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Doctor Who is one of the biggest TV shows in the world but there are still people out there who have failed to be won over by the timey-wimey liaisons of telly’s most popular hero.
Some have just accepted that it isn’t really their cup of tea and moved on with their lives while others waste no time in letting people know how excruciatingly awful they think it is. That’s the amazing power that Doctor Who possesses – even its haters have plenty to say about it and they dedicate an awful lot of time to preaching their problems, too. That must mean they secretly love it deep down and it’s the duty of the Doctor Who fandom to open their eyes the world of adventure that’s waiting at their fingertips.
Doctor Who has been going for over half a century now so it’s always intimidating for a newbie to join the party when there’s so much history that apparently needs to be researched and understood in order to progress to the next level. That’s not the case, though. Pretty much every episode is a good starting point and the mythology is always there if you want to explore it. Some people use it as an excuse not to join the ranks of the coveted Whovians and, if you, or someone you know, is still refusing to accept the most simple aspects of the show’s format, this list should help clear things up.
The concepts of regeneration, time travel and everything else in between are explored and explained across the following pages so by the end of it you’ll have no reason to be confused. Just remember that it’s science fiction so it doesn’t have to make sense. Once you’ve accepted that, you’re pretty much halfway there.
10. Doctor Who?
One of the most confusing aspects of the series for anyone who has never really watched it seemingly lies with the main character himself. Have you ever tried to explain just who the Doctor is to a non-devotee? It’s particularly difficult given the fact that even the fans still don’t know all that much about him.
The simple fact that the titular Time Lord remains a riddle wrapped in an enigma is part of the show’s long lasting appeal, of course, but trying to convert a non-fan by affirming that “he’s meant to be a mystery” is pretty much guaranteed to fail.
It’s not really a good way to sell a protagonist – by being forced to admit that there’s not actually that much to sell – so you’ve just got to hope that they accidentally stumble upon one of his adventures one day and fall irrevocably in love with him like the rest of us. “But who is he?” “Nobody knows.” “What’s his name?” “Nobody knows.” “What does he travel for?” “Nobody-” oh, you get the idea.
All you need to know is that he’s a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who stole a TARDIS (more on that later) and he’s been defending the universe in it ever since. Isn’t that enough for you non-believers!? You can’t please everyone. Oh, and he doesn’t look human, either, before you point that one out. Humans look like Time Lords. They came first.
9. The TARDIS
So you’ve established that the Doctor is a time traveller and every time traveller needs something to time travel in so why is the concept of the TARDIS still so difficult for some people to grasp?
Yes it looks like a mid-20th century blue box and yes it’s bigger on the inside, but both of these issues have been explained in the series if you’d actually care to do your research.
It looks like a police box because its disguise mechanism – the chameleon circuit – broke whilst the Doctor was trying to fit in on present day Earth (when the series started the 1960swas present day Earth) and it’s bigger on the inside because you’re literally entering another dimension when you step through its doors – one in which size, along with time and space, are transcendental. It’s not rocket science, although it is basic dimensional engineering. It’s like when a larger cube looks like it could fit inside a smaller cube when the larger one is further away, only it is isn’t really like that at all so forget that analogy completely.
Why doesn’t the Doctor just fix the chameleon circuit, you ask? Because he likes it the way it is. Simple as. There are bigger fish to fry in terms of getting non-fans to actually understand the basic conventions of the series, anyway, such as…
8. Talkin’ ‘Bout Regeneration
So the Doctor can change his face when he’s dying, so what? Stranger things have happened in the series yet it’s usually the idea of regeneration that non-fans choose not to get.
It’s quite simply, really. When an incarnation of the Doctor is injured or elderly, he can transform every cell in his body which quite literally gives him a new lease of life – and a new psychical appearance – in the process. It was originally developed as a way to keep the show on air when the First Doctor, William Hartnell, was forced to retire from the role and it seems to have worked out pretty well considering it’s still on our screens almost half a century later. Admittedly it’s one of the programme’s more unrealistic conventions but why can’t naysayers just accept that it’s a Time Lord’s way of cheating death and get over it?
