Doctor Who turns 44

According to Comix Mix, Doctor Who turned 44 on Friday. What is amazing is how well the initial design of both the concept and the music has stood up to the passing decades.

Doctor Who opening, circa 1963

Doctor Who opening, circa 1974

Doctor Who opening, circa 2006

The current Doctor (David Tennant) is arguably the best of the ten incarnations of the regenerating Time Lord. I grew up on the Tom Baker and Peter Davison Doctor’s, re-run in the early 1980s on the Chicago PBS station, WTTW, from the original BBC series. In 1996, I was elated when FOX broadcast a movie with Eric Roberts as the Master, the Doctor’s nemesis, but it never went anywhere. Then, TiVo started picking up the new series on the SciFi channel, spawning two other shows.

The music proven to be robust. Although it has been tweaked over the years, the same electronic tune that signaled it was 90 minutes until the end of my high school Sundays is still essentially the same theme showing up on TiVo. I doubt the throngs of devoted fans would allow significant deviation anyway.

Although David Tennant doesn’t have to put up with the signature low-quality props and sets shot on video—the quality of the special effects is in line with industry standards, taking away some of the schtick—the original concept has stood the test of time: actors come and go, but the Doctor is eternal.

That’s good design.