Doctor . . . Who?

If you’re not a fan of Doctor Who, then Twitter and Tumblr were probably a very lonely and confusing place for you last Sunday afternoon. Doctor Who, the BBC hit show which has been around for nearly 50 (!) years has garnered a cult following in both the United Kingdom and the United States (thank you, BBC America and Netflix!). As a “whovian,” trying to summarize the plot of Doctor Who in less than a doctoral thesis is painful and will most certainly leave something to be desired. This is the short version. The VERY short version.

Doctor Who follows the life and adventures of a 1,000+ year old Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. “The Doctor,” as he is called, is the last of his kind, and he travels through time and space in his time machine called the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space) and very often a human companion or two. Still with me? Good. Time Lords have a way of cheating death; when they die, every cell in their body “regenerates.” Hint for Soon-to-Be Whovians: In reality, this is just a way for the show to continue with a different actor taking on the lead role.

Inevitably, every whovian has their favorite Doctor (David Tennant all the way!) as their have been 11 iterations of the role. Last Sunday, in a special episode on BBC, the actor playing the 12th incarnation of the Doctor was announced. Hence madness on the Twittersphere.

Peter Capaldi, the actor chosen to play the 12th Doctor, has some serious acting chops. He is a massive Doctor Who fan and has been since he was a child (when he was 15 years old, he wrote a letter to a local newspaper about the series). Capaldi has actually already played a role in an episode of Doctor Who. This is not uncommon, and the writers usually gloss over the repeat. In fact, the episode in which Capaldi had a part, “The Fires of Pompeii” was the same episode in which Karen Gillan had a minor role but later on went to star as companion of the Doctor, Amy Pond.

It sounds absolutely ridiculous, I know; there was a point in time when I believed it was too silly to be anything special. But I promise it is absolutely enthralling! It’s about love, loss, friendship, trust, heroism, death, time, humor and everything in between.

So, before you get hooked, here are five things you absolutely must know before entering the whoniverse:

1. The Doctor always lies.
2. Don’t blink.
3. Count the shadows.
4. Bad Wolf.
5. Silence will fall when the question is asked.

Have a fantastic/brilliant/cool journey!

Note: There are several inside jokes in this article. Do not attempt to figure them out – you will be exterminated. Just beginning watching, Lemon readers!

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