There is not another sci-fi show on television that has enjoyed so long and fruitful a cult following as the BBC original series, Doctor Who. Featuring an alien being known as a “Time Lord” who’s come off of the destruction of his own civilization and world, “the Doctor” spends his days traveling the universe to try and make right the wrongs that plague its inhabitants.
Traveling through space and time in a machine called the TARDIS, the ship itself, which is a 1950s British telephone box, is just one of the many cultural icons readily associated with the Doctor Who series. Equally iconic are the many enemies “the Doctor” has accumulated, one of the most infamous and recognizable being the Daleks who are known for their war cry, “EXTERMINATE.”
During the show’s twenty-seven years on the air, “the Doctor” has been portrayed by ten different actors and regenerated from the brink of death on ten different occasions. Along his travels through the universe, “the Doctor” often picks up companions and exposes them to dangerous, but thrilling adventures. The series revival of 2005 introduced “the Doctor” in his ninth incarnation, portrayed by Christopher Eccleston. Department store worker, Rose Tyler, finds herself an impromptu companion when “the Doctor” saves her from an alien invasion. Eccleston’s time in “the Doctor’s” shoes was short-lived, and David Tennant, who plays the current incarnation of “the Doctor,” will be giving up his slot in the spotlight to Matt Smith, the youngest actor in the history of Doctor Who to ever portray “the Doctor.”
In popular cult fashion, Doctor Who has enjoyed a number of spin-offs, including the recent Sara Jane Adventures and Torchwood. Films, fictional novels, comics and the Doctor Who Magazine all grew in tribute to the popular series. A number of fanfiction authors have also paid homage to the series, and finding Doctor Who memorabilia and merchandise at cons is guaranteed.
So what makes the series so popular? Time and space travel of course. To be one of “the Doctor’s” companions is a fantasy everyone can relate to. Even the most conservative of souls has at one point or another wished they could go back in time or travel to the far reaches of the universe to find out what lies beyond the fabric of every day, mundane existence.
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