A friend sent me a link to a book about Doctor Who called Adventures with the Wife in Space. Basically the premise (without having read it) is that Doctor Who fan Neil Perryman got his missus to watch all of the episodes in the hope she may get into it (maybe?).
Whilst that’s kinda sweet, when I watch Doctor Who all I need from a significant other and those around me is to not utter a sound when it’s on.
To me Doctor Who is, like, a very personal experience (man). His adventures are the epitome of my own wish fulfilment.
You see the Doctor can move through time and space as he chooses (and sometimes when he doesn’t). So pretty much he has access to learning about all of the things, ever. If that’s not exciting, I don’t know what is.
He does this while taking his house (the TARDIS) with him, he couldn’t actually travel without it. And you know what’s in that house? A giant walk in wardrobe with clothes from different eras that happen to perfectly fit whoever (no pun intended) needs them, no matter what their shape. OHMIGAWD. There’s also a pool and toy room amongst others – yes really. He could just park the TARDIS on a peaceful distant planet rent free and be set for life … Which he’s kinda done sometimes.
Besides having the perfect house in the TARDIS the Doctor gets to save stuff. He doesn’t always get it right; his arch nemesisisisis somehow keep popping up in the future despite seemingly being dealt with. Buuut, usually by the end of an episode he’s saved something. It would make for a much better evening conversation than the ones I currently have:
Unnamed person: So what did you do today?
Doctor Who: Oh you know – shut down a Cyberman army, saved a planet or two. Same old.
The conversations I currently have:
Housemate: What did you do today?
Me: Oh you know – applied for work, sobbed quietly in a corner. Same old.
And that’s another thing – despite the current rash of redundancies the Doctor has managed to hold down the same government job for yonks. And all he has to do is show up and pretty much be himself. Nice one. Although it’s never really clear if he gets paid for it. He’s pretty lucky it’s not a job for the Australian government as he’d have lost it by now because science doesn’t pay allegedly. But I digress.
The Doctor’s life isn’t perfect by any means – he loses friends, gets angsty about his actions, periodically regenerates into a new person (which must get confusing), has been known to eat fish fingers with custard – blurch – and is often lonely, poor poss. Yet he always manages to maintain his sense of humour and childlike curiosity about the world. Watching all of that unfold is at once joyous, intriguing and heartbreaking.
And that’s why I watch Doctor Who (silently, on my own so I don’t get cross at anyone asking questions or breathing).
Also – he’s not that bad at the Beautiful Game. (Well at least Matt Smith’s Doctor was.)
Presently it’s even more exciting as there’s a new Doctor in town, played by Peter Capaldi. He’s a bit old school, which makes him appealing (to me anyway), and has self-professed ‘attack eyebrows’. I’m loving him – his coat is swooshy, he’s an avowed non-hugger (YAY!) and very hilarious. He called humans ‘pudding brains’ and flirted with a dinosaur. How I guffawed.
Capaldi himself is hell cool and like me he’s grown up with a love of Doctor Who. You can see how moved he is by his new job when he speaks of it in interviews – SO very endearing. It’s nice to know the Doctor’s in safe hands actor-wise and I look forward to seeing where he takes us. Somewhere most interesting I should think.
(Photo: Neil Thompson/Flickr)
