This year, with the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who scheduled for November, we have been treated to the best set of puff piece work to introduce a new audience to the Doctor. "The Doctors Revisited" is a series of half-hour specials which discuss the incarnations of the Doctor, and the impact of their performers, followed by an airing of one of that Doctor's stories -- a serial edited into a whole.
Although the new versions lack the cliff-hangers that added so much to the original broadcasts, they permit the modern viewer a fair look at the earlier Doctors. The half-hour discussions, ring-led by current show-runner, Steven Moffat, with appearances by the actors, when still alive, are informative and fun. For those of us who are familiar with the original TV series, which ran from 1963 to 1989, it's an amusingly produced aide-memoire. For the new fan, it is invaluable for getting up to speed -- and for showing just how production techniques have advanced in half a century.
Although the new versions lack the cliff-hangers that added so much to the original broadcasts, they permit the modern viewer a fair look at the earlier Doctors. The half-hour discussions, ring-led by current show-runner, Steven Moffat, with appearances by the actors, when still alive, are informative and fun. For those of us who are familiar with the original TV series, which ran from 1963 to 1989, it's an amusingly produced aide-memoire. For the new fan, it is invaluable for getting up to speed -- and for showing just how production techniques have advanced in half a century.
