Here we go, back to Daleks again

It is not the type of show that you can really appreciate if you start watching it now because the story has developed over the decades and it would seem stupid without the background.

@LadyDuck I recently re watched the very first episode, which I remembered but it did seem slightly different. This was the episode that got me really hooked on Doctor Who so many years ago. It was a 3 or 4 episode story which oddly involved the Daleks, but I enjoyed them at the time because they were an original concept. The show has obviously developed a great deal since those early days, but the majority of passionate fans are the ones that have been watching the show for many years.

@Asylum I could download and watch some old episodes, just to see how they are.

It is a seriously popular show and I have watched it since it began in 1963. The hardest thing about trying to runa show for so long is that the main actor has to change in time, but this show actually makes the transition believable.

@BelleStarr Yes, a Time Lord is capable of regeneration 12 times, which will make the 13th Doctor incapable of such. The concept of regeneration was introduced when William Hartnell was replaced by Patrick Troughton, thus appearing to solve the age old problem of a show depending on the original actor to portray the main character. Despite being such a unique approach to the problem, they obviously never expected the show to such a vast popularity that it still in huge demand 50 years later. Peter Capaldi is currently the 12th Doctor, so he should be able to regenerate, although many people have discussed the situation and claimed that he should be the last. This is obviously a matter of personal interpretation. Now the producers will be facing the task of circumventing this problem without making a mockery of all previous understandings of the Times Lords.

@Asylum One of my grandsons thinks that this has to be the last incarnation because it is only suppose to happen so many times.

The writers do not even keep the story chronological because over the year they have had different powers in a bid to change the repetition. They were invisible in a fairly early story and later returned with the ability to fly, but were no longer capable of invisibility.

@arthurchappell The splits only began in later series in order to find excuses to use the Daleks again. The same reason explains why the Cult of Skaro was introduced.

@Asylum there are lots of splinter groups of daleks and two factions - those loyal to Davros their creator and those following the supreme Dalek, so the different groups develop different ways

I enjoyed those as well. They were not the best episodes, but they were original and not simply a desperate fall back on an old story. They have done the same with the Cybermen to a fair amount as well.

The Agatha Christie episode was one of the best ever

@enlightenedpsych2 the Charles Dickens one is great too - Simon Callow is great as Dickens in it

They originally appeared very early in the series, somewhere around episode 3 of series1, which dates back to 1963. At the time they were original and I enjoyed the show. Since then they have returned countless times, which is certainly less inspiring. They seem to give them different abilities each time in order to make the concept appear different. Today's episodes involved invisible Daleks, which loses credibility due to later appearances not having that ability.

There have been a few episodes in which a Dalek has been seen outside of the casing, which differs every time.

@BethieAnnie The machines in which they exist were created by Davros He was a scientist who designed them when the original species was undergoing a mutation. This was introduced rather late into the series, so the writers originally had no origin in mind.

@Asylum they have differed! I must have missed one point of the story line, though. How did blobs build the machine they live in! I sorta think they had bodies once, but I'm just not sure.

As I have mentioned to a few others, it is not the type of show that you can start watching as late as this. The early episodes explained a great deal, which makes Doctor Who realistic.

@just4him You certainly took the sensible approach by trying to watch from the start, but unfortunately even that approach has an obstacle. With the show being over 50 years old, the early episodes will look very dated now and not have the same impression that they did when first released.

@Asylum I started watching it on Netflix which starts with the first episodes. So I did start at the beginning. Just couldn't get into it. As you said, it's not for everyone.

The practice of bringing them back always strikes me as an act of desperation brought about because the writers are out of ideas.