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{{quote|''He saves worlds, rescues civilizations, defeats terrible creatures, and [[The Last of These Is Not Like the Others|runs a lot]]. Seriously, there's an ''outrageous'' amount of running involved.''|'''Donna Noble''', in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S30/E06 The Doctor's Daughter|The Doctor's Daughter]]"}}
 
Since its debut on 23 November 1963 on [[The BBC|BBC television]], the British sci-fi series ''Doctor Who'' has thrilled, entertained, and [[Nightmare Fuel|terrified]] three generations of fans worldwide. It takes place in and established the [[Whoniverse]], which has a [[Broad Strokes|very loose and lax continuity]], even discounting the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe|Expanded Universe]]. It is the longest running sci-fi series in the world, bar none -- innone—in fact, the latest three actors to play the title role were all born after it started.
 
The premise of the show is simple enough: it follows the adventures of a renegade [[Time Lord]], the Doctor, and his various companions through time and space. Travelling in his time machine, the TARDIS, he meets many foes, ranging from heavily armoured robots to microbes and pollen to - well, members of his own race. The TARDIS and the Doctor's recurring enemy the Daleks have become British cultural icons and it is fair to suggest that the overwhelming majority of Britons would instantly recognize both. It is, in fact, difficult to over-state the extent to which ''Doctor Who'', ostensibly a slightly daft children-oriented sci-fi show, has become a part of the British cultural landscape. It casts as much a shadow over British culture, as one Anthropology Professor put it, as ''[[Star Trek]]'' casts over American culture; more so, in fact, as while acknowledged fans of ''[[Star Trek]]'' are still rather consistently made fun of by mainstream culture, ''Doctor Who'' is beloved by Britons of all ages and demographics. Including, as it happens, [[HM The Queen|Her Majesty the Queen]].
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** Foremost on the list are the Daleks; super-intelligent, genetically engineered, [[Exclusively Evil]] [[A Nazi by Any Other Name|space Nazis]] designed to feel no other emotion than hate (though they sometimes display fear and others). They are utterly fanatical about their own [[Fantastic Racism|inherent superiority]], to the point where civil wars have broken out amongst them if factions start displaying minor differences, and to where they have chosen death when "contaiminated" by foreign DNA. Their goal is nothing less than to [[Catch Phrase|exterminate]] every living thing in the universe (and, once, the multiverse) other than themselves, and they often tend to find themselves dealing with Earth.
** The Cybermen are, basically, alternate humans, from Earth's twin planet Mondas (and in the [[Russell T. Davies]] era, a parallel universe) who converted themselves into emotionless cyborgs obsessed with the survival of their race, and the best way to do that is to forcibly convert humanity into them. That they are a direct threat to mankind means that they have also sought to destroy them, or sizeable chunks, in the distant future when we manage to successfully fight back.
** The Time Lords are a race of supposed non-interventialists, but they are really a controlling and elitist, and somewhat stagnant, race of [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]]s who, as their name suggests, have mastered [[Time Travel]], amongst other technologies. Generally they are not malevolent and have plenty of decent members- notably The Doctor himself- but they throw up plenty of maniacs like the Master and the Rani, not to mention their insane founders Rassilon and Omega, amongst other miscreants. As the Time War drew to a bloody close they became a race of [[Omnicidal Maniac|Omnicidal Maniacs]]s who were ready to put an end to time itself in an effort to avoid ultimate defeat, which means they last showed up as a villain race.
** The Sontarans are an entire race of [[Blood Knight|Blood Knights]]s who are engaged in a 50,000 year war with another species, and to ensure a ready supply of troops turned to cloning, to the point where practically every living Sontaran is now a clone of someone else, resulting in a buttload of uniformity. They usually attack Earth as part of a strategy aimed at achieving victory in their war rather than any particular feelings about us, though they enjoy it when we fight back because [[War Is Glorious]].
* [[Aliens of London]]: The Doctor speaks with an [[British Accents|accent]]. ''Which'' accent depends on the incarnation. The original series Doctors mostly tended towards Received Pronunciation, Seven sounded Scottish, Eight sounded Liverpudlian, Nine Mancunian, Ten had the accent of Estuary London,<ref>as opposed to [[David Tennant|the actor's]] native Scottish accent</ref>, and Eleven has a Northampton accent.
