Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Hooked On Who


Recently I connected our laptop to the living room TV and we started watching streaming video on the Internet. We subscribed to Hulu and watched some episodes of Sleepy Hollow and Almost Human that we had missed when they originally aired. I watched Jon Stewart on the Daily Show and we watched a bunch of YouTube videos, mostly about dumb kids crashing on skate boards.

I started browsing through the extensive list of available shows on Hulus menu and when I checked out the BBC network I discovered that there were over 400 episodes of “Doctor Who” available to watch, going all the way back to 1963.

Doctor Who is a British Sci-Fi program produced by the BBC. The program is about the adventures of the Doctor, as he explores the universe in his “Tardis,”a time traveling space ship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police phone booth, which was a common sight in Britain in the 60s. It's huge inside, complete with complicated machinery and even an indoor swimming pool! Along with a succession of companions, (mostly female,) the Doctor faces a variety of enemies while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right wrongs.

The doctor has been played by a succession of 12 different actors which is neatly explained in the show as “regeneration;” when the doctor dies, or is killed, he regenerates into a new body.
We started out watching some of the first black and white episodes, which are pretty corny, but fun to watch. Then we got into the newer shows which have first rate special effects, beautiful sets, good acting and good writing. Soon we were watching 3 or 4 episodes every evening. Now around three or four pm one of us says, “Is it time for the Doctor?” or “Is it Who time?”

Its not a bad way to pass the time during these rainy crappy days, but unfortunately we've gone through almost all of the later episodes. Now all we have to do is travel back into the 60s,70s, 80s, and 90s with our own time machine!


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