Where would The Runaway Bride go? It's set in 2006, but they also travel to shortly before Earth is formed.
Also, what about episodes that are set outside of time or entirely within the TARDIS (e.g. Time Crash)? Or when all of time sort of happens at once (e.g. The Big Bang, The Wedding of River Song)?
What about false realities (e.g. Amy's Choice, Extremis)? Bubble universes (e.g. The Doctor's Wife, Hide)?
And then there's the matter of the Doctor and River. Do we go in the Doctor's order, or in River's order?
What about cliffhangers and cyclic stories?
Absolutely I'd do this, but I'd need a very large corkboard and about a mile of red yarn to figure out the order.
You would need to start on the middle of the episode where they are at the start of the world and go from there. Can’t do episode by episode but could scene by scene
Cut all the episodes to have snippets that keep the same timeframe, then watch those in order
If two clips are supposed to be the same time, splitscreen
TARDIS scenes would make sense to keep before they arrive to their destination. And TARDIS episodes should be kept in the """present"""
If the time happens all at once, play all the frames of the clip at once. Preferably stretched to be in the background of all the Chronological Dr. Who Marathon™
False realities and bubble universe should either be split screen or inserted in between the start and end of that part.
We go in the time's order. We don't care about the love birds.
If there's a cliff hanger, just play the next chronological clip
Or in true timelord fashion, make a compund super episode with all of them playing overlayed on each other simultaniously. Takes less time too, not that it matters.
If I'm skipping any, it'll just be Love & Monsters (a bit rubbish), The Angels Take Manhattan (too sad; can't watch that one again), and a few (but certainly not all) of Chris Chibnall's episodes (e.g. The Tsuranga Conundrum; I didn't enjoy them that much).
Other than that, I'll take the lot. I might even throw in the Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood, Class, the BBV Productions movies, and those spin-off movies starring Peter Cushing, for good measure.
How about City of Death, which takes place in 1980s Paris, Renaissance Italy, and billions of years ago when life on Earth began. Where do you put that in the chronology?
(Answer: You watch this episode first regardless because Douglas Adams wrote it.)
Edit: Technically a bunch of other times too because you get glimpses of other fractured selves of Scaroth from other points in human history.
It should be easy to figure out, you just order it one storyline at a time:
1 - Unearthly Child - 100,000 BC
4 - Marco Polo - 1289 AD
6 - The Aztecs - Aztec Empire, 1300-1521
3 - Inside the Spaceship - Tardis interior, present.
2 - The Daleks - Far future, unspecified
5 - Keys of Marinus - Far future, unspecified
7 - The Sensorites - Far future, unspecified
I imagine the final episode would have to be Utopia, which essentially takes place after the heat death of the universe. That's a bit of a bummer for an ending though lol.
they also restart the entire universe like a recalcitrant lawn mower several times, which really fucks the timeline.
Is the The Girl Who Died set in Vikings times (700 AD) actually after the Van Gogh episode (1890 AD) because the universe the Vikings exist in is newer than the one van gogh is in, which was destroyed?
One of the biggest perks of pirating junk. I know some services allow its users to create and post collections. It’s fun to find a movie you like and see what user collections that movie was in.
Disney+ actually does this to a degree. There's several categories including chronographically for MCU and Star Wars. But it's limited to whole movies and shows, not per episodes or part of episodes like how you can intercut between Clone Wars S7E9-12 and EpIII.
Yeah, during Halloween or Christmas they'll make those lists and hide them inside the search page. I used it to watch every Treehouse of Horror last year
Unless the series was over, it'd be impossible to watch them in that order.
Imagine if they release a new episode where they visit a certain point in history. Would you have to watch all of the episodes chronologically after that one again?
Browse the wikis a bit and find a doctor you like. Watch some episodes from that Doctor until you're bored. Repeat. You can watch them in any order you like.
Starting with the 2005 reboot is probably easiest and most accessible. Watch for callbacks to previous adventures. If those stories sound interesting dive into the back story.
Everybody has their favorite Doctor. Some like the leather clad skinhead. Some like the guy with the scarf and the Jelly Babies. Some weirdos like the guy with the celery stalk in his pocket. My favorite is the first Doctor. He's in black and white, he's witty, he's grumpy and sometimes mean, and he lies. If you want to know about the origins of the Daleks you'll need to find his episodes. The library is probably the best place to find these. I think there is always Doctor Who streaming or being broadcast somewhere at practically all times. I'm pretty sure I can search for Doctor Who on Plex and find some random episode streaming at any time.