* [[Aliens Speaking English]]: Justified due to [[Translator Microbes]]. Mostly. The TARDIS is said to feature a psychic translation facility (mentioned in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S14/E01 The Masque of Mandragora|The Masque of Mandragora]]'', "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S27/E02 The End of the World|The End of the World]]", "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2005 CS the Christmas Invasion|The Christmas Invasion]]", and "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S30/E02 The Fires of Pompeii|The Fires of Pompeii]]"), but it seems to rely on the Doctor's conscious presence to complete the "circuit," as it has been shown not to work when the Doctor is unconscious or out of range.
:Other examples, such as the Daleks, the Slitheen and Matron Cofelia are explicitly speaking English (whether they've learned English or are using different [[Translator Microbes]] are never made certain; the Daleks, however, have been demonstrated speaking different languages when appropriate, such as German in Germany).
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* [[The Alleged Car]]: More like "The Alleged TARDIS" though it's in even worse shape by the 2005 series. He's had it for several centuries, and it was already ancient when he got it, yet it's still immensely powerful and advanced, even by alien standards. In "The Eleventh Hour", however, the TARDIS regenerated along with the Doctor and seems to be in a bit better shape. Two people (rather than the designed six) piloting it, as well as {{spoiler|leaving the handbrake on}} doesn't improve its poor state and [[Explosive Instrumentation]].
* [[All Myths Are True]]: And they're all aliens. Vampires, werewolves, yeti, the Loch Ness Monster; even the devil is an alien.
* [[Alternate Universe]]: Oddly enough, not extensively used. There ''are'' alternate universes in the ''Who'' multiverse--onemultiverse—one Classic Series [[Story Arc]] took place in one called "E-Space" and the story ''Inferno'' has a [[Mirror Universe]], and the [[Russell T. Davies]] era has at least two, a [[Zeppelins from Another World]] universe and an alternate timeline world centred on Donna Noble in "Turn Left"--but—but travel between alternate universes seems to be extremely difficult (compared to travel in time and space, creating and controlling a black star, making dimensionally transcendental ships...) and very dangerous.
** Although the Doctor states that it used to be easy to do before the Time War; since then, though, the universe(s) don't seem to like letting the travel occur.
* [[Always Save the Girl]]:
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** Series 4 was chock full of them, tied together by a theme of things disappearing. First there was talk of vanishing bees, then planets, then moons, and finally Wilfred's "the stars are going out." {{spoiler|This all turned out to be due to the Daleks and their planet-stealing operation}}.
*** Unusually, Series 4 also had arc words specific to each of the two main characters. The Doctor had "she is returning", while Donna Noble had the thoroughly unsettling "there's something on your back." In addition to that, The Doctor also referred to The Shadow Proclamation on several occasions before it was properly revealed.
** Series 5 had "cracks" which is spoken often but also emphasized visually. Near the end most episodes, after the Doctor had left, the camera would linger on some part of the scenery where a mysterious crack similar to the one that appeared in the first episode of the series had appeared, {{spoiler|later revealed to be a result of the TARDIS exploding on June 26, 2010}}. The cracks played a more prominent role in some episodes than others.
** Several times in Series 6, a hatch opens in a nearby wall, revealing woman with a silver eyepatch, who says a few words to Amy and vanishes. {{spoiler|It's [[Names to Run Away From|Madame Kovarian]], who has abducted the real Amy and is trying to [[Doctor Who/Recap/S32/E07 A Good Man Goes to War|steal Amy's baby to raise as a]] [[Laser Guided Tykebomb]]}}.
** The Moffatt era has its own arc words: "Silence will fall."
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* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]:
** The Doctor does this a ''lot''. [[Applied Phlebotinum|Psychic paper]] helps... unless the viewer happens to be psychic enough to see through the illusion, like everyone working for Torchwood, or intelligent enough, like [[William Shakespeare]]. Though lies too big will actually break it, as seen in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/2010 CS A Christmas Carol|A Christmas Carol]]", when it refuses to say he's "widely acknowledged as a mature and responsible adult".
** In "Aliens of London", he gets out of being held at gunpoint by a room full of armed soldiers by using this -- whenthis—when a scream sounds from another room he yells, "Defense plan Delta! Come on!" and runs out of the room, and they all instinctively follow his orders, even though he's presented no identification at all.
** In ''Silver Nemesis'', the TARDIS arrives in the present day on the grounds of a castle and the Doctor approaches the little old lady he sees confidently, telling Ace, "Act like we own the place... Always works. We own the place." Ace has to point out that the woman they're approaching really does own the place -- andplace—and the place is Windsor Castle.
