Yesterday, the Doctor Who Tumblr page posted this appeal from Chris Hardwick as a PSA to their campaign, #newtoWHO.
My love affair with the Doctor started sometime around May 13, 2011. I had just started having a bunch of my medical issues, so I was spending a lot of time in bed watching Netflix. I had just finished up the Firefly series and was looking for something else to sink my teeth into. Season 6 (or series 6 depending on where you live) was currently airing on BBC America and a number of my friends were watching it, and therefore talking about it, so I got curious. It also helped that I was currently addicted to the Cheezeburger Network, which features a number of DW memes, and I was a David Tennant fan from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In fact, I started watching the week the episode "The Doctor's Wife" aired. Being a Neil Gaiman fan, the chatter leading up to the episode also stirred my curiosity. There was one issue... my cable company didn't carry BBC America! But Netflix streaming had most of the seasons, so I started at the beginning of the reboot.
At the time I was using the online site Miso to check into my shows, so I went back in my timeline to see what I had to say. Here are my entries for the first two episodes...
It took me a little bit to warm up to the series. My check-in for episode 7 "The Long Game" said:
"There is just something about the relationship between Rose and the Doctor that keeps bringing me back... cause it's not the special effects!”By the time I hit "Parting of the Ways", I was in tears. I didn't want Christopher Eccleston to leave.. I remember Laura telling me on Twitter not to worry, because Tennant was coming. And I loved David Tennant and was looking forward to him... but you never forget your first doctor. I did warm up to Tennant about 2 episodes into his first season and from there the addiction was born. By Christmas I was asking for a TARDIS from Santa Claus, started eating up Doctor Who crafts and blogs and memes, and I was trying to get my mom to check out the series. I had it bad! Who am I kidding, I still have it bad!
My cable company did finally add BBC America, without fanfare. One day, I was going through the channels and happened to go one pass my normal routine and there it was. Once I found the channel, I was able to watch Doctor Who a number of times a day without dealing with the connection issues I sometimes got from Netflix. The first episode I was able to watch on its original air date was season 6, episode 8 "Let's Killer Hitler".
As for getting my mom into show, I managed to get her all the way to season 3, episode 11 "Utopia" and I lost her there. Something about not understanding what was being said with the accents and just not being into it anymore. Oh well... can't convert them all! At least my brother and his girlfriend are fans, so it gives us something to talk about at family gatherings.
Currently, I'm watching 3 episodes a day of DW - 10am, 11am, and 4pm. Except on Mondays when for some reason BBCA likes to air Top Gear at 4pm. The 10am & 11am episodes just reset in the airing, so it's all the 9th Doctor. At 4pm it's Matt Smith's first season. Someday I hope to be able to go back and watch the original, original episodes, at least the seasons they managed to save. I have a feeling I'll never be able to enjoy the very first season... but I'll take what I can get!
I wanted to share some of my favorites with you. If I HAVE to pick a doctor, I've got to go with #10 - David Tennant. Favorite companion... hands down Donna Noble. And here are some of my favorite episodes, broken out by doctor and companion, because I can't just pick one:
- Ninth Doctor - "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances"
- Tenth Doctor & Rose - "Fear Her"
- Tenth Doctor & Martha - "The Shakespeare Code"
- Tenth Doctor & Donna - "Partners in Crime"
- Eleventh Doctor & Amy - "Vincent and the Doctor"
My least favorite episode... "The Doctor's Daughter". Not sure why, I just don't care for it. And I'm not really a Martha fan, because I didn't love the "Why doesn't he look at me/love me/want me like that". I get what it was all about, just could have done without it.
So, that's my #newtoWHO story. From my first viewing to my current day dressing my mascot up like the 11th Doctor. I am a Whovian!
I appreciate your appreciation for Tennant and Donna. I'm hopeless at picking favorites; whatever I've seen most recently always stands out and for like a year it was Sarah Jane just because I was in mourning for Elisabeth Sladen.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing new people get so into the show, too. For a while in college I was watching each episode 3 times a week; once by myself, once on Wednesday night rewatches with a group of college people, and once on the weekend with my mother.