Doctor Who Viewing Order and FAQs

People ask me about the viewing order for new Doctor Who all the time. I figured it would be easier to have this on my blog so I can link them easily and update the list as needed. I have also included a short section with responses to questions I frequently get asked by people new to the show. I do not in any way claim to be an expert on this. I just figured this would be helpful for new fans. If you notice any mistakes or have any questions let me in know in comments.

Doctor Who Series 1

Doctor Who Children in Need Special 2005  

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2005: The Christmas Invasion

Doctor Who Series 2

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2006: Runaway Bride

Torchwood Season 1

Doctor Who Series 3

Doctor Who Children in Need Special 2007: Time Crash

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2007: Voyage of the Dammed

Sarah Jane Adventures Season 1

Torchwood Series 2

Doctor Who Series 4

Sarah Jane Adventures Season 2

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2008: The Next Doctor

Doctor Who Easter Special 2009: Planet of the Dead

Torchwood Season 3: Children of Earth

Sarah Jane Adventures Season 3

Doctor Who Special: Waters of Mars 

Doctor Who Special Christmas 2009: End of Time Part 1

Doctor Who Special New Years Day 2010: End of Time Part 2

Doctor Who Series 5

Sarah Jane Adventures Season 4

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2010: A Christmas Carol

Doctor Who Comic Relief 2011 Specials: Space and Time

Doctor Who Series 6 Part 1 (Episodes 1 – 7)

Torchwood Season 4: Miracle Day

FAQs

Wow that’s a lot of shows. Do I really have to watch Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures?

No. You don’t need to watch Torchwood to understand Doctor Who or vice-versa, however, some details of plot lines will makes more sense if you do. Sarah Jane Adventures generally stands apart from Doctor Who and can be skipped. I would, however, recommend watching Season 3 Episodes 5/6 “The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith” and Season 4 Episode 5/6 “The Death of the Doctor” as they include guest appearances by the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, respectively.

Is Torchwood any good?

Personally, I only recommend watching Season 3 of Torchwood which is a five part mini series entitled “Children of Earth.” Season 4 is taking a similar format with a ten part story; hopefully it will be good as well.

Isn’t Sarah Jane Adventures a children's show? Is it any good?

Yes, Sarah Jane Adventures is specifically targeted at younger children. In general it’s a bit hit-and-miss. I generally use it to fill the space between seasons of Doctor Who.

What comes before “New Who?”

The Classic series aired from 1963 - 1989 and includes the adventures of the 1^st to 7^th Doctors. “Doctor Who: The TV Movie” aired in 1996 and deals with the 8^th Doctor.

Where should I start?

If you’re not sure if you are going to like the show or if you are introducing the show to a sceptical friend I suggest starting with Series 3 Episode 10 “Blink”. 

In generally, however, I recommend starting with Series 5 Episode 1 “The Eleventh Hour.” This episode marks the beginning of a new Doctor, new companion, and new head writer. As a result it covers most of the basics. The “Eleventh Hour” gives you much more a feel for the current show than 2005 pilot “Rose” does. If you enjoy the Eleventh Hour and series 5, I would definitely recommend going back and watching series 1 to 4 and the various specials along the way.

I don’t really want to sit down and watch all of these. Can you just tell me what the really good episodes are?

Sure, check out my top ten episodes list here.

Love the show but are they any podcasts you’d recommend?

(Ok no one has ever asked me this but I always wanted to give an answer).

My favourite is Radio Free Skaro. I’ve also recently started listening to The Oddcast. There are a number of other Doctor Who podcasts, a directory of which can be found can be found here.

So This is the End -- BEDA #30

So this is it. The last day of BEDA. End of the line. End of an era…OK that last one might be taking it too far.

As much as I griped and complained about doing BEDA on twitter I did overall enjoy the experience. I want to thank Noxy and Christina for helping me get though this. There were days when I really didn’t want to do it and I thought “Come on they did a post today so can you!”

I am going to continue blogging more often in May. I know Noxy is doing BALM or BAM (blog a lot in May) but I feel like I need more concrete guidelines or I’ll procrastinate and never actually get around posting. Right now I’m thinking I will blog at least twice weekly in May (BALTWM). I might set more specific guidelines for myself if I feel like that isn’t working.

I also wanted to address something brought up by Owlssayhooot's in a recent blog which came to my attention with Christina blogged about it. The basic premise of Kayley’s original blog was that things like BEDA are not good because encourage quality over quantity. Kayley does make some good points but the way I see it creativity and the drive to produce output is different for each person. I started this blog back in September of 2010 and in between then and the end of March I only posted two blogs. I even had other blogs that I had started drafting (my top ten episodes of Doctor Who for example) but they didn’t get posted till BEDA because I didn’t feel any urgency to posted them. Additionally, I face the problem of blog ideas and drafts becoming brain crack. In that you feel like you can constantly work on and improve them and you never actually end up posting them. Sure, the version of my top ten episodes of Doctor Who blog that was posted probably wasn’t the best one I could have written but BEDA forced me to post it and at least now it’s out there encouraging people to watch Doctor Who rather than sitting on my hard drive half finished.  

