I'm part of a wonderful Doctor Who online community, and regularly discuss this incredible show with fellow Whovians on Twitter, both young and old.
My guest blogger today, Thomas Bracken (Twitter handle https://twitter.com/TomInTheTARDIS), explains why he loves Doctor Who so much.
The story of my ever burning love for Doctor Who began in March 2005 after being told it would be something I’d adore by both my dad and my year 2 teacher. Needless to say they were right and my love for the show has never dwindled, but burned stronger becoming inspiration to be a good man viewing the world with a sense of wonder, trying to find the good in the darkest of places. Doctor Who also kick-started my interest in acting, directing and writing by tapping into the creative side of my mind. When Doctor Who burst back onto our television screens in 2005 our face-changing adventurer was wearing the face of none other than Christopher Eccleston, but the Doctor joined the 21st century with a dark secret that would burn his soul for more than one of his regenerations. |
In my early teens Doctor Who became an escapism from reality, somewhere to run off to and be okay when the world was too much. It was around the Matt Smith era I began to realise that I wasn’t just shy and I in fact had anxiety. The fairy tale vibe of the Eleventh Doctor’s era was exactly what I needed at the time and Matt Smith’s portrayal of the Doctor being the ancient child of unlimited knowledge yet somehow is still a bumbling idiot helped me form an idea of who I wanted to be as a person.
I never wanted to be like everyone else following latest trends and fashions despite attempting said things in the early years of secondary school and the Doctor was the perfect break from the norm for me, though I could never be the Doctor travelling around the universe in reality I could at least adopt his morals and adjust them to fit myself. To think who I would have been as a person without Doctor Who as an influence is a haunting thought.
The complete opposite of the Doctor yet very similar, for me the Master quickly became my favourite villain of the show and still remains that to this day, being on the same level as the Doctor. Yes it’s always great for the Doctor to face off with the Daleks, but when the Master was revealed it’s always going to be a battle of wits and the two of them, more times than not, trying to persuade the other in joining them.
I think what I love most about the Doctor and the Master bouncing off of one another is how they both consistently insist they’re not human, yet they’re both so human when you get to the basics of their dynamic, a friendship that died out long ago but neither wish to admit that it’s truly gone due to their love and respect for one another. After all, they’re both Time Lords, nobody knows the Doctor better than the Master does and nobody knows the Master better than the Doctor does.
Doctor Who is thought provoking, it requires you to use your brain when watching it which is a great thing in a day and age where things are spelled out to the audience. No show does what Doctor Who does. After 55 years and the ever changing nature of Doctor Who, regenerating if you will, I believe that Doctor Who has become its own genre after being so many different things from educational to gothic horror to fairy tale and it will continue to change and renew itself in years to come through the TV show, audios, books and of course, the fans.
With Doctor Who about to embark on possibly its biggest change since Hartnell became Troughton, I can’t wait to see what Doctor Who is about to become with Jodie Whittaker at the helm of the TARDIS and Chris Chibnall as head writer. A whole new adventure is about to begin I feel like an ecstatic child waiting for autumn to roll around.
Doctor Who is much more than a TV show now it’s inspiration, passion, escapism for those in the darkest of places. It brings people together and shows them the best of one another. I’m very glad I watched Doctor Who and still have it now, as I truly dread to think what growing up in East London would’ve made of me without the Doctor in the TARDIS saving planets on Saturday evenings.