (often inadvertantly). Usually, there are other people who travel with him, and there are all sorts of weird aliens that are both good guys and bad guys. Oh, and the Doctor can change actors whenever the current one decides he can get a better deal elsewhere.

If you need a starting point, 2005's "Rose" is the first episode of the new series and introduces the Doctor to an audience that may have forgotten him or simply was born too late to know the old show (even though it was a cultural icon for that time). You could also try the first episode of Matt Smith's run, "The Eleventh Hour," because series five is largely self-contained.

Or you could pick some stuff that looks cool and start watching. This is basically a paraphrased version of Linkara's advice on how to get into a given comic book series.

Don't worry about continuity. The producers never did!

That's not true. I mean, people assume that continuity is a strict progression of cause and effect but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, scripty-wipty...Stuff.

>.>

 

[YuberNeclord]

Best to avoid Sylvester McCoy/Colin Baker, nobody seems to like them...

I liked Sylvester McCoy. He'd actually be amongst my top five favourite doctors.

Sylvester McCoy wasn't the problem with doctor who at that time, the stories themselves were the problem.They were just so freaking weird. They had a late 80's acid trip vibe going on.


You're right about Colin Baker though, he's consistently voted the worst doctor ever. Though I have noted that there does seem to be a number of people now who think that he actually did a good job.

I'm not one of them, I always thought he was an overbearing, pompous git. He reminds me of Charles Winchester from M*A*S*H, only about a hundred times worse.

 

[Lightknight]

The beginning of the revived series, in 2005, is undoubtedly the best starting point for a newcomer. The first season came after a very long gap of no television episodes and so reintroduces the Doctor and the basic lore for newcomers to understand. It obviously has shout-outs and references to older material but you don't need to know about them to make sense of it, I'd recommend just watching the seasons since 2005 and if you really like them, then consider digging around some of the older episodes.

Hmm, thanks. I tried starting back at the REALLY old ones. Don't get me wrong, I like old movies and such, but that was hard as hell to watch.

So, 2005 forward. I'll reattempt soon.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

It does seem to go through a lot of cycles. I wouldn't know where to start.
But it's a TV show, man, not a mineral or an alloy. It can't be LITERALLY HARD.

 

[Ninjamedic]

Sylvester McCoy wasn't the problem with doctor who at that time, the stories themselves were the problem.They were just so freaking weird. They had a late 80's acid trip vibe going on.

I haven't watched much, but I would recommend going straight to the hard stuff.

Best to avoid Sylvester McCoy/Colin Baker, nobody seems to like them

Having gotten as far as Ghost Light, I have to disagree with this. I skipped his first season and went straight to Remberance of The Daleks and it's one of my all time favourite stories. That whole season is really damn good, it shares a lot in common with the new series and does a great job of keeping the plots interesting (and The Doctor actually does stuff! *looks at Davies*).

 

[The_Longier]

The Russel T davis Doctor who episodes are worth watching((Eccleston and Tennant as the doctor)) , unfortuantely Steve Moffet can't write sci-fi ((He literally got the job because his wife was producer)) thus Matt Smiths run is less Doctor Who and More Ginger Who. As the doctor is relegated to waving his arms and gurning at the camera while Karen Gillan plays dress up and Arthur Darvil does a poor job of acting straight. I hope Peter Capaldi has a better quality of scripts and is alllowed to retain a little bit of Malcom Tuckers character http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaMb-5w-V0Y Its highly unlikely but would be quite fun.

 

[YuberNeclord]

Sylvester McCoy wasn't the problem with doctor who at that time, the stories themselves were the problem.They were just so freaking weird. They had a late 80's acid trip vibe going on.

I haven't watched much, but I would recommend going straight to the hard stuff.

Best to avoid Sylvester McCoy/Colin Baker, nobody seems to like them

Having gotten as far as Ghost Light, I have to disagree with this. I skipped his first season and went straight to Remberance of The Daleks and it's one of my all time favourite stories. That whole season is really damn good, it shares a lot in common with the new series and does a great job of keeping the plots interesting (and The Doctor actually does stuff! *looks at Davies*).

Ok allow me to clarify a bit.

I found the Sylvester McCoy era to be noticeably more weird then anything that came before it.

