Confessions of a DOCTOR WHO addict

Since the late seventies, I've been a fan of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre. I read comic books, watched STAR TREK on re-runs, and spent far too many hours thinking about STAR WARS. But there was one show that was different from the others. DOCTOR WHO was a brilliant show imported from the BBC, which followed the exploits of an enigmatic problem-solving character known only as The Doctor, a Time Lord from Gallifrey. Instead of a phaser or lightsaber, he used his brain to solve just about any problem facing him (with the occasion assist from his trusty Sonic Screwdriver or a robot dog). He was an alien, traveling time and space, and picking companions along the way to keep him company, and often, to help the audience learn some lesson that was being taught in the episodes. And as I've been watching BBC America's 48-hour marathon of the latest Doctor's run on the show, eagerly awaiting his final appearance in tonight's US premiere of his finale, I've been thinking an awful lot about my favorite Science Fiction show.

DOCTOR WHO got its humble start on November 23, 1963, just a few short years before STAR TREK made its television debut. Originally, it was to be a fact-based science show, set as an action-adventure for children and famlies. Then Terry Nation wrote a script for an episode that introduced one of The Doctor's fiercest villains, The Daleks, a hate-filled cybornetic race. The Doctor, with his granddaughter Susan, travel through time and space, learning about the universe and helping out where they can. One night, two of Susan's teachers from Earth come around to where they live, to learn more about Susan, who is exceptionally bright and far ahead of her peers in the fields of history and science. They follow Susan to a junk yard, and into a police box. There, they are astonished to find that the inside of the box is by far larger than the outside (it's a transdimentional effect, which none of you would have the capacity to understand, so we'll just leave it by saying "It's Magic!"). The ship, called a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space), was "borrowed" by The Doctor, and he has been on his own ever since. The two teachers become the first companions, and set out with their new alien friend to see what majesties await. A few years later, William Hartnell, the first actor to portray The Doctor, became too ill to perform. Where this might have been the end of any other show, the producers took a gamble, and decided to add to his alien abilities. They decided that Time Lords, upon dying, could "regenerate" into another, competely different body, with all new traits and mannerisms, but still the same character. Over the years, we've seen nine such regenerations, leading up to David Tennant, who has been wonderful in his portryal of The Doctor (and in my opinion, tied in second place with Sylvester McCoy - Tom Baker will always be my favorite Doctor, though).

But what has attracted me to the show and kept me a fan for most of my 33 years is the fact that The Doctor is the hero I always wanted to be. Sure, I wanted to be Captain Kirk, or Luke Skywalker, or even Batman, but The Doctor was even cooler than all of them combined. He is a genius, who can solve any problem put before him and win any arguement given. He's centuries old, and yet is wonderfulfully naïve, almost childlike, filled with awe and wonder by the simplest of things. And while he has, over the years, relied on hand-to-hand combat, swordplay, and even used a gun or two, he is always the pacifist, always trying to never take a life, even when it may mean that millions others would be saved. In a fantastic Tom Baker adventure, he is sent by the Time Lords to Skaro, to the point when Davros is about to create the Daleks. Their mission: Stop them at all costs. This would, of course, ensure that countless lives would he spared their cruelty over the centuries. In the end, The Doctor couldn't finish the task, asking himself the question "Do I have the right", knowing that he would have to live with the guilt of genocide, even knowing how many he would save in the process. This would end up being a fateful decision, as the Time Lords and the Daleks would fight a great Time War, the only victor being The Doctor, as he wound up destroying the Daleks, but also destroying his home planet in the process. The series was finally brought back in 2005, with Christopher Eccleston in the title role, fresh off of the Time War, and filled with grief and angst. He befriends a young Earth girl, Rose, who helps him learn to be The Doctor again. One great episode was "Dalek", where The Doctor and Rose land in a secret base in New Mexico, and come across a surviving Dalek that had crashed to Earth. Rose influences the creature to realize that its hatred was useless, and stands between it and The Doctor as the later pointed a lazer rifle at the cyborg. He then realizes that this action wouldn't change anything in the long run, and tearful, he drops the weapon. Eccleston did one season, and Tennant took over, making the role completely his own. Tennant is a self-confessed DW nut from childhood, and it shows in his performance. He has a reverance for the character and the show, and you can tell he cherishes his time in the TARDIS. Tonight, we'll watch him say goodbye, and welcome yet another actor into our homes as our old friend (a young actor by the name of Matt Smith). I for one, will be sitting with a box of Kleenex at the ready.

Over the years, The Doctor has been written in many different ways by different writers, each one adding the the mythos of the Time Lord. In the late eighties, Sylvester McCoy's run introduced us to a Doctor that was truly more than he seemed, even to those of us that had seen the show from the first episode. In one episode, it was even stated that sometime before he dies, he would go back to the time of King Arthur and take on the mantle of Merlin. And while always having been the unapproachable teacher/guide through the years, someone who had no interest in the romantic, recent years have seen him becoming closer to his companions, with what could be described as sexual tension at times. But even with that, he's still our Doctor. We've stuck with him through low budgets, bad effects, sub-par writing, Colin Baker, a horrible US-made TV movie (made in 1996 by FOX in conjunction with the BBC, intended to be a continuation of the series that had been cancelled in 1989, but performed poorly, so DW sat in limbo with only audio stories being made until the new series) and years a biting at every nibble that came our way about the time we would see our hero again.

I have taken more than my fair share of lumps since my childhood for being a DW fanboy. Only a few of my friends watched it, and none of them really had the love for the program that I had. I even went out one Halloween as Tom Baker's incarnation, which led to far too many questions of "Who are you supposed to be", and the look of confusion when I told them who I was, and tried to explain the show. Do I regret it? No more than I would regret playing STAR WARS on the playground as a kid, or going out as Spock another Halloween. No, I am a geek, and one of the true ones at that. Because while it's become fashionable to be a STAR WARS fan over the years, or to say you love comic books because you loved the X-MEN movies, or tp now proclaim your undying love for STAR TREK because the new movie was good, there aren't as many out there that are willing to express any love for the good Doctor. And those of us that are brave enough to shout our undying affection for our favorite Time Lord from the highest peaks are a stronger fanbase, because we don't have a crowd to follow. We are Whovians, and we aren't ashamed.

And now, Allons-y!