So the second of my blogs about my fandoms is another one you are all probably sick of hearing about. The wonderful mysterious world of Doctor Who.
The story of The Doctor has spread over TV, books and audio series and the history of the show is deep and confusing.
If you haven't traveled with the Doctor yet let me explain...
Unlike Fairy Tail were I told you a rough outline of the plot so far this would be impossible for Doctor Who.
The series first aired in 1963, the first Doctor was played by William Hartnell and closer to November (the 50th anniversary) I will have a "review" or look back on "An Unearthly Child" the first ever Doctor Who episode.
The series is coming up to 800 episodes, with a hiatus between 1989-2005 (only disturbed by audios, books and of course the infamous TV movie) journeying with the Doctor has brought us face to face with the deadliest of foes but also let us walk hand in hand with some wonderful companions and some wonderful people.
The reason the show works so well is every so often the Doctor can regenerate thus meaning that a new actor can step into the role and make it his own. There is no need for every Doctor to act the same so the show gets new life and a different direction to go in.
But were did it all start?
For The Doctor we aren't too sure. All we know is that he ran away with a TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, a time traveling police box to us) with his granddaughter Susan. They ended up on Earth in a junk yard and after Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton wandered into their home one day (it is bigger on the inside.. MUCH bigger) the Doctor basically kidnaps them and takes them on an adventure that they didn't really want to go on. Since then he's been on the move, other than the time that he got exiled on Earth for a period.
Since Barbara and Ian we've had countless companions, we've traveled to wondrous worlds and visited timeless periods. The Doctor has had 11 different faces, 11 faces that have seen the best of times and the worst. He's been in wars, seen love blossom under his nose and felt the loss of losing friends even when they are walking away happy. A lonely man who could live forever but suffers from seeing his friends grow old.
For us it could be anywhere.
Most fans think of "Their Doctor" as the one that made them fall in love with the show. Others just base it on their favorite (like me, I didn't see much of Colin Baker until recent years and he's flown to number 1 in my heart followed by Matt Smith and Patrick Troughton even though I've only seen two Troughton adventures!)
Where ever it is you start it all starts with a simple adventure. Who knows were the TARDIS will take you on your first adventure.
There are three main things that make Doctor Who work
The Doctor
So the Doctor is a Time Lord from Gallifrey. Facts we know...
*He stole the TARDIS (or the TARDIS stole him)
*He has a granddaughter called Susan
*He has regenerated 11 times
*He likes to share his adventures with a companion
We don't really know much about him as you can see, other things like his age are changed on a regular basis so keeping ahead of how old he is becomes impossible.
He is the good guy, sometimes he does bad things, sometimes he can be grumpy, but he is a good guy.
He hates guns unless he's using them.... Big fan debates on that.
He is a very sensitive man to be fair, even his harder regeneration's could have their hearts (he has two of them) broken.
Oh and he's a time traveler, but you guessed that one.
Actors to have played the Doctor
William Hartnell (1) , Patrick Troughton (2), Jon Pertwee (3), Tom Baker (4), Peter Davison (5), Colin Baker (6), Sylvester McCoy (7), Paul McGann (8), Christopher Eccleston (9), David Tennant (10) and Matt Smith (11).
Of course there have been "other" Doctors in parodies and other media including Peter Cushing in 2 remakes of Dalek episodes made into movies.
The Companions
Companions change but much like the Doctors you'll find that people have "their" companion. Maybe the first companion they were introduced to or... Well you heard it before.
The companion can be picked up from anywhere meaning there is a vast well of different companions. From Ian and Barbara who were teachers, to the Highlander Jamie, the kind and lovely Jo and reporter Sarah Jane. Everyone seems to hate on Adric or Mel, we returned with Rose (chav queen or not that is the question) all the way to timey-wimey Amy Pond and our brand new mystery of a companion (maybe mystery no longer when blog gets published) Clara Oswin (or is it Oswald?)
The companions are all brave in their way, they have strengths and they have weaknesses. The adventures they go on shape them and change them. Some of them accidentally end up traveling with the Doctor others are forced but the majority are asked.
Most companions travel with the Doctor whilst others (depending on how you want to view a companion) are more like reoccurring characters.
Two of the most famous are Sarah Jane Smith and The Brigadier. Both the actress who played Sarah Jane (Liz Sladen) and The Brig (Nicolas Courtney) are no long with us, but they are two of the most noticeable faces in the Whoniverse.
The Doctor teaches them that they don't have to run into battle, they don't have to be intelligent, they don't have to be "special". He teaches them, even if it isn't what he planned to do, that all humans, all beings of any species is special. Bravery is the choices you make not the fights you win and intelligence comes in many forms. And as the companions are the characters who are meant to be the connection to the audience the Doctor teaches us that we are all special and have our strengths.
The Villains
They come in every size and shape from all kinds of backgrounds and planets. Whether they are trying to destroy their own planet or Earth itself.
Doctor Who has come up with some iconic villains including the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Master (there are a lot of the's), the Weeping Angels and so on.
Sometimes the villains aren't even bad guys! Sometimes their actions have just been misunderstood. Sometimes the story is about learning that the bad guy isn't so different from you.
