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Meant to post this yesterday, but In was too busy.

The BBC have commissioned a new series of Dcotor Who, the first series since 1990 and the first of any televised Who at all since 1996. It is being written by Queer as Folk writer Russel T Davies- and before anyone thinks that that means a gay Doctor, anyone who saw Queer as Folk will know just how much of a Who nut Davies is...

No confirmation on who will play the Doctor yet, but Eight Doctor Paul McGann is being weird and saying a woman should do it. Easy there, Paul...

As it is going to be only a six part series, I would assume the episodes will be a little longer than they used to be...

Anyway! I am very happy...

Any news on the budget yet Ush, if its too big it may not feel like true-Who.

never saw dr Who but Queer as folk is very cool so I think this should also be good

I remember the the Dr.Who series well I kinda do I was really young I have seen a couple of shows but I don't really remember them very much any more. I really can't wait to see what they do with this series, although the only channel that could do this series right could be SciFi.

Dr Who always scared the bejesus out of me as a kid.

how many different dr. who's were there? i remember one w/curly hair that i thought was really cool.

Never seen Dr. who. What is it about exactly?

low-budget british sci-fi. seems like there is a lot of time-travel involved. it's been many years since i've watched it, but i remember liking it.

Ah ok Thanks

okie, I'll keep a look out

You Know a few Years ago they did a TV movie for Dr.Who I have it on DVD it's a cool movie and if the series lives up to the movie it will be my new favorite show

It wasn't ACTUALLY low-budget- it was BBC budget. Which is low by default, but relatively speaking it was middling...

It will probably be much more budgeted this time around- especially for only 6 epiosdes (back in the sixties, series went on for some 40 weeks).

There have been eight Doctors, curly haired guy was Tom Baker, number four. That tv movie was the 1996 screening I referred to and starred Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, whom I mentioned above.

Asking what Doctor Who is about is a tricky question as its concept was almost infinitey extendable- you could write stories about virtually anything. Over its 30 year run it went though all sorts of phases and has had a great mix of the classically brilliant and the utterly shite.

But the BASIC premise is this. The Doctor (a title he assumes as his name is rather obscure) is a being from the planet Gallifrey, part of a race called the Time Lords- so called because they have complete mastery over the science of Time Travel. Their millions of years old civilisation is, however, rather static and somewhat decaying, The Doctor is unusual for a Time Lord as he has a great curiosity about the Universe so he left, in a stolen ship, to explore it- something that makes him an outcast. And for the first few decades of his time away from Gallifrey he settled on Earth in the 1960s whilst trying to fix the ship (he stole a broken one). As a result he gained an appreciation for the human species (whom he, of course, physically resembles)

The Doctor, coming from a highly advanced alien race, knows tons about everything and is the perfect scientist. He is also kind, friendly, good-humoured, rather eccentric- and hates all forms of evil. His ship is actually a 'TARDIS ('Time and Relative Dimensions in Space') and is less of a ship and more of a portable 'reality' in which he can travel around throughout space and time (though he can never quite steer it correctly). It extends into the real world in a physical manifestation which contains a device designed to make it blend in with its surroundings when it 'lands (it does not fly like a normal ship- it materialises into the real world next to things), so if it materialised next to a bunch of rocks it would look like another big rock- but with a door built in that took you into the TARDIS which is far bigger on the inside than out, its physical maifestation being only a gateway.

Unfortunately for the Doctor his chameleon circuit is knackered. When he landed on a junkyard in London in the 60s the TARDIS took the look of a London Police Box- and then got stuck. No now matter where he goes in space and time, his TARDIS always looks like a Police Box and sticks out like anything.

So then- in each story, the Doctor goes somewhere, anywhere in the universe and anywhere in time, and he normally finds something bad going on which he helps sort out, accompanied by companions he has picked up along the way who travel with him for a while before leaving. And that is the set-up- this slightly mad but incredibly capable scientist with a time machine goes anywhere sorting out stuff. Because he likes humans, a large amount of his stories are about about helping out Earth- whether in Roman times, Victorian times, Modern times, or the far future.

The last twist is this- the Doctor's race has 13 'lives'. When the Doctor is killed- as occasionally happens- he can regenerate into a new form (which basically meant the actor was done doing the role and someone else was due to take over). The new Doctor is similar in basic personality but the details are often very different indeed. Some of the most amusing Dr. Who stories are the ones when the Doctor meets a past version of himself- they always hate each other.

And yeah- that is Dr. Who!

My head hurts

Thanks, Ush! I love it!

Dr Who

Sounds ah..like something I wouldnt like Sorry to fantastic.

i never really got into it, but if i like this one then ill try to catch up!

I'm not that of sci fi aficionado but I'm happy four you guys

Longest running sci-fi series of all time...

...least convincing aliens of all time....

No, Blake's 7 won that. That series was always better when it concentrated on humans, except for in Star One. When all the aliens looked like humans- good thinking.

That said, I was watching some Dr. Who today- The Invisible Enemy, a Tom Baker story. God it was rubbish. Made me want to gouge my own eyes out. Shame, they had just had some good ones on recently...

Blake 7

A new series of that has gone into production as well.

(big smile)

they should bring back the critic. i loved that show.

hmm dunno it, but if you like it that's saying something