** The 7th used this to much better effect in ''The Curse Of Fenric'', wandering onto a secret naval base, bypassing a patrol holding them at gunpoint by barking orders and nitpicking about uniform cleanliness, breezing into an office and proceeding to write his own letter from the War Office, which he promptly hands over to yet more soldiers as proof of his right to be there.
** Used in ''The War Games'' to get into a military prison. One of the most impressive uses in the series - the Doctor has been convicted of espionage in wartime and has escaped from prison. He is not in uniform, or even a proper suit, and he has a gaping HOLE in the knee of his trousers, and yet managed to bluff the Prison commander for a solid chunk of time just by knowing what to say and shouting loudly.
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* [[Bi the Way]]: Jack Harkness, along with the rest of the 51st century.
* [[Bizarre Alien Biology]]:
** Any number of critters, not least of which is the Doctor himself--hehimself—he can do things like regenerate, re-grow hands, and absorb radiation, transform it into a form harmless to humans, and expel it through his ''foot''. Oh, and he has two hearts.
** The giant beetle on Donna Noble's back in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S30/E11 Turn Left|Turn Left]]" could create an alternate reality from your memories when attached.
** The Aplans, and the Doctor's Godmother, who both we're told had two heads.
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* [[Break the Cutie]]: The Eighth Doctor is much more sentimental than most of the other Doctors...he was also the one who fought in the [[Beware the Nice Ones|Time War]]. You can see how badly he got broken by observing the Ninth Doctor, who is probably the most aggressive and angry of the Doctors to date.
* [[Britain Is Only London]]: Considering that the TARDIS can travel anywhere and any''when'' in the universe, a disproportionate number of episodes in the [[Russell T. Davies]] era take place in present-day London. (As well as near-future London, 1953 London, 1969 London, 1987 London, Elizabethan London, London in the Blitz and Victorian London.)
** Averted in [[Steven Moffat]]'s first series, Series 5, where of the six stories set in the UK, <ref>there's a seventh if you count the Starship UK from "The Beast Below"</ref> only two are London-based. Two of Series 6's seven stories set or partially set in UK also take place in London, and even then, neither are as the central focus. Moffat's production staff have lampshaded that focusing action on London has started to be a cliché.
* [[British English]]: To be expected with most of the characters, but phrases like "''send for'' another" and "Vaporized ''the lot''" sound a bit strange in Jack Harkness' American accent. He also calls his tank top a "vest" at one point.
** However, Capt. Jack has been living in the UK for more than 100 years. Enough time to even learn Welsh.
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* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: The Doctor's Hand. ''Three times''.
** "The Christmas Invasion" (Dec 2005), it gets chopped off in a swordfight above Earth. It is (at some point) picked up by Captain Jack.
** ''[[Torchwood]]'', Series 1 (2006-072006–07), Jack has a mysterious hand in a container for the entire first series.
** "End of Days" (''Torchwood'') /"Utopia" (Jan/June 2007), Jack hears the TARDIS and sees the hand respond ([[Chekhov's Gun|bang]]), grabs it, and joins the Doctor.
** "The Sound of Drums" (June 2007), The Master uses the Doctor's DNA (from the hand) in order to age him to reflect how old he actually is ([[Chekhov's Gun|bang]]).
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* [[Continuity Drift]]: Poster child.
** Even the main character's ''name'' has been subject to this: The original treatment, and early scripts and end titles, are not at all clear about the idea that the Doctor's name is not "Doctor Who". This wasn't firmly established until later.
** The Daleks could almost have their own page for this. In the original encounter, the Daleks had been living in their underground city for only a few hundred years, waiting for the radiation from a nuclear war to fade, only to discover their mutated forms needed radiation to survive. Their self-created "travel machines" could only operate on powered metal surfaces,<ref>This was later bypassed with a power-receiving antenna dish mounted on their backs, but even that was soon forgotten.</ref>, and even in-story stuck to smooth surfaces, ramps, and elevators. They were cold and cruel, but by no means super-intelligent. They were defeated in the Doctor's first encounter, before they had a chance to ever leave their city. By the time the new series got into action, they had become computer-integrated, universe-conquering, flying battle machines.
** The Cybermen didn't achieve their trademark appearance until the Second Doctor serial ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S6/E03 The Invasion|The Invasion]]'', their fifth appearance, and only gained a weakness to gold dust in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S12/E05 Revenge of the Cybermen|Revenge of the Cybermen]]''. ''Silver Nemesis'' flanderized this into an extreme weakness to all forms of gold.
