My #newtowho Story

Well, it has been awhile hasn't it? I've had a touch of the ADD lately. You see, I just like liking too many things and don't have enough time, or brain capacity after a crazy day at work, to like them and write about them.

Lately I've been busy killing dragons,practicing alchemy, buying/making Christmas gifts, presenting awards and scholarships, failing at arts and crafts, obsessing over Felicia Day/Geek &Sundry, watching a lot of British Quiz Shows especially those that feature NoelFielding and/or Alan Davies, playing Gloom or Rory's Story Cubes with the family, enjoying the final season of The Office (Belsnickel was the best!), watching other sitcoms (Go On, Parks and Rec), loving The Snowmen and as always rewatching new Who and watching new to me classic Doctor Who.

See? You have to admit, that is a lot of stuff and I’m sure I left something out. I’m still busy but, I feel compelled to write this post because an odd thing happened on the way to the Baker era, I wasn’t an instant fan and that’s puzzling since I know that he is the most iconic Doctor and the safest and most common answer to the question, “Who’s your Doctor?” (My answer? I love them all. They all play the same man, don’t make me choose!) I feel like I accepted the other Doctors very early on and I couldn’t put my finger on why it was taking me so long to warm up to him. In order to explore this properly I’ve decided to tell my #newtowho story first and since time is a big ball of Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey stuff, I'll start in the middle.

The first time I really became aware that my father liked Doctor Who must have been in about 2006 which is when new Who first started airing in America. I am pretty sure he was trying to connect with my then boyfriend who he had lovingly but, correctly dubbed my "future ex” by dropping a Doctor Who reference. He must have thought he looked a little geeky (sorry Jeff but…) and would get the reference. He did not. My Dad began talking more about the show but, as David Tennant put it, “it’s very hard to explain and not sound like a lunatic.” I never looked into it and I had no clue what it was until I saw a Doctor Who related article on geekologie.com which had a picture of Tom Baker and then I remembered. I had definitely seen that guy before...come with me to the 80’s.
In the early 80’s my Dad used to watch TV in the living room. I distinctly remember Davy Crockett, classic cartoons, Adam West era Batman and The Three Stooges. I feel like he watched a lot of PBS after we went to bed because the Masterpiece Mystery opening is something I remember quite clearly, that and Benny Hill. I pulled the, "I need a drink" bit pretty often but, I can only think of one instance when I walked downstairs while he was watching Doctor Who. I was little and sleepy but, I remember a guy with curly hair and a long scarf running around in what I now know was a quarry, I think there were some aliens/robots that looked like they were made of tin foil and I believe there were falling rocks. I hope when I reach that episode something will click and I’ll think hey this was my first glimpse of Doctor Who!

Unfortunately my Dad never introduced us to Doctor Who and at some point in our childhood, my Dad got sick of us and built himself a bat cave in the basement which just wiped out any chance of it happening. And yes he called it the bat cave and he called his phone the bat phone. I remember when the phone would ring he’d answer it like this, “Yellow? Hey, how are you? Hold on, let me take this on the bat phone.” Then he’d yell at us to hang up the other phone and we would often forget by the time he closed the basement door and be off pretending the floor was hot lava or something. He had everything in that basement, drums, a TV, a Stereo and I think, a very large computer too. His equipment has become fancier and he still spends most of his time down there. When you go to talk to him, if you've already reached your quota for time spent talking to him that day, he might throw a highlighter at you. Or you might get distracted by what he’s watching and ask what it is and he says, "The Usual Suspects", you start watching it with him, he says, "pull up a chair" and then 15 minutes later...it ends! I know, he sounds like a monster, right? Of course he isn’t and he didn’t retreat to the basement because he was sick of us. He was sick of Mom.

