On November 23rd, 1963, the BBC took a major chance by airing the pilot episode for a new science fiction series.  These weren't terribly uncommon - see shows like Fireball XL5 and Space Patrol - although at the time most such series used space and science to provide new locations and tools for the standard "heroes versus villains" fare.  While this new series would indulge in that itself fairly often, there were some radical departures from the established norm.  Whereas the preponderance of aliens in existing science fiction television were used as villains, here a non-human served as the main character.  Furthermore, he would often act in ways that were decidedly non-heroic, using guile to manipulate others and sometimes attempting to avoid conflicts, even with obviously evil beings.  He was self-interested, dark, stern, and disapproving, far from the usual "white hat" heroes of the day.  Additionally, the setting for the series changed from serial to serial, with no "home base" for our heroes save for their nearly uncontrollable ship, which itself departed from the normal vessels of the era's science fiction by traveling not only in space, but in time as well.  Thus, adventures could take place not only in space against evil aliens, but in Earth's past and future as well, where the heroes would discover villains all-too close to home.

Time, as it happened was a major issue for the show, and had BBC brass shown the same impatience it seems many entertainment executives do now, the series may have ended before it even began.  On the day before the premiere, promising young U.S. President John F. Kennedy was shot down in his prime, and the whole world focused its eyes on the city of Dallas, watching with a mixture of grief and fear.  No one, then, was watching as an alien abducted two normal humans and fled to prehistoric Earth in a bid to avoid discovery.  Thankfully, it was decided to re-run the first episode the following week immediately before the second, and the fledgling series was given a second chance, on which it capitalized, proving to be quite a hit.

If you haven't guessed which series I'm talking about yet, then I can only wonder what cave you've been living in for the last half-century.  It was, of course, Doctor Who that premiered just short of fifty years ago at the time of this post.  Running initially for twenty-six years, it had already set records for longevity even before the award-studded 2005 revival.  Hundreds, if not thousands have had a hand in the development of this cultural icon, keeping the series not only alive but flourishing far longer than its peers.  Even during the dark times following the 1989 "hiatus", the series was sustained in an extensive series of novels published by Virgin, and British expatriate Phillip Segal even tried to find a new home for the beloved show in American markets, but more on that later.  This year will celebrate that unprecedented and almost unbelievable history with the introduction of the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor, portrayed by veteran actor Peter Capaldi.

I've been a Doctor Who fan all my life.  In fact, my earliest memory is watching the Tom Baker-era serial "Meglos" with my father, who introduced me to the series, and marveling at the amusing man in the absurd scarf as he battled his spiny-faced doppleganger.  I can't have been more than three at the time, but even then, I knew I was seeing something special.  At the time, Doctor Who in the States was purely the domain of various public broadcasting channels, and thankfully Louisiana's LPB must have had some fellow serious fans of the show, as they kept it running weekly throughout my childhood.  In my nearly thirty-four years, I think I've watched nearly every existing episode of the series at least once, and more likely far more.  How will I be celebrating the show's fiftieth, then?  By watching them again, of course!  Starting on November 23rd, I'm going to watch every fully-existing adventure and review them right here.  Sadly, of course, much of the earliest days of the show (specifically, the years starring William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton) is missing.  While today we might recognize the significance of Doctor Who, this wasn't always the case, and as such the BBC found various ways to trash some of the series' oldest episodes.  While audio recordings of every episode do exist, and many have used them to reconstruct the lost tales of the Doctor, I'll be passing over them for this project in favor of the complete, more commonly available stories.  So, join us here as we follow the Doctor back through time, and see just how this mad man with a box can still be so compelling to so many fifty years later.