The Third Doctor Who Thread

[Herr Döktor]

Finally found the Steampunk TARDIS I was thinking of:

A very old wooden Police Box at the Transport Museum in Covent Garden.

[Marrock]

http://promus-kaa.deviantart.com/gallery/#Steampunk-Doctor-Who

[Rowan of Rin]

Now this may come as a shock to everyone...but...

I have never watched Doctor Who

I feel like I am missing a whole part of my life. I am a geek, but how can I be complete when this fact sullies my life?

What I pose to you is, where to start? At the very beginning? I went to a DVD store, and they had a whole Doctor Who section, which stretched on for about 15 meters, quite daunting!

[elShoggotho]

For the modern stuff, start with the Ninth Doctor. For nostalgia, start at the very beginning. It might come as quite a shock to see the progress from the 1960s and think about all the progress - and the fact that the series has a nearly continuous record that even declasses the venerable Star Trek. (my own Whoniverse incorporates Star Trek as well...)

[Prof. Erwin Lindemann]

Just start with "Rose", first Episode of the 2005 serie. After the first couple of new episodes you could start with "An unearthly child" (the very beginning), but it is of course very, very different. You will never here William Hartnell shouting "run!". But of course the old episodes are still very good. Most of them.

[groove-master101]

I pose a question for all those well-versed in Doctor lore, or anyone in general who wants to have a crack at it. It has been bugging me for sometime, and I doubt that we will ever find out the true answer (unless it appears in one of the classic series episodes, some of which I haven't seen). My question is this:

Why is the Doctor's name shrouded in secrecy??

We never find out his true name, always choosing to use the alias John Smith. In the episodes Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead the Doctor is shocked to learn that someone else knows his name, and comments "The is only one time I could tell someone my name" (or something to that effect). I want to know WHEN THIS IS and WHY IS HIS NAME HIDDEN IN THE FIRST PLACE.

This has been bugging me ever since I first saw the episode, and after watching the rest of the season without being given an answer I don't know where else to turn.

Any ideas, fellow Time Lords/Ladies?

[Magister]

Well, there have been numerous theories about the Doctor's lack of name over the years. Early on it was theorized that his name was either unpronounceable or too long to be practical, like our dear Romanadvoratrelundar.

Later, it was noticed that while most Timelords on Gallifrey possess names, (such as Borusa, Flavia, and Rassillon) while renegades always use titles (The Doctor, The Master, The Rani, ect.) leading to speculation that part of exile, whether self imposed or not, they are denied the use of names.

However, often times the President, the Chancellor and the Castellan are not named, except by the Doctor, often in a disdainful way implying that perhaps great Timelord abandon their names in favor of more profound titles. Given that the Gallifreyian who invented time travel called himself Omega, there might be something to this.

However, that doesn't account for the great secrecy the new series is building up around it, making his lack of name seem of great significance. It might be a throw back to the Cartmel Master Plan of the Seventh Doctor's era which apparently had the series not been put on hiatus would have suggested that the Doctor may be the reincarnation of of one of the founding Timelords, a contemporary of Rassillon and Omega, and thus somewhat of a messianic figure for the Timelords.

Personally, I think the best theory is that he gave up his name when he went renegade. Perhaps for a Timelord giving up one's name is more than just opting not to use it, it could be a much deeper and more profound action.

[Herr Döktor]

Very briefly, the only time we have come close to actually knowing his name was in the Key to Time season story 'The Armageddon Factor', where he meets an old chum from his academy days, Drax, who greats him with a cry of 'Thete!', we subsequently learn that this is short for Theta Sigma, more a fraternity name than anything else.

Drax refers to the Doctor by the name "Theta Sigma". Not counting aliases like John Smith, this was the first time an actual name (albeit a nickname) was attached to the Doctor. Later, in The Happiness Patrol, the Doctor states that Theta Sigma was his old college nickname.

Off screen, in the Malcome Hulke/Terrence Dicks Making of Doctor Who book from the early 70s, his name is given, in print (!) as a cod mathematical formula using the ancient Greek alphabet.

Beyond that, Who knows?

[Prof. Erwin Lindemann]

In the German Doctor Who forum somebody suggested his name is Slartibartfast. 

[neon_suntan]

IN the movie version with Peter Cushing... he calls himself "Dr Who" and the rest of his family all have Who as their surname!!! 

