Doctor... Who?

OK. So. One of those things that I'm constantly told is seriously destroying any geek credibility I ever thought I had is the fact that I've never watched Doctor Who. And I mean never. Like, as a kid it would air on PBS and my brother and I would be flipping channels (and by flipping I mean turning the knob) and we'd come across Doctor Who on Channel 2, and we'd always go, "Ew," and continue turning the channels. There was always some alien with neon flashing lights and things that looked like air ducts for arms... pretty much only a sidestep away from the technology of Yo Gabba Gabba. It didn't attract me as a kid, and it doesn't attract me now.

But then, several years ago Russell T. Davies reimagined the series and it was relaunched. I lasted about 5 minutes into the first episode with Christopher Eccleston before asking my husband why the trashcans were talking. I got one of THOSE LOOKS and I got up to go do something else.

And so, time has passed, Eccleston has given way to Tennant who passed the torch to Smith. Yeah, I know WHO the doctors are, I just don't know what they're doing.

At the Polaris event I attended a couple of weeks ago, there were several people dressed in Doctor Who outfits, and they looked fabulous. The best was one woman dressed as someone I was told was a Weeping Angel from an episode called Blink, an ep that I was told would blow my mind if I saw it. I've been intrigued to see the show long before Polaris -- I already had the first two series on DVD, still in the plastic wrap and waiting for me to finish the book -- but seeing these costumes and watching the passion with which people talked about the show intrigued me even more.

I know that Davies was hugely influenced by Joss Whedon. A friend of mine from Space told me that I had to watch the show because it was very Buffy-like, with season-long arcs featuring smaller stories in between. I recently read an article where Davies basically said screw Twilight, it was the genius of Joss Whedon that started the vampire craze and people need to thank him for it (he kinda became a hero of mine when I read that).

At Polaris I talked to my friend Cindy, who explained that the Doctor actually regenerates from one body to the next. I was surprised -- I just thought it was a James Bond type of thing. No one notices that Bond looks like Roger Moore one minute, Sean Connery the next. They change actors on soap operas all the time playing the same character. So why would the Doctor be any different? I was fascinated to learn it was completely different. It sounded like a Cylon resurrection thing to me.

And so... I've decided I'm going to give it another go. And I'm going to track my progress on here. I'm someone who doesn't have a "Doctor," another bit of lingo I've heard recently where your Doctor is the one you grew up with (my husband's is Tom Baker... he was a huge fan of the original series). I know that tiny phone box is important somehow, I just don't know why. I think the theme music is wicked. And hey, I loved Xena, so I'm up for camp.

So I'm going to post my experience as someone who knows nothing, because I really don't know a thing. You can sit back and laugh and point at me, and hope that I'll eventually catch on, and maybe I'll get to a point where I'm actually learning and we can really discuss the show. I was talking to a friend of mine recently who is British and I told him that it seems every British person watches Doctor Who the way we watched Sesame Street or the nightly news... it's just something you do, no question. Here Doctor Who isn't as widely watched, and is considered sci-fi. He said he has friends who despise sci-fi but they've watched Doctor Who all their lives, and consider it to be something else. It's a deeply British thing.

So, I'm about to jump on the bandwagon. Or... Dalek. Or Tardis. I don't know which is which. Is the Tardis his spaceship? Oh wait, it's TARDIS, isn't it? My husband can rattle off the acronym (I remember "Time" so I've got one word down). Sigh. It's gonna be a long journey, isn't it? Here's hoping I enjoy it!! ;) Wish me luck.