Nelly Explains Stuff: Doctor Who

Many of you are probably wondering what this hell this "Doctor Who" thing I keep talking about is. Well, let me tell you. (You may want to sit down)

Doctor Who is Great Britan's longest running Sci-Fi show in existance. It is also by far the greatest show in exsistance. The show centers around a man called "The Doctor" who travels through time and space in a space ship permanantly stuck looking like a police box. The show has been on the air since 1963, and abiet being technically cancelled in 1989, it was ressurected (or regenerated, but we'll get to that later) in 1996 for TV movie and eventually returned to being a full fledged series in 2005. The new series is still going strong today, and is of course my favorite show!

So, now that we've got that covered, let me tell you a little bit about the show itself. As previously mentioned, the show's main character is a man called only "The Doctor". Not much is really known about the Doctor, and what we do know is mostly bizzare. Here is what we have discovered over the course of the series' run:

1.) The Doctor is an alien from the planet Gallifrey. His species are called "Time Lords" which are a humaniod like race with two hearts and limited telepathic powers. The Doctor is a renegade from his planet.

2.) The Doctor travels through time and space in a ship called a "TARDIS" which stands for "Time And Relative Dimentions in Space" On the outside the TARDIS looks like a 1950's police box (it's camelion circut which lets it change it's shape to fit the enviorment broke while in London in 1963) but on the inside is a large, futuristic interior with seemingly endless amounts of rooms. It can travel to any planet at any point in it's history or future.

3.) Somehow or another, in a yet to be explained series of events in the 2005 series, the Doctor was either directly or parcialy responsible for the demise of his home planet and his species, meaning that by 2005, he is the last Time Lord.

4.) The Doctor has the ability to regenerate meaning if he dies he'll come back to life, but with a different body. All Time Lords have this ability. The Doctor has used this ability nine times throughout the show, meaning ten differnent actors have played the Doctor. They are in order:

• William Hartnall (1963-1966) - He was a Grandfatherly figure who died of old age.
• Patrick Troughton (1966-1969) -He was more of a favorite uncle then a Grandfather, a clown who was forced to regenerate as punishment by his fellow Time Lords
• Jon Pertwee (1970-1974) - An aristocratic scientist, at this point in his life he was trapped on Earth, he died of radiation poisoning.
• Tom Baker (1974-1981) - The Doctor's longest and most popular incarnation, a Bohemian who died from falling off of a Pharos Project radio telescope.
• Peter Davidson (1981-1984) - A cricket lover trapped in a body much younger then his personality, he died from contracting deadly Specktrox Toxiemia.
  
• Colin Baker (1984-1986) - Flamboyant and arrogant, this incarnation was the least popular, he died of unknown injuries after the TARDIS was shot down by the evil Rani.
• Sylvester McCoy (1987-1989, and again in 1996) - He started out as a clown but eventually became far more dark and manipulative, he died on the operating table after being operated on by a human doctor, not knowing he was an alien
• Paul McGann (1996) - He only apeared once, in a TV movie, he was a romantic with an ability to tell people's futures. His death was never televised or explained.
• Christopher Eccelston (2005) - The first of the new revival series, though still considered the ninth Doctor, he was a dark and intense Doctor, hardened by the Time War that destroyed his planet and his race. He died after absorbing all the energies of the Time Vortex.
  
• David Tennant (2005- today) The current incarnation, he's a bit more easy going then his ninth incarnation, with a taste for punk rock.
  

So to put it lightly, the show basically centers around the adventures of the Doctor and the many companions he gains on his travels. His current companion is a human girl named Rose Tyler, but his previous companions range from the alien Nyssa of Traken to the mild mannared Sarah Jane Smith. He's also had a few male companions such as the alien Turlough, and more recently, Rose's "boyfriend" Mickey Smith.

The Doctor has no "main villian" of sorts. He fights injustice throughout the galaxy (with his sonic screwdriver usually) where ever he finds it. He had an arch enemy called "The Master" for a while, but he was eventually (supposedly) defeated. His most famous enemies are the Daleks (mutated robot creatures that look like pepperpots) and the Cybermen (a fusion of human organs and metal, Robot Humans) Almost every incarnation of the Doctor has faced both of these villians, yet they never seem to just die.

And so, that's the famed Doctor Who. My favorite show! And let me just stress one thing, HIS NAME IS NOT DOCTOR WHO!! His name is "The Doctor" the question is "Doctor Who?"

"I can feel my hair curling, which either means it's going to rain...or I'm onto something!"
-The Fourth Doctor