Inner Ramblings: Genesis of The Whovians

Thursday, August 16 2012 - Inner Ramblings - by: nny_42

It starts again . I can hear the screams of the fan girls now. The familiar wail of a certain blue box. The robotic screeching cry of “EXTERMINATE!”. The sea of ginger hair. The fez’s. It still haunts my dreams and I have missed it all dearly. I have mentioned before how much I love Doctor Who and how vie been waiting seemingly forever for the new season. Ok maybe not forever but sure felt that way, but there is finally reason to rejoice.

At yesterday’s press screening for the series 7 premier , they announced that it will (finally) air on September 1st. I am ecstatic, don’t get me wrong, but I was a little disappointed that there didn’t seem to be any US premier event like they have had for a few years now. I mean camping out last year although insane, was actually a lot of fun and I miss it. I spent my day tangling with the bittersweet news until something quite surprising hit my newsfeed. There is going to be another New York City premier on the 25th, the week before it airs officially.

The Good news: My fandom is crazy. But now (likely because of last year's debacle where a few hundred crazy people, myself included, decided to camp out over night for the chance to get in) they are selling tickets to the event ahead of time.

The Bad news: My fandom is crazy. Mainly because the tickets are so cheap (11 cents, I see what you did there BBC America and its adorable) this is bound to sell out just about instantly. And now I am scared I won't be able to get a ticket in time It’s a good thing I don’t sleep much, because that means I have all the time in the world to sit here waiting, credit card in hand , for the tickets to finally go on sale. But as nervous as I am about how difficult getting a ticket is going to be , in a weird way I am thrilled.

I feel like the fandom for Doctor Who has quadrupled in the last few years, and its in no small part to BBC America. They are literally Pimping The Doctor everywhere and in every way they could and making it easier for new fans to hop on board. There’s commercials and Ads for it everywhere. There’s specials dedicated to filling in new potential fans of the show. There’s more toys, shirts and replica’s than my poor wallet could handle. In a way this little fandom’s gone mainstream.

Once upon a time, Doctor Who was this quirky little show that would randomly marathon on Sci-fi channel. Christopher Eccleston was my first Doctor. Well my first real Doctor. I have extremely vague memories of watching the eighth Doctor movie, not knowing what the hell I had watched . I admit I still didn’t know what the hell I was watching, or why this big eared fellow in the leather jacket and a laser pen was running away from what appeared to be evil store mannequins, but yet I was intrigued . A few episodes in I was hooked and by the season finale I was…. Well, confused.

Weird that this is considered a spoiler since well, there are 2 more Doctor’s after him, but when he keel’s over, burst into light and was suddenly David Tennant, it was my 1st “HOLY CRAP WHAT?” moment of many in the show. I had to research what “Regeneration” meant. I also had to share my new found love of this with any an everyone, but sadly found I was the only person watching it. Or at least it felt that way for awhile.

You would chat with a group of people about it, be it online or at a con. You would all need a hug after watching the episode “Doomsday”. There was always some older guy who would tell about the dark ages when this show wasn’t even on the air, and recommend episodes of the older Doctors and warn you of what awful episodes to steer clear of. It was relatively small but close knit Sci-Fi geek niche. Now I see Matt Smiths giant head on the side of buses whenever I am in the city. Seeing a Tenth Doctor cosplay at a convention was a rarity, now you can’t go anywhere you would expect cosplayers without fighting through a sea of bowties and fez’s. It's fantastic. I love how this has spread. I love that something I hold so dear is now being embraced so openly.

In a few years time it’s come full circle for me. Matt Smith is now A lot of people’s 1st Doctor, and I am that guy telling stories about the dark ages when it wasn’t even on the air (“Its been on hiatus for NEARLY A YEAR. It was HORRIBLE“)and recommending episodes of the “older” Doctor’s (“go back and watch Tennant & Eccleston, the go even further and watch Tom Baker, man was a genius”) and warning about what episodes to avoid (“love & monsters, just DON’T see it *nervous twitch*). Hopefully I get into this year’s premiere screening and have many a tale to tell and a spoiler-free review. I’ll just be sitting here in my bowtie and suspenders until then.