As the screening of The Day of the Doctor draws ever closer
I thought I’d reflect on what I’ve liked about the errant Time Lord.
Most , if not all of my interest in Dr Who these days is
purely nostalgic. I remember the early series with William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton and enjoyed the odd serial.
I would say I became a bit of a fan when Jon Pertwee took
over, buying the annuals and the odd jig- saw, although I don’t remember much
in the way of merchandise.
The comic strip in Countdown, a much better rendition
artistically than TV Comic , was good
way to feed my interest in Dr Who.
When Tom Baker became the fourth incarnation I progressed to
a fully-fledged Who fan (the term Whovian was yet to be invented) . Tom’s
popularity in the role meant a surge of spin-offs.
I managed to collect most of the Target books, the usual
annuals, the odd Denys Fisher toy, breakfast cereal promotions and an incredibly long scarf.
My bedroom wall was full of posters of the Doctor.
Following Tom’s departure from the show my interest in Dr
Who quickly waned. While Peter Davison
is extremely popular with many people, I felt he was too young for the part and
totally miss cast.
As well as that I was getting older and had other interests
to occupy my mind.
Colin Baker’s brief tenure as The Doctor seemed to over in a
flash and his replacement, Sylvester McCoy was the incumbent when my son
started watching.
Suddenly, I was buying up Dr Who merchandise all over again,
but this time not for me, but for someone belonging to the next generation of fans.
Although, I don’t
consider myself a fan of this new rebooted series of Dr Who I know for those
who are, especially the youngsters who
believe the Doctor is as important as Father Christmas I’m taking this
opportunity to wish Doctor Who many happy returns of the day.
Just ended viewing the simulcast. As we've had only the latest avatars of the good Doctor on Finnish telly, must admit that did not have a clue of what was going on - except for the cameo of Mr. Tom Baker.
ReplyDeleteGreat article! I've added a link to it from my blog.
ReplyDeleteNo spoilers, I havent seen it yet!
ReplyDeleteWatched it at the cinema. The place was absolutely packed. Not bad for something that people could've watched at home for nothing. Loved it by the way, but I'm a fan of both eras.
ReplyDeleteTurned off the Day of the Doctor after about 10 minutes. To me it seemed all special effects and muddled plot.
ReplyDeletePerhaps as somebody who grew up in the Hartnell (and Troughton) era I'm biased in favour of less special effects and stronger storylines.
Got to say I was unimpressed too, far too much of that idiot smith waving his arms about with as much screen presence as a housebrick. Good to see the zygons again, although Tom Baker seemed a bit of a pointless afterthought. Looking forward to Capaldi.
ReplyDeleteWell I've just watched it and best describe it as watching Doctor Who and his two daft sons !
ReplyDeleteJohn Hurt was excellent. He could take over as the Doctor anytime. Not sure why Billie Piper was there as she wouldn't exist in that Doctor's mind yet, but any excuse to have Tom Baker on set is fine by me.
Always pleasant to see ms Piper and the UNIT connection was good, but I expected more Daleks and more of Peter Capaldi that just his eyebrows.
ReplyDelete