There are so many villains, some more scary then others and some more for the laughs then for the chills. They add so much to any given episode and sometimes, just sometimes they better the Doctor.
So those are the three main things that make Doctor Who. Add them all together and you get a wonderful adventure. Of course we don't always have a villain, sometimes it'll be just a fun exploration of a situation.
Personally?
Well for me my favorite Doctor is Sixie (Colin Baker), I don't know why I love him so much but I have a few of his adventures on DVD and he just sticks out for me as the best. There is something about him that I love. He tries to be all intelligent and better then everyone else but there are many times he gets things wrong but carries on as if it was nothing. Alright some people might hate his costume (as apparently he did too) but I personally thought it was wonderful. It contrast the darker side of the Doctor that we were seeing. I don't think they ever wrote him well enough though, he could have been a site more dark to be honest.
I also adore the current Doctor, number Eleven (Matt Smith). There is something wonderfully child like about him but at the same time if you cross him he can change in a flash to such a dark and aged Doctor. For such a young man to carry a scene were you are meant to be portraying being over 1,000 years old and having seen so much pain and suffering in the universe Matt does it pitch perfect.
I don't really dislike any Doctors though my least favorite is Ten (David Tennant). There was just something so unalien about him, it was like he was a human time traveler and I didn't like it. Plus I never once brought any of the emotions he was throwing at us, he tried to portray it too roughly at times. But different strokes and all that he is by far one of the most popular.
My favorite Companion is a weird one. It is 100% Jamie but I've only ever seen two stories with him in! How weird is that?! The story goes like this. I watched the Two Doctors and I basically fell in love with his charm. He was such a gentleman all the way through but at the same time he held his own against the Doctor. His Doctor was Two (Troughton) and Jamie wasn't afraid to tell him how he felt. The more I found out about him the more I admired him. He was a highlander but he got stuck right into time traveling and instead of being the butt of everyone's jokes all the time he took pride in educating himself and proving a help at all times.
I also liked Leela for similar reasons. She was a savage yet she didn't let that get in her way. She always took the chance to educate herself to her surroundings and even though there was the underlying joke that she didn't understand the Doctor she didn't let it get to her and ended up finding a way to feel out what the Doctor was saying to her in the end.
Jo Grant I loved for different reasons. She was a sweet young girl who always tried her best to help her Doctor (Three, Pertwee) but she was a bit clumsy and a little scatter brained. The Doctor took her under his wing and protected her all the time but she was incredible brave and wasn't the type of Companion just to take a back seat and let others do things for her.
For a "reoccurring" Companion that I love it has to be the Brig. I haven't seen his first episodes (I think they are missing episodes) but he first met Two but came into his role when Three was exiled to Earth. Whilst on Earth the Doctor helped UNIT, a military force working on the supernatural. The Brig, like Jamie, didn't let the Doctor walk all over him. He was a military man so at times you got the feeling the Doctor looked down on him for taking a simpler route or a more military route to solutions whereas he took the scientific route. The Doctor never actually looked down on him of course, they were very good friends. The dynamic between The Brig and the Doctors was wonderful.
A villain that I liked most? I can't really say I have a favorite villain. I loved the Kandy man, I know people laugh at him because he was just a giant Berty Bassett but I loved him. The Daleks are always a favorite and they were mine as a kid, the Cybermen have never really impressed me but I find I need to defend their honor when others say the same. Since 2005? The Silence were pretty cool! I'm not actually a fan of the Weeping Angels, I only liked one story they were in and THAT was a novel!
Why I love the series?
The adventures. The fact that the hero isn't a big, strong superhero he is an intelligent alien who has no idea how the world really works around him. Actually probably that more than anything. As a teenager you are meant to be unconsciously drawn to things that relate to you, not that I'm a time traveler, but the fact he was an outsider, he wasn't handsome (well not always), he wasn't a heart throb (again more aiming at when I was a kid not recently), he was always intelligent even if he got things wrong he got them wrong in an intelligent way. He hardly had to use brute force to do things he investigated and used science. That was much more me. The adventures are what got me into it, the man was what got me hooked.
It is very different to a lot of the things on TV even if it shares a lot of the same themes running through it.
Not only that but it is quintessentially English, and there is something that warms the heart (two if you'd prefer) watching it.
I really do think sometimes people don't want to watch it because of this whole "its a geek program" thinking, but I have to be honest with you, this show is a marvel. It'll take you out of your world and into someone else's, someone on the adventure of a lifetime. They want to take your hand and run. Just run. Away from everything, towards everything.
And the beauty is that you might not like Eleven, you might not have liked Ten you might have grown up hating Seven or Eight or even Three or One himself! But in a few years time there will be a new Doctor, a new direction, a new feel and it might just be the thing you were looking for.
The great thing is when the show is going your way you can look back on periods you didn't like and find something to love because you know that there is something more to your tastes after all at the end of it. And then the adventure really begins because you'll open yourself to 11 wonderful actors, uncountable friends and the most breathtaking adventures you'll ever want to be taken on.
I haven't even given you a HINT of the world that awaits you so go out and find out yourself! You can start wherever you want, pick a number at random, watch the episode on Saturday... It really doesn't matter just find a episode and watch and enjoy.
There is a vast universe out there, and the Doctor wants you to explore it with him.
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