BBC StudiosWhen you have all of time and space at your fingertips, where to start can be very daunting. That’s the issue presented by Doctor Who, the British time-travel sci-fi show that has been running for over 60 years (albeit with some hiatuses). Through 14 different actors as the Doctor and dozens of actors as “companions,” there’s about 500 hours worth of TV to catch up on. If you’re someone who wants the full experience, then you can start from “An Unearthly Child” all the way back in 1963, but be warned that not every episode is good, and some are completely lost altogether. But if you’re looking for a curated selection of where to start with this show, then you have a couple different options, depending on how much time you’re willing to spend in the TARDIS. Plan 1: The Sampler PlatterThe classic era of Doctor Who may have looked a lot different, but the soul was still there. | John Curtis/Shutterstock“Classic Who,” the era of the series from its start in ‘63 all the way to the first big hiatus in 1989, is definitely a product of its time. Unlike the episodic TV we’re used to today, Classic Doctor Who episodes were structured into multi-episode serialized arcs. That makes them a bit more of a commitment than you may think, so watching through everything — even the inconsequential episodes — may not be completely feasible. But if you still want a taste of Doctor Who’s beginnings, then you should definitely check out at least some of these serials, and luckily they are all streaming on Tubi for free, so it’s not a financial investment, just a time investment. If you’re interested in Classic Who, check out all (or some!) of these adventures for a representative sample of this era: “An Unearthly Child” — Where the show began in 1963. This arc introduces the Doctor, his granddaughter Susan, and how the Tardis works. “The Tenth Planet” — This serial introduces the Cybermen and the “regeneration” aspect of the Doctor’s life, bridging the gap between the First and Second Doctors. “Spearhead From Space” — When the Third Doctor took on the role, he ended up stranded on Earth for much of the time. This episode sets that up, plus it’s the first time the series aired in color. “Genesis of the Daleks” — This classic Fourth Doctor story established the history of the Daleks, the Doctor’s most iconic foe, and set up the theme of moral dilemmas that would permeate throughout the rest of the series. “City of Death” — Another Fourth Doctor story, this is a thrilling romp through Paris written by Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. “Remembrance of the Daleks” — This Seventh Doctor adventure shows how Doctor Who thrives in its own nostalgia as it’s set in 1963 London, exactly where the show began. Plan 2: The Reboot With “Rose,” Doctor Who entered a brand new Golden Age. | BBC StudiosAfter about a decade off the air, Doctor Who was revived in 2005 by Russell T. Davies. This version of Doctor Who was one for the 21st century: instead of multi-episode arcs, this version showed 45-minute self-contained adventures with the occasional two-parter, like other sci-fi shows of the time like The X-Files or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The entire saga begins with “Rose,” where the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) defends a London woman named Rose (Billie Piper) from plastic aliens known as the Autons, who were actually introduced in the Third Doctor Story “Spearhead From Space.” From there, the Doctor and Rose traveled all over the cosmos, from the end of Earth itself to wartime Britain to a reality show from across the universe. After Season 1 in 2005, the Ninth Doctor regenerated into the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, who held the position throughout the rest of the 2000s. Season 1 in 2005 is where a new generation of Doctor Who fans started, but there are a couple of downsides to this. If you start at Season 1 and go all the way to Season 13, when the series was rebooted again on Disney+, it will take you about 150 hours. But if you’re down for an at least partial completionist watch, then you can stream these on AMC+. Plan 3: The ShortcutMatt Smith’s tenure as the Doctor included the epic 50th anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor.” | BBC StudiosIf you’re looking for a quick way to get up to speed with Doctor Who, then you can start at Season 5 without missing too much. Season 5 of the reboot kicks off with a new Doctor, Matt Smith, and any remnants from previous seasons are put into context so you won’t miss too much. There’s still a bit to watch — eight seasons if you don’t count the Disney+ reboot — but this is probably the most efficient way to fully understand the world of Doctor Who. Plus, once you’re done you can always circle back and see what came before. This season is a little polarizing: longtime showrunner Russell T. Davies left the show after Season 4, and Steven Moffat — the acclaimed screenwriter of some of Doctor Who’s best episodes — took over. It’s also arguably the era when Doctor Who fandom peaked, the era of Tumblr, fanfiction, and the crossover fandom known as “SuperWhoLock”: the combination of Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock. If you start at Season 5, that takes the full viewing runtime down to about 100 hours, which is around the total runtime of the entirety of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Still a commitment, but very doable. If you really want to speed through the series, you could pick up at the Disney+ episodes that aired starting in 2023, but they don’t really exist well out of context. This is the longest-running sci-fi series. You gotta put a little bit of time in. Doctor Who is now streaming on Tubi, AMC+, and Disney+.