* [[Continuity Nod]]:
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* [[Death By Pragmatism]]
* [[Death Is Cheap]]: The Master has [[Deader Than Dead|died on-screen without regenerating]] no less than {{spoiler|three}} times. It's never stopped him from coming back for more. The show doesn't even bother to explain why his possessed Trakenite body is alive again in ''The Mark of the Rani'', after burning to death in ''Planet of Fire''.
** The [[Russell T. Davies]] era has seen "The end of the Daleks" no less than three separate times, and yet everyone's still surprised when more Daleks show up. They wised up after a bit--outbit—out of those three "ends of the Daleks", two happened in Series 1. After that, they made a point of ensuring that at least one member of the Cult of Skaro survived each encounter, until Russell T Davies decided to go out with a bang and did them in again at the conclusion of Series 4. Naturally, this meant Steven Moffat had to go and dig them up again, but he's been careful to keep them alive since.
* [[Death Ray]]: ''Everywhere''.
* [[Death Seeker]]: All of the incarnations of the Doctor following the Time War have shades of this.
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* [[Gambit Roulette]]
* [[Gender Bender]]: It was hinted that regeneration can do this in ''The End of Time'', and confirmed in "The Doctor's Wife", in which the Doctor mentioned that this has happened to another Time Lord, the Corsair, on several occasions.
* [[Genius Breeding Act]]: In one episode, Rattigan explains his master plan for a new world to the other [[Teen Genius|Teen Geniuses]]es he'd collected, and mentions that he's written up a breeding program. They are appropriately appalled.
* [[Genius Cripple]]: Davros. C'mon, he's eyeless, has one arm, and is in a Dalek-base wheelchair.
* [[Genius Loci]]: The TARDIS, others, House in "The Doctor's Wife".
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* [[Heroic BSOD]]:
** The Ninth Doctor goes catatonic for minutes when Rose appears to have been vaporized in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S27/E12 Bad Wolf|Bad Wolf]]".
** The Tenth Doctor is seen to do this on a couple of occasions (most notably "The Stolen Earth") when his insane ingenuity has failed him and he can't think of anything to do--hedo—he simply stands there, motionless, his face blank and fixed. It's fairly creepy, in fact.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Extremely, extremely common. A couple of the Doctors have done it too.
* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: Rather, He Who Outsmarts Monsters After The Mundanes Fail Miserably At [[Five Rounds Rapid]]. Hell, the Doctor has been asked ''twice'' if he's scared of monsters, and always replies, "No. [[Badass Boast|They're scared of me.]]"
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* [[In Harm's Way]]: The Doctor himself, and many companions.
* [[Insistent Terminology]]: Steven Taylor, one of the First Doctor's Companions, would often call him "Doc". The Doctor would demand that Steven call him by his proper name.
* [[Instant Web Hit]]: The Doctor Who Cast and Crew's music video for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s4Czla6tXc I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)]. It was released on October 30th30, and the Tumblr Doctor Who fandom promptly exploded.
** Also, David Tennant and Catherine Tate's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giaMRyn47Xg The Ballad of Russell and Julie].
* [[Interdimensional Travel Device]]
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** The name "Melody Pond". It ends up related to the phrase uttered by the TARDIS that "The only water in the forest is the river," meaning that {{spoiler|1=that in the language of the Gamma Forests river is the only word for pond, and melody the only word for song. Therefore River Song= Amy and Rory's daughter}}.
* [[Memetic Badass]]: In-universe.
** For a [[Guile Hero]] the Doctor's very good at [[Badass Boast|Badass Boasts]]s.
** Another in-universe example: River Song. The mere mention of her name caused a '''DALEK''' to beg for mercy.
* [[Metaphorgotten]]:
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* [[One Steve Limit]]:
** Usually obeyed, although "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" gave us Proper Dave and Other Dave.
** Averted ''hard'' with last names: The number of unrelated characters with the last names "Smith" ,<ref>Mickey Smith, Sarah Jane Smith, and the Doctor's alias John Smith</ref>, or "Jones" <ref>Ianto Jones, Martha Jones, Harriet Jones, Clifford Jones</ref> seems to definitely be on the excessive side.
** Series 6 had two Georges in the space of four episodes.
* [[Oop North]]: Three of the eight Doctors from the classic series were played by actors from from the North of England (and one from Scotland), but the two Bakers were expected to use [[British Accents|the Queen's English]]. Paul McGann and [[Bonnie Scotland|Sylvester McCoy]] still had audible regional accents, but were toned down from their normal speaking voices. When (Mancunian) Christopher Eccleston, who played the Ninth Doctor, claimed to be "the first Northern Doctor", (Liverpudlian) [[Tom Baker]]--the—the iconic Fourth Doctor--calledDoctor—called him on it.
