It is fantastic, as the Ninth Doctor would say! Doctor Who, the beloved BBC science fiction show, is celebrating its’ 50th anniversary this week.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC’s official website, Doctor Who premiered on Nov. 23, 1963 to rave reviews. What started out as a show to teach children history has drastically changed tones over its’ long run.
For those who are not familiar with the show, the BBC’s website explains there have been 11 incarnations of the Doctor, with the Twelfth taking over in the upcoming season. The Doctor tends to travel around with various companions, ranging from his grand-daughter to aliens. His primary goal is to save the universe from various disasters and evil.
Tanner Tate, a senior broadcast journalism major from Henrietta, Texas, is an avid Doctor Who fan, or ‘Whovian’ as fans refer to themselves as. Tate briefly explained the show.
“It is about a character who saves the world countless times because he doesn’t want to see the human race parish,” Tate said. “Everyone could get into that. It has action, humor, romance, and tragedy; the perfect combination of elements”.
Jason Smith, an adjunct professor in the communication studies department, thinks the show has changed a lot over time. He said although a lot of the characters are the same, the only thing that has remained constant is the crazy man in the police box.
Sarah Riffel, a senior political science major from Pearland, Texas is such a fan, she has a cardboard cutout of David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor, in her bedroom. She said why he is her favorite.
“Ten had better storylines and better companions than his other modern counterparts,” Riffel said. “I’ve not watched enough classic to declare my allegiance, though from what I’ve seen, Four is by far my favorite Classic Doctor”.
Doctor Who is not the longest running show in the United Kingdom, according to the International Movie Database. However, it is one of the few to become internationally popular.
According to information found on the International Movie Database, Doctor Who ran consecutively from 1963 through 1989. When ratings started to tank, the show was cancelled. The show was revived in 2005, which is how most American fans became interested in it.
“I was told to watch Doctor Who by a friend,” Tate said. “I was a little skeptical at first and put off watching it. Then I was bored one night and started the first episode in the new series. Next thing I knew, it was 4:00 a.m. and I had watched half of the first season. I was hooked”.
Smith said he enjoys science fiction shows, so Doctor Who was a natural choice for him when he saw it on Netflix. He explained why he thinks the show has stood the test of time.
“I think the character development as well as the diversity of artistic influence has kept the show from getting stale,” Smith said. “Different writers portray stories in different ways keeping up with an ever changing creation of ideas and story narration”.
The 50th anniversary was celebrated with a television special, “The Day of the Doctor”. The special featured characters from different seasons, and had the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors join forces. According to the BBC, over 3.6 million people watched the special in the United States alone.
About Sarah Self-Walbrick