To date the Doctor has regenerated thirteen times but his current incarnation, Peter Capaldi, is actually only the Twelfth Doctor. One of his predecessors (John Hurt) fought in the Time War which means he doesn’t deserve to go by the coveted title but he’s still a Doctor nonetheless – he just isn’t counted as one of the Doctors, if that makes sense. It’s actually easy to understand why people get can confused.
7. Sonic Screwdriver
The Doctor’s faithful sonic screwdriver is an ever handy tool that’s been used to get him out of his fair share of sticky situations over the years but it’s also often accused of being a way for the writer’s to get out of their own sticky situations, too. And do you know what? It absolutely is.
As such, saying the sonic screwdriver is more of a cop out than a convenience isn’t really an insult at all. It’s a pretty obvious and widely accepted fact really and a lot of the show’s plots have taken a lot less time to get to the action than they would’ve without it. Each story is (usually) confined to a limited slot of 45 minutes and sometimes there just isn’t time to hang about. The Doctor can use it to do vital things like opening locked doors and scanning for alien tech without having to sacrifice the pace or substance of the overriding story. Credit where credit’s due, the sonic screwdriver has helped the show more times than it’s helped the Doctor.
At the end of the day, though, why does it even matter that the Doctor’s got a tool to help him get things done more efficiently (unless that said thing is made of wood)? You use a remote control to change the TV channel quicker and texting someone is more time effective than actually talking to someone these days, and it’s all basically the same thing. It’s Doctor Who’s equivalent of “There’s an app for that”.
Looks like you’ve been complaining about nothing. The sonic screwdriver isn’t the most annoying tool around here after all.
6. The Daleks
The Daleks are arguably the Doctor’s most iconic foes and just their plungers alone are recognisable enough. These days people who have never even seen an episode (yes, believe it or not but there are still people like that out there) know what they are and these non-fans still feel they have the right to complain about them.
Let’s face it, their shrieking voices can be quite annoying and if you’re not an avid follower of the series, their ongoing presence within pop culture is probably like a bad smell you can’t get rid of it. They’re the most hateful source of evil in existence but even they don’t deserve some of the insults that get thrown their way by killjoys.
Despite what your friend says, they’re certainly not just “pathetic pepperpots” and, even though their fear factor has somewhat diminished in recent years, they’re still the most formidable force in the universe, thank you very much. A non-fan has probably written one one as being “just a robot” in their time, too, which is just scientifically incorrect on so many levels.
And why doesn’t the Doctor just creep up behind one and push it over? Because he wouldn’t be able too and then it’d just turn around and sucker him to death which would make the whole thing pretty pointless really, wouldn’t it? Honestly. Use your imagination.
5. Earthbound
If the Doctor can travel through the whole of space, why is he always on Earth? This one is a valid question and it’s one that is regularly posed by non-fans (and even some dubious devotees) but the truth of the matter is that he isn’t always on Earth at all – though admittedly is he on for it a lot of the time.
The Doctor loves the human race which is the main reason he just can’t keep away, though it also doesn’t help that the BBC’s budget doesn’t yet stretch fair enough for the show to set up its production base on other planets. It makes it more relatable, too, for an extra terrestrial excursion to be taking place in familiar territory. If it wasn’t on Earth, they wouldn’t be extra-terrerstial, would they?
During the show’s formative years the writers tried to give their analytical audience a narrative explanation as to why the Time Lord spends most of his time on Earth and that was because he’d actually been exiled here by his people. These days, though, he’s just doing it for the Vine.
Of course, the Doctor is always having loads of adventures away from Earth, the viewers just never get to see them, is all. So there’s always that.
4. Time Travel
Time traveller? Check. Time travelling machine? Check. So why does the concept of time travel still seem to give people headaches? Sometimes it’s better for everyone if you just accept that it is what it is. The Doctor travels in time because he can and if you had the ability to visit other time periods at your leisure, the chances are you would, too.
