As you read this, your obedient servant is currently in the wilds of the United Kingdom, fending off the Nazis at the Liverpool Empire Theatre and the Daleks and Cybermen at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff.
Yes, I’m taking two weeks to recharge my batteries after 50 weeks in Los Angeles. I don’t deny that I’m an Anglophile. And one of the ways I express my Anglophile desires is by being a Doctor Who fan.
I’m not going to go through Doctor Who history. It takes books and television movies to do this. I highly recommend An Adventure In Space and Time, the 2013 telefilm with David Bradley and (sigh) Jessica Raine about the beginnings of Doctor Who, the characters Verity Lambert and William Hartnell, and the year 1963 to do this.
No, my Doctor Who story starts on May 14, 1996 — my 23rd birthday. I remember it well. My best friend Paul and I were going to celebrate it by doing Fire Water (a hot cinnamon schnapps reminiscent of Goldschlager) shots while watching The Bob Newhart Show. You see, an old drinking game was to take a shot every time someone said “Hi, Bob!” We started at 4 p.m. and by the eighth episode, we were pretty well on the road to drunkenness.
FOX aired the first American/BBC co-production of Doctor Who, a two-hour TV movie with Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor (each actor who plays the Doctor is numbered, starting with William Hartnell as the First Doctor) and Eric Roberts as The Master. It was not a success, and it didn’t lead me to seek out the 26 years of previous episodes.
Fast-forward a decade. The Sci-Fi Channel (long before it morphed into the Syfy Channel, because we get dumber every year) obtained the rights to the first series of the revived Doctor Who. Russell T. Davies, the creator of the UK series Queer as Folk, was the showrunner and had established his own Whovian roots as a writer of a Who novel in the 1990s.
I watched the first five episodes with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor with his companion Rose before I quit. The fifth episode, “World War Three,” turned me off because of the childish alien race, the Slitheen, who could be found out because they consistently farted. I’m very lowbrow, but they’d gotten so far below my own sensibilities that I couldn’t take it anymore.
About three years later, my friend/co-worker Scott and I were talking in his office and he mentioned how much he was enjoying the show. I told him why I stopped watching it, and he told me to go back. “It’s much better since David Tennant took over,” Scott said. So I did. Tennant, the Tenth Doctor, had taken over from Eccleston after one season. BBC America had the rights now and re-ran the episodes daily. I’d DVR them in the afternoon and watch them at night. Every Saturday, the fourth series would air with Tennant and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, his current companion. As with Gilmore Girls a few years prior, I could not get enough of the show.
Unfortunately, Tennant was in the process of leaving the show when I joined it, even though I’d watch an episode a day. Which meant that I would have to deal with my first “new” Doctor, despite the fact I’d watched three Doctors already. Matt Smith came along in autumn 2010, and immediately endeared himself to Whovians with his deft, light touch. His companion, Amelia (Amy) Pond (played by Karen Gillan) was a strong heroine, often rushing into danger before the Doctor did. Moreover, a new showrunner, Steven Moffat, was at the helm. To say I was worried was an understatement; I’d just gotten into the show and things had suddenly upended.
Worries were for naught. Smith and Gillan became international stars and pushed Who to its highest international ratings. Tennant had the highest-rated episodes of the rebooted series, but Smith became the Doctor for over 90 countries. Enough so that the 50th Anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor,” was simulcast to all 90 countries at the same time. Imagine if an episode of Star Trek was broadcast to the entire world at the same time — that’s the closest equivalent.
I continued to read Doctor Who Magazine and started a collection of novels. I would read offshoot books about the show and started viewing the previous series. For the record, my favorite “old” Doctor is Patrick Troughton, who played the role off and on from 1966 to 1969 (seasons four through six), then again in 1973, 1983 and 1985. He’s more like me than I care to admit! He’s haughty, hates foolish people, and doesn’t like to waste time on trifles.
Then in 2013, Smith announced he too was leaving the role. For the first time, the choice of the Doctor was publicly announced on television, simulcast around the world. He would be played by Peter Capaldi, an actor with a varied and well-regarded career that I’d never seen.
Once again, the worries set in. I was more a Whovian than a Trekkie by this point, and identified as such. The one thing that gave me hope was Capaldi’s long and open history as a fan of Who. Capaldi’s full debut in August 2014 was less than stellar, but as each episode aired, I grew to like him more and more. When the season finished, I began to watch him in other UK series, like Skins, The Vicar of Dibley (don’t get me started on this one, I fell hopelessly in love with this show) and The Musketeers, which I highly recommend if you’ve not seen it. Capaldi plays a deliciously villainous Cardinal Richelieu that makes me smile each time I see him. Imagine a Renaissance Lex Luthor and you’ve got it.
Who is the Doctor? It’s a question, often put in punning terms, asked repeatedly. The Doctor, in simplest terms, is an alien from the planet Gallifrey who stole a TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space — or, a time machine) and uses it to travel the universe(s).
The Doctor finds humanity enchanting, and having been part of an omnipotent race, does everything he can to see how humans develop. His curiosity at small, insignificant details informs his decisions when they are large. He often takes a companion with him, so that he can obtain a perspective unique to his own. The current companion, Clara Oswin Oswald (Jenna Coleman) is a schoolteacher, much like the First Doctor’s companions Ian (William Russell) and Barbara (Jacqueline Hill). In fact, as a 50th anniversary nod to those companions, Clara teaches at the same school, Coal Hill School, where Ian and Barbara did. In fact, Ian is now the headmaster (though we’ve not seen him… yet).
Much debated among Whovians is the best Doctor. Most of us make distinctions between the new and old series; it’s easier that way, and we don’t have many arguments. No one picks Colin Baker (The Sixth Doctor) unless Colin Baker is part of the argument. Most Americans like Tom Baker (The Fourth Doctor/no relation) because he was the first they saw on PBS.
For me, the best “Old” Doctor was Patrick Troughton, because he’s both the grumpiest and the most sarcastic. That he matches my personality is simply a coincidence. The new series is harder. Having seen every new episode (and I’ll be watching in Alnwick, where I’ve ended up on the premiere of Series 9), I love each Doctor equally, although Matt Smith’s impish charm probably wins me over. On the other hand, David Tennant’s roguish nature and sometimes dark countenance is better. Oh, hell, Peter Capaldi’s “I’m the Doctor, and I save people” in the trailer for Series 9 encapsulates it all. I don’t know.
See? That’s what being a fanboy for Doctor Who is. Loving each different actor for their strengths. Watch Series 9. You won’t be lost. And you’ll want to go back and see what you missed. Promise.
John P. Inloes (@suburbandwarf) is currently in England, enjoying the benefits of his Anglo brothers and sisters. He will be back in America late in September. When he’s in England, he won’t know what went on in America. Based on some things that happened recently, maybe that’s for the best. But he loves it in Los Angeles anyway.
