We have all been there. Some of the animations are a good substitute. The telesnaps can be good, especially for some of the early stuff (Marco Polos is great) but mostly it is sad that we are missing that much.
Peter Capaldi is a great doctor even if he is not my favourite. He is a fantastic actor.
Honestly it all kind of depends on the day, one day I might watch two or three serials, another day I might just watch one episode. After this I plan on visiting the First and Second Doctor! I really only started with Three to familiarize myself and I have to say he’s become a fast favorite, really not looking forward to the regeneration episode because I’ll definitely miss him a lot. Also wanted to give a quick shoutout to Roger Delgado, I think I’ll be missing him the most, RIP to both him and Pertwee, they’ll be missed.
One good thing to remember though, is unlike some of contemporary shows to Doctor Who such as The Avengers, is that audio exists for all of the missing episodes, so you can still experience them, even if not in their original format. Also, (although it is not guaranteed) missing episodes have been found and returned to the BBC. Did you know that 45 years ago, some of Jon Pertwee’s episodes were missing, and as late as 30 years ago, some of his serials were only available in black and white?
Well, yes and no. At the end of the day, they don’t have a lot in common other than slightly similar fashion sense and general age. Pertwee is usually described as the James Bond DOctor or the Action Doctor, but Capaldi isn’t really that. Twelve is a geat Doctor and Capaldi is superb in the role, though.
(I’m surprised @Tian hasn’t sold you Ten yet, and I haven’t mentioned my number one, Eleven, at all either. But if you turn out liking Two, you will love Eleven as well. There you have two incarnations that are very similar to each other!)
I think I’ve gotten the general basis for all the Doctors so far, obviously there’s a lot of missing spaces but I do know that 10 is the most beloved Doctor next to 4, and that 11 took a lot of inspiration from 2.
And we are slowly getting them as BluRay releases, whih means that they look better than ever before!
Yes, 10 and 4 are generally the most iconic and beloved Doctors, but that doesn’t mean that everyone has to like them. And Matt Smith prepared for his role as 11 by watching Troughton episodes, which is why their Doctors are similar.
The First Doctor is an underappreciated incarnation, I think. Some people get turned off by his gruffness, but I also think that he is complex and vulnerable in ways that his successors have never really emulated. You may have to “unlearn” some of what was established about the Doctor during the Third Doctor era (at certain points, it’s not really clear if he’s even an alien!), but in exchange you will get profound moral dilemmas, as well as get to try pure historicals (stories with no science fiction elements). But if it turns out you don’t like the '60s, you can try the '70s, '80s, '00s, etc. As some are fond of saying, there’s Doctor Who for everyone.
Warning/Advice : An Unearthly Child, the first First Doctor Who serial, is currently unavailable for streaming due to a dispute with the rights holder. You might ought to try to obtain a DVD from your local library or mega retailer of your choice. It might be a good idea to start searching for it now, so it will be ready for you when you finish Season 11.
Also, our TV Club threads (a discussion of a new Doctor Who story every week/every other week) are currently working through Hartnell. With no time limit, you can discuss with other fans what you think of the stories, and/or read what other people have said.
I’d love to provide you with more help, but I need to go to bed. Say hello to Sarah Jane and Susan for me when you see them.
Starting with the third doctor is an interesting, but in my opinion very good choice! He’s definitely one of my favorites, and he’s got a lot of very good stories. Tbh the only reason why I don’t recommend to my friends to start there is because they aren’t used to or interested in older TV, I do think it’s an excellent starting point as long as you’re willing to experience the format. It’ll be very interesting to see what you think of further things you watch!
His performance is really such a big part of why he is such a good doctor, it’s so unfortunate how many of his episodes are missing. When I started watching his era, I was at first quite disappointed because I just didn’t really get why people like him (whether or not I like a character is one thing, but for nearly all characters I need to at least get why other people like them to enjoy it). But then, after a string of animations and telesnaps, I finally hit an existing episode and it just struck me. His movements are so alive, there’s sadly no real way you can replicate those in animations, as beautiful as they are