When the long-running British sci-fi fantasy TV serial "Doctor Who" was first imported to the United States, via PBS in the 1970s, it found some ardent admirers, but I could never get on the Tardis — the vehicle the eccentric Doctor uses to cruise the universe and go back and forth in time. It was all a bit too cheesy.

Yet for most fans, the chintzy sets and special effects were as much a part of its oddball charm as the monsters and aliens in rubber suits.

So the news that an improved "Who" swiftly became the most popular show on English television when it returned to the air last year didn't impress me. This, after all, is a country so traditional it has kept the cheery nighttime soap opera "Coronation Street" on the air for 46 years.

But who knew? Surfing the Sci-Fi Channel, where the first season of the new "Doctor Who" had its American debut this spring, revealed the new "Who" with Christopher Eccleston as the good/bad Doctor to be a clever delight.

All 13 episodes are now compiled on the five-disc "Doctor Who: The Complete First Season" (BBC).

If you have no "Who" history, the wikipedia.org capsule version goes like this: The longest running sci-fi series anywhere (it began in 1963, with new shows running annually until 1989) was styled as a family show with an educational component, since the mysterious, easily irritated alien adventurer (played by 10 actors over the course of the original show, explained by the fact he could regenerate his physical self) would generally set his equally cranky machine for interesting sorties into history, like the French Revolution or Caesar's Rome.

But episodes set on other planets and in the future proved the most popular, and like its closest U.S. equivalent, the various "Star Trek" series, Doctor Who often found himself locked in conflict with the same enemy: Daleks, a race of killer mutants from the planet Skaro who bear a decided philosophical resemblance to Nazis.

The Daleks return in the sixth episode of the new "Who," which is family-friendly, and requires no real knowledge of the show's history.

Eccleston, a fine actor familiar to Yanks from his work in British films like "Shallow Grave" and "28 Days Later" and the original English version of the cop show "Cracker," is terrific as the Doctor, but don't get attached.

As you'll learn perusing the copious extras, he has regenerated into actor David Tennant (who played Barty Crouch in the last "Harry Potter" installment) for the next series, which has completed its run in the U.K. and should show up here on the Sci-Fi Channel later this year.

MAD ENCOUNTERS

Two films positioned for, but having no bearing on, last year's Oscar race, show up in bins this week.

"The Matador" (Weinstein) is an original and cracked comedy starring Greg Kinnear as a married businessman whose failed effort to salvage his career through a deal in Mexico City leads him to a bar and an unlikely encounter with a drunken and utterly unhinged assassin played by Pierce Brosnan.

Brosnan's scary-hilarious performance in a film that can be favorably compared to the original 1978 version of "The In-Laws" might have contributed to dismissal from his duties as James Bond. If so, it's the producers' loss.

There's less good news to report about "The Libertine" (Weinstein) starring Johnny Depp as the brilliant, dissipated, self-destructive John Wilmot, a 17th-century poet and nobleman.

Despite the title, "The Libertine" is no fun at all.

Another real-life hedonist is recalled, via interviews and archival footage, in the documentary "Fallen Angel: Gram Parsons" (Rhino), which recounts the brief life and enduring influence of singer-songwriter Gram Parsons.

Parsons would be worthy of tribute if he had done nothing more than ask a little-known Washington, D.C., folk singer named Emmylou Harris to be his duet partner. But he was also the guiding light of the Byrds' classic and pioneering country-rock album "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" and co leader of the Flying Burrito Brothers.

TV ON DVD

Many obituaries of producer Aaron Spelling noted he was the creator of "Charlie's Angels," a series about three female detectives. "The Complete Third Season" (Sony-TriStar) has been unleashed.