It really wasn’t so long ago that I didn’t
know anything about Doctor Who. In those dark days I thought that it was about
a time-travelling Doctor who was progressively getting younger (like I’m not
sure I realised he had to die when a new actor came along? And I definitely
thought he was a medical doctor of some kind). I had a niggling feeling for
some years that I would probably enjoy it but just didn’t have the willingness
to commit to such a well… commitment.
When I was at school, ABC used to play old
episodes of Doctor Who at about 5 in the afternoon. They were always in black
and white, I think, so they were all First and Second Doctor stories. I don’t
remember anything about them except that the music made me scared and my mum
would always say “oh I was so terrified of Daleks when I was a little girl”. I
was pretty fearful myself to be honest and would usually subtly change the
channel in an attempt to not seem like a scaredy-cat.
In the years leading up to 2011 (when I
became a massive fan) I saw parts of The
Shakespeare Code in a second year drama class at uni. We discussed the
historical accuracies (vulgarity, men dressed as ladies etc.) and inaccuracies
(racial diversity, mostly, and also you couldn’t perform at night because there
weren’t any lights). I thought to myself, “well that was silly” but also I was
annoyed my lecturer skipped through parts because I wanted to know more. I also
saw The Waters of Mars on the TV
once. I suspect it was when it was actually released for the first time. I had
*zero* idea what was going on, but I kept shushing people when they came into
the room because it was good (the robot was not good though, the robot was
dumb).
So, those of you who are long time readers
(first time writers) will remember my first proper foray into Doctor Who. I
decided to begin with Season 5 of the modern reboot because it was the start of
the current Doctor and I didn’t want to make too big of a commitment. Hahahahaha.
Hilarious. I was instantly hooked. And, of course, doing that introduced me to
the mysteries of River Song and everyone was like “you have to watch back
further to understand her” and I was like “oh no an excuse to watch more of
this brilliant show” so instead of continuing on into Season 6 as I had
originally planned, I went back to Season 1… and I took my housemates and my
boyfriend with me.
We began marathonning the shit out of that
show. I used to finish work in the afternoon and would basically run home
across New Farm Park so that we could start as soon as possible. Whole weekends
were devoted to Who. And we often had to rewatch episodes to catch up Boyfriend
or others visitors to the house. We watched all of Eccleston’s run as the
leading man in about 2 days, we hated Martha together, we loved Donna together,
we watched Season 5 AGAIN (probably about my fourth time at this point) and
finally moved on to Season 6.
And then suddenly, we were caught up. AND
WE HAD TO WAIT. Just like every other fan, we had to wait for Let’s Kill Hitler. Admittedly, we didn’t
have to wait anywhere near as long as others, but still, it was quite a shock
to our systems. I’ve just checked the dates, I started watching in early June,
2011, and the second half of Season 6 started up again on August 27th.
So I think that gives you an idea of just
how much TV we were watching and just
how quickly we became fans.
Yesterday I got up at 5:30 in the morning
to watch the live simulcast of The Day of
the Doctor 50th Anniversary Special with Boyfriend. I made
TARDIS shaped biscuits for the occasion and almost hyperventilated when it
started. I know there are fans who’ve loved this show since 1963, or who have
watched every classic episode, or who waited decades for the reboot. I know.
But I feel like the episode yesterday was for all of us, new and classic, young and old, and I
hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
My Doctor Who journey has been swift but intense. I loved it instantly and completely, and continue to love it every day. I have Doctor Who shirts and an apron and a mug, I have a Sonic Screwdriver and more TARDIS biscuits than I know what to do with right now. In just over a month I am visiting Cardiff, Wales, almost entirely because that's where they film it.
And on Christmas day this year, I have to deal with my first ever real-time
regeneration…
 |
| *Ugly sobbing* |
Further Reading
If you like blogs and Doctor Who and blogs about Doctor Who I can highly recommend this post by Britt, and this, this and this, by Alex.
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