Tonight at midnight CST we’ll be watching and live tweeting along to Patrick Troughton in “The Dominators” as part of our continuing Seven Weeks For Seven Doctors.  Look for the #FridayNightWho hash tag and follow @vortexshaun and @vortexglenn (@Glenn_Bartlett changed his tweet name, btw…)  See you then!

So I’ve been talking to a lot of newbies here at work and at school about the show, riding a crest of unprecedented popularity at the moment.  And I frequently find myself repeating some of the things we told Keith before he started it.  So here’s my list of the 5 things you MUST know about Doctor Who, and the 5 things you MUST know before you sit down and try to delve into the new Series 6:

5 Things you NEED to know about Doctor Who

 1)      The Doctor is the last of the Time Lords, a race who understands, and can travel through time and space.  He does this via his TARDIS, which stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space.  It’s bigger on the inside, and its outside appearance is locked into that of a 1960’s London Police Box. 

2)      Time Lords have two hearts and the ability to Regenerate their bodies when injured, resulting in a new body (although sometimes the process is unpredictable.  To date, 11 different actors have played the Doctor (Matt Smith is the newest), each bringing a unique set of quirks and personality to the role, but it’s always the same man.

3)     There are 40 plus years of history associated with the program, but don’t let that deter you.  For the most part if you really need to know, they’ll let you know, and there are always plenty of fans to ask!

4)      The Doctor usually travels with one or more companions.

5)      The Doctor is beyond intelligent, often making “Sherlock Holmes” like deductions with very little available information.  Sometimes these are explained, sometimes you just roll with it.

 Things you NEED to know before you start Series 6…

 1)      Amy and Rory are the current companions, they just got married.

2)      River Song is an “on again, off again” companion.  She factors VERY heavily into the Doctor’s future, as she is moving backwards along the Doctors’ time line, so they’re never together in the right order.  (The first time they met (for the Doctor) was the last time for River, as she sacrificed herself to save him.) 

3)      We know that River is in prison for killing “A good man, a hero to many” but not who; and we know that she has a personal relationship with the Doctor, but not how.

4)      The show is unpredictable and quirky, and unlike most science fiction, the “WHOniverse” has things that may not be explainable.  Roll with it.

5)      The show is British; yes they have accents, yes sometimes they talk fast and are hard for the untrained ear to understand.  Just roll with it and stick with it!

Friday Night Who update:

We’ve changed, updated, tweaked and finalized the schedule for our 7 weeks of Friday Nigh Who, and wanted to give you guys as much notice as possible.

4/22/11 – William Hartnell in “The Aztecs”

4/29/11 – Patrick Troughton in “The Dominators”

5/6/11 – Jon Pertwee in “Carnival Of Monsters”

5/13/11 – Tom Baker in “Pyramids Of Mars” (This changed FROM “The Deadly Assassin”, as we decided to hold off on that story as part of a possible Advasary Archive with The Master)

5/20/11 – Peter Davison – “Black Orchid”

5/27/11 – Colin Baker – “Vengence On Varos”

6/3/11 – Sylvester McCoy – “Delta And The Bannermen”

If we have this figured right, this line up will end the same time as the 1st half of series 6, and then we’ll move back to David Tennant.

Just wanted to issue a warning to all our listeners.  In our latest episode (which is our longest one to date.  We had a lot to cover, but be forewarned), once we get to “The Impossible Astronaut” spoilers abound.  While this, in and of it self would not be unusual, the conversation did take a speculative turn about the nature of River Song, and… well… I think Glenn figured it out. 

On air. 

I hope he’s wrong, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes.

So if you DONT want to have that tidbit floating in your mind, you may want to think twice before delving into the review.  There.  Now you’ve been warned.

The day we have been waiting for since Boxing Day has arrived. Today is the premiere of Series 6 of Doctor Who. Please let us know what you think of the first episode. Just leave your reviews, thoughts, and opinions here in the comments on this post, or send them to feedback@travelingthevortex.com. We will try to read as many responses out on this week’s podcast. We can’t wait to hear what you thought.

On the eleventh day of waiting, that didn’t go so fast…

Eleven Lords of Time

ten exterminating Daleks!

ninth Doctor dances,

eighth Doctor’s movie,

Seven Gamma Seven,

six spoiler warnings,

FRIDAY NIGHT WHO!

fourth Doctor’s scarf,

three companion photos,

two Amy Ponds,

and a new website for our podcast!