Who’d've thought that a black and white TV show aimed at younger teens and ‘tweens, teaching science and history using a sci-fi backdrop to make it fun, would not just be popular, but last for nearly 50 years?  The Doctor probably would’ve thought so, but then, he also would have gone and seen it for himself.  I just can’t let this season of Doctor Who end without an evaluation of the latest incarnation of the Doctor.  It’s one of my favorite sci-fi tv shows.  Doctor Who’s changed a lot since 1963, when it first started, including the man playing the Doctor himself.  He’s changed 10 times.  But the show has had a following practically since it started, and not just in England.

The first Doctor with history teacher Barbara, Science teacher Ian, and his granddaughter, Susan in the TARDIS

For those who still don’t yet know, Doctor Who is a science fiction series following the adventures of the last of the race of near immortal Time Lords of planet Gallifrey, who goes only by the name The Doctor.  He looks human, but has two hearts, can withstand fairly severe cold, doesn’t physically grow old, and he’s VERY hard to kill.  Time Lords can be killed, but it takes some special circumstances. Normally, when a Time Lord becomes severely hurt, they regenerate, or in other words they change into a different form.  Time Lords normally can only regenerate 12 times, although this limit has been broken by the evil Time Lord known as The Master.  The  current Doctor is the 11th one, and I wonder how, when they reach the regeneration limit, they will keep the series

The fearsome Daleks

going, whether they’ll have the same actor keep playing The Doctor or if they’ll somehow find a way for him to regenerate again.

According to The Doctor, he and his 15 year old granddaughter, Susan, were the last survivors of the great time war between the Time Lords and the Daleks.  The Daleks won, and have been his enemies since.  The Doctor always has companions with him, as well.  They tend to be beautiful women. The Doctor’s first companions were his granddaughter, Susan, and her human history teacher and science teacher.  Over the years, the companions got older, and came into and out of The Doctor’s life, while The Doctor got younger, with the current actor portraying him, Matt Smith, being the youngest yet at 27.

Rose Tyler with David Tennant as the 10th Doctor

However, The Doctor never really had romantic relations with any of his female  companions, until Rose Tyler.  She knew The Doctor in 2 of his forms, they actually kissed, and the episode where he and she were permanently parted was one of the most

the 10th Doctor and Rose share a kiss

watched episodes in the show’s history.  In a lot of ways the current Doctor still hasn’t gotten over the loss of Rose.  Mediums for the show have changed, too, from TV to novels and comics, to radio and DVDs.  One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the fact that The Doctor travels through space and time throughout the universe in the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, a name Susan came up with), a spaceship in the form of a british police box (popular in England in the 1960′s), that’s bigger inside than it is outside.  It even contains an entire planet inside it.  The TARDIS has always been there, whatever form The Doctor takes.  The Doctor also is typically seen carrying a handy little tool called the sonic screwdriver, which can do pretty much whatever The Doctor needs it to do at the moment, from opening locks to repairing circuitboards to overloading enemy weapons.

The TARDIS flies through time and space

The 11th Doctor wielding the sonic screwdriver

The show went on hiatus in the late 80′s but was revived in 2005, with Christopher Eccleston playing a newer, hip,more acerbic Doctor.  This was when I began watching, off an on.  I began watching more often when David Tennant (who most Americans know for playing Barty Crouch Jr. in the 4th Harry Potter movie) took over as The Doctor.  He brought more humor and slapstick to the role than most others who’ve played the character.

This season, a man named Matt Smith took over the role of Doctor, and Donna Noble, his last companion, has been replaced with the slightly younger, more beautiful, fiery and impulsive Scottish redhead, Amelia Pond, affectionately known as Amy.  Matt Smith seems less funny than his predecessor, Tennant, who I still regard at the best doctor of them all.  Tennant was more funny verbally, and more witty.  Smith, however, does wonderful slapstick, especially in this week’s episode, where he became the first Doctor to play soccer, and the first to slip and fall on his face in the bathroom after taking a shower (nothing objectionable was shown).  He’s a bit more emotionally involved with the happenings of the show, and in a different way.  The Doctor, at one point, has to fix a problem with the dimension they’re in, by wiping Amy’s fiancee, Rory,  from existence, and now he’s racked with guilt about the fact that Amy doesn’t even remember what happened, or that she ever had a fiancee.  The Doctor still has Rory’s engagement ring for Amy.  Rory left the ring in the TARDIS and The Doctor found it still there after wiping Rory out, and so I’m led to believe things might be rectified and that Rory might come back somehow.  The plots tend to be a bit more intelligently written, and keep the viewer interested, and wondering what the problem really is and what’s actually going on.

A Silurian

Current companion Amy Pond with the TARDIS

I’ve been really enthralled with each episode this season, too, whether The Doctor was fighting the weeping angels (a couple of the best episodes in the season so far), the silurians, or witnessing the arrival of a new breed of daleks.  Every Doctor has to face the daleks at some point.  Another of my favorite episodes has to do with The Doctor taking Amy and Rory to Venice and they end up fighting what seems like vampires.  Also not to be missed is the episode where The Doctor and Amy go back to 1800′s Paris and meet Vincent Van Gogh. The man they picked to play the famous artist looked the part exactly.  This season has an  overarching problem with cracks in time appearing somewhere in each episode, which look like a nasty. twisted, evil sort of smile in the walls where they appear, and I’m

Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor. "Bow ties are cool."

the smiling crack, in Amy Pond's wall

anxious to find out what they actually are, and how The Doctor will ultimately solve the problem.  I love overarching plots like that, and the writers are doing a good job of keeping what’s going on not only suspenseful, but under wraps until the right moment as well.  I’m hoping that moment will be in next week’s episode, at there are only two more left in this season, but never fear, I hear both Amy Pond and Matt Smith as The Doctor will be back next season.  This will be the only season switchover where there is no change to The Doctor or his companion.  I’m hoping next season will bring back The Master, as he’s also a recurring enemy for The Doctor.  He’s a more deadly enemy than even the Daleks.  When David Tennant’s Doctor faced off with The Master, it was a wonder to behold, and one great battle as well.  It was one of Tennant’s most thrilling, exciting moments.

For parents, I’d say this series would be good for kids about 13 and up, not because of cursing or violence or nudity or anything like that, as Doctor Who doesn’t have anything very graphic.  But the plots might be too weird, complicated, or just plain over their heads for some children to enjoy The Doctor’s exploits.   I’d say parents should take their child’s maturity into account with this show.  My own father told me that my mother has deemed Doctor Who too strange and weird for her, so even adults might be put off.  But those who really enjoy good Science Fiction that’s cerebral and makes you think should try this, and enjoy a truly great classic series, before Matt Smith’s time as The Doctor comes to an end.

Those who have DirecTV can find Doctor Who on BBC America, or just BBC if you get that, and older episodes can be found on SyFy.  If you want to look on the internet, the official site’s at http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw .  Those who have Netflix can stream Doctor Who, especially the more modern seasons.  David Tennant, as much as Matt Smith, is worth checking out as The Doctor.  Even Christopher Eccleston, who was in Heroes and played Destro in  G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, is worth seeing as the ninth Doctor, although he plays a more caustic Doctor with a dryer sense of humor.  The Doctor in all his forms is worth seeing, but Matt Smith is certainly a great Doctor, even if he’s no David Tennant.  Then again, no one else is, anyhow.

Current Season – 4/5