Why I love "Doctor Who"

[annissamazing]

AKA: 30 Days of Nu-Who: Day 30

When it comes to liking something, I usually fall back on my old standby explanation of, "I just do." Shouldn't that be good enough? But my love of Doctor Who goes beyond mere like and borders on obsession. When you like something that much you should probably examine why.

In order to understand why I love Doctor Who so much, you must first understand why I love TV. Television, in general, has a terrible reputation and it's not unearned, but television has potential to do a significant amount of good. In addition to the dissemination of information that television allows through programs such as the evening news, TV eliminates the boundaries of oral tradition and opens the doors to rich new worlds of stories, images, and sounds.

Fred Rogers once sat before Congress and argued that funding to PBS should not be cut because programs such as his Neighborhood helped children to become well-adjusted members of society. He also fought for the production of the VCR so families could record live shows and watch them later, when they could all be together. This is a clip of Rogers' testimony before Congress. In it, he explains his concern about what he sees on broadcast television and contrasts it with the things that are shown on his show. He says he finds it "much more dramatic that two men could be working out their feelings of anger... much more dramatic than showing something of gunfire." In Doctor Who, the Doctor always gives the baddies a chance and only resorts to violence when all other options have been exhausted.

I admit, we also programs with very few redeeming qualities. Many shows seem to be produced specifically for shock value, or to see how "the other half" live, or to throw people into unusual situations and see how they'll react. These shows are not my cup of tea, but I'm not going to judge anyone for watching and enjoying them. My point is, we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater. In addition to children's educational programming such as Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, there are shows dedicated to teaching adults valuable skills such as woodworking or home improvement. There are programs that can show us parts of the world we will never get to see with our own eyes. There are entire networks dedicated to teaching history, science, and technology.

Also, there is storytelling. And this is where Doctor Who comes in.

I recently dedicated 29 entries to what I do or do not like about Doctor Who. Going back through my entries, clear patterns emerge. Passion, humor, relationships, intelligence, conflict, and conflict resolution. Also, I'm a sucker for scary stories. But it also goes beyond good storytelling.

Doctor Who can show you how to be a better person. "That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away."

And that's why I like it. Because it can teach you how to live a bigger, better life. I'm not going to go hop into my space and time machine any time soon, but I have been (and will be) faced with difficult choices in my life, and Doctor Who, among other things, will help (and has helped) me make the right decision.

You might think I'm overstating the importance of a British science fiction television show. I might be, but I think I'm far from the only person this show has affected so profoundly. This show is nearly 50 years old and has a rabid international fanbase. My reasons are my own, but I don't think I'm alone.

What do you think?

Day 1 - Favorite Incarnation of the Doctor: Nine
Day 2 - Favorite Companion: Donna Noble
Day 3 - Favorite Villain/Monster/Alien/Baddie of the Week: The Entity from "Midnight"
Day 4 - Favorite Character: Wilfred Mott
Day 5 - Favorite Guest Star: Anthony Stewart Head
Day 6 - Least Favorite Character: Lady Christina de Souza
Day 7 - Favorite Episode: "Midnight"
Day 8 - Favorite Series: Series Four
Day 9 - Least Favorite Episode: "Planet of the Dead"
Day 10 - Favorite Scene/Moment: "Don't... just don't."
Day 11 - Scene/Moment that makes you cry: Ten rages against the dying of the light
Day 12 - Scene/Moment that makes you giggle: Jackie Tyler smacks the Doctor
Day 13 - Favorite Era visited by The Doctor & Co: The End of the World
Day 14 - Fave Doctor Moment: "Basically, run."
Day 15 - Fave Rose Moment: "The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life."
Day 16 - Fave Martha Moment: "This is me, getting out."
Day 17 - Fave Donna Moment: "If I change things, I don't die? That's... that's right, isn't it?"
Day 18 - Fave Amy Moment: "Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall."
Day 19 - Favorite Ship: TenII/Rose
Day 20 - Prettiest Scene: "Vincent and the Doctor"
Day 21 - Favorite Location: The TARDIS
Day 22 - Something Silly: "Partners in Crime" and "The Unicorn and the Wasp" Charades
Day 23 - Something Epic: "Vale Decem"
Day 24 - Favorite Accessory of the Doctor's: Ten's maroon Chucks
Day 25 - Favorite TARDIS Team: Nine, Rose, and Jack
Day 26 - Scene/Moment that made you go 'awww': The Doctor cuddles kittens
Day 27 - Scene/Moment that made you go 'argh': Dalek Sec becomes Dalek-Human
Day 28 - Favorite Series Arc: Series 4
Day 29 - Favorite Music/Song: "This is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home"
Day 30 - Why Do YOU Love Doctor Who

Comments

[flydye8.livejournal.com]

Nicely said I love Mr. Rogers Neighborhood BTW and so do my kiddos.

