Well I ended up watching season 1 from 63. I got into the lost episodes with the photos and audio track and just couldn't get into them. I decided to skip ahead to the 2005 series and I was hooked. I did love Hartnell as the Doctor though and I had known about the regeneration and some of the history through reading a few posts from here and other sites aswell. I think once I have a steady flow of income though I'm just gonna buy the originals on DVD, what has been released, and watch them then. I like Eccleston, LOVED Tennant, I'm almost done season 5 catching up to 6 though, it just aired 2 hours ago, but I'm not much fond of Matt Smith. I probably loved 1-4 more than I've enjoyed season 5 so far.
I'm trying to get my friend into it but he's not into british sci-fi. I told him a few episodes were completely hilarious ie. Daleks confronting the Cybermen, but he isn't budging. His loss. Just hope the 11th Doctor gets better for me soon