Looking back I’d say I’m really proud of roughly a third of the blogs I posted this month. There are a lot of mediocre posts including a number of tags. There is only really one post I dislike. At the end of the day, for me personally anyway, I feel like the good posts outweigh the mediocre ones in terms of value.

There are, however, a few things I will enjoy about not having to stick to the rules of BEDA. Firstly, I will enjoy being able to write (but not necessarily post) more than one blog a day. I often find I’m more creative after I’ve written one post but during BEDA I tended not to start a second post because I wanted to stick to the “every day” part. Secondly, I will enjoy writing post at whatever time works best for me. While I really didn’t stick to the whole posting before midnight aspect I did feel the need during BEDA to post around midnight for the most part. Thirdly, I will enjoy being able to write a long post over multiple days.

I still have lots of topic that I came up with for BEDA and never used for a variety or reasons (including that horse story I keep talking about on twitter) so look forward to reading those in May. If there is anything specific you’d like to see me write about leave it in the comments.

And now for the last time the 30 Day Song Challenge

Day 30 - your favourite song at this time last year

All Caps – Can’t

Unicorns? Narwals! -- BEDA #29

Today I asked twitter what I should blog about and Celine replied that I should write about unicorns.

First off here’s some hilarious comedy about unicorns.

So yes, unicorns are cool and all but you know what’s cooler? Narwhals!  

Reasons:

a)      They are adorable. Seriously, look at them

b)     They are actually real.

c)     Their “horn” isn’t even a horn it’s a giant tooth.

d)     Narwhal sighting are believed to have started or at least reinforced the myth of unicorns. So all those unicorn stories you read as a child? You owe those to narwhals.

Fun facts:

1. When you Google “are u” the first suggestion is “Are unicorns real?”

2. When you Google “are n” the third suggestion is “Are Narwhals real?”

We need to get the word out people! Narwhals are real AND awesome. Tell your friends.

Next time someone stops you and asks you if you are Team Unicorn or Team Zombie tell them with pride that you are Team Narwhal!

30 Day Song Challenge

Day 29 - a song from your childhood
Doris Day -  Que Sera Sera

Helping People Imagine You Complexly – BEDA 28

My dad walked to the kitchen at 7am the yesterday to find me singing along to Ani Difranco’s Talk To Me Now. Though the song is one of my favourites it had gotten lost in the sea that is my itunes library and as a result I hadn’t heard it in months. Listening to a song like that especially one that that I played constantly for a long time a few years ago (in my case my first year of university) is like running into an old friend after a long time.  I got carried away in the song the same way you would when reminiscing with an old friend and started singing along. I didn’t just mumbling the lyrics. I was all out singing the song with all of Ani’s inflections and swaying around the kitchen. 

My dad seemed rather taken a back at first and asked me what I was doing. I realized that while I sing along to songs often, it’s a side of me he rarely if ever sees.  The side of me that adores music, needs music, and defines myself though my favourite songs.  I often get irritated when I feel that people not treating me fairly by simplifying me or not imagining me complexly. However, the fact of the matter, which I realized in my kitchen at 7am, is that if you want people to do this you have to be willing to show them your many sides.

30 Day Song Challenge

Day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty

I don’t have songs that make me feel guilty so I’m just going to give you another guilty pleasure song

Waking up in Vegas – Katy Perry

What is This Sleep You Speak of? -- BEDA #27

Hello Folks,

I’m actually writing today’s a BEDA before 10pm today. That’s mostly because I’m doing another awakepolypse and I wanted to write this before my brain descends into a sleepless haze and refuses to form sentences. Though at this point I’ve been awake for around 22 hours straight so I can’t be certain this post will make sense to a person who has slept recently. Let me know in the comments.

I had something brilliant to say this morning but now my brain is just like “nope I’m not going to form complex sentences and write an interesting post till you have slept for at least 12 hours” so that blog post will have to wait till tomorrow.

In her song "Grey" Ani Difranco sings the lyric “Every time I blink I have a tiny dream” I always thought that lyric had some hidden meaning but now I’m convinced she was just really sleep deprived.

Ok I’m going to stop before I start stringing together random unrelated words. Better BEDA tomorrow, I promise. Unless you thought this post was amusing in which case I like you.

day 27 - a song that you wish you could play

Can I just say Ani Difranco's whole catalogue? Oh I have to pick one song, fine.

Ani Difranco -- If He Tries Anything

I Was Tagged – BEDA #26

Just as I had today’s inevitable “Oh shit I haven’t written today’s BEDA” moment I clicked onto Noxy’s blog and discovered I was tagged. So here we go!