Doctor Who is one of those shows that has a beautiful story to be told and the lesson that you mentioned about not giving up is a good one to learn.

I also think that it is one of those shows that my whole family enjoys watching and that is rare in my household.

What a perfect completion to your 30 days.

[annissamazing]

Thank you so much! I've also enjoyed yours and I'm looking forward to your future entries as well!

That video above of Mr. Rogers speaking to Congress always chokes me up. I'm always grinning when he finishes. I think it's amazing how his gentle tone and passionate argument swayed someone who, in the beginning, disagreed with him.

[flydye8.livejournal.com]

He speaks in such a way you have no choice but to listen. He never allowed the emotions of others rawl him up which is really amazing.

He will be sorely missed.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

*applauds*

I have no idea what that programme you reference is, but I'm thinking back to that episode of The West Wing where Toby swore to defend the Muppets and Julia Child... and am thinking that it's probably along the same lines :)

I haven't looked to see what my response to this day of the meme was, but I suspect it was nowhere near as articulate or considered as this. I completely agree that TV can be a force for good (*winces at terrible cliche!*) and that sadly, it's just as often a home for trash and banality. But fortunately, our show falls into neither category and you've summed it up nicely.

Brava.

[annissamazing]

Thank you. :)

Both The Muppet Show and Lessons with Master Chefs (Julia Child's program) aired on PBS, so it's likely that Toby is talking about the attack of government funding of PBS that occurred a couple of years ago. Another show that aired on PBS: Doctor Who.

Mr. Rogers is a hero of mine and he was genuinely as soft-spoken and gentle as he appears in the video above. I loved his show when I was a kid and my son loves it now. Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood is purely for small children; most adults would not be interested in it (I love Mr. Rogers, but I find something else to do while it's on). He helps children find constructive ways of dealing with the conflicts they face in their lives. They also get special visitors, go on trips to see how things are made (like paper or crayons), and visit The Land of Make-Believe where people and puppets interact. This is a clip from the show. This is how each one ended.

(To explain what he's doing: At the beginning of each episode, he enters the "house", takes off his suitcoat, puts on a sweater [that was knitted by his mother, btw], and changes his shoes. At the end of each episode, he changes back into his outdoor clothes before leaving.)

[sandyosullivan.livejournal.com]

I soooo agree with you. I love that this is your analysis of this. Exactly. TV does make the world smaller. I could say that about the internet, but truthfully it's like when the internet was first transforming by adding the world wide web (ah I remember those days well!), and people were saying oh there has to be content. The visual content that we all understood was the tellie, and the fact that there was an emerging wide distribution (thanks to cable tv in all of our countries) meant that we had a broader access to both a lot of crap and a lot of wonderful stuff. And television (like other forms of performance) has been full of morality tales and ways of understanding the ontological framework of the subjects. That's gotta challenge xenophobia at the very least, but at best, it gives us a glimpse into others lives.

I recently asked my Mum, who finished doing a PhD in anthropology at the tender age of 71, is now 74, who lived through the second world war in England, married a soldier who was in three wars, had six children and moved to another country to marry a black man at a time when that was shocking and caused rejection by others. She's seen the transformation of a million things in her life, including changes in racist attitudes, and when I asked her the other day what the most important change she has seen in her life, she said: television. We'd been talking about race relations in Aus... so I wasn't expecting that... but she said, if it wasn't for TV, the 67 referendum - where we (Aboriginal Australians) got citizenship rights in our own country - wouldn't have had the power that it had. She said this was true in most things, I said yeah... but Vietnam, Gulf Wars etc, nah she says, you think it wouldn't have been *worse* if it wasn't for TV. Yeah. Mum is pretty clever!

Of course as you know, her favourite program since she started watching it in 1965, is Doctor Who!

