Legacy Character Study: The Doctor, Intro

Hello, internet. Welcome to my Legacy Character Study on The Doctor. All eleven of him.

Now you may be asking, “Didn’t the BBC already do something like this?” The answer is, “Yes. Yes, they did.” But this idea has been brewing in my head since I started coming up with this show since this time last year, so I think I should get a free pass. Having said that, I do highly recommend their Doctor Who: Revisited that’s been on BBC and BBC America, so check those out if you can.

Now, I will be doing a few things a bit differently than the BBC, for example, I will not be showing a full Doctor Who episode. If you want to watch a classic episode, you can get some good ones off of iTunes.  The BBC also offers many DVD sets, and then there’s the Big Finish audio dramas you should check out if you’re interested.

Secondly, I will get a little bit fan-theory-ish at some points, because this take on Doctor Who is being filtered through my eyes. When a TV show lasts for 50 years, it’s going to be hard to talk about it impartially. So let me go over canon, for a second.

Wrong.

“Canon” (or in layman’s terms, the things that are “officially” part of the show’s history) is difficult when it comes to Doctor Who. For Star Wars, all the films, TV shows, books, comics, etc. are all canon unless otherwise specified.  For Star Trek, the shows and movies are canon for the books, but the books aren’t canon to the shows and movies. And some say that Star Trek I isn’t canon, but let's not get into that.

But for Doctor Who, it’s a bit of a mess. I mean, all you have to do is look at the different versions of Atlantis to pop up in the show itself, let alone the Expanded Universe.

I will be as impartial as I can, considering the above, but I will also take into account a few of the most plausible and widely accepted fan theories regarding the character. You’ll see when we get there.

Thirdly, I will have no celebrity interviews. Sorry, I don’t have even the budget to afford Nicholas Briggs, let alone Tom Baker, or anyone.

Fourthly, this set of posts will not have a set schedule.
A.    This is a lot of research.
B.    This is a lot of writing.
C.    I’ve just started my final year of college.

My timeframe is basically “when they’re done.” My unofficial goal, however, is to be by at least Colin Baker by the time October gets here.

And finally, before I forget, the end of Series 7 brought us some serious spoilers. For the sake of not giving away spoilers, I will be omitting any and all spoilers, retcons, etc. until I get to the Super-Spoiler episode for those of us who have actually seen the end of Series 7. And I would politely ask you all to refrain from posting spoilers for Series 7, or indeed any spoilers for those who may not be in the know.

And with that, I'll see you all when we look at the First Doctor, hm?