So, now that the precedent for sort of watching TV with him in the basement has been set we can move along, to the Fall of 2011. I went down to either ask a question or say goodbye and he was watching The Curse of the Black Spot. I asked what it was and he said Doctor Who. So, with my little knowledge of the show being that the guy with the scarf was the star, I had questions. Me: “Who’s the guy in the bow tie?” Dad: “That’s the Doctor.” Me: “So, is he the son of the original guy or is this a prequel or a reboot or is it a title that you earn?” Dad: “No, he is the Doctor.” He might have tried to explain regeneration but, I think we were both distracted and coming into any episode in the middle is just too complicated if you’ve never seen the show before. I asked if he liked the new series as much as the old and he said it was very good. That's when I realized he didn't like Doctor Who, he loved Doctor Who.

My Dad has, historically, gotten the shaft at Christmas. Scratch tickets, a new shirt, socks and underwear, blah. He is hard to buy for but the guy has so many interests and no one was tapping into any of them. When I saw him, still watching and enjoying the same show after all these years, I decided that I was going to get him something Doctor Who related for Christmas. I had no clue what though. I could never picture him in it so the Tom Baker scarf would have been a waste. I had questions, "What's a sonic screwdriver?" "Are Daleks a big deal?" "What's an Adipose?" I just didn’t know what was important and what was just lame. No one knew that I wanted a Dwight Schrute bobble head and how would they if they didn't watch The Office? It looks kinda dumb but, it is actually quite awesome. I wanted advice from a fan but, I had a hard time finding it so, I decided to take matters into my own hands and watch the show.

I thought I'd start from the very beginning because I am a completionist. I expected to find the whole show on Netflix neatly organized by season, ha! What a fool I was. There were, and still are, very few classic stories available for streaming (one or two from each Doctor's era which is a crime) and I was only doing Christmas gift recon so I quickly changed course and started with the first episode of the new series, Rose. I honestly don't remember exactly how I felt about it on first viewing. I wasn't planning to fall in love with this show so I didn't really put that much effort into watching it and I think I was half asleep. I know I was a little iffy on the look and feel of the episode but, I had just finished a Sherlock rewatch which is so gorgeous, it's hard for most shows to live up to, never mind one that first aired in 2005. However, by the end of The End of the World, I was more optimistic. There were again some not entirely fabulous looking costumes but, Jabe and The Face of Boe more than made up for them. It was funny, clever and a little dark and my superficial concerns were gone.

I watched every episode within a few weeks and it would have taken less time if series 6 had been available for streaming and if one of the discs hadn't been set to "short wait" status for more than a short period of time in my opinion. After I finished, I rewatched everything and after that I added all of the bonus discs to my queue. I started listening to Doctor Who podcasts. I started following fellow fans and people involved in the show on twitter. I watched nearly every YouTube video about the show or the actors involved. I only joined Pinterest to pin Doctor Who stuff. I really was becoming obsessed which didn't bother me at all. Eventually after watching all of the new episodes more than twice and knowing that I would have to wait forever for series 7, I decided to get into the classic episodes which as I mentioned is not nearly as easy. I luckily still get DVDs from Netflix but, even then the lost episodes posed a problem because Netflix, if they had them, only had the audio. Thank goodness for the internet and more importantly reconstructions. I did mention that I'm a completionist right?

Now that I was a fan, I figured out what my Dad would like with ease. I bought him a couple of books, a poster for his basement and a heat reactive mug with the TARDIS on it (it dematerializes on one side and materializes on the other). My Mom tells me just about every weekend that it is his favorite and the only one he'll use. This year he got the TARDIS mini fridge so he doesn't have to get up as often to get a beer. We agree on Matt Smith, who was just born to play the Doctor in my opinion but, we do differ on Pertwee I adore him and he isn't a fan. He's a man of few words so he won't get into long geek out sessions with me, instead I get two word reviews of episodes, sharing references or laughing at my Mother together (who watches the show with me all the time) for saying Benedict Cumberbatch was her favorite (or was it least favorite?) Doctor. If it weren't for him I might never have watched the show so, I'll settle for that.

Happy Mrs Rory is not an accredited TV critic nor does she hold an advanced degree in journalism or film studies. She is simply an enthusiastic young woman with an unfinished community college education and an abiding love for television. Share her love tonight on pizzaboozetelly.blogspot.com.