What should I know to understand Doctor Who?

[Sithking Zero]

You should know that the show has been going for nearly fifty years, and that there is an online wiki full of useful doctor who info.

Seriously, it helps. I only got into it with the new series, and I need a lot of catching up sometimes.

Oh, and there are large portions of it that are pure nightmare fuel. See also: The Silence, the Weeping Angels, and the shadow monsters from the library episode.

[Broomstick]

Seriously, it helps. I only got into it with the new series, and I need a lot of catching up sometimes.

I've been watching it for nearly 30 years and I have the same problem.

Link to wiki, please? I could use that!

[PeZook]

Huh. Funny, I was never particularly scared by any Dr. Who episode.

[andrewgpaul]

Seriously, it helps. I only got into it with the new series, and I need a lot of catching up sometimes.

I've been watching it for nearly 30 years and I have the same problem.

Link to wiki, please? I could use that!

Here you go; the TARDIS Index File. It seems fairly comprehensive.

[generator_g1]

Heh, Amy's comment about the Doctor being a small slug in a human suit reminded me of the Master in the 8th Doctor movie...

[Drooling Iguana]

You should know that the show has been going for nearly fifty years, and that there is an online wiki full of useful doctor who info.

If you're talking about the TARDIS Index File, I'd be careful with what you take from there, due to its tendency to mash stuff from the actual series together with stuff that only appeared in the books, audio plays, comics, etc. Although Doctor Who never had a concrete canon policy, enough stuff from the EU has been flatly contradicted by the series that the wiki's insistence on placing information from those sources alongside stuff from the series itself makes it difficult to consider it a reliable source.

[inviz345]

the book and audio plays are canon they fill in a lot of the tech you dont see on the show. and they allow bbc to still use the doctors, rtd said that apocalypse element that this story marks the first battle in the time war.

[Mari Wolfe]

Personaly I see the first battle of The Time War as the 4th Doctor Story "The Geneses of the Daleks." If not that then the 7th Doctor story "Rembrence of the Daleks" certanly is.

[Parallax]

Personaly I see the first battle of The Time War as the 4th Doctor Story "The Geneses of the Daleks." If not that then the 7th Doctor story "Rembrence of the Daleks" certanly is.

I'd agree with this. After-all, in 'Genesis' the Time Lords specifically send the Doctor to wipe out the Daleks before they're even created. He fails but still does some damage, setting their development back 1000 years (and retroactively changing certain events already seen in the show. Confusing!)
'Remembrance' is basically the 7th Doctor launching a massive broadside at the Daleks, resulting the annihilation of their home solar system. And making it look easy. Hm ... I wonder if the Thals were still about at the time...

[Ahriman238]

Mari Wolfe wrote:
Personaly I see the first battle of The Time War as the 4th Doctor Story "The Geneses of the Daleks." If not that then the 7th Doctor story "Rembrence of the Daleks" certanly is.


I'd agree with this. After-all, in 'Genesis' the Time Lords specifically send the Doctor to wipe out the Daleks before they're even created. He fails but still does some damage, setting their development back 1000 years (and retroactively changing certain events already seen in the show. Confusing!)
'Remembrance' is basically the 7th Doctor launching a massive broadside at the Daleks, resulting the annihilation of their home solar system. And making it look easy. Hm ... I wonder if the Thals were still about at the time...

Forgive my spotty memory and reviewing, but didn't 7 arrange some terribly complicated scheme to create two factions of Daleks that would war with each other for centuries, thus keeping the rest of the universe safe? Or am I confusing this with the earlier Dalek Civil War?

[Drooling Iguana]

Forgive my spotty memory and reviewing, but didn't 7 arrange some terribly complicated scheme to create two factions of Daleks that would war with each other for centuries, thus keeping the rest of the universe safe? Or am I confusing this with the earlier Dalek Civil War?

The two factions of Daleks were already fighting each other in 6's era (see: Revelation of the Daleks) and 7's plan almost collapsed because he wasn't counting on two Dalek groups showing up.

Destroying Skaro, however, was always the goal.

