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Dr. Who

 


I am not the biggest fan of Dr. Who in the world, but I am still a fan. Dr. Who is a time-travelling alien who seems to have a soft spot for Earth, and often takes human companions with him on his adventures through time and space.

My wife and I binge-watched Dr. Who reruns last weekend. BBC America had a Dr. Who marathon going on for about six days in a row. I tried to do other things. But then my wife was watching and I kept finding myself being sucked in like all those Daleks being sucked into the alternate universe.

I think when they started the series in the early 1960’s. The BBC executives thought it was just going to be a kid’s show and budgeted accordingly. The lack of funding showed in the effects and design of sets, props, and aliens. This is why the menacing aliens known as the Daleks, basically look like an upside-down garbage can with a plunger sticking out of it. Over the past 40+ years the Daleks haven’t changed much. Their look has been upgraded, but it is still the same basic form that they started with in 1963 (unlike the Klingons in Star Trek, who change appearance every time there is a new version of the show. The Klingons on Star Trek Discovery would be unrecognizable to a viewer of the original series. It is a bit of a slap in the face to the fans, to change the appearance so often. At least the Makers of Dr. Who decided not to go that route.)

I think the script writers didn’t get the memo about this being a kid’s show, and as the scripts became more sophisticated, more adults started watching the show. When the original actor to play Dr. Who, William Hartnell, had health problems and was no longer able to go on playing the Doctor, someone on the series came up with a novel idea. Rather than simply replacing Hartnell with another actor and hoping the audience accepted him (as was done with Darren on the TV series Bewitched) they decided to write something new into the mythology of the Doctor. What they came up with was that when the Doctor reaches the end of his life cycle, rather than dying, he regenerates into a new form. So Hartnell was replaced with actor Patrick Troughton who was younger, and looked nothing like Hartnell, but that was okay because he didn’t need to. Thus, the Doctor and his companions could change over the years as actors retired or tired of the role. To date there have been thirteen Doctors (fourteen if you count John Hurt), including one woman (the current Doctor, Jodie Whittaker).

I started watching with the third Doctor (John Pertwee), But I really became hooked by the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, who was funnier and more whimsical. Tom Baker was just plain fun. In 1989, the BBC suspended production of Dr. Who. They never officially cancelled it, but it seemed to be done. Then in 2005 they relaunched the series with Christopher Eccleston playing the Doctor (the ninth Doctor). I took to the new show right away. There were good scripts, good actors and for once a budget that actually was appropriate. I have since seen all the various Doctors (although I never actually saw Sylvester McCoy (the seventh Doctor) in the TV series, but I did see him briefly as the Doctor in the Dr. Who movie).

So, does all this make me an official Dr. Who nerd? Sort of, but to be really legitimate I think you have to have seen all the episodes (that still exist) at least once. I have seen a lot of them but not all. And even so, as we binge-watched our way through the marathon my wife and I would frequently comment “hmm, I don’t remember that.” I confess, that might be due to our memories and not to the memorability of the episodes.

 

(My science fiction novel Star Liner, is now available in paperback or as an e-book through Amazon and other online sources).

Star Liner

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