| Doctor Who is my drug of choice when it comes to classic sci-fi.I've been a fan since the 1970s...well, I hated it at first when I was a wee little hobbit of a boy because it scared the bejeezus out of me. I remember seeing it one afternoon on our old black and white television and a killer mannequin in overalls made me run out of the room.I saw it again not long afterwards and the opening credits sequence and music was enough to make me run to Mum again.I went back into the room, peeked through my fingers...and saw a humanoid with bulbous black eyes and what little bravery I had mustered evaporated immediately.No more scary Doctor Who for li'l Seany!When I was in primary school, the family started watching it again on Sunday nights when it was on before the legendary Australian music show Countdown.It was confusing for me because it was a mixture of repeats and new episodes.One week the Doctor was an older guy with boofy white hair and a velvet jacket and the next he was a curly haired feller with a long scarf.Dad tried explaining some of it but I was still baffled.Fortunately the school library had a book called The Doctor Who Monster Book which explained everything.Once I knew the background for the show, I was hooked.Over the years, I would watch the show and read novels based on the episodes.I'd write and draw my own Doctor Who comics starring myself and my school friends as all the Doctors (I was the Tom Baker Doctor because I had wavy brown hair...and because I wanted to be the best one!).I remember the excitement that a new actor had been cast to play the Doctor...Peter Davison.And I remember the disappointment when he was replaced a few years later with Colin Baker.Ugh.The show was unofficially axed in 1989 when Sylvester McCoy was playing the Doctor.While the show was off the air and endless tiresome rumours made the papers about the show coming back (Eric Idle would play the Doctor, John Cleese would play the Doctor, David Hasselhoff would play the Doctor...no, I'm not making that up), a series of original novels came out featuring the ongoing adventures of the Doctor.I read them for a while but eventually lost interest and retired Doctor Who to some dusty filing cabinet for old tv shows in the back of my mind.In the mid 1990s it was announced that there was going to an American pilot for a new series starring Paul McGann, which was extra cool because I loved his performance in the cult movie Withnail And I. Unlike a lot of diehard fans, I loved the show and especially McGann's Doctor.It didn't become a series, but it reignited my interest in all things Who and I haven't strayed since.For me, the most exciting thing of all is the current series that began in 2005 starring Christopher Eccleston, who was superb as the Doctor.Out was the eccentric costuming and low budgets and In was lots of humour, more emphasis on characterisation and improved special effects.The show was a massive hit and it became even more popular when David Tennant took over the lead role.I think it works so well because it focuses on being good old fashioned entertainment rather than a show that's made to appeal only to those who enjoy sci-fi and fantasy.Long may it continue.So why do I like the show so much?There's the obvious thing that it has time travel and adventures on other planets with lots of creepy monsters and aliens...but for me, the appeal is the Doctor himself.He's a genius, an eccentric, an adventurer, something of a loner, honest, a pacifist, anti-establishment, childlike, and unpredictable.He helps those in genuine need and fights against oppression and tyranny.Most of all, he's just cool.Besides, who wouldn't want to have a time and space machine that can also be your home?You wouldn't have to worry about working, paying taxes, buying a home, etc. No 9 to 5 routine for the Doctor....just adventures, thrills and chills, and fun.One more thing...I'm actually part of Doctor Who history!True!Thanks to my online friendship with the late and much missed writer Craig Hinton, he named a character after me in the BBC Doctor Who novel 'Synthespians'.Unfortunately it's out of print now, but for a while there it was very cool to be able to walk into bookstores and see the novel on the shelf knowing that my name was in there.Okay, so the Doctor in the book was...ugh...Colin Baker, but I don't care.After all, the Sean in the book was a 'drop-dead gorgeous' chauffeur who not only had sex with a business tycoons trophy wife, but turns out to be a murderous Auton...the very creature that scared me when I first saw the show as a little boy.Funny how things work out, eh? |
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