As others have mentioned, several large chunks of the original series are missing, so be prepared for that disappointment.
The revival-era show soft-reboots every time there's a new Doctor, to intentionally make it a good spot for new viewers to jump on; the basics are all subtly reintroduced as the story progresses. If you find yourself intrigued by one Doctor or another, you can just start with that Doctor's first episode. (Not the one in which the regeneration happens and the new Doctor is introduced at the end, but the one following that in which they're the Doctor as it starts.)
No in fact a good chunk of the early episodes are missing. The show changes a lot based on who is playing the Doctor and who the showrunner and head writer are.
Best bet is pick a Doctor and watch the first episode or two. If you don't like it try another.
Old run Tom Baker and John Pertwee are good choices. Baker had Douglas Adams as head writer for the early seasons and Pertwee has two of the best companions.
Latter original run had a show runner who did not want the job and it shows.
New Who I would recommend trying Christopher Eccleston or Peter Capald. Lots of people love David Tenant but I find him annoyingly hyperactive.
You can pick anywhere and honestly it's fine. Lots of people started with modern Who, so that lines up with the average experience, and there are long-running plot arcs you might stumble over if you don't, but most episodes are fairly self-contained.
Old Who is a different show. Somewhat akin to the original Star Trek, it requires a certain ability to ignore the experience and budget constraints and pick out the charm. But some of the old Doctors remain fan favorites like Tom Baker, the 4th and longest-running generation.
I would suggest watching starting with the 2005 rebirth of the series. They made it expecting you to not have watched the original series.
From then on there is a lot of overlap and continuation, some more subtle than others, so you could just watch one of the doctors, but part of what makes it special is the wealth of possible collisions so you may not need to have seen the reason why such-and-such character perks up when they hear the Doctor coming, but it's what made me appreciate the show.
Look up a list of the top 10 best episodes. Watch those. Take note of which ones you like more, and which actor is playing the doctor in that episode. Use that to pick your favourite doctor. Then watch all the episodes starring your favourite doctor in order.
If you don't know anything about the show this sounds like a batshit way to figure out not only if you like a show, but which parts of the show you like.
It very much depends on you. I personally think most people should start with New Who, because it’s much faster paced and The Doctor starts out a lot more likable. I personally started with New Who, then started mixing in Old Who during Capaldi’s first season. Which turned out rather nicely, because early Capaldi actually resembles the First Doctor in many ways, and it was interesting to see how elements of the show unfolded.
For reference, Old Who starts with An Unearthly Child (1963.) New Who starts with Rose (2005.)
Here's my personal 'recommendation' list. The list comprises stories which are good while not being part of any major developments in the show's timeline. So, if someone wanted to watch Doctor Who with me, I'd pick one of these. Feel free to criticize or add to this list.
S Tier:
Inferno (3rd Doctor, 7 episodes, 1970)
City of Death (4th Doctor, 4 episodes, 1979)
Vengeance on Varos (6th Doctor, 2 episodes, 1985)
Vincent and the Doctor (11th Doctor, 1 episode, 2010)
A Tier:
The Aztecs (1st Doctor, 4 episodes, 1967)
The Enemy of the World (2nd Doctor, 6 episodes, 1967)
I'm a huge sci fi fan, I love Star Wars, Trek, Gate, just about any sci fi movie, etc. I have never been able to get into Dr Who but the rabid fan base makes me feel like I'm missing out. Not sure what it is about the show but I just don't get it, I guess.
To be fair the first season when it returned with rose is just alright and I almost dropped it as well. The next doctor Tenant really did the role justice and peaked the show for many of us.
Sadly this means you'll never see "The Edge of Destruction" a.k.a. "Inside the Spaceship," as the whole thing takes place in the TARDIS it's outside time entirely and therefore impossible to put into any objective chronological order with the others. Other stories like "The Celestial Toymaker" or "The Mind Robber" take place in freaky realities which are similarly difficult to contextualize in the timeline.
Source: I wasted far too much of my precious human life debating this shit on fandom wiki talk pages.
There's also that episode where 12 is >!trapped in a castle for about 4 billion years!< so you'd presumably have to watch that a few seconds at a time, interspersed with hundreds of years of other adventures.