Simply Known as The Doctor

Who!

That infamous British TV icon, "The Enemy of the Daleks" and (now) the last of the Timelords, Doctor Who!

Nine regenerations. Ten Doctors. Twenty-eight seasons! Doctor Who is the longest running Sci-Fi series in the history of television since first airing the day after JFK’s assassination in 1963 (take that Battlestar Galactica).

The series was a Saturday-teatime favourite when I was a kid, the type of nightmare inducing programme you peered at the screen from behind the sofa, marveling at the creepiness of the Cybermen, Ice Warriors, Yeti, Silurians, Sontarans, and those flying pepper pots, the Daleks! Suddenly in 1990 the series was put on hiatus. FOX tried to revive (and Americanize) it in 1996 to no avail. But then, in 2003 Russell T. Davies, the creator of the original Queer As Folk, came on board!

The new Who, with Christopher Eccleston in the title role, just finished it's Friday night run on The Sci-Fi Channel. Back "home" the BBC is showing brand new episodes of season 28 (or two, if you want), with the tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant. My favourite Doctor has always been the sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker, in his most tortured and tormented incarnation as he was put on trial by the Timelords for crimes against Time.

Like so many "companions" before her, Rose (played by Billie Piper) will soon part ways with the TARDIS (now, apparently, a sentient being), and while most fans love her, I prefer Aussie Tegan, fellow Timelord Romana, K-9, and my particular favourite, that perky Yank, Peri.

According to the Sci Fi Wire, Doctor Who has averaged a 1.3 household rating and 1.5 million total viewers in its 9pm US timeslot, up a whopping 54% over the same period last year. For a show that US schedulers initially balked at for being way too cutesy and British, that ain't bad! Roll on season two!!!