'Doctor Who' Season 11 Arrives This Weekend, Now Is The Time To Join The Fandom

Doctor Who has been on television in one form or another for 36 seasons But with the premiere of Season 11 this October, there's never been a better time to start watching. With a new showrunner, an actress in the leading role for the first time, plus new monsters and a new attitude, this is the hardest reboot of the series since its 2005 return but reimagined for the 21st century.

Doctor Who is one of the most popular series at any comic convention, both in terms of both guest stars and cosplay. Like Star Trek and Star Wars, it has a long and storied history. But those fandoms began and ended in fits and starts. Doctor Who, on the other hand, by sheer accident discovered a way to continuously run by having the character “regenerate” into a new actor whenever a previous incarnation wanted to leave. The result was that the original series ran continuously on BBC for 26 years until it was canceled in 1989. There was a 1996 attempt at revival with an Americanized TV movie, followed by the current reboot which began in 2005, which is now going into its 11th season (or 37th series, if you're so inclined.)

With numbers like that, the idea of attempting to catch up can feel overwhelming to someone who has never seen a single episode. (Ten seasons is bad enough, 36 is close to impossible.) But what most modern day fans who are considering joining the fandom don't realize is this is a completely wrongheaded way to go about it. D

Doctor Who is a show that has existed for so long, the idea of binge-watched would have seemed crazy to the early producers. Heck, the idea of keeping episodes once they aired was so foreign, many from the mid-to-late sixties are completely gone, their masters reused to record other programs.