I'm not saying that there weren't great moment within these episodes, because there were( the return of the Brigadier in 'Battlefield' and his confrontation with The Destroyer immediately springs to mind), but there was also some damn weird moments too.

I haven't watched the episode in quite some time but the biggest example I can think of off the top of my head comes from 'The Curse of Fenric' (which, if I'm reading your post right, you haven't watched yet so I don't want to say too much). Specifically I'm talking about Ace's monologue at the end of the serial. I can't remember exactly what she says, which is part of the problem, what she says makes no sense and is just freaking weird.

And it wasn't just plot points or dialog that was weird about that era either, there were characters that were weird(like all the characters from 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'), the set design was trippy as all hell('Happiness Patrol' for example) and the overall tone of the whole thing was just WTF?

I just remember the whole experience was like being on drugs. Some of it was good but some of it was really really bad.

I do have to agree though, Remembrance of the Daleks is an awesome episode.

 

[LaoJim]

You're right about Colin Baker though, he's consistently voted the worst doctor ever. Though I have noted that there does seem to be a number of people now who think that he actually did a good job.

As I understand it, Colin Baker did a lot of audio stories during the decade and a half when Dr Who was off the air. It was these that have tended to win the support of diehard Who fans rather than the TV episodes. The issue with Colin was that, after people complained that Peter Davidson was too bland to be Doctor Who, they decided to give the next Doctor 'attitude'. Anyone who has seen the Poochey episode of the Simpsons will know the result. (In fact come to think of it, given the terrible way the actor was treated and his Doctor was written out of the series (with the TARDIS crashing at the start of the episode and having someone else wearing a wig regenerate into Sylvester McCoy) his whole story is well represented by that episode)

That's not true. I mean, people assume that continuity is a strict progression of cause and effect but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, scripty-wipty...Stuff.

Ha! Sorry, your completely right, the continuity is impeccable on all three-hundred and seventy four timelines where in the future the human race is either a) asleep on an Ark in Space b) enslaved by Daleks c) watching bloodthirsty versions of the Weakest Link d) Living on cities riding on the back of space whales f) eternally stuck in one giant traffic jam e) living side by side with the lizard people etc

 

[AliasBot]

I jumped in during the Matt Smith era at Eleventh Hour, and apart from not watching the episodes within his run in order (Series Six in particular), the only real issues I had were with the character introduced in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead (a fairly well-contained, Moffat-written two-parter), and then I probably would have had issues with the 50th anniversary special, what with its bringing-back-Doctors-past thing, if I hadn't watched the rest of the revived series in the interim.

But yeah, if you're going to start anywhere you might as well start at the beginning of the revived series, as its lore is self-contained enough to stand apart, and it's much easier to access (whoever it was that said the entirety of the Classic series on Netflix is either badly misinformed or just straight lying: there are only something like 15 Classic story arcs on Netflix, which probably comprises...maybe a tenth of the classic series, being generous).

Honestly, though? Most episodes of the new series (with the exceptions of the more cohesive arcs in the Series 4 specials, Series 6, and the second half of Series 7) that aren't season openers or enders stand fairly well on their own, so you can watch them in almost any order you want and not lose the essence of them.

 

[suitepee7]

no it literally isn't. start at the first season of the 'new' episodes and there you go. there are references to older stuff, but nothing which won't be explained in the current episodes. i've been meaning to go back to older stuff myself, but have never had the time, but it really isn't hard.

 

[Malconvoker]

I actually just got into Doctor Who. My family just got netflix and I had been shown a couple of episodes of doctor who by a friend and just decided to start from the beginning of the 2005 series. Its not that hard to start.

 

[Spiridion]

I would also recommend that you just start with the 2005 series with Christopher Eccleston. It does reference back to the older series a bit, but that's why the companions are there as an audience surrogate. Starting with Tennant wouldn't be a terrible choice either, but Eccleston is only around for one season and the early character interaction in Season 2 is influenced by Season 1.

 

[Desslok]

Egads - so much information, so much wrong (Sylvester is one of my favorite doctors, hands down, Remembrance of the Daleks and The Curse of Fenric is really good stuff).

