Back in 2021, I got this idea to do a Doctor Who marathon, where I watch every episode of that show – one per day from the start in 1963 up until current.  I did that, and it took a little over two years to get through everything.  When I was done, I took a break, and then decided I wanted to keep going and do something else.  So I moved on to something shorter – Red Dwarf.

When I was about 2/3 of the way through Red Dwarf, I decided on what I was going to do for a third, and then realized if I kept going and adding more series, my site’s main menu was going to get sloppy.  So I decided to create this index page where I will link out to my various marathons.

Click on any of the images below to get to the marathon for that series.  They’ll all pretty much follow the same format I came up with for the Doctor Who variant.

Doctor Who Marathon

This is my original marathon.  I started it on 21 Aug 2021, and then started watching a single episode per day.  Originally, my completion date was somewhere in early February 2024, but I decided when I was in the Tom Baker run I wanted it to end on the actual 60th anniversary of the show (23 Nov 2023), so I doubled up a bunch during Tom’s era to bring the then newest episode in line with the actual anniversary.  So that’s where the Doctor Who marathon ended – 23 Nov 2023.  Watched all 881 episodes in all that.   I will of course add on to this one for new episodes still being produced.

Start date: 21 Aug 2021
End date: 23 Nov 2023 (although new stuff tacked on as it happens)

 

Red Dwarf Marathon

Second on the marathon list is Red Dwarf.  I initially considered doing Star Trek, but I wanted something shorter – Red Dwarf has just 74 episodes total, as opposed to the 880+ that Doctor Who had.   Dwarf is one of the funnier things I’ve ever watched in my life.  I’ve said in the past Red Dwarf is what you’d get if the guys from Monty Python would try and make Star Trek. :)

The series here are smaller (just 6 episodes mostly), so it was a good choice for a smaller marathon target, and I could use something funny after two plus years of drama.  :)

Start date: 16 Feb 2024
End date: 5 May 2024

Star Trek: TOS Marathon

Third on the list is the original Star Trek. I almost did this second, but decided that I wanted a break after Doctor Who, and went for something funny before going back to long sci-fi stuff.  While this initial part is just the original series from there 1960’s, I do intend on doing ALL the various Star Trek series over time.

The original Star Trek is something I’ve lived with since I was an infant (read the story I wrote on the index page.   I know it like the back of my hand, and one of my favorite hours of sci-fi ever comes from here.   When I get to the Doomsday Machine, there will have to be something special.

Start date: 6 May 2024
End date: 24 Jul 2024

Star Trek: TAS Marathon

After finishing the original Star Trek series, the next logical one to tackle is “Star Trek: The Animated Series”.  This came out in 1973, and is the first series of Star Trek I remember watching brand new.

It aired on NBC in the middle of Saturday morning cartoons, but was anything BUT a kids cartoon.  It was Star Trek.  So much so that was the official name of it at the time – just “Star Trek”.  The Animated Series didn’t get added until later on.  It was made by most of the same production people as the original.  It had the majority of the original cast in it, and many episodes were written by the same folks (including one by a TOS cast member).

So it’s definitely authentic and a bit out of place in the middle of Saturday morning cartoons – which could explain why it only lasted 22 episodes from 1973-1974.   Shame, as the animation format allowed them to do things they couldn’t do in live action. My first example of a show I watched being cancelled out from under me in the middle of watching it. :)

Start date: 25 Jul 2024
End date: 15 Aug 2024

Star Trek Continues Marathon

After I finished with the official Star Trek relative to the original series, I wanted to touch on this show.  It’s officially non canon – it’s a fan production.  But it captures the feel of the original series perfectly.  If you grew up with the original Star Trek, and know the scenes, know Shatner’s inflection and all that..  this will feel like old hat to you – like putting on an old glove.  It is perfectly named – “Star Trek Continues” – the original Star Trek that we know is reborn here with different actors in the role.  It all just works – to borrow a phrase from Steve Jobs.

As it’s a fan production, to legally exist they have to be a non profit orginzation, so 100% of their stuff is online and free, you can watch it all on youtube at no cost whatsoever – beyond your time.  But time well spent.

In reality, it’s not much of a “marathon”, as there’s only 11 episodes, but eh, it’s the nomenclature I’ve come up with for this part of my site.

Start date: 16 Aug 2024
End date: 26 Aug 2024

Chef! Marathon

This one is a bit different.  To this point I’ve done nothing but Sci-Fi on my marathons.  Doctor Who.  Star Trek. Red Dwarf even.  But this one is a straight up BBC sitcom.  I’m doing this as a palate cleanser.  I did three Star Trek series in a row, and before I started another one that is 179 episodes long, I wanted something slightly different.  This show has a grand total of 20 episodes, so I consider it a short diversion between Trek series.

I’m going with this sitcom from the mid 90’s starring Lenny Henry.  It’s titled “Chef!” and in it, Henry is a super loud, super shouty chef de cuisine at a French restaurant in England.

It’s super funny, and for me personally, it was the first thing I ever created a website for.  My original site is still online if you want to peek over at it in its glorious 1990’s web design.

It ran for three series, and while the kitchen staff changed in each series, there were three core characters that ran through the whole series.  Lenny Henry’s Gareth Blackstock, his wife Janice played by Caroline-Lee Johnson, and Everton Stonehead played by Roger Griffiths.

It’s a series my wife and I enjoyed a ton when it was new, and I thought between large runs of Star Trek, I’d have some laughs in the Blackstock kitchen.

Start date: 27 Aug 2024
End date: 15 Sep 2024

Star Trek: TNG Marathon

We go back to Star Trek with “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.  After a failed attempt to re-launch Star Trek on TV in the late 70s’, the franchise finally returns to TV in the fall of 1987 with “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

I was there in 1987 when it started and watched it all the way to the end – It’s Star Trek, of course I was going to watch it.   I remember when it was new there was a lot (and I mean A LOT) of “If it’s not Kirk & Spock it’s not Star Trek” sentiment.  Not from me, I bought into it immediately, and continued to love it.

In some ways, TNG filled the same role that Patrick Troughton did in Doctor Who did when they first changed the lead actor there.  If the second one didn’t work, we wouldn’t have gotten all the versions that came over, but TNG was far more than just “the second one”.  It ended up being an amazing show in its own right, although it was a bit rough going at the start, but once it got rolling, it produced some amazing television.

This will be my run in rewatching them all.  Some episodes for the first time since they originally aired.

Start date: 16 Sep 2024
End date: 14 Mar 2025 (projected)