Today I started a strange project, definitely quixotic and most likely ill-advised. I've been thinking quite a lot about Doctor Who the last few weeks, largely inspired by Paul Cornell's splendid two parter "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" and Steven Moffat's equally splendid "Blink." I was watching the companion documentary series last week, Doctor Who Confidential, this episode of which was all about the influence Who had on people now working in British television. The documentary, like most of its ilk, featured loads of clips of old Who episodes, intercut with people talking about when they first started watching. One of the guests mentioned something I've discussed with people in conversation before, the notion that one's "first Doctor" is their favorite; that is, the one they're first introduced to is the one they most identify with. For me it was Tom Baker. A corollary I've discovered is that people tend to have fond memories of their second Doctors, as well. Sean Williams started watching Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor, and has some affection for Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor, but doesn't care for Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor. While sharing Sean's tastes in most things Who, though, I started watching with Tom Baker's first episode, and consequently prefer the Fourth and Fifth Doctor, while not having much patience for the Third.

In any event, I've been thinking about how my first exposure to the character colored my perceptions, and also about all of these great clips from old episodes that I haven't seen. I've sampled bits and pieces of all seven original Doctors, seeing serials from the beginning to end of the 26 year original run of the show. But there's still a great deal of Who I've never seen.

Which leads me to my quixotic project. I work at home, and eat most meals as quickly as possible, but need something to do while chowing down, so usually watch a half-hour episode of something while I eat. Lately it's been the audio commentary on the second season of The Venture Bros, but I'm just about done with that. So I was already looking for something that ran between twenty and twenty-five minutes that I could run while I ate. For most of its twenty-six year run, Doctor Who was aired in twenty-five minute episodes.

You see where this is going.

Starting today, I am committed to watching all of Who from the beginning, an episode at a time, straight through to the end. For those episodes that have been lost I'll be taking in reconstructions using the extant audio and still photos. I'm not sure how many individual episodes of Who there are, but there are something just short of 160 serials, if I'm remembering correctly, which average four twenty-four episodes apiece. Even if I watch an episode a day for five days a week, every week (which is vanishingly unlikely, since I usually only eat lunch in front of the television about four times a week at best), then I estimate it'll take me something like two and a half years to finish. I may be watching more episodes than that on evenings that Allison is out of town on business (suffice it to say, she won't be going me on this particular mad quest; she quite likes the new series, but has not a bit of patience for the original show), so I may make up time here and there, but I can't imagine this taking less than a couple of years. Which, of course, I didn't really realize when I made this decision last week, thinking it would take a matter of months, but now I'm committed.

Today I watched "An Unearthly Child," the first episode of the serial with the same name. I'll be providing irregular updates as to my progress, but I don't expect I'll have time to offer anything in the way of reviews. Perhaps every few serials I'll sum up my reactions, or once a series, or once a Doctor, or what-have-you. Or in the course of the next two and a half years I'll do all three.

In any case, there you have it. Doctor Who from beginning to end, one episode at a time. So you tell me: quixotic, ill-advised, or both?