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Doctor Who/Analysis: Difference between revisions
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==== Regeneration ====
{{quote|''"So, you're my replacements, hm? A dandy and a clown!"''|The First Doctor, "[[Doctor Who
One of the key abilities of the Doctor, which has helped the show's longevity to a huge degree, is his ability to "regenerate." When faced with imminent death, he transforms into a basically different person, with an entirely new appearance and altered personality -- but the same memories as the previous incarnation. These moments, of which eight have actually been seen on screen so far (the Second and Eighth Doctors regenerated off-screen), are usually as big and dramatic as they sound.
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==== The sonic screwdriver ====
First used by the Second Doctor in "[[Doctor Who
=== The TARDIS ===
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Stands for ''Time And Relative Dimension In Space'' (but not {{smallcaps|[[Recycled in Space|In Space!]]}})<ref>or, alternatively, Time And Relative ''Dimensions'' In Space</ref> A combination [[Cool Ship]], [[Living Ship]], [[Sapient Ship]], [[Alleged Car|Alleged Ship]], [[Time Machine]] and [[Bigger On the Inside]] (the trope-namer for that last one), who as well as having [[Time Travel]] abilities and the power to traverse the universe, can do pretty much anything. In a subversion, while the TARDIS is a product of Time Lord über-tech, it was gradually revealed as old, obsolete, and barely functional. It's gotten worse since then--like the alien equivalent of a jalopy held together with duct tape--though it's still light years ahead of all other such technology currently known to exist. The [[Most Wonderful Sound|TARDIS dematerialisation noise]] is the distorted sound of a door key being scraped along the bass strings of a piano. This sound effect, dating back to the very first serial in the sixties, is still used as of today, and still gives millions an inevitable chill through their spines ''whenever'' they hear it.
It's [[Bigger On the Inside]] (to this day, nobody knows exactly ''how'' big other than "ridiculously huge") and has the exterior appearance (because the chameleon circuit broke in the first episode) of a [[wikipedia:Police box|police box]]<ref>The Doctor's tried to fix it [[Doctor Who
=== Companions ===
{{quote| ''"[[The Watson|Doctor, what is it?]]"''}}
The Doctor is rarely alone in his travels. For the purposes of [[Exposition]] and for [[Audience Surrogate|someone the audience can identify with]], he has had a large number of companions (''mostly'' non-romantic, though Fanfic disagrees). In the show's very early days, he just traveled with his granddaughter and two of her high school teachers--who, in the very first episode, he actually kidnapped in a [[He Knows Too Much]] scenario. The idea was that the companions would be the "point-of-view" characters for the audience at home, in contrast to the mysterious, anti-heroic Doctor. Even as the Doctor became more identifiable and less of a curmudgeon, the companion remains the human element to tie him down, especially post-revival. They also give him someone to talk to. In ''[[Doctor Who
Companions are predominantly human, [[Parent Service|young, female, and attractive]]. In the early episodes there would also be a companion who was young, male, and heroic. Sometimes they are humanoid aliens, or, famously, a robot dog. They have joined and left the TARDIS for various reasons. The Doctor reserves the right to kick a companion out of the TARDIS for bad behaviour (''The Long Game'' is the only episode in which he has done it so far), or to take on a new companion even over the objections of present companions. Classic Series companions tended to have few or no ties to their homes (and often lose such ties, like in ''The Evil of the Daleks''), and--anniversary specials aside--did not cross paths with the Doctor after leaving the TARDIS<ref>unless the companion in question is Sarah Jane Smith, who did indeed return in the RTD era episode "School Reunion" and was a mite ticked about being ignored for thirty years</ref>. [[Russell T Davies|RTD era]] companions don't divide their lives as neatly: they continue to interact with their families while away with the Doctor, and with the Doctor before, after or between their travels with him. [[Steven Moffat|SM era]] companions are like the Classic Who companions.
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Female companions are stereotyped in pop culture memory as [[Distressed Damsel|helpless]] [[Screaming Woman|screaming women]], and the males were stereotyped as [[Action Hero|Action Heroes]] (and the show accused of sexism), but a number of the females have been [[Action Girl|surprisingly kickass]] (Sarah Jane, Leela), and some males have been quite accident-prone (Adric, Rory). They're not always female, either.
See also : [[Doctor Who
=== UNIT, Torchwood Institute, etc. ===
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There is also a lot of material on episodes that weren't made (such as the original Season 23, which would have included the return of the Celestial Toymaker, the Autons, and the Ice Warriors), some of which has been used by [[Big Finish]], a production company that since 1999 has produced more than 100 BBC-licensed and sanctioned ''Doctor Who'' audio dramas featuring original cast members.
In 2006, the BBC and animation studio Cosgrove Hall released an animated reconstruction of Parts 1 and 4 of Patrick Troughton serial "[[Doctor Who
== Theme Tune ==
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