How I became a Whovian
Looking through my old entries, I found the one I (sort of) wrote about how I became a Doctor Who fan, and realised I never translate it into English. Then I wanted to share my story as a part of a Doctor Who meme I found a long time ago but I was never happy with all 30 answers and haven’t posted it yet. So, there it goes, a special entry for it, a new post because I can't write the same content twice. A year after I wrote my first LJ entry, in a journal that became very Doctor Who-centered. How I became a Whovian almost two years ago.
Let me see if I need warnings... The entry is a memory lane and consists of feelings and reactions, so hello, subjectivity! Spoilers about the plot of season six, Donna's fate and when the Doctors regenerated.
I heard about Doctor Who for the first time when I became a fan of BBC Sherlock in 2011. Some people in the fandom would mention a mysterious “Doctor”, speak about a blue box and have a weird interest in bow ties. Polish Doctor Who fandom was just behind a wall and there was a crack in that wall. My first memories about Doctor Who are photos and drawings of a ridiculously looking young man wearing a bow tie and a fez (the fez appeared in fanarts so often I thought he wore it all the time), some very complicated sentences about story arcs and few voices saying Steven Moffat is much better in writing Sherlock than running Doctor Who. I’d ignore those comments (after season 2 of Sherlock, he was like a god for me) but from gifs and short videos other fans shared, that man in a bow tie, the girl with red hair and the blond woman just didn’t seem to be characters I would like. I hate overconfident people (maybe because I’m jealous. Where do you buy confidence?) and there was no connection between me and any of them. Visually, those series five and six looked like a fairy tale for children. The fact that it was a sci-fi series didn’t help either. So for two or three years, I knew there was a series called Doctor Who, with a man called Doctor who was played by many actors, with a blue box and deadly creatures called Daleks you weren’t allowed to mock. I didn’t want to watch it but I read about it - how it survived 50 years and iconic in Great Britain. I heard fans make the series now and the BBC owns the rights to the blue box, not the police. I was fascinated by the series’ history and influence. I read about the plot and production on Wikipedia. Thank God I have a really bad memory and have forgotten most of it by the time I stated watching.
Summer 2014 was hot (in my memories, at least) and, as a summer, a bit boring in fandom life. The Internet was crazy about the Ice Bucket Challenge, and there was a poll contest hosted by radiotimes.com: choose the British actor of 2014. They started with 128 actors and actresses, selected them into pairs, there was a voting and one actor from each pair went to the next round, again there was a voting between two actors, and so it was until there were only two of them, the finale, the last vote. The winner was the actor of the year. There are many similar votings all the time but this one was big; fans were really involved and determined. I’ve seen it as a member of Cumbercollective; I thought there’s no way Benedict can’t win. He was everywhere on the Internet at the time, a king of Tumblr, you opened a fridge and he was there, it seemed. He went straight to the final round, only to lose - in about a 200,000 votes - to… David Tennant. The man I knew hasn’t played the Doctor for few years then, and it’s not like the new guy has been rejected, so he should be forgotten in the mainstream for now, right? (Little did I know.) But he wasn’t. I also knew he was in Harry Potter so I liked him already because bad actors don’t get a part in a Harry Potter film. I learned about numbers: I’ve seen people in the fandom were very fond of number eleven but I noticed there were some people here and there who, very shyly, as it wasn’t completely allowed, spoke they never liked eleven as much as they liked ten…
So, here I was in August or early September, in need of a new fandom, just a sheer joy of being a fan, with over a million “I love David Tennant” messages. I wanted to know why his fans love him so much and maybe fall in love, too. And I was already fascinated by the history of the series that became iconic in the country that gave me my beloved Sherlock. I asked through the crack in the fandom wall, where do you start watching Doctor Who these days, I found “Rose” and clicked “play”.