[Herr Döktor]

"Who's on first?"

Shades of Abbot and Costello!

[Herr Döktor]

Mr. Tennant will be leaving after the series of specials, to be replaced for season 5 in 2010:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7698539.stm

Wonder who's next? Those Converse are big shoes to fill...

[KhaiJBach]

with the rumors he was going to be around for 2011 and was going to be paid *********** by the Beeb.... this is an abrupt surprise! plus 'only doing 3 seasons'? is quite a change from the way he's been acting... I smell contract negitations did not work out...

[Smaggers]

So now the speculation starts...

[elShoggotho]

Just wanted to revive this thread to give you a little eye candy for the time until the next special arrives:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXrUyOurnOI

[architect]

about what every one has said regarding mind wiping in the newer season

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I seriously think they are implicating that wiping a brain or mind can be undone by some other part of the being (soul maybe?) and that erasing a mind is much like erasing something on paper or some such that there is still an imprint or a way that especially with time that you have a hard time erasing even the events from time thus they have a way of re forming on fresh flesh that has been cleaned because the events still happened

[elShoggotho]

So, now that The Watrs of Mars has hit the screens, what do you think?

So far, the only things we know about the christmas specials is that:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Doctor will die
Donna Noble is involved
...as is the Master, apparently with stability issues.

The End of Time will come on Christmas!

[Wilhelmina Frame]

My favorite rumor is Gillian Anderson as The Rani. Has anything been confirmed on that?

[Jonny B. Goode]

I grew up on the Fourth Doctor. Tom Baker's over-the-top eccentrism defined the role. All the other Doctors will always pale in comparison.

[lilibat]

As happy as I was to see more, thinking about just being that much closer to losing Tennant makes me VERY sad.   

[markf]

'Waters of Mars' does not make it to the US until Dec 19th on BBCA.  Annoying to have to wait that long, infinitely more annoying to lose David T in short order.  markf
http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:VeCv3tT1d7wJ:scifiwire.com/2009/10/finally-us-airdates-for-t.php+dr+who+%22waters+of+Mars%22+syfy&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[Rockula]

My Doctor was and always will be the 2nd, Patrick Troughton, because I grew up with him. I also watched Doctor Who for a while with John Pertwee then gave up on Doctor Who, and indeed most TV, for years.
 Unfortunately for me pretty much all of Troughton's episodes are lost or wiped. They erased my youth.
 I have to say that I never watched any of Tom Baker's episodes at the time they were broadcast and the reruns didn't capture the magic of my early memories.

However, the new Doctor Who (2005 on) is excellent and I don't miss an episode.

[Capt. Dirigible]

I remember Willaim Hartnell but only vaguely as he was the Doctor while I was aged 4-7. I can distinctly recall, aged 7, Hartnell regenerating into Troughton. For me..the Doctor I most associate with 'my youth' is Pertwee. By the time he morphed into Baker I was 15..and  the zips up the back of the monster costumes were becoming a bit obvious and I stopped watching Dr Who altogether. I re-started watching when Eccleston took over and I've been hooked again ever since.

I really like Tennant as the Doctor and have serious  reservations that  the new guy (Matt Smith) will be (or at least look) far too young to be a convincing Timelord.

[phaserrifle]

I'm 17, and yet I consider "my doctor" to be john pertwee, because of re-runs (one of the storylines involving the silurians)
the remake is pretty fun though. I especially like the dalek stories, their just such a classic monster.
oh, and the one with the doctors daughter (for completely un-related reasons).......

[Capt. Dirigible]

IN the movie version with Peter Cushing... he calls himself "Dr Who" and the rest of his family all have Who as their surname!!! 

Yes!! I recall seeing both Dr Who And the Daleks and Daleks Invasion of Earth:2150 AD at the cimema as a kid. It wasn't until a re-viewing on TV many years later that I realised that Peter Cushing introduces himself  thusly: "My name is Dr. Who" and the small child is his grand-daughter who calls him 'grand father'!. He's portrayed as a sort of bumbling but very clever old professor type who has invented the TARDIS rather than an alien Timelord. The TV Doctor never, ever calls himself 'Dr Who'..but always 'The Doctor'.

The Daleks Invasion of Earth 2150 AD also featured a very young Bernard Cribbins as a London policeman..who is now back in Dr Who..or at least was until very recently.. as Catherine Tate's grandad!