[Patrick Degan]

Mari Wolfe wrote:
Personaly I see the first battle of The Time War as the 4th Doctor Story "The Geneses of the Daleks." If not that then the 7th Doctor story "Rembrence of the Daleks" certanly is.


I'd agree with this. After-all, in 'Genesis' the Time Lords specifically send the Doctor to wipe out the Daleks before they're even created. He fails but still does some damage, setting their development back 1000 years (and retroactively changing certain events already seen in the show. Confusing!)
'Remembrance' is basically the 7th Doctor launching a massive broadside at the Daleks, resulting the annihilation of their home solar system. And making it look easy. Hm ... I wonder if the Thals were still about at the time...

Forgive my spotty memory and reviewing, but didn't 7 arrange some terribly complicated scheme to create two factions of Daleks that would war with each other for centuries, thus keeping the rest of the universe safe? Or am I confusing this with the earlier Dalek Civil War?

The Dalek Schism came about after the Movellan War. The virus the Movellans developed to attack the insulation in Dalek casings proved very effective and decimated the Dalek race. Davros ended up on the cemetery planet Necros and from there proceeded to create a new Dalek race from salvaged genetic material and kidnapped human subjects, in much the same way the Emperor would create his new Dalek race centuries later. The original Daleks who had reclaimed Skaro under the leadership of the Supreme Dalek attempted to put an end to the new Davros Imperial Daleks, but in the end, the Imperials won the power struggle and the original Daleks were hunted down as renegades. ("Revelation Of The Daleks", "Rememberance Of The Daleks")

The earlier Dalek Civil War (which may have been erased from history) resulted from the Dalek attempt to identify the Human Factor as a biological component in thought processes and refine it into a Dalek Factor with which they were going to use the TARDIS to spread throughout time and space. The Doctor however altered the settings on the conversion apparatus and as a result all the Daleks who were put through it were infused with the Human Factor and rebelled against the First Emperor, which resulted in a battle of mutual annihilation breaking out on Skaro. ("The Evil Of The Daleks")

[Crossroads Inc.]

The earlier Dalek Civil War (which may have been erased from history) resulted from the Dalek attempt to identify the Human Factor as a biological component in thought processes and refine it into a Dalek Factor with which they were going to use the TARDIS to spread throughout time and space. The Doctor however altered the settings on the conversion apparatus and as a result all the Daleks who were put through it were infused with the Human Factor and rebelled against the First Emperor, which resulted in a battle of mutual annihilation breaking out on Skaro. ("The Evil Of The Daleks")

The loss of that series is one of the real tragedies of Dr.Who. It wasn't just a great story, but it was one of the first "Epic" big budget Who stories. There was a LOT spent on miniatures, sets and models in that story, and all that is left are a few short parts from it. What was also sad is I felt the "Humanized Daleks" where a bit of a wasted story. I always wanted to, if only for a single story, see "good" daleks. Remnants who lived through that war who still had the 'human factor'.

[Patrick Degan]

The earlier Dalek Civil War (which may have been erased from history) resulted from the Dalek attempt to identify the Human Factor as a biological component in thought processes and refine it into a Dalek Factor with which they were going to use the TARDIS to spread throughout time and space. The Doctor however altered the settings on the conversion apparatus and as a result all the Daleks who were put through it were infused with the Human Factor and rebelled against the First Emperor, which resulted in a battle of mutual annihilation breaking out on Skaro. ("The Evil Of The Daleks")

The loss of that series is one of the real tragedies of Dr.Who. It wasn't just a great story, but it was one of the first "Epic" big budget Who stories. There was a LOT spent on miniatures, sets and models in that story, and all that is left are a few short parts from it. What was also sad is I felt the "Humanized Daleks" where a bit of a wasted story. I always wanted to, if only for a single story, see "good" daleks. Remnants who lived through that war who still had the 'human factor'.

I believe that the reason for doing that "final" story was because Terry Nation had it in mind to withdraw the rights to the Daleks from the BBC. He had plans, apparently, to create his own television series around them but they never came to fruition. A scant few year later Nation worked out a new deal with the BBC for the continued use of his creations in 1971/72, when "Day Of The Daleks" marked their return.