Doctor Who Makes Guinness Book of World Records

shadowlight1 writes "According to a BBC press release, cult favorite Doctor Who has entered the Guiness Book of World Records as the world's longest running science fiction show! There we go, it's official. Also, the second season of Who premieres on the SciFi channel tonight." From the release: "The series began on 23 November, 1963, and was revived in 2005 after 16 years off the screen. William Hartnell played the original Doctor Who, with Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker and Peter Davison among those following in his footsteps. Christopher Eccleston took up the mantle of the ninth Timelord last year - following the show's relaunch. He was replaced after just one series by David Tennant after Eccleston dropped out. "

I'm sure plenty...

[Cybert4]

...of doctors have made the Guinness Book of World Records. We have tall ones and short ones. Fat ones and thin ones. Who makes the titles again? Or perhaps the pun was intended.

Not true, it is science fiction...

[KingSkippus]

At least, using the Wikipedia definition [wikipedia.org]. Dr. Who does not delve into the magical or supernatural, which is what differentiates science fiction from fantasy. Or rather, at least when it does, it does so with the understanding that there's some logical scientific explanation.

Just because they make up some of the science (and may be wildly inaccurate) doesn't make it not science fiction.

Re:Here's what I don't understand (spoiler)...

[kentrel]

Valid questions, but it's a kid's show - I wouldn't overthink it.

Guinness Book of Trivia

[jimmichie]

world's longest running science fiction show ... revived in 2005 after 16 years off the screen.

That's the equivalent of running a marathon but stopping halfway through for a couple of pints at the pub, and it has nothing at all to do with the qualities that made Doctor Who great. Not everything in life needs a prize; we know Dr Who's good already.

Re:Longest running?

[abandonment]

yeah this is pretty questionable. Just because they 'revived' an old series from ancient history doesn't make it 'longest running' by any sense of the term.

How do they factor this? number of episodes? number of screen minutes? I mean stargate has been running for how many years?

Just because they haven't bothered to change the actual doctor who series name (even though it's been morphed in countless other ways) is it considered the 'same series'?

dunno, seems like a pile of crap to me.

I'm a confused about this title...

[ReverendLoki]

So this is the longest running scifi series, non-continuous, and the record for longest continuous series is Stargate-SG1. Thing is, Stargate is at episode 203 rigt now, in it's 10th season. As I understand it, Doctor Who, before the 16 year hiatus, ran for 26 seasons, and around 700 episodes (probably less, ruling out some specials, etc).

So, I've looked around a bit, and I don't see any sign of a break in that 26 year run. What part of it all makes that portion non-continuous?

Re:Longest running?

[xtieburn]

There is a seperate record for consecutive series which SG1 is winning.

There are 723 episodes of Doctor who in comparison to a couple of hundred SG1 episodes. In every concievable way Dr Who is the longest running series. Even if you discounted the two recent Seasons of it. Though really, every series morphs with time to some extent. However, the Doctor is still the same character, existing in the same universe, with the same enemies, the same TARDIS, the same camp quirkyness, the same relationships with companions. Its all still very much Doctor Who.

Yes it is the same series. Yes it is the longest running.

you misread the Wikipedia article!

[Xtifr]

Because, when I read it, it specifically said that Dr. Who was an exception and does not qualify as science fiction. And then it went on with something about the population of elephants tripling in the last six months that I didn't quite understand.... :)

Re:Longest running?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, it's still not the longest running TV show.

In the US, Meet the Press (a political news show) began airing in 1948 and continues every week.

In Japan, Sazae-san (an animated cartoon show) began airing in 1969 and continues to air new episodes.

In any case, many of the Dr. shows were broken up into three, four, or five parts so it's questionable whether those parts should be counted as different episodes or parts of a whole. I prefer the latter method. It doesn't make sense to count separate parts of one story as individual episodes.

Sorry, which season is that?

[brainburger]

Am I the only one who gets annoyed when the Eccleston/Tennant seasons (or series to us Brits), are referred to as numbers 1 and 2 instead of 27 and 28?
The whole point is that the show is 43 years old, so why pretend the other 26 series never happened in the numbering?