Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Trust me, I'm the Doctor.

It's no secret. I LOVE Doctor Who. I always have. I've been hooked to Doctor Who since I was a kid, hiding behind the couch on Saturday nights while my dad stayed up to watch. The couches in our living room were these big clucky things made of wood, and the cushions were these fabric bags of fluff. They never sat just right and were so uncomfortable.  Seriously the entire couch was just made up of 2x4's bolted together, but they did create a great hiding place when mom would try to rearrange the furniture and the loveseat often ended up in front of the bedroom doors, making an ideal place to hide out and watch TV after bed time. The Doctor Who theme will always be Saturday nights to me. The opening theme makes me smile and takes me back to those days. Anyway, hiding behind the couch or lingering in the darkness just beyond the doorframe, I watched the adventures of this Time Lord. Some times he's an old man. Some times he's young and quirky, but always, always he is The Doctor. He's brilliant. He's fantastic. He's amazing. He's packed full of emotion and heart. He meddles in the lives of humans. He makes us better people by association. He has two hearts and countless faces. He's over 900 years old. He's not one of us, but he fights for the human race. We're like his pets.

My doctor is # 4 – Tom Baker – with his red velvet blazer, silly hat and yards and yards of scarf. His adventures with K-9 (his robot dog) and Sarah Jane are my favorite memories. Tom Baker was my first Doctor. I love him. I remember seeing his regeneration from # 3 to # 4 and then from # 4 to # 5. I also loved Doctor # 5 – Peter Davison – He wore celery and stripped pants, and glasses just because they made him look smart.

Through the years without Doctor Who I held onto my love of the show. I'd often pretend that I was with him, in the TARDIS. I'd fight aliens and travel through time. I wanted to be the Who Girl. I had a friend who even suggested that I'd make a good one, with no prompting from me.  I can't even begin to say how excited I was when I learned that the BBC was bringing Doctor Who back to the small screen. I unfortunately didn't get to watch any of the new series until 2010, but let me just say – The wait was worth it. We started watching the revamped series when PBS started broadcasting them on Saturday nights (so fitting) at 11 PM.

First there was Doctor # 9 – Christopher Eccleston – He was alright. Not my favorite, but he did a good enough job of bringing The Doctor back to life. He was only The Doctor for one series before he regenerated into Doctor # 10 – David Tennant – He was a brilliant Doctor. He was the Doctor for four years – three series' – His time was filled with emotion, drama, huge story lines, and love. He had three Who Girls during his time and two men (his "companions"). He finally met his end (he'll knock four times) and regenerated alone in his TARDIS (I don't think he ever regenerated alone before) and turned into Doctor # 11 – Matt Smith -- I do not like this incarnation of The Doctor.. He's just hasn't gotten to me. I'm not a fan. He doesn't seem like "The Doctor" there are personality traits and story lines that have carried over in all his other forms, but with this Doctor it seems like the other's didn't exist and the writers are trying to hard to make you believe that he IS The Doctor when there really is nothing else linking him to the past. He just doesn't fit the mold… maybe he'll grow on us. Maybe he wont. Maybe he'll regenerate soon and we wont have to worry about it for long. No one but the writers know.

 

One man, many faces.

 

I do love all of David Tennant though. and Rose. Ah! Such a great story arch. I personally didn't want the 10th Doctor era to end at all. :( The way it ended broke my heart and I didn't have much hope for Matt Smith after David Tennant. I loved Martha Jones. I wasn't a super fan of Donna, but we recently bought series four and are watching it from the beginning. I had only seen random episodes from this series and so Donna annoyed me. And I had never really seen the Christmas episode where she and the Doctor met so I really had no idea where she came from. But now that I'm getting the big picture of who she is and how she's relating to the Doctor I'm a little more fond of her and the end of her travels is a bit more bitter sweet now then it was before. I liked her grand dad a million times more than I liked her. But like I said, she's grew on me. I think for most of the episodes in series 4 I ended up in tears by the end.
Can I just say though that I LOVE the Master. He's so deliciously nuts... always has been.

 

I ♥ ♥ The Doctor

 

 

Sadly, Elizabeth Sladen died on April 19, 2011. What does this have to do with my Doctor Who post, you may be asking? Well… She is better known to Doctor Who fans as Sarah Jane Smith. She reprised the role several times over the years since 1973 up to the most recent incarnation of the show. But for me, mostly I remember her as Tom Baker's Who girl. Just like most people say "You never forget your first Doctor." Well, I have never forgotten my first "Who Girl" Sarah Jane will be missed. I had been looking forward to seeing if she'd pop up somewhere in the newest incarnation of the Doctor… but now she wont. The Who-niverse has lost a favorite.

5 comments:

Lindsay said...

Thanks to my lovely husband, I've gotten hooked on the re-vamp of Doctor Who. David Tennant was PERFECT as the Doctor. I've seen a few episodes with Matt Smith but maybe I'll buy into him more if I see more.

Once a nerd, always a nerd. :)

Gretchen said...

I have never seen Doctor Who, so I am really confused by the whole multiple series and different doctors who are all the same person - or am I misunderstanding? It sounds like something I might like though.

I had never heard of David Tennant until about two months ago I found out that there is a newish (was it PBS or BBC) version of Hamlet starring him and Patrick Stewart. I have watched scenes on you-tube, but I really want to see the whole thing.

Unknown said...

@Gretchen - The Doctor is one man with manu faces. Instead of dying he regenerates and gets a new face/body and lives on. You didn't misunderstand.

I love David Tennant. You may also know him as Barty Crouch, Jr. From the Harry Potter movies. He's the crazy one. The Royal Shakespeare Company's version of Hamlet is fantastic. It was first on the BBC and then on PBS. John and I watched it. All 3 hours of it. It's fantastic. I was a little unsure about it with Hamlet running about in t-shirts, jeans, and bare feet, but I was hooked. PAtrick Stewart gave a great preformance as well. I would definitely suggest watching it.
You would also really enjoy Doctor Who. It falls in to that random SiFi category that is right up your alley.

Jessica Pears said...

Give Matt Smith a chance, he's quirky but he'll grow on you. I recommend the Christmas Carol episode/mini movie...and his Who Girl Amelia Pond is delightful.

ScottBoomer said...

My favorite Doctor is Dr J (Julius Erving), followed by Dr Pepper and Dr Dre