This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of British television program “Doctor Who.”

The show is about a time traveler, called just the Doctor, who flies around space and time in a 1960s phone box, often saving humanity or other space creatures from intergalactic harm. To celebrate the anniversary, theaters across the country will be presenting “The Day of the Doctor”, a 3-D special bringing together actors David Tennant, Matt Smith and John Hurt as different incarnations of the Doctor. The episode will be released on television Saturday, Nov. 23, but in the United States the theater premiere will not be until Monday, Nov. 25, including at Cinemark Movies 12 in Ames.

“It’s a humorous sci-fi adventure. It’s comedic, but [the Doctor] solves problems using wit and humor,” said Ted Beem, senior in computer engineering.

Beem credits the shows longevity to the character of the Doctor himself. Thanks to the regenerative abilities of the Doctor, the show can replace the main character with different actors while still letting the show explore what is already been established.

“He can change. I almost stopped watching in season two, but I kept up with it because I knew it would improve,” Beem said.

The show originally ran from 1963 to 1989, but was revived in 2005. Much like the Doctor himself, the show has changed over the years. At its start, the show was educational, using time travel to teach children about history and science. Now, the show is primarily adventure and oriented toward all ages rather than just children. 

With any show running as long as “Doctor Who” has, fans have their favorite “era” of the show.

“The philosophy of Doctor Who has become more post-modern. It’s more well-structured than in the past,” Beem said. 

The eighth season of the show will premiere in fall 2014 with a new Doctor played by Peter Capaldi, best known for the political comedy “In the Loop” and this summer’s “World War Z.”