Streaming Sci Fi TV: Tracking down sci fi and fantasy shows of interest available on the streaming services. Note that these shows can be pulled from the services at any time with little notice.
What Is It?
This series follows the time traveler known as the Doctor, who comes from a race of Time Lords living on the planet Gallifrey. The Doctor helps those threatened by other time travelers or nefarious alien races and undergoes transformations from time to time when mortally injured. The Doctor also tends to bring companions along in his adventures through time and space.
Aired: 1963-1989, BBC, 26 Seasons Totaling 841 Episodes
Starring: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, John Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Elisabeth Sladen
Created By: Sydney Newman, C.E. Weber, Donald Wilson
Why Watch It?
Doctor Who is the longest-running sci fi TV show worldwide, even if you just count its classic run from 1963 to 1989. And while the original series suffered from incredibly low production values that often made it seem quite cheap, it accomplished a lot during its time, and it is certainly worth seeking out. The show started with an intent to mix education with its entertainment, allowing its ventures to the past to provide a look into history. But once the Daleks were introduced in the second serial, it became much more about the Doctor vs. cosmic villains, and it has plenty more to offer, such as the Cybermen, the Sontarans, the Autons, the Master, and many more.
The actors who played the Doctor also helped carry the show, with the idea of regenerations added to its continuity when the original actor, William Hartnell, had health problems and could not continue in the role. Each actor brought their own unique spin to the lead character, and they had any of a number of companions helping them along the way. Plus, the show delivered some pretty good sci fi stories over its run, even if the budget often did not match up to the ambitions of the writers. Doctor Who was certainly a product of its era, and you have to give it some leeway for its production shortfalls, but it counts as a genre classic (more on that at this link), and it has had a lasting influence on sci fi TV.
Where Is It Streaming?
YouTube has added a Classic Doctor Who Channel and that has full episodes from the first seven Doctors available to stream for free with ads. Each multi-part serial has been combined together, and they have each of the Doctors segmented separately. This appears to include all episodes from the classic run of the series–even the animated recreations of eps that had previously been lost–and this provides a good opportunity to view a sampling of the show’s early episodes. You can also stream the classic series with a subscription to BritBox, and Pluto TV has the episodes available On Demand and they also have a live-streaming channel dedicated to the series.
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