When you're trying to get into - oh, lets say, Spiderman. Do you go back and start reading everything from Amazing Fantasy 15 onwards? No! Just go get a comic that has a cool cover and start reading. Same thing here - pick an episode and go. It's not a difficult premise to work your brain around: There's a problem, a monster is trying to menace/threaten/eat someone, the Doctor and his magical box turns up, he sorts the problem out, stops the monster and the magic box rides off into the sunset.

When I started watching, I just grabbed an episode and watched - hell, I didnt even know about the other Doctors. I enjoyed the hell out of it, and as learned more, I started watching the older episodes. Boom, problem solved.

 

[ImBigBob]

The thing about "Rose" is that the episode is TERRIBLE. I mean, just god-awful. I hated it, I couldn't understand how anyone could like Doctor Who. People pushed me to keep watching, and thankfully few episodes in the series have hit such a low. Personally, I'd recommend starting with David Tennant.

 

[Kotaro]

The beginning of the revived series, in 2005, is undoubtedly the best starting point for a newcomer. The first season came after a very long gap of no television episodes and so reintroduces the Doctor and the basic lore for newcomers to understand. It obviously has shout-outs and references to older material but you don't need to know about them to make sense of it, I'd recommend just watching the seasons since 2005 and if you really like them, then consider digging around some of the older episodes.

I was going to say this. I started with "Rose" (first episode of the '05 revival) and was hooked almost instantly. I watched all of the new series, went back and found as much of the old stuff as I could, and now I am weeping at the departure of Matt Smith, yet excited to see where Peter Capaldi will take us.
Geronimo!

 

[1066]

Here's the guide on how to watch Dr. Who

Start with the first episode of the 2005 series. It kinda sucks, but just go with it.

Be aware of the following:
1) When he dies, he regenerates into a new body, hence the different actors. Eccleston, Tennant and Smith in the modern. In order, first season, then the brown-haired guy with the weird thing about glancing around and long pauses after saying elongated things like 'yeah...' during explanations and then the guy with the bigger chin. A quick image search will clear it up.

2) He often has companions. In the new series: (Eccleston and Tennent) Blond girl, (Tennent) black girl, angry redhead, (Smith) redhead who becomes part of a married couple, black-haired girl. Until Smith's run, the biggest concern with figuring them out is that the blond one loves the Doctor and the married couple (after they're married) have a daughter who makes a lot of appearances. If you want to watch Smith's run, start at the beginning.

The companions have storylines, but are less a concern for individual episodes, and the show is very episodic.

3) The character will talk about the Time War quite a bit. It was a war. In time. His planet got blown up. You'll be okay from there.

4) He has a lot of enemy races that show up. The things that look like pepper shakers are Daleks. They blew up his planet (sort of. He still blames them). There's a backstory and all that, but per-episode, accept that they're xenophobes who want to exterminate, and they'll tell you all about that.

There are also Cybermen as the other major recurring enemy. They're the androids. Also a backstory, but if you know that they're cyborgs and generally filling the 'evil' slot, you'll be fine to understand the episode you've found yourself in.

After that, start more or less anywhere, but I'd recommend the start of a Doctor's run or the start of a Companions, just to keep things connected and avoid jumping in. I thought the series got good at the start of Martha Jones' run (the black girl), but that's me. Eccleston had his moments and an excellent finale to the first season.

 

[AliasBot]

The thing about "Rose" is that the episode is TERRIBLE. I mean, just god-awful. I hated it, I couldn't understand how anyone could like Doctor Who. People pushed me to keep watching, and thankfully few episodes in the series have hit such a low. Personally, I'd recommend starting with David Tennant.

The first few episodes are kind of rubbish, but there's a pretty clear point of separation between "good" Series 1 and "bad" Series 1: everything from "Dalek" onward is pretty superb (some people might disagree as far as "Boom Town," but I actually liked it; if that tarnishes the value of my opinion so be it).

So I guess that's two more options: start with "Dalek" and continue onward from there, or start with "Dalek" to get drawn in, go back to watch the 5 episodes before it for research's sake, then continue onwards from there. But don't skip over Eccleston's run entirely: it was short, but he was great in the role while he was there, whether the scripts were or not.