(The chart's from the article I linked above)
My first impression was… it’s weird. I thought the Autons were rubbish, the action was slow and the effects like in the 90s, but I laughed at Rose’s line about breast implants, liked the use of London Eye and the mystery of the Doctor. I knew the series was a legend so I decided to give it a chance. And so I was in the first season, ambiguous, liking some elements and not really enjoying others and even skipping one or two episodes (I know, but there was no one there to tell me it gets better after the Slitheen!). Steven Moffat’s two-parter really scared me because I wasn’t prepared for scary monsters, not after the Slitheen, and I developed a habit of watching the series at 1-2 am. I got to the regeneration episode, and became quite attached to Christopher Eccleston, but after he changed into David, it was like something “clicked” and another piece of the puzzle was in place. When I watched David Tennant as Cassandra, I knew he was good; I liked him more and more with every scene he showed emotions and I knew I was falling for him. I loved his Doctor, so flawed (the way he treated Mickey!) and full of anger, regret, excitement, passion, love, hope… Coming from one extreme to another. This is when Rose started to annoy me (re: my problem with confident people) and when she left and Martha came, it was like the last piece found its place and I fell in love with Doctor Who entirely. I loved Martha, I understood her, I hated how the Doctor treated her but I loved every second of every episode, the development of their relationship, all the stories and the wonderful finale (not sure about Dobby though, couldn’t they just keep old David?). And then season four came, with even better stories (Pompeii! The Doctor’s Daughter! Agatha Christie! The Library! Midnight! Turn Left! The finale!) and Donna, and with heart breaking end. I understood Donna. I am Donna, except the shouting part. “You think you’re not worth it.” It was like a dagger in my heart, what happened to her. As planned, I’m sure.
I was thrilled by The Waters of Mars - I thought this is it, this is the Doctor crossing the line and becoming actually scary, how can they make him so dark in a programme for kids?, I thought with delight. It’s all true to the character and like we were always heading for this. I actually cried when the Tenth Doctor regenerated. I couldn’t believe I loved this character so much, I never cry because of tv shows, no matter what happens (once. I cried only once before. And never since the regeneration). But this story was like nothing else I ever watched. Sure I was moved before. But not like that. I felt like an actual person died and like the best story I have ever been told has ended.
Obviously, it wasn’t the time for a new Doctor. I needed a break, time to grief my Doctor, I wouldn’t accept anyone else - so I caught up with all Confidentials, interviews and everything I could find on the Internet. Then I watched season five with occasional “this is not how I see the Doctor” thoughts, but enjoying the plot - the finale was really, really good. Season six has almost made me stop watching - I hated River, I hated plot holes and bad psychology, I hated the stupid solution of the Doctor’s fake death, I hated not seeing London anymore, I hated Amy for not appreciating Rory, I hated sex jokes, I hated the Eleventh for being omnipotent, overconfident and not handsome, and I hated Steven Moffat because it was all his fault. So much hate and disappointment. I only started watching season seven because I knew David Tennant was back for the fiftieth anniversary and I was told I wouldn’t understand the episode if I don’t know season seven - which didn’t turn out to be true, by the way. But with season seven, I started to enjoy Doctor Who again. A Town Called Mercy is my favourite episode with the Eleventh Doctor. Amy and Rory finally left and Clara came with freshness the series, in my opinion, needed. The Doctor was behaving differently and even his clothes have changed. Day of the Doctor reminded me there’s only one Doctor in my heart but I really warmed up to the Eleventh. But I was ready for Peter Capaldi who, I believe, is a really good Doctor with some bad scripts. It was in the middle of season eight when I run out of the episodes and had to wait for more. Since then, I rewatched many episodes, changed my mind about some of them, appreciated Nine more, stopped hating Steven Moffat, liked the fairy tale stories more, watched Torchwood 1-3, some episodes of Sarah Jane Adventures and about half of classic episodes up to season 13 (so far), bought some merchandise, wrote a meta or two, talked and talked and talked - but never stopped loving the Tenth Doctor and never loved any Doctor as I love him.
And, of course, I watched David Tennant in many series, films, plays; I’ve even seen him live playing Richard II in London. It was easier for me to see he’s not (only) the Doctor than to see the Doctor is not (only) him (with Russell T Davies’ scripts). The man has a role of a lifetime every two years. Sometimes I feel I’m not so much Doctor Who fan as David’s fan and Davies’ fan. But then I remember I do not only own red trainers and a Tenth Doctor’s screwdriver, but also a fez. That fez I’ve seen on fanarts years ago and thought it’s ridiculous. And even if I know exactly who I’d like to see getting out of the blue box to say hello to me, the important thing is, I keep looking for it, in the sky or in an ordinary street. Because this is what Doctor Who makes us do: look up, at the stars and dream about the blue box.
