Introduction
This is the journal to accompany my pilgrimage of re-watching every available Doctor Who episode. Some background might be in order.
I was born in 1976 and grew up watching Doctor Who in the 1980s on the PBS affiliate in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, USA. I recorded episodes on VHS and rewatched them numerous times. It has been my favorite show since then. I watched it very uncritically and probably still watch it through the lens of a 12-year-old. I’ve also watched the series reboot starting in 2005. It feels like basically a different show, but I hold the original show in high enough regard that I’ll keep watching it. It helps having kids born in 2009 and 2012 who also enjoy watching it.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, I started listening to podcasts - including a few Doctor Who podcasts. My main listens are the Old Doctor Who Show, Radio Free Skaro, and the Doctor Who Show. It’s interesting getting an American, Canadian, and Australian perspective. Listening to these podcasts has made me realize how uncritically I watch the show. I have paid very little attention to direction or writing. For the most part, I never knew who the directors, repeat actors, or writers were. My main period of watching the show was pre-internet and I never attended conventions and knew very little about organized fandom.
Just to give you a sense of how uncritical I was – ok, I’ll be honest, am – Colin Baker is my favorite doctor and I don’t think “the Twin Dilemma” is that bad. (The name of this journal is an homage to that fact.) This can largely be attributed to accidents of chronology and television programming. I was the perfect age for the show during the Colin Baker era, or at least when Minnesota’s PBS affiliate aired reruns of it. (I’d say that age is 12.) Someday I’ll see if the Channel 2 programming schedule from the 1980s is available online, but I feel like the station didn’t regularly air Tom Baker reruns. As a result, he was everyone else’s favorite doctor, but not mine. I also think it may have shown Colin Baker episodes at least a few times.
Generally, anything from Pertwee to Colin Baker is in my sweet spot. I enjoy a few Hartnell stories, but generally am not super excited watching Hartnell or Troughton. My interest in new episodes of the show started petering out during Sylvester McCoy’s run. The rapping in “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy” felt a little too cringe for my 13-year-old self, and that’s when I thought the show jumped the shark – granting that the terms “cringe” and “jump the shark” had not yet become widespread.
So I thought I’d enjoy re-watching the whole series in order and writing something about it. The classic series is available on BritBox, I’m sure the new series is available somewhere, and I might have access to VHS or DVD copies if I become desperate. I’m not sure I’ll enjoy kicking this off by plowing through Hartnells and Troughtons in black-and-white with the occasional animated re-creation and telesnap, but this seems like the logical way to do it. Things are rather busy between kids and jobs, but one 25-minute episode every day or two seems doable. The amount I write about each episode will likely vary, but I’ll aim for at least a few sentences about each.
Time to go forward in all my beliefs!
I was born in 1976 and grew up watching Doctor Who in the 1980s on the PBS affiliate in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, USA. I recorded episodes on VHS and rewatched them numerous times. It has been my favorite show since then. I watched it very uncritically and probably still watch it through the lens of a 12-year-old. I’ve also watched the series reboot starting in 2005. It feels like basically a different show, but I hold the original show in high enough regard that I’ll keep watching it. It helps having kids born in 2009 and 2012 who also enjoy watching it.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, I started listening to podcasts - including a few Doctor Who podcasts. My main listens are the Old Doctor Who Show, Radio Free Skaro, and the Doctor Who Show. It’s interesting getting an American, Canadian, and Australian perspective. Listening to these podcasts has made me realize how uncritically I watch the show. I have paid very little attention to direction or writing. For the most part, I never knew who the directors, repeat actors, or writers were. My main period of watching the show was pre-internet and I never attended conventions and knew very little about organized fandom.
Just to give you a sense of how uncritical I was – ok, I’ll be honest, am – Colin Baker is my favorite doctor and I don’t think “the Twin Dilemma” is that bad. (The name of this journal is an homage to that fact.) This can largely be attributed to accidents of chronology and television programming. I was the perfect age for the show during the Colin Baker era, or at least when Minnesota’s PBS affiliate aired reruns of it. (I’d say that age is 12.) Someday I’ll see if the Channel 2 programming schedule from the 1980s is available online, but I feel like the station didn’t regularly air Tom Baker reruns. As a result, he was everyone else’s favorite doctor, but not mine. I also think it may have shown Colin Baker episodes at least a few times.
Generally, anything from Pertwee to Colin Baker is in my sweet spot. I enjoy a few Hartnell stories, but generally am not super excited watching Hartnell or Troughton. My interest in new episodes of the show started petering out during Sylvester McCoy’s run. The rapping in “The Greatest Show in the Galaxy” felt a little too cringe for my 13-year-old self, and that’s when I thought the show jumped the shark – granting that the terms “cringe” and “jump the shark” had not yet become widespread.
So I thought I’d enjoy re-watching the whole series in order and writing something about it. The classic series is available on BritBox, I’m sure the new series is available somewhere, and I might have access to VHS or DVD copies if I become desperate. I’m not sure I’ll enjoy kicking this off by plowing through Hartnells and Troughtons in black-and-white with the occasional animated re-creation and telesnap, but this seems like the logical way to do it. Things are rather busy between kids and jobs, but one 25-minute episode every day or two seems doable. The amount I write about each episode will likely vary, but I’ll aim for at least a few sentences about each.
Time to go forward in all my beliefs!
Comments
Post a Comment