7/11/12
So, first day of no Who, and even though I’m back to
currently watching the amazing show Breaking Bad and the fact that I’ve watched
26 episodes of Who in 4 days this week, not to mention 75 eps in the past 3
weeks alone, I’ve gotta say, I’m still really itching to crack on with another
episode. And that’s something that I’m actually surprised about – 75 eps in 3
weeks, maybe even 100 in a month, and that’s not even including the audio stuff
I’ve listened to, even I thought I’d be Who’d out. After all, with the first 6
seasons, I’d take gaps where it’d be months
before I watched the next ep. Of course, one thing to consider in that case,
there’d be a ton of eps missing, with only the soundtracks surviving, which
made it a little difficult to get into without that vital visual element. This
stood out especially in Troughton’s first two seasons, where the number of
surviving eps are sadly very few.
His final season though was mostly watchable, which I
started watching last month. Actually watching what was going on rather than
listening and trying to guess was a lot more fun, particularly seeing the
physicality of Troughton’s performance and his wonderful variety of
expressions. There were one or two stories that weren’t quite up to scratch
(Dominators, I’m looking at you!), but overall, it wasn’t a bad final season,
especially with such classics like The Mind Robber, the Invasion, and the epic
War Games, which ended things so brilliantly, and made it clear that whatever
happened in the next season, it was going to be a lot different to what we had
seen over the past six seasons, with a new Doctor, no time/space travel, and,
most important of all: colour!
Then not even a week later I find myself on season 7, and
the more I watch of Pertwee’s kick-ass dandy of a Doctor, his reluctant
relationship with the Brigadier and UNIT, and his sheer desperation to escape, the more I found myself compelled to watch more and more eps.
I think my increasing addiction to the classic stuff
definitely has to do with watching it in order, not random serials of random
Doctors as I used to. Because, while a lot of serials are almost completely
stand-alone in story at this point, there is something to be said to watching
the whole grand story slowly be told, of watching characters slowly develop and
relationships grow. The more I watch the series in order, the easier I find
myself getting attached to companions and Doctors. For example, before, I liked Jo Grant, but I couldn’t say that
she was one of my favourite companions. She did seem to be more than a bit of a
ditz at times. However, the more I saw of her, the more I saw her learning, of
forming a bond with the Doctor, until it’s now reached a point where the Third
Doctor/Jo Grant relationship has become one of my favourites of the series so
far. It’s a much more enjoyable experience than watching snapshots of the
Doctor’s life at certain points, and better still, I’m getting to watch some of
my favourite stories in a whole new light.
So, now that I’m taking a break from the series for a couple
of weeks, will I have nothing to post on this blog? Fat chance! While I’ll be
taking a break from the series itself, it won’t stop me from checking out the
comics or audios, or better still, the spinoffs! The current series I’m
listening to at the moment is Dalek Empire, a series I will go into more detail
later on. Watch this space!
(By the way, just worked it out: started watching season 6 on
the 7th last month, and the grand total of eps I watched since then?
120. 120 eps in exactly 1 month. Boo ya!)
8/11/12
Current topic at the top of my mind right now (or should
that be front of the mind? Do minds
have sides?): magazines. Two actually, both to do with the Eighth (and
greatest) Doctor.
First one to mention is the most current: the cover for the
next issue of Doctor Who Magazine has been unveiled, and it looks terrific!
Amazingly, it has nothing to do with the tv series, but in fact promotes the
wonderful work of audio company Big Finish by showing the Eighth Doctor in his
new bad-ass gear, with the following tagline: “PAUL MCGANN IS THE DARK DOCTOR”. Two things leap out about
this: first, it’s amazing how, after more than 16 years since his one-off tv
appearance in the 1996 movie, McGann still looks pretty darn great enough to be
given an awesome up-to-date photoshoot. In fact, I’m more than pretty sure that
his work on Dark Eyes has been the first official photoshoot he’s done as the
Doctor since the film – all the covers featuring his Doctor have usually been a
stock photo from promotional material for the film. Considering there’s been more
than 60 cd releases so far and McGann only ever had the one story on tv, it’s
amazing they were able to keep those photos as varied as they did, really.
Secondly, and far more importantly, it’s quite possibly the
first time that anything to do with Big Finish has been given the front cover
treatment, certainly the first time in years, at the very least. This is no minor achievement.
