Doctor Who: A Beginner 's Guide to Diving Right In

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With all the excitement surrounding the introduction of Jodie Whittaker as the first ever doctor on Doctor Who, those who have never seen a frame of the 55-year-old series could be forgiven if they suddenly check it out for the first time. But the show is n old, and has so much backstory, that the very prospect can feel daunting to newcomers. It's not exactly easy being Doctor Who completist. So consider this your primer-a quick and dirty, spoiler-free tour through just the essential Whittaker's first episode premieres this Sunday.

Before we begin, however, we should note that Whittaker is not the only newcomer to Doctor Who this season. Chris Chibnall (Broadchurch) is also taking over as show-runner for the series-which means, for the third time since the show was resurrected (more on that later) in 2005, Doctor Who it will also get what we might call a soft reboot. And Chibnall seems especially dedicated to making sure this new Who feels immediately accessible to all. As he said during San Diego Comic-Con this past summer: "This year is the perfect jumping-on point for that person in your life who has never watched Doctor Who. I want you to go out there and recruit that person. "

So while this primer may still be very useful, it may also be useful in the past. O.K., are we ready? Fan-tas-tic. Here we go.

The Doctor: The Doctor is a kind of alien known as a Lord-enormously clever, fun, a little odd, and with the power to travel anywhere in the world.

The Doctor also has two hearts, the best to love you. Including Whittaker, there have been 13 actors overall who have played the role over the years. (Well, 14, if you want to get technical-but let's not.) That's "the Doctor," by the way, not "Doctor Who" -resist the urge to call our hero by that name.

Oftentimes, fans will refer to the various Doctors by numbers-so David Tennant, who played the 10th Doctor, is "Ten"; Matt Smith is "Eleven"; and you can go ahead and call Whittaker "Thirteen," if you're so inclined. Why does the doctor have so many faces? That's a super-fun question.

Regeneration: Unlike, say, the James Bond franchise, the frequent re-casting of the lead role in Doctor Who is written in the rules of the show's world. When they "die," Time Lords actually "regenerate" -which makes you feel good about your body and, in the end, a new actor appears in the role. The Doctor retains all the memories of his previous incarnations, and some of his personality traits-but the regeneration helps ease the transition when a new actor arrives on the scene. In each actor's first episode, the freshly regenerated Doctor is usually a little disoriented, forgetful, and not up to full strength. This allows the character to be discovered when you're the Doctor-which is very helpful for new viewers as well.

The TARDIS: The Doctor's face can change, but a few other basic things never do. If you've been paying attention to British media at all in the last few decades, at some point you will have seen the TARDIS-which stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. But do not overcomplicate things; it's just a spaceship-slash-time machine. On the outside, the contraption looks like a plain, bright blue box-a phone booth-like structure found in the U.K. On the inside, it's, well, massive; one repeated line you'll often hear Who fans quote: "it's bigger on the inside."

The interior design changes with each Doctor, but you really need to know that the TARDIS can go anywhere in time and space. However, it often gets lost, and dumps the doctor and friends in the wrong place. (Oh, and: the TARDIS may also be a lady. But that's a little complicated, and we're not here for complications.)

The Sonic Screwdriver: O.K., it's easiest to think of this as the Doctor's magic wand or (if you prefer) lightsaber. (In fact, the general thinking of the doctor is a wacky wizard of outer space.) Over the years, this tool-often shortened to Sonic-has become something of a get-out -of-jail-free card for Doctor Who writers. Its powers are largely undefined, so when the show needs the device to do something-it can just do it. It's supposed to be the result of science, but let's be real: this is magic. Because Whittaker's Doctor is starting the series without her TARDIS-she fell out of the craft-a Sonic something will be very useful for her.

The Threads: Along with the TARDIS, the Sonic, and the two hearts, a Doctor always has a very unmistakable look. Usually, a long coat and some manner of eccentricity is involved. Tom Baker had his massive scarf; Tennant had his tennis shoes; Smith was all about the bowties; and Whittaker's version is rocking gender-neutral rainbow tee, long coat, high pants, and suspenders-all the better to cosplay with. In the modern era, each actor's first episode involves running around in the old actor's costume.

Companions. . .er, Friends: The last essential aspect of the Who brand is the Companions. Doctor Who started as a children's show; the whole idea centered on an ordinary humans meeting. (Essentially: "yer a wizard, Harry.") The tone of the show has matured, and has gone through phases where the Companion (often a young lady) and the Doctor (recently, an older, but not too old man) have been played up for romance. That concept has been hit and miss, but Doctor Who is the most fun when it's just about a bunch of friends going around the universe, getting in and out of scrapes.

That may be why Chibnall is rebranding the Companions, calling them "Friends" instead-and expanding from one occupying human in the TARDIS to three: Ryan (Tosin Cole), Yasmin (Mandip Gill), and Graham (Bradley Walsh). The Bond-Bond girl has been a member of the Doctor-Companion Casting Circling for some time, despite the boyfriends, husbands, mums, and grandpas who were sometimes allowed to come along from the ride.

The Villains: If you talk to a whovian die-hard (oh, yeah: the fans are called whovians), they can rattle off a long, long list of alien threats that have bedeviled the doctor and friends over the decades. But the good news is that you will not have to worry about most of them. Chibnall has said he will not be including the classic Who monsters-no, not even those-trash-can-looking fellas called Daleks. But just for the record, side from Daleks, the only other hand bad guys in the Who-niverse are another time Lord called the Master, and the Cybermen. The Master and the Doctor are lifelong frenemies. The Daleks want to destroy everything. (Their catchphrase is a shrieking "EXTERMINATE!") Cybermen. . . you know, for their own good. The last thing we'll say Doctor Who are extremely fun to say. Go ahead, give "Raxacoricofallapatorian" to whirl.

Nonviolence: We're almost done, but I will say this: defender of earth, this time has a preference, at the end of any confrontation or battle, for a peaceful, nonviolent solution. This is partly because of the children's program, but also because of some of the more complicated Doctor Who backstory. There's no need to go too far, but just know that the Doctor and the Master come from a planet called Gallifrey, and at some point, the Doctor destroyed the entire thing-for the greater good of the universe. The Doctor and The Master are the last two Time Lords. . . kind of.

The History: Doctor Who is a show, which means that any breach in continuity can be waved away Who sentence: "wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey." If that sounds a bit silly, the MOST important thing to remember is that all of Doctor Who is a little silly. Once again, this all started as an extremely low-budget show for kids. So if a creature design looks clunky, or the feeling seems hokey, or anything else seems cheesy, just remember: that's part of the Who legacy. The show took a long hiatus in the 90s, and it was much more important than the storytelling, the kids'-show origin still creeps in. Especially when it comes to Who'S earnest, hopeful messaging.

I'll also say that being a woman in the lead role, it's useful to remember that Doctor Who HAS always a boundary-pusher when it comes to inclusion. Verity Lambert was the show producer (essentially the show-runner) in the early 1960s. She brought on British-Indian Waris Hussein to the pilot and several episodes of the first season. "They must have thought you were so. . . radical, "then-Who show-runner Russell T. Davies told Lambert in a 2006 interview. "I just imagine everyone else at the time were middle-aged men wearing demob suits! You were wild, you lot! A 26-year-old woman, a gay Asian director. . . They must have thought you were bananas! "Davies also introduced the pansexual Time Agent Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) in 2005. Doctor Who has always been about making sure everyone is welcome in the TARDIS.