10 Times the Doctor Visited America

The Doctor has been all over time and space. Though the Time Lord hasn’t traveled to the Revolutionary War or the signing of the Declaration of Independence (as far as we know), the Doctor has been to the United States a small number of times. So to celebrate the Fourth of July, let’s revisit some of the times the Doctor came stateside. 

The Chase

It was a brief visit while on the run from the Daleks, but the First Doctor and his companions briefly ended atop the Empire State Building. The TARDIS crew encountered Steven Taylor’s 20th Century American doppelgänger before flying off in the TARDIS again.

The Gunfighters

Every science fiction epic needs a cheesy western story apparently. I can’t exactly recommend this one as a good Doctor Who story (not just because it features Dodo) but it definitely covers plenty of western cliches. And all because the First Doctor had a toothache. 

TV Movie

Of course this story took place in San Francisco when Fox had a chance to produce the Eighth Doctor’s adventures. While the movie was obviously not picked up to be produced in America, it kept the franchise alive enough to be revived by the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler. We’ll never know how the franchise would have been different if the movie had succeeded, but I would love to revisit the Doctor’s friends in California. 

Dalek

Bringing back the most iconic Doctor Who villain, the Ninth Doctor and Rose ended up in the near future (now in the past) in an underground vault near Salt Lake City. It showed a different side of Rose and the Dalek. Unfortunately, this story introduced us to the worst TARDIS companions since Dodo, the infamous Adam Mitchell. 

Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks

Despite this story featuring Spider-Man in New York City, it might be one of the cringiest and forgettable Dalek stories ever (except for maybe the Churchill one with the Dalek Power Rangers). Who’d have thought the Daleks would be involved in the construction of the Empire State Building? And just a few decades before the First Doctor would chance upon it. 

The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon

We start out in Utah again before heading to the White House and the FBI. And a conspiracy involving the moon landing and the most forgettable aliens. It was the beginning of the mystery surrounding the Doctor’s supposed death. No other Doctor has visited the Oval Office and only the Eleventh Doctor could handle it with that amount of poise.

A Town Called Mercy

Unlike “The Gunfighters” this Western story was decently enjoyable. It wasn’t my favorite of the Eleventh Doctor stories by any means, but it was a fun adventure in Nevada towards the end of Amy and Rory’s time traveling in the TARDIS. And this story had an alien twist on the Western, unlike the First Doctor’s toothache. 

The Angels Take Manhattan

Back to New York City for Amy and Rory’s farewell. For fans of the Ponds, it was an emotional farewell. For fans of the Statue of Liberty, you’ll never see the monument the same way again. And if you’ve been to New York, you know there are enough statues peppered through the city to give you nightmares after meeting the Weeping Angels. It’s a shame we haven’t seen them in such a central role since Manhattan though. 

Rosa

Say what you will about the Thirteenth Doctor’s tenure, but this is one of my favorite historical stories of Doctor Who ever. Because of the mixed races in the TARDIS team, we got a great vantage point to the story of Rosa Parks. I don't care what anyone says about Jodie Whittaker’s time on Doctor Who, this story was beautifully and tragically written, especially when Graham had to take the last seat on the bus. 

Lux

In case anyone is a little behind on Doctor Who this year, I’ll try to avoid being too specific here. But bringing our first purely non-white TARDIS team to the American south was brilliant. Though the story was based in 1950s Miami, very little had to do with the racial attitudes. I felt like there was a sprinkling of awareness before getting a commentary on storytelling and the fourth wall. I definitely need to watch this season again. 

So while my family is still more likely to watch Captain America or Independence Day for the Fourth of July, I enjoy the fact that the Whovian in me has some options too. Maybe I’ll watch some Weeping Angels in Manhattan while my wife and older daughter are out watching fireworks this weekend. Or it’s a good time to revisit Rosa Parks. Or maybe I should just keep working through the Fourth Doctor so that TJ and I can podcast about more Doctor Who. However you spend your Independence Day, I’m grateful we’re able to celebrate at all. Happy Fourth of July!

LDS Geeks Podcast #40: Twenty Years of Modern Who

I'm not sure any other franchise could celebrate its 60th anniversary and then its 20th anniversary two years later. Doctor Who is special like that and it fits the franchise well. So TJ and I had stop to talk about the modern era of Doctor Who, since we're not done with the Fourth Doctor's tenure yet. Enjoy!

--Spencer 

6 Doctor Who Stories No Longer Set in the Future

Time travel stories can get kind of messy. Especially if they last long enough that the supposed future becomes history. Back to the Future showed us that we expected too much out of the future, as 2015 arrived with no flying cars, hoverboards, or TV sunglasses. Doctor Who, on the other hand, has been able to avoid seeming outdated (other than the special effects), as the future became the past. 

The Tenth Planet - First Doctor - 1986

As the First Doctor’s tenure drew to a close and the team at BBC figured out how to prolong Doctor Who past Hartnell, the TARDIS team ended up in Antarctica. This secret science base in the frozen South Pole encountered the Cybermen and fought them off. In doing so, the Doctor’s aged body died from exhaustion and he regenerated. 

Battlefield - Seventh Doctor - 1997

The Doctor and Ace traveled to the far future of the 1990s as they uncovered the truth (at least partially) of an Arthurian legend. In the process they learned that Merlin was potentially a future incarnation of the Doctor. Though the Brigadier was involved, the little skirmish in rural Britain was not enough to garner any great attention, leaving the event relatively unknown.

