A Day for the Doctor

There is a show that I have watched since I was barely a teenager--a show that came on so late at night on the public station that I had to stay up way past when I should have been asleep.  That show and its characters inspired my imagination as I grew up, and it created in me a love that has lasted through time.  That show is Doctor Who.


My favorite Doctor was, of course, Tom Baker, but I think that has more to do with the fact that I saw the most of him more than anything else.  He became the face of a whole new world in which time travel was possible, adventure was inevitable, and aliens were not always what they appeared.

My second favorite Doctor was Peter Davidson who came after the curly-haired, scarf-wearing, zany Baker-Doctor.  Of course, at first, I hated him.  He had, after all, replaced the face that I knew; everything had changed, and it was the first time I learned of the doctors' regenerations.

And yet...for some reason, maybe for the same reason that we continue to watch James Bond movies, I stuck with it.  And soon I had embarked upon an adventure that I hope will last a lifetime.

You see, Doctor Who isn't just about a crazy alien who has decided that he loves the human race.  It's the story of humanity in all its myriad capacities--the beautiful, the horrible, the repentant, the triumphant, and so many more.  It is alive with hope, rife with agonized sadness, and every now and then, it reminds me of our incredible capacity for good--imagination--and love.

I won't say that the show doesn't have its problems, but that has more to do with the tradition in which it is mired than in the ability of its characters.  Sure, the Doctors often take on female companions rather than men, and maybe we haven't seen the kind of diversity we'd like.  And yes, all the Doctors come from a certain ethnic persuasion.  But the most amazing thing about Doctor Who has nothing to do with the show you see and everything to do with the imagination it inspires.

Would I like to see Doctor Who break out of its mold and embrace some greater ideas?  Of course.  Who wouldn't want to see a woman Doctor?  Or an Asian Doctor?  And who didn't want to see more with the Doctor and Captain Jack?  And now, with the Doctor having again regenerated, even though he was on his last regeneration with Matt Smith, we still have a lot of questions to answer.  How did this happen?  Why?  What does it mean for our beloved "raggedy man" and his blue box?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

For those of you who love the doctors just as much as I have over the years, you may be interested in checking out this regenerations panel that they put on for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary.  It's definitely worth a watch, and it's so much fun to watch the way all the actors of the Doctor interact.

And for those of you looking forward to the new season of Doctor Who, here's a video of Peter Capaldi in his mundane debut as our beloved Doctor.


Just one last little giggle: whenever John and I are talking about Doctor Who fans, he likes to call them "tards"--because the Doctor's blue box is called the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space).  I can't help but laugh a little when he does it, though, because I'm pretty sure he's grown to love the Doctor just as much as I have.  And we Whovians are a special breed--because the Doctor will always be our hero no matter who it is--Stetsons, bowties, fezzes, sonic screwdrivers, and all.