[sandyosullivan.livejournal.com]

Sorry... beyond my rave. Thanks so much for these entries, it's been an amazing ride!

[annissamazing]

You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed them!

Your mom sounds amazing. :)

"Vietnam, Gulf Wars etc, nah she says, you think it wouldn't have been *worse* if it wasn't for TV."

I'm glad you mentioned this. It was something I actually meant to include above. One of the things my History of Civilization II professor expounded upon was the impact that mass communication had on wars. Information moved faster and populations agreed or dissented much quicker and that had an effect on the leaders.

I really do think that exposure to new cultures through television fights xenophobia, just as you said. How many times do we try to introduce a new idea to someone only to have them say, "Oh! I saw that on TV!"

I started exploring the internet in earnest back in 1997. (This is not an "I'm oldskool" boast. I recognize I was a relative latecomer. I'm just giving a timeframe.) Even then, I envisioned an eventual merging of television and internet. Slowly, I'm seeing that happen. I can watch episodes of shows I like through the Networks' websites or I can stream them on Netflix.

Now's an exciting time to be alive. I love living in the future!

[ladyprydian.livejournal.com]

I've gone back and looked at your opinions in many of the earlier entries and as we've both mentioned before we share very similar opinions when it comes to Doctor Who and it seems television in general.

What I like is an engaging story. I need to be hooked and drawn in. I have a very short attention span for shows like Law and Order or CSI because I find them predictable. But I love the most recent incarnation of Miss Marple because it's so HARD to figure out who'done'it.

I need to feel a connection between myself and the main characters. I demand strong story lines (that doesn't mean that there can't be plot holes, I am quite forgiving in that regard but only to a certain extent). I think Christopher Eccleston said it best where [paraphrasing] if you write strong stories for kids shows, they will demand that in return when they are adults.

I find myself saddened by the fact that I no longer enjoy Who with the same emotion as I once did. I found I was consistantly disappointed with Season 5 and I have little desire to watch Season 6 (though I probably will once it comes out on DVD).

[annissamazing]

Sadly, I also didn't connect with Season 5 as much as I did the earlier seasons. I'm avoiding all spoilers for Season 6, but I have caught that it's supposedly much darker than 5.

If we're in the same time zone (Eastern for me), could I persuade you to do an IRC watch of the Season 6 Premiere? I was contemplating setting one up, but I wasn't sure about the logistics.

[ladyprydian.livejournal.com]

I am in the Eastern Time zone but I don't think I will be able to do an IRC watch with you for one main reason. My home internet is crap. I am dial up and I literally live in a tele-communication dead zone. I don't even have cable (being from Canada) I still run my t.v. off of the analog signal. We're losing that August 31st 2011.

Cable is suppose to arrive by June, and as there is on going high-way construction near my house, Bell (the main tele-communication company) has to move all of their wires from one side of the high-way to the other. Sadly this means that when/if I get a better connection it will be just as the first half of the season ends.

We were suppose to have cable t.v. and internet by the end of March, and gave up Christmas and birthday presents to save money for a new Hi-def t.v and new lap top ONCE we got cable.

And no, satellite won't work. There are too many trees around my house and I can't get 10 degrees off of the horizon. My cell phone (which runs off the Bell network) only has 2 bars of reception and that's if I'm in one particular room, by the window, on a clear day, in the winter when there are no leaves.

So yeah, I'm a bit fed up with the whole situation. My best connection is at work and luckly my LJ is not blocked by the server. It's also the reason for why I'm never on-line on the weekends. That and I make sure to 'unplug' for at least those two days.

[annissamazing]

Aw, ok.

That sounds like a tough situation. When the US went digital, they offered vouchers for receivers. Is Canada doing anything like that?

[ladyprydian.livejournal.com]

HA! No, they haven't even advertized the fact that oh 30 to 40% of the population will no longer have television by September 1st of this year.

I only know because I remembered (and marked it down) from an article that I read years ago. The story surfaced again when the US went digital but other than that it's been rather hush-hush. It's almost as if they don't want you to know about receivers (something I've been looking into recently as a back up plan).

This will probably come to a head in August when the media decides to make a story of it. But the fact remains, come September 1st, there will be a significant portion of the population that will not have television.

[annissamazing]

Ah, well... Canada has healthcare. The US has television.

Make of that what you will.

*G*