Doctor Who sets sci-fi world record

Holy cow -- I had no idea!

But are the new episodes the same without that cool, funky theme music? (they'd be stupid not to keep it...)

16 years isn't a "break"?

X-Files is the best. All I have to get is season 9 and I'll have the entire series.

I saw a few of the Dr. Who episodes. The new ones. I'll probably get those on DVD sometime as well.

The truth is out there. Trust no one.

The new Dr Who theme music is very similar to the original (they did some mucking about with it in the 1980s which now sounds very dated).
I actually remember William Hartnell, from when I was very small, and I have seen every Doctor since. I'm now in lust with David Tennant, who is absolutely wonderful in the part.

veinglory said:

16 years isn't a "break"?

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I would think so. That would be like bringing back Dragnet and saying, well, it's the longest running show because it started in 1952. Nevermind that 36 year hiatus.

Shadow_Ferret said:

That would be like bringing back Dragnet

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They did that a few years ago.

It starred Al Bundy.

chaostitan said:

They did that a few years ago.

It starred Al Bundy.

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Well, there you go. Somebody notify Guinness.

and just think... in a couple more years it'll it 50 years.


I've heard rumors that Tom Baker is making a return in at least one episode in season 5.... OMG! I so hope that is true... he is still the best doctor ever.

veinglory said:

16 years isn't a "break"?

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The 'without a break' refers to Stargate -

US series Stargate SG-1 holds the title of "longest-running science fiction show (consecutive)" in the Guinness book.
It launched in 1997 and has run for 203 episodes without a break.

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As a fan of "Guiding Light" -- which started on radio more than 70 years ago -- I look upon DW as a sprightly young whippersnapper of a show.

It's not duration, it's number of episodes. star trek and SG-1 pale in comparison to Dr Who. I mean, 200something, compared to 723??? They had like 500 episodes before the "break". Guinness should have known better.

Dr. Who: "I'm dangerous when I don't know what I'm doing." So is Guinness, sheesh. I wish they'd come out with the old series on DVD. What an accomplishment that would be, a lot of the early episodes were lost.

Star Trek is no slouch; here are counts of all the TV-series episodes:

• The Original Series: 79
• The Animated Series: 22
• The Next Generation: 178
• Deep Space Nine: 176
• Voyager: 172
• Enterprise: 97

Total: 724

Star Trek movies: 10, with an additional one in production

Star Trek has been through 5 character ensembles so far, the Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer ones, which I've named after their commanding officers. This is perhaps paralleled in Dr. Who by the Doctor's regenerations and his numerous companions.

Both Star Trek and Dr. Who have been off-and-on; their first airings are:

• Dr. Who: 23 November 1963
• Star Trek: 8 September 1966

And various Stargate series:

• SG-1: 214
• Atlantis: 80

Total: 294

The Atlantis series is still running, and one called Universe will start later this year.

Compared to Star Trek and Dr. Who, Stargate started out rather late; the first Stargate episode aired on 27 July 1997

I'm going to pop this one down to TV & Movies. Buckle up, folks.

MargueriteMing said:

I wish they'd come out with the old series on DVD. What an accomplishment that would be, a lot of the early episodes were lost.

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The ones that are still in existance (as oppossed to the ones that got burned by the idiot strikers... just one more reason why I hate union strikes) are being brought out on DVD. Most of the Tom Baker ones are out already, and several Sylverster McCoy ones too. All the remaining William Hartnell ones are all ready out. A few Peter Davison ones are out. They are wicked expensive though: like $99 per set of 6 episodes, expensive.

EelKat said:

Most of the Tom Baker ones are out already, and several Sylverster McCoy ones too.

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The Tom Baker ones are the only ones I find worthwhile. Everything else is like wanting to watch Star Trek with William Shatner and getting Enterprise instead. Totally unwatchable.

I don't know - I'm getting rather fond of Patrick Troughton now, and I hated him when I was a kid. It was the recorder playing and the silly hat that I didn't like, after hero-worshipping William Hartnell (and there are always Jamie's legs to look at - I'm sure this is the origin of my love of men in kilts!)

Shadow_Ferret said:

The Tom Baker ones are the only ones I find worthwhile. Everything else is like wanting to watch Star Trek with William Shatner and getting Enterprise instead. Totally unwatchable.

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I so agree with the Star Trek vs Enterprise.... they are so not the same show. I love the Kirk-Spock-McCoy banter of the originals.


Tom Baker is my Doctor Who. I totally love him. Whenever anyone say Doctor Who, I automaticly think "Tom"; it's like none of the others ever existed. Weird, I know, cause I like all 10 of the Doctors, but when I started watching the show "Robot" was the first episode I saw... Tom's first episode, so I got to see every single one of the Tom Baker episodes at a very young age, and Tom just got branded into my brain as the one and only Doctor Who.

Strange thing is, I now find David Tennant almost interchangable with Tom Baker now. David acts an awful lot like Tom did, it's creepy.

EelKat said:

and just think... in a couple more years it'll it 50 years.


I've heard rumors that Tom Baker is making a return in at least one episode in season 5.... OMG! I so hope that is true... he is still the best doctor ever.

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I couldn't agree more. As far as I'm concerned there will never be another actor like him playing the Doctor. He was so quirky and you could almost believe he WAS the Doctor. LOL.
For me the only actor playing him I couldn't stand was Colin Baker.