Random questions
1) Cheddar or Swiss? 
Cheddar

2) Purple or Pink?
Purple

3) Skinnies or Boot-cuts?
Boot-cut

4) Converse or Vans?
Converse because that’s what the Tenth Doctor wore.

5)Sweet or Sour candy?
Sweet

6) Leopard print or zebra print?
ANIMAL PRINTS SHOULD NOT EXIST. Sorry for the yelling, I feel very strongly about this. Animal prints are UGLY.

7) Vegetables or Meat?
Vegetables. Unless you mean M.E.A.T.

8) Nook or Kindle E-reader?
Books. I’m not actually anti-E-readers I just don’t read enough to justify buying one

9) Mac or Microsoft?
Microsoft for computers.

10) Pepsi or Coke?
Wait they taste different?


Who's hotter?

1) Taylor Lautner or Robert Pattinson

I guess I found Robert Pattinson kind of attractive in his Harry Potter days. Taylor Lautner looks like a child.

2) Patrick Dempsey or James Marsden
James Marsden. I mean have you seen him recentally?

3) Paul Walker or Hayden Christensen
Oh come on now why would you put them in the same category? Fine, if I have to pick then Paul Walker.

4) Kellan Lutz or Channing Tatum

Channing Tatum

5) Tom Cruise or Christian Bale

Pass. Oh ok fine Christian Bale

6) Daniel Radcliffe or Tom Felton
Tom Felton because I have a personal rule that I’m not allowed to find Harry Potter attractive (Yes, AVPM was difficult for me)

7) Orlando Bloom or Justin Timberlake
Orlando Bloom

8) Leonardo DiCaprio or Chris Evans

Chris Evans

9) Shia LaBeouf or Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhall

10) Ryan Reynolds or Gerard Butler

Ryan Reynolds has great abs plus he was on Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place.

11) Bradley Cooper or George Clooney

Bradley Cooper is basically more attractive than anyone anywhere.

12) Harrison Ford or Patrick Swayze
Harrison Ford because he was kind of hot in the original Star Wars .

13) Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp

I have never understood the Brad Pitt fascination so Johnny Depp.

14) Zac Efron or Chace Crawford
Chace Crawford

15) Robert Downey Jr. or Hugh Jackman
Robert Downey Jr. I guess.

I'm tagging BEDAers and VEDAers everywhere.

30 Day Song Challenge

day 26 - a song that you can play on an instrument

I haven’t played in years but given the sheet music I could probably play Beethoven’s Ode to Joy on the trumpet.

Haha got to love the Muppets. Ok here’s a proper version of what it’s supposed to sound like:

Star Wars Episode IV Review – BEDA #25

The other day I rented and watched Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope for the first time. I thought I would use today’s BEDA post to give a quick review.

Story

I have seen a few spoofs of Star Wars and have been around long enough in science fiction circles to have most of the plot points of the movie spoiled for me. So much so that during the scene with Han and Greedo I thought to myself this must be the scene where Han shot first originally. The one thing that wasn’t spoiled for me was the return of Han during the final showdown and I’ll admit that got a cheer out of me when it happened.

In terms of the actual story I thought the front end of the movie was poorly paced and dragging in parts. If I had stumbled onto this movie on TV and not know the huge status that it has I probably would have switched channels about 30 minutes in. I am glad I kept watch though as the pacing and plot improved as the movie went on.

Visuals/Special effects

I am a big science fiction fan but I am also spoiled by the great CGI in newer shows and movies. Thus I was a little worried about whether or not I would like Star Wars on a purely visual basis. I was pleasantly surprised. There were only a couple of short scenes where the special effects were laughable. I thought the final show down between the rebels and the Base Star were done remarkably well. The battle was written and filmed in such a way that it was dynamic and complex without being confusing or repetitive. If I had to pick a favourite part of the movie that would be it.

Acting/ Characters

While overall the acting was decent, I was underwhelmed by Mark Hamill acting in the beginning particularly in response to the death of aunt and uncle and the destruction of his town.  

In terms of characters I found Han and Leia the most interesting. I hope we learn more about Leia’s past in the next couple of movies. I am interested to learn how someone of royal decent who is a politician learned to fight. I don’t dislike Luke and I hope he is meant to grow on you as the story progresses with the other movies.

Overall I did enjoy the movie. I would give it 4 stars out of 5.

I am definitely going to watch episodes V and VI and perhaps the prequels as well.

30 Day Song Challenge

day 25 - a song that makes you laugh

Chameleon Circuit – Journey’s End

(Note this song does contain spoilers)

I always get a laugh out of the boys making fun of the ridiculous plot lines of the series 4 finale of Doctor Who. My favourite lines have to be “That doesn’t sound plausible!” and of course the chorus:

 

“He was pretty lucky that he kept his severed hand/
Though in terms of canon I do not quite understand/
What was Russell thinking? What the hell was going on?/
OK, fine, we're sorry, we'll get right back to the song”