I’ve seen a total of three and a half Dr. Who episodes in my life. This is entirely the fault of my friend Paul, who’s been following the Doctor for as long as I’ve known him.
First was the one where everybody has gas masks stuck on their faces. Second was the Van Gogh one. And then last night, I saw “Blink,” the episode that introduced the Weeping Angels.
The gas masks were okay. The Van Gogh one was very good. “Blink” was brilliant.
God help me, I think I may be turning into a Dr. Who fan.
Wikipedia informs me that the list of Whovians includes Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, Joss Whedon, Patrick Stewart, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Jimmy Wales, Matt Groening, Tom Hanks, and Bob Dylan. It’s hard to argue with an invitation to a club like that.
One Dr. Who fan not listed on Wikipedia is my dad. He used to be a Doctor devotee before I was born, and he’s told me several times about the cheesy effects, the cheesy acting, the cheesy dialogue, and the genuine emotion that somehow transcends the cheese factory. Somehow we never did watch an episode together (our focus being more on Star Trek and Babylon 5), but apparently the fascination is genetic.
Anyone else out there dabbled with the Doctor?
Brian D. Buckley 
I really like Doctor Who, apart from the early episodes; the Hartnell years are too much the product of a different time even from my archaic sensibilities.
“Science fiction” and “black and white” aren’t always the strongest combination, are they?
It is not the colour palette I have issues with. It is the pacing; everything is very slow but does not have the aesthetics to support it.
Which is the problem with a lot of sci fi from the black-and-white era. That was my point. 😉
I’ve yet to fully engage in the classic serried but I’ve seen every episode off the new series on Netflix and I’m very much a fan. The show has done a great job making it about all about an alien time traveler, but making him seem so human and not relying too heavily on time travel.
ECHO ECHO
Yeah, the way they take alien things and make them human – and vice versa – is what appeals to me too.
I saw quite a few episodes back in the 1980s (the Tom Baker years), but I know people who have been fanatics since the early days. I tend avoid long-running shows that could take over my life. I like shows like Firefly, where you can see the whole thing, mourn the there weren’t more, and then move on. Besides, I’m still kind of involved with Dark Shadows (that was _my_ obsession when I was growing up). A Whovian friend was boasting on FB a while back about how many Dr. Who episodes there had been in total (~700, I think), and I had to point out that Dark Shadows had over a thousand (heh heh).
Glad you’re back posting more and apparently feeling better, by the way.
The Tom Baker years are also the ones I’m interested in at the moment. Haven’t seen any of those early shows yet, but I think that’s the era my dad was fond of, and the Fourth Doctor is so well-liked that it’s got me curious.
And yep, I am feeling better, for now at least. Thanks! 🙂
There’s a company in England called Big Finish that creates audio dramas based on Dr. Who, featuring a lot of the (surviving) Doctors and supporting players. For a long time, Tom Baker was the one they couldn’t get — and it was a big event when he finally signed on to do one.
The same thing happened with Dark Shadows (Big Finish also does audio dramas based on DS). They couldn’t get Jonathan Frid for a long time, but finally they did lure him back (in his 80s, long retired) to do one story, and he was magnificent.