Howling:Dividing the show into eras

The Howling → Dividing the show into eras

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The traditional division of Doctor Who is into the Classic Series and the New Series, sometimes with a third era for the "Wilderness Years" (the TV movie, and all the novels and audios before 2005). But as 89 pointed out in Howling:A collection of theories and questions regarding AotD and Oswin, in many ways Ace fits with the new series better than the first 24 seasons. (And of course she fits with the Wilderness Years even better, being the Doctor's companion through most of the first 35 NAs, out of 61.)

But really, as different as Ace is from Mel—both in character and in the kinds of stories told about her—she's just as different from Rose (or, for that matter, the EDA companions). And the difference is no starker than the one between, say, the Third Doctor's Avengers-style adventures on Earth with UNIT vs. the Second Doctor visiting future space colonies with Jamie and Zoe.

The show clearly doesn't just have two or three eras. So, where are the dividing lines? A few of them are obvious (the two sides of UNIT), but the rest are surprisingly hard to nail down. While I was thinking about this, I remembered that Tat Wood and Larry Miles already wrote a whole essay on this, and then used it as the basis for a series of 6 reference/commentary books, About Time. Looking at their division, I realized I disagreed, and now I have an answer.

First, About Time is divided:

1. Seasons 1-3 (1st Doctor)
2. Seasons 4-6 (2nd Doctor)
3. Seasons 7-11 (3rd Doctor)
4. Seasons 12-17 (4th Doctor until JNT took over)
5. Seasons 18-21 (4/JNT/Bidmead and 5th Doctor)
6. Seasons 22-Curse (6-8, counting Dimensions, the TV movie, and Curse, and with some discussion of the NAs, but almost no mention of the EDAs, NEDAs, and webcasts)
7. New series (not done yet, but it'll presumably cover up until Wood catches up with the show or kills the last tree on the planet trying)

I think the first two Doctors can go together, and you definitely have to draw a line at either Ace or Cartmel. And Bidmead is really a last gasp of the pre-JNT era. Also, if the EDAs and NEDAs are part of the new series rather than the Ace-Grace era, surely Curse is as well. So, here's my breakdown:

1. Seasons 1-6 (1st and 2nd)
2. Seasons 7-11 (3rd)
3. Seasons 12-18 (4th)
4. Seasons 19-24 (5th and 6th, 7th/Mel)
5. Seasons 25-TVM (7th/Ace, Dimensions, NAs, 8th/Grace)
6. EDAs-? (8th/Sam on, including the EDAs, NEDAs, and webcasts)

I'm a little uncomfortable lumping Hinchliffe/Holmes in with Williams, but I can live with this. --70.36.140.233^{talk to me} 03:17, October 6, 2012 (UTC)

do we even need to divide they show into eras? i mean, it's all the one show. i think the era dividing should be left to the person dividing at the time to show what they're differentiating, ie if one wants to talk about series 1-4 they can talk about the RTD era, but if they want to talk about just series 2-4 they can talk about the 10th doctor's era. neither is more valid than the other and suits what the person wants to say at the time. Imamadmad ☎ 03:50, October 6, 2012 (UTC)

I agree with Imamadmad on this. The perception of the "eras" depends both on experience (when did you start watching?) & personal tastes.

For example, having started watching at the opening of An Unearthly Child, I'd object fairly strongly to the idea that "the first two Doctors can go together". They very definitely were quite different, both in personality & in the show's "style". There's also the fact that the 2nd Doctor had to be seen quite differently from the 1st -- because there had been a regeneration. Right up to the closing moments of The Tenth Planet, he was not the "First Doctor"; he was quite simply "the Doctor". Nobody who wasn't a viewer before The Tenth Planet can appreciate the difference that first regeneration made. It was an unheard-of, totally novel idea that transformed both the Doctor & the show. Actors had, of course, been replaced in roles before that. Within the show in which it happened, however, the other characters "saw" no difference & the new actor had to (try to) play the character in the same way as the original actor had. Doctor Who tore up the rule book! Ben & Polly not only saw that the Doctor's face was different but argued about whether or not he really was the Doctor. That first regeneration changed things so much that a case could be made for saying that there are two eras in the show: From An Unearthly Child to The Tenth Planet, excluding that closing scene, and everything from the closing scene of The Tenth Planet onwards. Absolutely nothing in the show has ever made as much difference as that first regeneration.

By the way, 70, I assume that by "Seasons 22-Curse" you mean The Curse of Fatal Death, not (as I first read it) The Curse of Fenric. That's not a title it's wise to abbreviate at first instance.

Furthermore, there are many, including this wiki itself, who'd not regard The Curse of Fatal Death as being in any era of the show, which only goes to support Imamadmad's point. (I'm usually 89 or 2 but I'm 78, for now.) --78.146.187.111^{talk to me} 12:57, October 6, 2012 (UTC)