TL;DR version:I heard about the series history and status and was fascinted by it; then, when David Tennant won with Benedict Cumberbatch in a fans' voting, I wanted to know why they love him so much. Gradually fell in love.
Let me see if I need warnings... The entry is a memory lane and consists of feelings and reactions, so hello, subjectivity! Spoilers about the plot of season six, Donna's fate and when the Doctors regenerated.
I heard about Doctor Who for the first time when I became a fan of BBC Sherlock in 2011. Some people in the fandom would mention a mysterious “Doctor”, speak about a blue box and have a weird interest in bow ties. Polish Doctor Who fandom was just behind a wall and there was a crack in that wall. My first memories about Doctor Who are photos and drawings of a ridiculously looking young man wearing a bow tie and a fez (the fez appeared in fanarts so often I thought he wore it all the time), some very complicated sentences about story arcs and few voices saying Steven Moffat is much better in writing Sherlock than running Doctor Who. I’d ignore those comments (after season 2 of Sherlock, he was like a god for me) but from gifs and short videos other fans shared, that man in a bow tie, the girl with red hair and the blond woman just didn’t seem to be characters I would like. I hate overconfident people (maybe because I’m jealous. Where do you buy confidence?) and there was no connection between me and any of them. Visually, those series five and six looked like a fairy tale for children. The fact that it was a sci-fi series didn’t help either. So for two or three years, I knew there was a series called Doctor Who, with a man called Doctor who was played by many actors, with a blue box and deadly creatures called Daleks you weren’t allowed to mock. I didn’t want to watch it but I read about it - how it survived 50 years and iconic in Great Britain. I heard fans make the series now and the BBC owns the rights to the blue box, not the police. I was fascinated by the series’ history and influence. I read about the plot and production on Wikipedia. Thank God I have a really bad memory and have forgotten most of it by the time I stated watching.
Summer 2014 was hot (in my memories, at least) and, as a summer, a bit boring in fandom life. The Internet was crazy about the Ice Bucket Challenge, and there was a poll contest hosted by radiotimes.com: choose the British actor of 2014. They started with 128 actors and actresses, selected them into pairs, there was a voting and one actor from each pair went to the next round, again there was a voting between two actors, and so it was until there were only two of them, the finale, the last vote. The winner was the actor of the year. There are many similar votings all the time but this one was big; fans were really involved and determined. I’ve seen it as a member of Cumbercollective; I thought there’s no way Benedict can’t win. He was everywhere on the Internet at the time, a king of Tumblr, you opened a fridge and he was there, it seemed. He went straight to the final round, only to lose - in about a 200,000 votes - to… David Tennant. The man I knew hasn’t played the Doctor for few years then, and it’s not like the new guy has been rejected, so he should be forgotten in the mainstream for now, right? (Little did I know.) But he wasn’t. I also knew he was in Harry Potter so I liked him already because bad actors don’t get a part in a Harry Potter film. I learned about numbers: I’ve seen people in the fandom were very fond of number eleven but I noticed there were some people here and there who, very shyly, as it wasn’t completely allowed, spoke they never liked eleven as much as they liked ten…
So, here I was in August or early September, in need of a new fandom, just a sheer joy of being a fan, with over a million “I love David Tennant” messages. I wanted to know why his fans love him so much and maybe fall in love, too. And I was already fascinated by the history of the series that became iconic in the country that gave me my beloved Sherlock. I asked through the crack in the fandom wall, where do you start watching Doctor Who these days, I found “Rose” and clicked “play”.
