I like a lot of the shows on BBC America (Gavin & Stacey, Dragons’ Den, Worst Week), so when I saw they were launching a new season of Doctor Who, I decided to give it a try.

I have to be honest, I’m really unfamiliar with the whole Doctor Who world/mythos.  The general idea is that the Doctor is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels about in his TARDIS (time travel/spacecraft) righting wrongs and having adventures.  I haven’t watched it since I was a kid, and then infrequently. To give you an idea of how far I’m behind, I’m pretty sure it was the Fourth Doctor I remember seeing and they’re apparently on the Tenth Doctor now.

Nonetheless, I definitely liked the episode they showed this past Saturday evening called “Voyage of the Damned.”  I probably missed some of the in-jokes that long time viewers would get, but it was overall a very enjoyable experience (and I did catch the “42″ callout).  The series has cool sci-fi effects and a good storyline.  But most of all, there is a terrific vein of humor and wit throughout that really keeps things fun.  David Tennant, the actor playing the current incarnation of the Doctor, does an excellent job.  At times I did have to rewind a bit to make out the words behind the accents, but that was a pretty minor issue.  I thought it was weird that the first episode they showed was a Christmas special of sorts.  I’m going to tune in next week to get a better feel for the series.

If I like it, I may just Netflix up some DVD’s of previous seasons.  If you get BBC America, I would recommend you give the Doctor a try.  The official site is here and it looks like new episodes are shown on Saturday evenings.