TV Movie - Eighth Doctor - 1999

A Y2K story like many movies of the time I’m sure. This movie came out in 1996, three years before its setting. Taking place in the near future, there wasn’t a lot of crazy tech for us to expect. So while the Eighth Doctor, Grace, and Lee were facing off against the Master and his stolen body, the rest of the world celebrated the new millennium. But we didn’t stick around in 2000 long enough for the Doctor to make an imprint (except on Grace’s lips).

Dalek - Ninth Doctor - 2012

On one of his early adventures with Rose, they went to the near future where they met a Dalek in an underground bunker in Utah. Like the TV movie, we didn’t go far enough into the future for any outrageous guesses at future technology, but we did see a large collection of alien tech. While this episode aired while I was still in high school, the episode took place while I was at BYU. To think, I was mere hours away from the Ninth Doctor and the TARDIS. If I'd known he was closeby… Well, I guess what’s done is done. No TARDIS for me.

Fear Her - Tenth Doctor - 2012

Rose and the Doctor got caught in another scuffle in the near future. An innocent lonely little girl empowered by a child-like lonely alien nearly defeated them. But a mother’s love saved what could have been a disaster, including the end of the Olympic Torch. The Doctor ended up delivering the Torch in the end… though it seems some butterfly effect happened somewhere before real-world 2012, as David Tennant never got to deliver the Torch in real life. Wibbly wobbly. Side note: The 2012 Torch also appeared in mini-episode “Good as Gold” featuring Eleven and Amy against a Weeping Angel.

The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood - Eleventh Doctor - 2020

As if we didn’t have enough going on with COVID and killer hornets last year (whatever happened to the hornets anyway?), we didn’t even get news coverage of the unruly ground in Wales. Thanks to the Doctor, Amy, and Rory (but also note Rory?) we didn’t have a Silurian incursion. Instead, the Doctor was able to manage to delay the conflict until mankind was ready to share. Good, because 2020 didn’t need anything crazier.

As always, I can’t wait to see what Doctor Who comes up with next. My goal is to catch up on the Thirteenth Doctor so I can bid her goodbye around the same time as the rest of you. And then next up: Russell T Davies and the Fourteenth Doctor.

The Ninth Doctor

So after watching all of Classic Doctor Who over the past two and a half years (and writing about it for two years) I’m finally at Modern Doctor Who! So without further ado, here’s my first Doctor: Christopher Eccleston.

Series 1

The show regenerated

Top Story: Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways

It was really a hard choice between the finale and “The Empty Child”/“The Doctor Dances” for top choice. In fact in my first draft of this post, I picked it. But I wanted to choice the two-part finale, because of its firsts. This was the first time since the Key to Time series that Doctor Who had an overall story for the season, instead of just individual adventures. Through the season “Bad Wolf” popped up occasionally and then got resolved in the finale. This trend has continued through Modern Doctor Who, ever since. It was also the first modern regeneration, so we gotta enjoy the introduction of David Tennant.

Flop Story: Boom Town

It was this or “The Long Game”. However, this story was just unnecessary. I have no issue with the Slitheen. Considering that Doctor Who was bound to have poor special effects on its first season back, of course the aliens were going to be weird. But their original story and their reprisal in “The Sarah Jane Adventures” were good. This was just an unnecessary revival of a supposedly dead character, just to have a story.

"Run!"

Honorable Mention: Rose

This is how new Doctor stories need to be. What the Eighth Doctor movie did wrong was assuming that viewers knew the Doctor, knew regeneration, and knew the TARDIS. In this story, we learn about the Doctor and the TARDIS as Rose does, making it easier for new viewers. This was repeated to some extent with Martha and Bill, making easy points for new viewers to come in without committing to 20+ years of Doctor Who before getting caught up. Granted the Autons were odd, but it was a nice throwback to the old Third Doctor villain. Since the show is 50+ years old now, it needs stories like this to bring in new blood.

COMPANIONS:

Rose      Rose - (10th Doctor)

Adam    Dalek - The Long Game

Jack        The Empty Child - The Parting of the Ways

Favorite Companion: It seems like Rose gets a lot of flack from the fanbase, but I like her. Granted, she and the Ninth Doctor were my first pair I ever saw together consistently (I started with “Blink” and then went back) but this pair worked together. Rose had the character development that I’d want for all companions. She went from working in retail to saving the universe and even matching wits with the Doctor a few times. To be fair, I would have preferred she kept her ending at the end of Series 2 with the Tenth Doctor, but I enjoyed seeing her return in Series 4, so I can’t complain.

Least Favorite Companion: Adam. Just Adam. I don’t know anyone in the fanbase who likes Adam. He hitched a ride in 2012, went to the future, and then got thrown out back at home. We all like to forget about Adam, but he was an unfortunate side effect of time travel I suppose. Above all else, he sucked because he was the one companion to use traveling in the TARDIS for personal gain (unless you count Turlough working for the Black Guardian). He did get some “redemption” in the 50^th Anniversary comic series called “Prisoners of Time”, but regardless he’s still down low on my list of companions. ALL companion (even including Adric).

What was your favorite Ninth Doctor story? You did watch the Ninth Doctor right? We don’t skip Nine here. So go watch Nine. Now. Just go.

I was once told that Colin Baker wanted the Sixth Doctor to have this outfit. Tough luck.

Check out our other Doctor Who features:

• First Doctor
• Second Doctor
• Third Doctor
• Fourth Doctor Part 1 and Part 2
• Fifth Doctor
• Sixth Doctor
• Seventh Doctor
• Eighth Doctor
• Tenth Doctor
• Eleventh Doctor
• Twelfth Doctor