(The chart's from the article I linked above)
My first impression was… it’s weird. I thought the Autons were rubbish, the action was slow and the effects like in the 90s, but I laughed at Rose’s line about breast implants, liked the use of London Eye and the mystery of the Doctor. I knew the series was a legend so I decided to give it a chance. And so I was in the first season, ambiguous, liking some elements and not really enjoying others and even skipping one or two episodes (I know, but there was no one there to tell me it gets better after the Slitheen!). Steven Moffat’s two-parter really scared me because I wasn’t prepared for scary monsters, not after the Slitheen, and I developed a habit of watching the series at 1-2 am. I got to the regeneration episode, and became quite attached to Christopher Eccleston, but after he changed into David, it was like something “clicked” and another piece of the puzzle was in place. When I watched David Tennant as Cassandra, I knew he was good; I liked him more and more with every scene he showed emotions and I knew I was falling for him. I loved his Doctor, so flawed (the way he treated Mickey!) and full of anger, regret, excitement, passion, love, hope… Coming from one extreme to another. This is when Rose started to annoy me (re: my problem with confident people) and when she left and Martha came, it was like the last piece found its place and I fell in love with Doctor Who entirely. I loved Martha, I understood her, I hated how the Doctor treated her but I loved every second of every episode, the development of their relationship, all the stories and the wonderful finale (not sure about Dobby though, couldn’t they just keep old David?). And then season four came, with even better stories (Pompeii! The Doctor’s Daughter! Agatha Christie! The Library! Midnight! Turn Left! The finale!) and Donna, and with heart breaking end. I understood Donna. I am Donna, except the shouting part. “You think you’re not worth it.” It was like a dagger in my heart, what happened to her. As planned, I’m sure.
I was thrilled by The Waters of Mars - I thought this is it, this is the Doctor crossing the line and becoming actually scary, how can they make him so dark in a programme for kids?, I thought with delight. It’s all true to the character and like we were always heading for this. I actually cried when the Tenth Doctor regenerated. I couldn’t believe I loved this character so much, I never cry because of tv shows, no matter what happens (once. I cried only once before. And never since the regeneration). But this story was like nothing else I ever watched. Sure I was moved before. But not like that. I felt like an actual person died and like the best story I have ever been told has ended.
Obviously, it wasn’t the time for a new Doctor. I needed a break, time to grief my Doctor, I wouldn’t accept anyone else - so I caught up with all Confidentials, interviews and everything I could find on the Internet. Then I watched season five with occasional “this is not how I see the Doctor” thoughts, but enjoying the plot - the finale was really, really good. Season six has almost made me stop watching - I hated River, I hated plot holes and bad psychology, I hated the stupid solution of the Doctor’s fake death, I hated not seeing London anymore, I hated Amy for not appreciating Rory, I hated sex jokes, I hated the Eleventh for being omnipotent, overconfident and not handsome, and I hated Steven Moffat because it was all his fault. So much hate and disappointment. I only started watching season seven because I knew David Tennant was back for the fiftieth anniversary and I was told I wouldn’t understand the episode if I don’t know season seven - which didn’t turn out to be true, by the way. But with season seven, I started to enjoy Doctor Who again. A Town Called Mercy is my favourite episode with the Eleventh Doctor. Amy and Rory finally left and Clara came with freshness the series, in my opinion, needed. The Doctor was behaving differently and even his clothes have changed. Day of the Doctor reminded me there’s only one Doctor in my heart but I really warmed up to the Eleventh. But I was ready for Peter Capaldi who, I believe, is a really good Doctor with some bad scripts. It was in the middle of season eight when I run out of the episodes and had to wait for more. Since then, I rewatched many episodes, changed my mind about some of them, appreciated Nine more, stopped hating Steven Moffat, liked the fairy tale stories more, watched Torchwood 1-3, some episodes of Sarah Jane Adventures and about half of classic episodes up to season 13 (so far), bought some merchandise, wrote a meta or two, talked and talked and talked - but never stopped loving the Tenth Doctor and never loved any Doctor as I love him.
And, of course, I watched David Tennant in many series, films, plays; I’ve even seen him live playing Richard II in London. It was easier for me to see he’s not (only) the Doctor than to see the Doctor is not (only) him (with Russell T Davies’ scripts). The man has a role of a lifetime every two years. Sometimes I feel I’m not so much Doctor Who fan as David’s fan and Davies’ fan. But then I remember I do not only own red trainers and a Tenth Doctor’s screwdriver, but also a fez. That fez I’ve seen on fanarts years ago and thought it’s ridiculous. And even if I know exactly who I’d like to see getting out of the blue box to say hello to me, the important thing is, I keep looking for it, in the sky or in an ordinary street. Because this is what Doctor Who makes us do: look up, at the stars and dream about the blue box.
TL;DR version:I heard about the series history and status and was fascinted by it; then, when David Tennant won with Benedict Cumberbatch in a fans' voting, I wanted to know why they love him so much. Gradually fell in love.