It doesn’t come without its confusion, though. Even fans have trouble getting their heads around some of the show’s more mind-boggling plots but the show always does its best to explain them in simple terms in its own unique scientific way. The Tenth Doctor put it pretty well himself in Series 3. “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey-wimey stuff”. So there you go.
Time doesn’t progress in a chronological order for the Doctor so he’s got his very own timeline which means he could take a picture of the Empire State Building and then go back in time and show it to the workmen as it’s being built so they know what they’re making. He doesn’t change the events or alter how they actually happened. The Empire State Building is what it is – time just sort of bends itself around him as he becomes part of its events. It’s like the grandfather paradox. If you went back in time and killed your grandfather, you were never born to kill him in the first place. But in Doctor Who terms, something like that is possible. The consequences of doing it would be dire for all concerned but time isn’t a strict progression of cause to effect so it would result in a new timeline running adjacent to the “proper” one. It’s all a big ball of stuff. Remember that. It’s very important.
Of course, there are some moments that a time traveller can never, ever change, which brings us to…
3. Fixed Points
Once non-fans have got their heads around the various timey-wimey aspects of the show, they then have to accept that some points in time can’t be changed at all. These are what the Doctor refers to as “fixed points” which are generally moments that are particularly important or that have a lasting effect on history. Pompeii is one, for example, as Donna Noble discovered in Series 4, and it’s worth looking at the character of Adelaide Brooke if you want to get a clearer understanding of what it’s all about.
To put a long story short, her character had to die during the events of The Waters of Mars because her heroic demise would go on to inspire events that would literally change the future of the human race. When she lived to tell the tale, therefore, it caused all sorts of damage and she eventually killed herself in order to put the timeline back on track. It was one of the show’s more extreme examples of what can happen when things go wrong but it’s an important one to bear in mind nonetheless.
As such, there are some moments in time that the Doctor unequivocally cannot change, though he generally keeps what moments these are close to his chest because, admittedly, it’s only ever used when it serves some sort of narrative purpose. Everything else is pretty much a free for all, really, which is useful because the Doctor would be out of a job otherwise.
2. Cosplaying
If naysayers can’t get their heads around the characters themselves, you can’t expect them to understand why fans would want to spend their spare time wearing their clothes. When you put it like that, it does sound pretty weird.
In reality, though, cosplaying is a unique pastime that you only really get to understand if you’ve ever partaken in it. Everyone dresses up for Halloween and this is basically the same thing, only it’s all year round and sometimes it’s for no other purpose but personal satisfaction. What’s more, it brings people together in a way that only dressing up as your favourite characters can and if people are having fun and temporarily forgetting their real life woes in the process, there really isn’t an issue.
It’s only ever really a problem for those bitter old ninnymuggins of society who get pleasure out of ruining other people’s enjoyment but in a room full of makeshift Doctors, companions and even the odd Dalek to boot, they would be the loser. Cosplaying isn’t for everyone but Doctor Who fans aren’t forcing you to take part in it so you’ve only got yourself to blame if it bothers you. You secretly won’t to join in, don’t you?
1. The Fans
This one ties in nicely with the previous point because the main thing that seems to confuse Doctor Who party poopers is the fact that its fans are so devoted to the cause.
If there’s one thing you can call a Doctor Who fan, it’s loyal (although naysayers would probably be able to come up with a few other adjectives, too). They don’t just watch the show, they live, dream and breathe it and for the people who really don’t get what it’s all about, that’s a particularly difficult concept to grasp. At this point, though, you’re probably just pointblank refusing not to like it because there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t.
Passion is something that should be celebrated and Doctor Who fans certainly excel in that department. They talk about it because they love it, not because they’re trying to annoy you – not usually anyway – and 70 million fans can’t be wrong.
In a nutshell, it would just save everyone a lot of time if you just admitted defeat and came along for the ride. There’s room for everyone in the TARDIS.
What do you think of this list? Are there any other aspects of Doctor Who that always confuse non-fans? Let us know in the comments section below.
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