here's a link to some information about it.
http://www.sfx.co.uk/2012/02/20/doctor-who-series-7-news-accumulator/
This is great news for all of us DW fans, or Whovians because after the most recent season ended news struck the internet that the next season would be in limbo til they reached an agreement on when to air it. Because 2013 is the 50th year anniversary of the show itself, they obviously wanted to do justice to the anniversary year of the show.
In past years the show has aired in the springtime and going into the summer, with a christmas special airing on Christmas. Of course we here in the states in the past also were a week or so behind, or in some cases early on a season behind. That of course is in regards to the revived series that started in 2005. Season 6 (2011) aired some in the early summer, and the second half in the fall. Current showrunner Steven Moffat wanted to air it more in the fall and winter months because viewership goes down in the summer, what with all the outdoor activities to do.
For those not familiar with Doctor Who you can go here:
For a regular wikipedia description of the show: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who
For a more in depth read on the, practically everything there is on the subject, you go here: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Who_Wiki
For Star Trek fans, think of the second link as Memory-Alpha. The quintessential wiki page for the entire canon.
In brief however, there have been 11 actors to "officially" portray The Doctor, the protagonist of the show. over the years other actors have portrayed him in parodies and other versions of the franchise, but only 11 are considered "Canon." Because one actor cannot and in many cases will not remain with the show for eternity, they came up with a way of transitioning to the next actor. The Doctor is a Time Lord who can regenerate, meaning he changes, body and personality in part. When a Time Lord is dying, they do this to "cheat death" and change. For the show, they just change into the next actor, wearing the previous incarnations clothes til they get new ones. ---James Bond could have worked better if they'd done it this way. Or maybe they have...
...Anyway. The show does have a bit of "cheese factor" to it, in that it isn't always epic or amazing, as with every show really (even popular ones). I imagine in the early years of the show, when they would change actors, it wasn't as talked about, so when he changed it came as a surprise. I wouldn't know, I haven't seen much of the original series.
The original series ran from 1963 to 1989, with 7 actors portraying the Time Lord. Ratings caused it to go off air. In 1996 they did a movie set in the States with a new doctor, though the 7th regenerated at the start of the film into the 8th. After the movie, there was nothing official until 2005 when Russel T. Davies revived it. Not rebooted, but revived. Rebooted insinuates starting over, going back to the beginning, but what Russel T. Davies did was genius and that was continue, with a new actor (no regeneration scene...yet). They treated as new for the newer and younger audiences to discover the greatness of Doctor Who, and at the end of the first(27th technically) season he changed again into the 10th. It was a good way of introducing everything about the man, as well as his regeneration, all in that first new season.
As the series has gone on they've made references to the original series, and even brought some old actors back. Another thing that DW has done is bring previous incarnations back to fight some evil or something with the current one. It's usually some sort of time paradox that allows two versions of the same man to be in the same place at the same time, or in some cases, 4 or 5 versions of himself. In the revived series they did this with putting the 10th doctor and the 5th doctor in the Tardis together.
The Tardis is the Doctor's mode of travel. It's a spaceship, and a time machine, that looks conveniently like a 50's or 60's British Police Box. Long story on that. but you can look up in your research Chameleon Circuit, that should clear things up.
The show combines Adventure, Science Fiction, Drama and Comedy all together really well. Some episodes (or seasons) are mysteries, or satires or even parodies. In fact, in 1999 Steven Moffat wrote a parody of Doctor Who starring Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor and Jonathan Pryce as The Master (Another Time Lord that has become kind of his nemesis, along with the Cybermen and the Daleks)....Look those up too.
There are many reasons the show is as popular as it is, even with it going off air in the late 80's. One reason, I think, is the plot device of changing the actor every now and then.
Let's quickly examine the time frames of all the actors.
1st Doctor (William Hartnell): 1963 to 1966
2nd Doctor (Patrick Troughton): 1966 to 1969
3rd Doctor (Jon Pertwee):1970 to 1974
4th Doctor (Tom Baker): 1974 to 1981
5th Doctor (Peter Davison):1981 to 1984
6th Doctor (Colin Baker...No relation): 1984 to 1986
7th Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) 1986 to 1989
8th Doctor (Paul McGann) 1996
9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston): 2005
10th Doctor (David Tennant)2005 to 2010
11th Doctor (Matt Smith) 2010 to Present
Certain doctors were more popular than others, Tom Baker and David Tennant among the most popular of the 11. Some who were so popular tended to stay on the show longer, while some of the less popular ones did not. Plus, if the show needed a rating boost, they could change actors. Though, much of the time, from what I understand (correct me if I'm wrong) most of them left of their own volition, except Hartnell; He was old when he started, so he just couldn't physically handle the role anymore, hence 'regeneration.' Eccleston was popular, but he only wanted to stay on for the 1 season, whereas Colin Baker was forced off the show, partially because his doctor was much more violent and mean that people couldn't handle it, also I think he was a problem in his own way. David Tennant also left of his free will.
I cannot speak to the others, but it's a great plot device that the writers could use as a 'lead up' for several episodes, like with the end of Tennat's era. For him though it was through 4 specials in between seasons 4 and 5 that they used for that. In some cases, plot wise, the Doctor did things that his regeneration was either universally or Time Lord punishment for his actions. Second Doctor broke some laws, so they forced him to change. tenth doctor did a similar thing (but no time lords to stop him), so fate caught up with him.
It is such a vast universe with new creatures and new timelines and parallel worlds throughout the course of the show, that it is hard to go into them all. I've only seen the revived series, but I've been trying to see the original as well. It is hard to find because the BBC so wisely(sarcasm) decided to throw away much of the early years reels and tapes and whatever they had, but a station in Canada managed to save a lot, so what we do have is mostly thanks to the Canadians (WHAT?!).
But most of the revived series is available on Netflix, so for those who haven't seen it and would like to, go there. that's a good place to start.
Also here's a neat little video that somebody posted that is EVERY Doctor Who story broken down into about 10 minutes of video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN5jPQdJXYE
So with the (essential) 33rd season starting up this fall, I think I can speak for all Doctor Who Fans....WOOO WHOO! or as the 10th Doctor would say, "Allons-y!"
So Winter, PLEASE give spring and summer amiss and go straight into Autumn.
oh and go to Blogtor Who for more fun about the Doctor
http://blogtorwho.blogspot.com/
-Spoiled Mangoes
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