Alan Kistler, Comic Book Historian: June 2007 Archives

Time Lords can die. But if there isn't too much damage to the body, they can make themselves regenerate instead, creating an entirely new body from scratch. The brain cells get naturally shaken up during this process, so while the memories remain (keeping the NURTURE part of the personality intact), the basic idiosyncrasies, physical quirks (whether or not they need glasses, etc.) and personality traits (such as temper, mannerism, impulsiveness) shift.

Here then is a run down of each of the Doctor's incarnations, as we've seen so far.

This is part of ALAN KISTLER'S GUIDE TO DOCTOR WHO.

The program of DOCTOR WHO premiered on the BBC in 1963 the day after Kennedy died and was originally conceived as a family program with educational values for children. It quickly proved to be a lot more than that, both in terms of high concepts and serious, dark tales about death and destruction on sometimes universal levels. The main creative force behind the show was BBC Head of Drama Sydney Newman, who also wrote the first format document for the series alongwith with the Head of the Script Department Donald Wilson and staff writer C. E. 'Bunny' Webber. Writer Anthony Coburn, story editor David Whitaker and initial producer Verity Lambert also heavily contributed to the development of the series in the early days and greatly influence writers and producers who came later.

DOCTOR WHO lasted for 26 seasons (695 episodes), making it the longest running science-fiction program in history and was canceled in 1989. It was a phenomenon in British pop culture, reaching practically the same popularity that Superman gained in the U.S. After cancellation, it survived in novels, a TV movie on Fox and audio plays. A new series, picking up some time after the TV movie leaves off, started in 2005 and continues the story of the hero, an alien adventurer who never gives his real name but is known only as “The Doctor.”

The New Gods are the creations of Jack Kirby. Originally, they were supposed to exist in their own continuity, separate from the DCU. What's more, Kirby intended to give the entire saga a beginning, middle and end, stretched across four different titles, and then leave it alone, never to us the characters again afterwards. Today, this would be known as a "limited series" or a "maxi-series" of some kind. Back then, it was unheard of and Carmine Infantino at DC Comics wasn't a fan of the idea. When he gave Kirby the title JIMMY OLSEN, it was Kirby's way of organically introducing some New Gods stories little by little. By the time FOREVER PEOPLE #1 came out, Infantino wanted Superman to guest-star in order to give the title a sales boost and Kirby conceded, firmly establishing the "Fourth World titles" as part of the mainstream DCU (just in case there was still any doubt). The four different Fourth World titles were NEW GODS, THE FOREVER PEOPLE, MISTER MIRACLE and SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN.

Kirby never finished the Fourth World saga, returning to Marvel Comics to work on other projects instead, and other writers down the years brought the New Gods more and more into the mainstream realm and added to their history.

So who are they exactly?

For all you Whovians and all you who heard of DOCTOR WHO but are afraid to begin watching without some basic info first.

If you just want a general overview of the show and characters of DOCTOR WHO that takes about five minutes or so to read, then check out my article: DOCTOR WHO IN A NUTSHELL.

If you want a simple and brief run-down on each incarnation of the Doctor, check out my DIFFERENT INCARNATIONS OF THE DOCTOR IN A NUTSHELL article.

If you want more detailed information on the career of each incarnation however, as well as lists of the Doctor's adventures in different media in chronological order and info about the spin-offs, look below ...