Tomorrow is the anniversary of Doctor Who's first episode, aired in 1963, and as planned, it will begin a major journey for Siskoid's Blog of Geekery - daily reviews of each episode, in order, from 1963 to today. Like the Star Trek project that started this blog, it should take about two years. As ever, if you're not a fan, you can still come by for additional, non-Who content. As for Reign of the Supermen, it'll end its daily publishing with #400 this Thursday, and then find itself in its new weekly slot every Saturday. Because plenty more Supermen in the wide world of comics. So before we really get into it, I thought I'd talk about how each Daily Who Review would be structured:First off, the episode title, a quote I liked from the episode and a picture. A nice, easy opening gambit. Then...
TECHNICAL SPECS: This will tell you what format I'm experiencing it on, which is especially important for the lost episodes. If there are any recreations, either as photonovels or reconstructions available on the Internet, I'll point you in the right direction. I'll also note when the episode originally aired.
IN THIS ONE... A very brief synopsis of the episode, to help you get your bearings.
REVIEW: Where the magic happens. It is my hope that watching the episodes in order, yet with the benefits of almost 50 years of hindsight, will yield some interesting observations and even reevaluations. I must tell you I've already written the first five, and I don't feel like I'm regurgitating reviews I might have read before, which is a load off my mind.
THEORIES: Sometimes, Doctor Who can be ambiguous, especially as the show evolved. Does it all fit into a coherent continuity? And if so, how? This is where we use the benefits of hindsight to explain inconsistencies, ferret out themes that have been evolving over time, and establishing timelines in Doctor Who's messy history.
VERSIONS: Some stories do exist in multiple versions, either edited into full-length movies, or with brand new CGI, or even as influential and different novelizations. This section will examine these, leaving no version of an episode behind.
REWATCHABILITY: The final score, from Low to High, and a brief evaluation. Same thing I used to do for Star Trek. Rewatchability is a value based on both quality and historical importance.
STORY REWATCHABILITY: Episodes are usually part of a single larger story, so this will be an evaluation of the story as a whole, which is how people usually watch Doctor Who anyway.
Note that if any category is irrelevant (Theories, Versions and Story Rewatchability), it will not be included.
So here's hoping you're ready for the next couple years! And more importantly, perhaps, that I'M ready for it!
Comments
The above plural should probably read as singular form, but it is just more comfortable to me to do it this way.
Luckily, I believe I'm also being reassured there will be enough crumbles of weird space explorations and Silver age madness ahead to enjoy on a weekly basis.
And where's that Incal entry? I'll never understand how's that not a comic, other than the fact that it wasn't originally published in the US on a weekly basis.
Appreciate the effort of doing Who for 2 years though.
But ignore it, that was not anywhere near the heart of what I was trying to say. Just keep on writing about whatever gets your juices up, and I'll be reading it. Cheers.
P.S. You replied incredibly fast btw.
Randal: While I considered it, that's not really in the cards. If you go back through This Week In Geek, I think you'll find a capsule review of almost every audio and novel I've ever ingested.
Michael: Glad you approve!
It's not the same.
You tend to run a little dry on any long-running series, so making Superman weekly probably saves it from a drop in quality.