{{quote|"Lots of planets have a North."}}
* [[Organic Ship]]: The TARDIS.
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* [[Phlegmings]]: During his big reveal at the climax of ''The End of Time'' Part One, {{spoiler|Rassilon}} sprayed quite a bit.
** The Eleventh Doctor also gets this quite a bit.
* [[Phony Newscast]]: Common -- oftenCommon—often using real newscasters -- innewscasters—in the present-day episodes in the Davies era of the show.
* [[Pirate Booty]]: ''The Smugglers'', "The Curse of the Black Spot" and, in a very Douglas Adams way, ''The Pirate Planet''.
* [[Pocket Dimension]]: Technically speaking, the inside of the TARDIS is one of these.
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* [[Space Is Noisy]]:
** {{spoiler|In "Victory of the Daleks", laser fire from the Dalek ship and the British Spitfires can be heard}}. Justified - {{spoiler|the genius scientist has created a bubble of gravity and oxygen, which was how the spitfires came to be in space. Thus, there was sound}}.
** Averted in "The Parting of the Ways" -- Lynda—Lynda (with a 'y') looks out a window of the space station to see a Dalek looking in at her. Though we can't hear it, the lights on its head clearly flash in synch with the word "<small>EXTERMINATE</small>!"
* [[Space Whale Aesop]]:
** Several here and there. For example, use clean, renewable fuels, because sometimes the thing you're using for fuel is [[Doctor Who/Recap/S29/E07 42|sentient, angry and capable of possessing you]]. Also, don't chop down too many trees even if it's to publish books, because the [[Doctor Who/Recap/S30/E09 Forest of the Dead|invisible air piranhas will eat you]].
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* [[The Tape Knew You Would Say That]]: The Tenth Doctor's recorded message from 1969 in "Blink".
* [[Technical Pacifist]]:
** The Doctor won't kill anyone and [[Gun Hater|doesn't like guns]] because he thinks they're wrong. When people around him are willing to kill and use guns, his reaction is little more than scolding... and he doesn't go out of his way to [[Hoist by His Own Petard|save his enemies from themselves]]... and some of his enemies amount to [[Omnicidal Maniac|Omnicidal Maniacs]]s with [[Joker Immunity]], so killing them really would be the kindest option overall... and he'll visit all kinds of horrible [[And I Must Scream|fates worse than death]] on people [[Beware the Nice Ones|he thinks deserves it]], mind you... but he won't kill (although he has killed people and things on numerous occasions, including releasing cyanide into a room with a mad surgeon).
** A good example of this is the Family of Blood who [[Be Careful What You Wish For|want immortality]] at any cost, so he gives it to them...[[And I Must Scream|by keeping them alive but putting them in hellish prisons that they cannot die in but cannot escape from]].
** However, in "Day of the Moon", he {{spoiler|admitted he quite liked River Song's gun toting ways, even if he shouldn't}}.
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* [[Unfazed Everyman]]: The Doctor's many companions.
* [[Unflinching Walk]]:
** The Seventh Doctor in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S25/E04 The Greatest Showinthe Galaxy|The Greatest Show in the Galaxy]]''.<ref> Also McCoy himself. The pyrotechnics were a mite bit bigger than expected, but McCoy knew there'd be no second shot, so just kept rolling. His clothes were actually partially set on fire in that shot.</ref>.
** The Tenth Doctor embraces this, he often walks from explosions and combined with sheer [[Tranquil Fury]] unnerves his enemies into submission.
** More like running, but if taken as canon and was meant to be the explosion in "Rose", the teaser of the Ninth Doctor had him run down a ordinary corner quite calmly. ''Then we notice the massive fireball chasing him.''
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** Two stories, ''The Ark'' (1965) and "The End of the World" (2005) have gone whole hog and actually shown the Earth gettin' blowed up.
*** A third story, ''Frontios'' (1984) mentions the Earth's destruction at length without actually depicting it.
** Especially during Christmas specials in the [[Russell T. Davies]] era -- wellera—well, London Is Always Doomed, at any rate. The residents [[Genre Savvy|have picked up on this]] after ''two'' successive Christmases running of destruction and chaos, and get out of town for Christmas Day.
* [[World of Badass]]
* [[World of Ham]]
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