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Friday, June 28, 2013

Doctor Who?

I have been watching a loooooot of Doctor Who lately.

I was hesitant about watching Doctor Who for a long time.  I'm already an obsessive person by nature - it's a part of my personality.  I love to dive into aspects of culture like movies and books and T.V. shows.  I have a habit of going through phases of being obsessed with one thing and then becoming obsessed with another.  For example, one month I'd be obsessed with Once Upon a Time and then I'd switch to being obsessed with Sherlock for a while.  So if so many people, some of whom aren't usually as obsessive as I am, obsess over Doctor Who, I should probably stay away from it.  The reason I stayed away from Doctor Who for a while was because I knew there was a high possibility I would become obsessed with it, and it doesn't help that it's addictive, as I've heard some people say.  But then, a lot of T.V. shows are addictive - most or all of them are.
Doctor Dolittle (1967).

I've always been aware of Doctor Who in the back of my mind since I was a kid, although I used to confuse him with Doctor Dolittle (I knew about the books by Hugh Lofting and had seen the 1967 movie with Rex Harrison).  I suppose this was a slightly odd connection for me to make, since the only thing in common between the two is the title of "Doctor".

My awareness of Doctor Who came from my dad, who grew up with Doctor Who as a kid in Ireland.  He has a lot of catching up to do, seeing as the last time he watched Doctor Who was when Sylvester McCoy played the seventh doctor.  Throughout the past two years the Doctor Who fandom came to my attention more and more, until I realized how popular and well-known Doctor Who had become, not only in British culture but in America as well.  A lot of people I know are fans of the show, which piqued my curiosity.  So I broke down one day and decided to buy a few episodes of series two with David Tennant on iTunes.

I had no idea whatsoever where to start, which I've heard is a problem for a lot of people trying out Doctor Who for the first time.  I started with The Christmas Invasion.  It left me pretty confused.  I have to confess that however hard I tried, I could not force myself to watch all of The Christmas Invasion.  I only managed to watch the first quarter of it.  I just didn't find it particularly easy to watch.  I'm not really the science fiction type, and I found the conflict with the fake Santas and frightening christmas trees uninteresting.  So I skipped the rest and watched the next episode, New Earth.  I watched Tooth and Claw and School Reunion as well, but I didn't watch anymore after I had finished School Reunion, as I had not bought any more episodes.  I forgot about Doctor Who for a while afterwards, but I still had an inner desire to catch up on Doctor Who and watch it myself instead of merely knowing about it.  On my birthday, my dad gave me a dvd with all of the classic Doctor Who episodes from the 1960's, starting in 1963, with the first doctor, William Hartnell.



About a week ago, to my glee and surprise, I discovered nearly every single episode of the Doctor Who revival (starting with the ninth doctor played by Christopher Eccleston in 2005) on Youtube and Dailymotion (where I found all episodes of series one and two of Sherlock as well, by the way).  Since then, I have caught up on series five, six, and some of seven, with Matt Smith as the eleventh doctor.  I watched quite a lot of David Tennant episodes beforehand, but my interest in the series with the eleventh doctor couldn't wait any longer.  I just had to find out who Amy Pond and Rory Williams and River Song and Clara Oswald all were.  I am presently caught up to Cold War, the eighth episode of series seven.  Since watching the seventh episode of series seven, I've gone back to Rose, the first episode with the ninth doctor.

I really love the ninth doctor.  I like the sound of his voice, his black jacket, and his personality.  He's just so funny and nice.  I'm already fond of his version of the doctor and I've only seen the first two episodes with him.  I love David Tennant as the doctor as well.  If I were to make a list of my favorite doctors, it would include one, four, five, nine, ten, and eleven.

I like all of the doctors, but the six doctors above are my favorite doctors as of late.

David Tennant and Matt Smith are my top two favorites.  However much I love David Tennant's doctor, Matt Smith easily tops him as my number one favorite doctor.  Some people don't like his doctor as much as David Tennant's because he is not David Tennant.  Of course he's not David Tennant, he's Matt Smith.  And he wears bow ties.  Bow ties are cool.

Overall, I love Doctor Who.  And just as I suspected, I've become obsessed with it.  But luckily, not as obsessed as I thought I would be.  As much as I like Doctor Who, it's not completely my sort of thing.  There are plenty of amazing episodes that I absolutely love, but there are some episodes I don't care for so much as well, whereas with series one and two of Sherlock and the first season of Once Upon a Time, there was never a single episode that I didn't like.  I'm definitely a Doctor Who fan, but The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984) and Sherlock (2010) are more my cup of tea.

6 comments:

  1. Glad you enjoyed Doctor Who, it is my personal favorite TV show, I have been a fan since the reboot in 2005. Smith followed by Tennant are my favorite Doctors and Clara and Amy are my favorite companions.

    By the way, thank you for following my blog, I have followed both of yours.

    -James

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    1. Amy Pond and Rory Williams are my favorite companions besides Donna Noble and of course Sarah Jane Smith. I don't feel that I've gotten to know Clara Oswald very well yet, but so far I think she's a very interesting companion. Thanks for following both of my blogs!

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  2. I love Doctor Who!! I have seen episodes here and there of the Original, and pretty much everything that has come out on DVD for the reboot. I really want to watch more of the original but it is hard to make heads or tales of them on Netflix and I am a big stickler for watching things in order. I hate being confused and it just drives me bonkers. I don't have as much and issue with starting at the ninth Doctor because the reboot seems to stand alone(and yet not alone at the same time. I don't know if that makes sense). I have see the movie with the 8th Doctor. I really enjoyed that movie except it was based in America and just felt a little bit to American.

    David Tennant is my favorite Doctor. I really like 11 too though. I just love Christopher Eccleston as and actor in general.

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    1. Doctor Who is the most confusing show I've ever watched. There are so many episodes and so many series/seasons and it's really hard to get it all together in your head. I had absolutely no clue where to start. I also like to watch things in order, so it's a little frustrating sometimes. I have yet to see the movie with the 8th Doctor. I don't think I will like it if it's based in America. It wouldn't feel right. I wouldn't exactly dislike it, but I would like it better if it did not take place in America.

      David Tennant, Matt Smith, and Christopher Eccleston are all great! :)

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    2. It is actually really really good despite being based in America. The actor who plays the doctor in it really has some elements that are very similar to David Tennant's. I wish he could have done more, but it didn't work out at the time.

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    3. I will definitely see it then! :) It may be a while before I get to see it, though.

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