Can I Start With Eleven?

[litotease]

Who lovers -- I mainlined Torchwood recently, but have never seen any Doctor Who. Can I jump in with New Who, or should I backtrack and start with Ten? Or Nine, even?

ETA OK, so on the one hand I'm complaining about not having enough time, and on the other I'm asking which TV to watch next. *headdesk* In my own defense, can I say that (1) I ♥ Netflix, and (2) TV is my Weekend? *facepalm*

Comments

[giandujakiss]

Who tends to have these very self-referential plots - I think you can jump in with Eleven if you like, but it's better if you start with the beginning of New Who - the beginning of the recent revival - and that actually starts with Nine.

Incidentally, Nine was freaking awesome and amazing, and for my money, way better than Ten, so you should start there just for the sheer wonderfulness.

Also, Jack Harkness was introduced during Nine's season (he only lasted for 13 episodes). So that's another good reason to start there.

[litotease]

I got two more votes after you posted to start with Nine, so Nine it is!

*goes to adjust Netflix queue*

[janedavitt]

Because the seasons are short and catching up won't take long, I'd say start with Nine, the first of the New Who. So much of what happens with Nine and Ten impacts Eleven -- well, of course it does; they're the same man, silly me :-)

Plus, you get to see Jack! And some of Eleven won't make sense unless you do...

If you need eps, let me know!

[litotease]

I saw that you were uploading Eleven, which is what got me thinking. That, and Netflix keeps recommending Who, but they recommend ALL of the Who from the very beginning, and that seemed a little overwhelming.

[janedavitt]

I really don't think you need go back to the start to know what's going on. Nine on will do :-)

[shopfront]

I had never seen any Doctor Who before Nine myself. I think you'll definitely be able to understand all the references and just generally enjoy Eleven more if you start with Nine and work through, but you can probably get through it if you're really wanting to jump straight into the newest series as long as you're happy to a bit of wiki-reading/googling if anything leaves you very confused. There are a lot of major emotional nuances just in the first few episodes of this series that will fly straight by you without watching Nine and Ten first though. Also, Nine and Ten are just plain awesome!

If you're really super eager and only want to do a little watching of earlier episodes though, I could recommend a skeleton selection of the more crucial of Nine and Ten episodes.

[litotease]

Since three out of three comments have said "ooh, start with Nine!", I am adjusting my Netflix queue accordingly, for my flist is wise. *nods* (Though I admit to being curious about which episodes you'd pick as crucial. Hmmm.)

[shopfront]

This was trickier than I expected! Also that it would be much easier to cut it down to a short watching list if there weren't so many 2-3 episode arcs, heh.

1.01 Rose
1.02 The End of the World
1.04-1.05 Aliens of London/World War Three
1.06 Dalek
1.07 The Long Game
1.12-1.13 Bad Wolf/The Parting of Ways
Special: The Christmas Invasion
2.05-2.06 Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel
2.12-2.11 Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
Special: The Runaway Bride
3.01 Smith and Jones
3.03 Gridlock
3.04-3.05 Evolution of the Daleks
3.10 Blink
3.11-3.13 Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords
4.01 Partners in Crime
4.03 Planet of the Ood
4.06 The Doctor's Daughter
4.11-4.13 Turn Left/The Stolen Earth/Journey's End
Specials: The End of Time I and II

I think it's great that you're watching the whole thing because the new Who series are very tightly stitched season arcs with lots of subtle hints all through it, and it all comes together much better at the end if you've watched it all. That said, I think the above covers all the most necessary backstory and general knowledge to follow season five and onwards. Granted, if I'd made this list before season five started I would have left out Blink, which has now been made a necessary introduction episode for the monster of choice in it, so we'll probably find there's another episode or two that are necessary as we go through season five. :P

[technocracygirl]

I would also suggest starting with Nine, though I watched them wildly out of order with a mix of Nine and Ten (seasons 1 and 2) and only started a straight watch with Martha. (Whom I love. Dearly. A lot. So much so that I really prefer Martha and Donna to Rose and have trouble watching the Rose eps, even though that's the only way to get to some brilliant eps. ["The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", the game show one, "Dalek"...])