The magazine isn’t just a popular Who magazine – it’s one of the biggest scifi
magazines in Britain. Then again, considering Who is easily the biggest scifi
show in Britain, that’s no real surprise. What’s more than likely helped is of
course the biggest selling point being anything to do with the latest or upcoming
series, with covers from the last few years usually showing an important
actor/actress from the show or an image from a recent or upcoming episode. Hell,
only a couple of issues ago, there were multiple
covers used for the same issue, each based on a different ep from the current
series. To give the front cover to something that will be listened to by
thousands at most instead of watched by millions is a bit of a risk of DWM’s
part, but a more than welcome one for both Big Finish and Big Finish fans. If
this draws in more listeners to the range, or even better, get people who were
fans of the tv series but who had no idea of the audio stuff interested,
especially with such a striking cover, then it'd be absolutely marvellous. Big Finish have made some of the best
Doctor Who in any format ever, and McGann is an absolutely amazing Doctor,
getting a chance to shine in audio format that he sadly never got to
on tv, and both fully deserve as much recognition as possible.
There’s also another magazine I’d like to discuss, one that
deals with the 8th Doctor even more directly. No, more than that: it’s
to do with my very fandom. It’s a magazine from 1996: The Doctor Who Movie
Special. I spotted it on ebay, and I just had to get it for nostalgia’s sake, more
than anything. There’s nothing really special about it. It’s got a summary of
the plot of the tv movie, mixed in with a couple of interviews from the cast of
the film and a brief history on the previous Doctors. Really, it’s just another
purely promotional mag you’d expect to find with a number of new films, really.
But I think this made at least as much of an impression on me and turned me
into the fan I am today at least as much as the 1996 movie itself.
Now, before 1996, it wasn’t like I was unaware of Doctor
Who. Hell, back in the really early 90s, when there were still repeats being
shown of classic Doctor Jon Pertwee, I used to enjoy watching it. Never had a
clue what was going on, of course – I couldn’t have been any older than five,
really – but I loved the theme tune.
A truly unearthly, synthetic sound with a hell of a hook, it’d pretty much be
the biggest reason for me to watch the show. I’d always join in with the main
tune especially – “oooh-weee-oooooooooooh!” And the Daleks, of course. Even
then, I think I was a fan of the Daleks, even if I wasn’t yet a “fan” of Who
itself. Close, but not quite. Anyway, eventually, the repeats stopped, and I
forgot all about it.
A few years later (practically a lifetime, or so it seemed
to me back then), I started to notice a number of trailers on the telly, most
of which had the tagline, “He’s back…and it’s about time!” One thing especially
leapt out – it didn’t have the same unearthly quality to it, as it was played
by a traditional orchestra, but I still heard it – the “boom-bam-booooooom!”
sounding strangely like the beautiful “oooh-weee-oooooooooooh!” of my distant
memories. And, to my pleasant surprise, I heard it: Doctor Who was back. “Great!”,
I thought. “The show with the greatest theme tune ever is back! Can’t wait!”
Now, I honestly can’t remember what happened first: me watching the tv
movie or the magazine special I picked up. I remember how amazed and fascinated
I was by certain parts of the film – a ship that was bigger on the inside than
outside and looked like an ordinary phone box, a completely bonkers alien that
looked human, a man who can die and come back to life, but in a different body
(that one blew my mind especially – I honestly had no idea that the man in the
new movie was the exact same white-haired old geezer I had seen from before. I
must admit, that was the key idea more than anything that made me want to find
out more about the show). The tv movie wasn’t exactly popular with the fans at
the time, but one thing’s for sure: it certainly got me interested to find out
more.
Which leads me to the magazine. Now, the tv movie had my
interest, but the magazine helped to cement that as something more than a mild
curiosity for an 8 year old boy. It was a rather brief guide to the history of
the show. Very brief, not covering much at all on the previous Doctors, but it
was enough. It showed me that this was a show that had changed over many years;
that it had built up a large history for itself; that it could take such
bonkers ideas and somehow make them…magical.
For the first time in my life, due to both the movie and a random magazine, I
actually had a good idea of what Doctor Who was about. And the moment I did, I
wanted to know more. Not just know –
enjoy more, too. I wanted to start watching as many episodes as possible, and
with a proper new series not looking like it was turning up any time soon (oh,
my 8 year old self had no idea), I
convinced my mum to get me a video. It starred the Doctor I could remember bits
of as a kid: Jon Pertwee, the very Doctor I’m up to in my current watch. It was
a long one, too: at 6 episodes it was more than two whole hours! Amazingly great value for money!
Soon as I got home, I put the tape in and watched as stars
stretched past me before turning into some kind of strange tunnel of many
colours, then the Doctor’s face appearing out of it, all to that wonderful, wonderful music. The title appeared in a
diamond shaped logo – DOCTOR WHO – before the story title showed in big white
letters: “THE MONSTER OF PELADON…BY BRIAN HAYLES…PART ONE…”
And that, dear reader, is how my lifelong journey/obsession
truly began…
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