Twitch will air more than 500 episodes of the long-running BBC series Doctor Who in a marathon streaming session set to begin at 11 am PT/2 pm ET on May 29. The stream will cover seven Doctors over 26 seasons, beginning at the very start with the 1963 episode "The Unearthly Child."
Viewers will be able to pick up Doctor Who fan packs, and there will be a drawing for a grand prize of a trip to London Comic Con, all of which will happen automatically via the "Doctor Who Watch to Win Extension" (as long as you're logged through a platform that supports it). Naturally, this being Twitch, there will also be Doctor Who-themed emotes and a Tardis "Cheermote"—The Tardis being the vessel the Doctor and his pals gallivant around in, a phone booth on the outside and an apartment building on the inside, and if you're wondering how that works just hold a coin close enough to your eye to cover your view of the moon and there you have it. Jelly baby?
Doctor Who remains tremendously popular, but I have to wonder whether fans who came aboard during the days of David Tennant and Matt Smith will be equally enchanted by Doctors like Patrick Troughton and Peter Davison. (Tom Baker gets a pass, obviously, because he is the best Doctor.) Twitch had tremendous success with the Joy of Painting marathon in 2015, but that was a more consistent experience that was easy to drop in and out of. 500 episodes of Doctor Who will require more of a commitment, and it will be interesting to see how it works out—whether it builds to a time-traveling crescendo, or just peters out, kind of like the Doctor's original run did.
The Doctor Who marathon will air in eight-hour blocks beginning at 11 am PT and repeating twice each day on TwitchPresents.
