Saturday Rendezvous With Doctor Who

The Doctor Who page on Tumblr asked for people to post about their introduction to Doctor Who, so i posted the following:

I was about 8 when I started watching Doctor Who, which I hate to say happened in the late 70's. Where I grew up in America, it aired on Saturday nights at ten p.m. on PBS.  We didn't get the individual episodes, but an edited 90 minute (give or take) movie that those episodes comprised. I had to work hard to convince my mom to let me stay up, since we had church the next morning. At that church was the family who introduced me to The Doctor. We are still in contact after all these years, and marvel at the surreal journey we have taken with this uniquely tenacious show. 

You have to have imagination to appreciate Doctor Who, but in classic form it takes on a whole different meaning than today. With typically no budget to work with, the sets and effects of the classic series turn away the viewers who can't get past it. But I had enough imagination to see past any of that and focus on the story, the characters, and the mythology, a mythology that has only deepened with time. For many years Saturday night was THE night. It was the night I was able to escape with The Doctor and his companions to the far reaches of time and the universe. 

Technically, the first episode I saw was "Underworld", with Tom Baker as The Doctor. I understood nothing, but was fascinated by these people and their situation. It wasn't until the last of the fourth Doctor's adventures, Logoplis, that I began regularly watching. When The Doctor regenerated at the end of the episode, I learned early on the frustration many feel when one actor leaves and another takes on the role, but I also learned how thrilling it is to begin anew, yet continue on from the same point in the story. Our local PBS station did not air any episodes previous to Tom Baker, but I saw the other Doctors at viewings at monthly fan club meetings I attended with the friends I mentioned. 

And so for a number of years it went with fan club meetings and cons, which in the early 80's were intimate affairs. The panel with Jon Pertwee at my first con only had about 150 people in the room. I met companions and Doctors and bought merchandise like the TARDIS key, sonic screwdriver, novels and magazine back issues. I even begged my mother to crochet me a scarf, fashioned more on the one Tom Baker wore in his last series. A scarf i still have today.

After the show went off the air and I lost my video tapes, I almost forgot about Doctor Who. Every once in a while I would encounter someone with a tape of episodes and I would insist on watching. I never, at the time, had an opportunity to see the tv movie, but was leery of it anyway.

Then I heard it was coming back. I was dumbstruck and I was elated. A very familiar and welcome part of my childhood was returning, but would it pick up on what was already done or be a complete reboot? Thankfully it continued on from the original, more than less. I couldn't be more pleased with the direction it's taken. My favorite part about it's return has been in introducing new people to The Doctor. It's a given they will like it, because like The Doctor I choose my friends well, but the excitement I get from watching them discovering the show is a rush.

Typically I have a hard time with favorites. I don't even have a favorite color. I prefer to find favorite things about each Doctor or episode or writer. But I will say that I am most endeared towards Steven Moffat's way of doing things and hope he is in control for many years to come. And when it comes to Doctors, I prefer to pick a favorite from both new and old. Matt Smith is my pick for the new era of Who. He sucked me in early on and along with the excellent dialog he is given it's a hands down choice for me. For the classic series there is also no hard decision to make. Tom Baker, my first Doctor. His ability to be both man and alien at the same time is seconded only by Matt.

I have gone back and watched the Paul Mcgann movie, ordered merchandise I had lost long ago, ordered new merchandise and listened to the licensed audioplays. I wore out those video tapes I had, and not much has changed except for now they're in dvd and bluray formats. I still get the greatest pleasure from watching episodes multiple times, with my 30+ years of memories flooding back each and every time. Doctor Who is back with a vengeance, though it feels like it was never gone, and I think that's fantastic.

Sheridan Sees A Who-Intro To My Doctor Who Blog

I grew up watching quite a bit of television. All types of shows interest me, and I am very pleased with the advancements that have been made in the programs that are coming out now. I must say that I have a penchant for British productions, as I find the quality and attention to detail fits my compulsive personality. As a kid, this mostly came to me via my local PBS station, where just like the Brits themselves I enjoyed commercial free viewing of my favorite shows. And no better night existed than Saturday night at 10 p.m., when Doctor Who came on.

For some unknown reason I have never written about the show, despite it being a major part of my entertainment world, certainly the foundation of my television world. Since the show has been around forever (1963) a large part of my love must come from the connection to my inner child it brings out when I see each new episode. Back then it was all about imagination. It had to be, at times they literally had no budget. I've always felt a person did not like Doctor Who for one of two reasons: They have no imagination or they are not that intelligent. Looking beyond the recycled sets and flimsy costuming the show was exploring concepts that at the best of times required mental gymnastics. Mixing the basic human elements of good and evil with completely fictitious, mindbending, extraterrestrial situations where you not only believe the impossible could happen, but how it would affect life as you know it. The show promotes conceptual thinking and I can think of no better way to escape the mundane evils we face daily. Yet while it weaves it's typical multi-layered storylines, it retains a heart grounded in humanity so you find yourself emotionally invested in how these characters fare, laughing with them, weeping for them.

When I talk about Doctor Who I speak honestly and from the heart, for the show needs little help in being seen as great. I wasn't a film student or a creative writing student so I leave the technical discussions on writing styles and the like to others more suited to this approach. One of the most exciting things about the show is that it is ever-changing. 11 actors have played the main character, companions come and go, a morphing theme tune, and even the production team and writers change on a regular basis. But the foundation is still there. All the previous stories stand as a background to what is happening now. The faces always change but the names remain the same.

