Wow, I can’t believe it has been this long since I updated this blog! I’m so sorry about that. I’d been away for part of the summer, then work got really busy, the holidays were upon us, and finally my 74-year-old mom was having health issues for which she had surgery. I had meant to update a lot earlier but could never find the time.
There is so much I want to blog about. Since then I have read some more Doctor Who novels and I’d like to share my thoughts about them. I also got The Faceless Ones animated episodes on DVD and just now got Fury From the Deep, so I will write about them too.
But first I’d like to share how I got into Doctor Who in the first place. It was around 1981. Here in America, Doctor Who had been airing on PBS stations. Both of my parents were into science fiction (my dad being a big fan of Star Trek already). I was about 3 years old when I was watching TV with them one day. I saw a funny man with googly eyes, a mop of brown curls, and a long colorful scarf. I asked what this show was and was told “Doctor Who.” Even though I was so young and probably didn’t understand half of what was going on, there was something about it I liked. I even thought the opening theme song was kind of creepy and cool. Don’t ask me what the episode was about. I just vaguely remember Tom Baker’s Doctor on some planet or other. Not sure who the companion was (though I think it might have been Sarah Jane) or who the baddies were in it.
I’m not sure how long we watched on PBS but probably not more than a few years. Fast forward to 1996. I was graduating high school and heard there was to be a Doctor Who movie on network TV here. I immediately felt nostalgic and when I saw the pictures of Paul McGann in the role it piqued my interest. I did watch it and it seemed different but still interesting. Around the same time I remember reading articles in various magazines and books I had on TV shows in general regarding the earlier Doctors. I remember someone saying that Patrick Troughton’s Doctor was a lot like a hippie (don’t ask who wrote this or where I saw it). I started picturing him looking like Wavy Gravy with a bushy beard, headband, granny glasses and a tie-dyed shirt. I kid you not. A blurb about William Hartnell’s Doctor just mentioned him as a grumpy old man, and one about Jon Pertwee’s being a Bond-like character. The only Doctor I was familiar with at that point really was Tom Baker so I found it fascinating to read about these earlier Doctors.
That was about the extent of my exposure to Doctor Who until around 2005 when SciFi (now known as SyFy) started airing the “New Who” with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. There was that feeling of nostalgia all over again and I started watching faithfully his episodes followed by David Tennant’s. I didn’t watch much of Matt Smith’s because I hadn’t really warmed up to him much, although he grew on me later on. I watched most of Peter Capaldi’s and then watched a few of Jodie Whittaker’s… although I admit I wasn’t crazy about the writing by that point so I sort of fell away from it.
Going back to 2013-2014, I started searching for old clips on YouTube, and finally got a glimpse of the 1st through 3rd Doctors. Imagine my shock to see the 2nd Doctor was not the “hippie” I’d envisioned him as, lol. Once I found these old clips I got more and more interested in the classic episodes. For Christmas the following year I got the “Lost In Time” DVD set with the 1st and 2nd Doctor “orphan” episodes from the missing (or mostly missing) stories. Their companions grew on me, especially Barbara and Ian, Vickie, Steven, Ben and Polly, and I took an instant liking to Jamie, Victoria and Zoe. I had to seek out more and from there I expanded my DVD collection to include stories from the 1st and 2nd Doctor’s times (as well as a few from the 3rd’s).
I then ventured out into the Classic Who fandom some, and have found other fans to be nothing but welcoming. Its a nice little fandom that is a pleasure to be a part of and extremely tame compared to some of the others I have belonged to (Stargate SG-1, Supernatural). I began writing fanfiction, started my own Classic Who blog on Tumblr, and have even attended a convention, meeting a few of the cast and fellow fans.
It’s been a great experience which I hope will continue for quite some time. I want to thank the fans and cast I’ve met for being so pleasant and accommodating.
(And again, I promise I will update this more regularly :))
Junkyard Bluebox 