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From: ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian)
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: Re: STIV In Search Of...Dr. Who (More on the doctor)
Message-ID: <182@wjvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 18-Aug-84 15:15:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: wjvax.182
Posted: Sat Aug 18 15:15:06 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 19-Aug-84 14:12:54 EDT
References: <263@ncoast.UUCP>
Organization: Watkins Johnson, San Jose, Calif.
Lines: 63

The doctor's name isn't "Who".  The series is called that
because the doctor's real name is not pronouncable by humans.
His assistant on many of the shows, another Time Lord,
had the name Romanadvoratrelundar (Romana to her friends),
so you can imagine what the Doctor's name must be like.
The doctor is simply 'The Doctor'.  This leads to the occasional
inside joke in the series where someone introduces him as
'The Doctor' and someone else askes 'Doctor who?'

The doctor is not human.  He has two hearts, a pulse rate
of 170, body temperature of 60 degrees and slightly greater
strength than human (which he rarely takes advantage of,
being non-violent).  He is also, as someone else pointed
out, a mathmatical genius.  He is approximately 800 years
old and along the way has picked up a remarkable collection
of skills.  Although of immense intelligance, he has no
scientific dicipline, preferring to trust to his intuition
and talent for improvising.  This trait makes his character
exactly the opposite of Spock's.

The doctor's race, the Gallifreyans, are able to assume the
appearance of other races, and conventionally assume the
appearance of the most prolific race in the galaxy, Homo-Sap.
They have perfected time travel, and the 'Council of Time Lords'
keep watch on time in a non-interferance way.  The Doctor
is a renegade for several reasons, not the least of which
is that he interferes.  (A parallel with Kirk always
breaking the Prime Directive, or whatever it's called.)
He loves to travel, and finds himself often in sticky
situations where he's required to solve a problem for
someone else to get free.  His time-space machine, the
TARDIS, is a old model in for repairs that the Doctor
stole to escape from Gallefrey.  After 20+ years of
ownership by the Doctor, the poor thing is a mass of
temporary repairs and improvisations, and never quite
takes the Doctor where he wants to go.  Worse, the Council
of Time Lords occasionally takes control remotely to
force the Doctor into a position where he solves a problem
for them.

The Time Lords are not immortal, but great physical stress
such as a mortal wound, triggers 'regeneration' where they
undergo a drastic personality and appearance change.  Time
Lords can usually only manage 12 regenerations, after which
they die, just like us.  The Doctor is presently on his fifth
regeneration.  (Six actors have played the doctor.)

There is a LOT more.  Doctor Who has been going strong for
20 years, and along the way has aquired an extremly rich
historical background.  The show is made up of segments
divided up into 2 to 7 20 minute episodes, and shown twice a
week in England.  Here in America, it's shown on the PBS
channels either one episode a day, or an entire segment
once a week.  (Channel 54 in the San Francisco area does
both.)  The show didn't impress me at first, but after
a couple of episodes I was a raving fan.  Try it, you'll
like it.
-- 

	"Trivia is important."		Ron Christian
					Watkins-Johnson Co.
					San Jose, Calif.
					(...ios!wjvax!ron)