Doctor Who Marathon

I've been doing a marathan-of-sorts of Doctor Who Season 4 this week. Since Season 4 is not yet finished (I think), I've only gone through the first 6 episodes. I've been a Doctor Who fan since the 5th or 6th grade since a friend introduced me to the character. Back then, his stories were available on pocketbooks only since the TV series wasn't being aired here locally. I must have collected a good couple of dozen Doctor Who pocketbooks during this time.

Doing a bit of research on the Time Lord from Gallifrey known only as "The Doctor", I was surprised to find out that it is actually listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the longest running sci-fi tv show in the world having started back in 1963! And since the character was designed to be able to "regenerate" himself several times whenever he is about to die, the producers of the show was able to conveniently explain having different actors play the role.

The current Doctor (actually the tenth already) is played by David Tennant. I think he portrays the Doctor's quirkiness, eccentricity and humor quite well. I wasn't a big fan of the ninth doctor played by Christopher Eccleston. I think the character of Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) is a bit too old to be the Doctor's companion though. I would have preferred a younger sidekick.

I was also surprised to find out that BBC has spun-off a couple of series recently based on the Doctor Who characters -- The Sarah Jane Adventures, K-9 and Company, and Torchwood (which turns out to be an anagram of "doctor who"). The Sarah Jane Adventures is based on one of the longest running companion of The Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, while K-9 and Company is based on The Doctor's robotic dog sidekick, K-9. Both Sarah Jane and K-9 are familiar characters back from my pocketbook days, and its pleasant to know that their mythos have survived all these time and they have become main characters in their own storylines.