As a quick history, the show began in 1963 and ran until 1989, when it was cancelled. A television movie was made in 1996, but we had to wait until 2005 for a proper return, and it was so worth the wait. Instead of a reboot, starting from the beginning, the show's reviver picked up at a point after the t.v. movie while introducing the show to viewers who had never seen it before, drawing them in to the magic and complexity contained within.

Picking up there we meet an alien, but not just any alien, a Time Lord. Time Lords have mastered travelling in time and space in a ridiculously "bigger-on-the-inside" space/time craft called the TARDIS, with the added benefit of being able to regenerate their bodies in the case of an injury, a concept introduced early on when it was clear the show would survive beyond the lead actor departing the show. In this way the Doctor, now in his ninth century of life, brings with him a wisdom and attitude gained through experience, riddled with both wonderous joy and deep tragedy. With practically seasonal companion changes, the mysterious Doctor (name to this date remaining unknown) travels to both the far reaches of space as well as the distant corners of time to thwart the evil factions of the universe who seek to destroy and conquer. It isn't hard to see the marvels of different galaxies and alien invaders through the eyes of the normally human companion as they try to digest what is happening and apply some human logic to their surroundings, usually finding that those basic human elements of good and evil, right and wrong, reach far beyond the little blue orb they left behind.

Doctor Who is a hard show to sum up. I once tweeted a joke Craigslist posting that if you had a quarter bag of weed and three hours I would explain Doctor Who to you. Deeply thought out story arcs, returning nemeses, both tangible and deep-rooted psychological fears, and a habit of questioning the very foundations of humanity are just a few of the ways this show has not just gained an entirely new generation of viewers, but has kept them and the faithful fans of old by keeping the integrity of the shows history with the added bonus of technological advances to production quality.

One of the best things I can say about the new show is how it stands up under repeated viewing. I'm not one to pick apart a show for mistakes, no matter how glaring. These people wear me out and if they don't like it they should stop watching. But if you do try it, and you enjoy it, you will be rewarded by rewatching episodes to catch many of the subtle nuances you may not pick up on in the first viewing. But the best thing is that the show makes me happy. These are characters and situations I have been following for some 30 odd years now, and never more so than now are they taking me to places and emotions that create not just a world on the television screen, but a land of imagination and wonder that has existed in my head and my heart since childhood.

My Doctor Who Blog can be found on the "New Who" and "Who Classic" pages above

Rich Little Poor Tippers

I need to get a couple of things out of the way before I get to what this blog is really about, which will take up so little space that it will turn out not to be what this blog is really about. But it's why I started to write this, and is the perfect opportunity for me to kill two birds with one stone.

First of all, if you've never heard of tipping your server in a restaurant, or you don't have a concept as to why you should tip, or if you just don't feel a reason to tip, then I have some advice for you: Stay home or hit the drive-thru. There is a reason we tip those that give us a service. These workers get paid, get this, $2.17 an hour. That's it. They survive off the tips they should receive for providing you a service. If you are too cheap or too ignorant to tip your server then you don't deserve to go to a sit down restaurant. And don't you dare complain about the bad service you get when you return, because you will be remembered and your service will suck because you deserve it. It's theft of a service. Thief. Ignorant thief. Slave labor was abolished long ago.

My boyfriend works in a popular Atlanta restaurant. I've worked in several, so I know how it is, but he has honed his craft to where he ends up the best employee wherever he goes. I couldn't make a career of it, but I never got into management. His restaurant has become a favorite of celebrities, as more and more filming is being done in and around town. I could compose an entire blog about what celebs hit the mark when it comes to tipping (Erykah Badu, kids from Vampire Diaries) and who surprisingly seem clueless to the concept (Solange Knowles, Real Housewives). But I'll be getting back to those housewives in a minute.

The second bird in my sights today is the bastardization of hollywood. I won't even capitalize the word anymore. I talk specifically about the growing plague of people who are famous for nothing at all, or worse, for bad behavior. It's even worse with their attitude that they actually deserve their fame and to be treated special. Instead of considering that their notoriety brings any responsibility to be good people and set an example for our youth, they seem to think they have some sort of carte blanche to act a fool. Urinating behind the bar of a nightclub, fistfights, catfights, screaming matches, parading your children for your benefit. These are not the actions of rational, mature adults, but of spoiled brats who crave the most attention.

I think we should have a separate hollywood, hollywood beta or something. There we can put the folks that are really just folks who happen to be on television and will very soon just be folks again. This sets up the return of proper Hollywood with, classy or not, people who actually work to entertain us. The other hollywood is where we can also send all the crazed tabloid paparazzi so they can hound and hunt down and kill in tunnels the wannabes/neverbes.

As I said, celebrities often visit my boyfriend's restaurant, and so do the Real Housewives of Atlanta. On their most recent visit, though, they were filming for their new season. Everyone had to sign releases in case they are in the shot. Soooo, now I have no choice but to set my DVR to record this damn show on the off-chance he will show up in an episode. At least there's fast forward. If you watch the show, come back after the season starts and I'll report on whether or not he made the cut. I can guarantee you one thing you won't be seeing, a server happily counting his or her money after they leave.