Why I love Doctor Who
I want to do something fun for the holiday season, so throughout the next month* I'm going to be posting fandom-related things and stuff that lets me use a little creativity. Because I really need it and some of you might be entertained. It's not meant to be holiday-themed or anything; it's just something I want to do and now's a good time to do it. So I made a long list of fandom- and writing-related things I could do and let chance decide which one I would do on each day.
What I pulled up for today was "100 Reasons Why I Love Doctor Who", which was good because it reminded me that I really do like the show. My list (which contains things I love and/or amuse me about the show, the cast and crew, and even the fandom) is below. New series only, because that's what I'm familiar with. There's no particular order; I typed things as they occurred to me.
***
100 Reasons Why I Love (new) Doctor Who (and Torchwood)
1. Because of David Tennant, who is utterly fantastic. If it wasn't for Doctor Who I would have never discovered this actor or any of the other fun things he's been in.
2. "I'd call you a genius except I'm in the room."
3. Because Russell T. Davies shouting "Hooray!" at random times in commentaries and interviews always makes me giggle.
4. Because there are just not enough shows that use time travel on a regular basis.
5. Jack/Hand
6. TARDIS = coolest ship ever
7. Because in "Love & Monsters" Elton quoted a line from The Gunslinger, the first book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. That's one of my absolute favorite book series ever.
8. Because of all the Shakespeare dorkery in "The Shakespeare Code."
9. ihasatardis
10. Because Torchwood has a pet pterodactyl.
11. Because of the music. I've had the S3 soundtrack for less than a month and I've listened to it more times than I care to admit.
12. Because it gave me the coma-inducing cuteness of David Tennant + a kitten.
13. The audiobook version of The Last Dodo read by Freema Agyeman, because it's not terribly well-written but Freema turns it into something fabulous.
14. Because the show and the special effects just get better looking each year.
15. Because it's made by people who really love the show. Agree or disagree with their decisions, I don't think anyone can honestly argue that the production team doesn't care about the product.
16. David Tennant's video diaries on the DVD boxsets.
17. "Everything has its time and everything dies," because that's the scene from "The End of the World" that made me want to keep watching the show beyond that first night I tuned into the first two episodes on the SciFi Channel.
18. Because "I Can't Decide" is now one of my favorite songs.
19. Christmas episodes! I mean, who else has Christmas episodes anymore?
20. Because the Daleks are actually kind of terrifying despite looking ridiculous.
21. "The Angels have the phone box."
"That part's my favorite. I've got that on a t-shirt!"
And within a few hours of that episode airing you really could get that on a t-shirt.
22. Rose Tyler, because she was my favorite character back in season one.
23. Martha Jones, because I identified with her so much.
24. Donna Noble, because she slapped the Doctor. Twice.
25. Captain Jack Harkness, because who doesn't love an immortal time-traveling omnisexual con man from the future?
26. Mickey Smith, because he went further than any of them.
27. Because Russell's complete inability to give imaginative names to characters is kind of endearing.
28. Because you can never have too many exploding aliens.
29. Because the crack fan speculation has a habit of becoming canon. I mean, Jack = Face of Boe?
30. Bad Wolf.
31. Because Martha is so awesome that she saved the universe simply by telling a story.
32. TARDIS/taxi chase from "The Runaway Bride."
33. Because it makes me laugh.
34. Because I end up caring about even the one-off characters.
35. The last scene of "The Doctor Dances" will never not put a grin on my face.
36. Because "Boom Town" was a good episode despite everyone telling me it wasn't.
37. "New teeth. That's weird."
38. Because no one can resist a great big button that must never, ever, ever be pressed.
39. Because bananas are good.
40. Because the werewolf was so much better than the one from Harry Potter.
41. Because "The Girl in the Fireplace" is just a beautiful episode, and any show capable of producing an episode like that is worth watching.
42. Because I understand British slang better now.
43. "57 academics just punched the air."
44. Because Ten wears Converse shoes all the time no matter what else he's wearing, plus he color coordinates them with his outfits (navy blue Converse = appropriate with formal wear!).
45. Because John Simm took a character I was very wary of and kind of upset about and made him brilliant.
46. I love any show that features men in long coats. Blame Mulder, my first TV crush, for that (but he belongs in another list entirely).
47. Because of that bit in the opening credits where the TARDIS exits one vortex tunnel, stops while the camera spins around it, then drops down another tunnel.
48. Because it helped me survive the summer of 2006.
49. Because every episode looks completely different from the one before it, and that's not something you see in any other TV show.
50. "Oh, look what the cat dragged in. The Oncoming Storm."
51. Doctor/TARDIS
52. Because the cast is pretty, especially in "The Lazarus Experiment."
53. David Tennant's eyebrows.
54. Freema Agyeman's eyebrows.
55. Because it's just made for cracktastic crossover fics, even if most of them are only in my head. More people need to write these!
56. The Journal of Impossible Things.
57. Because the opening scene of "Everything Changes" from Torchwood immediately grabbed my attention.
58. Because of the gratuitous glasses porn.
59. Because Ten ruffles his hair when he's trying to figure something out.
60. "If we end up on Mars, I'm going to kill you."
61. Because there's family and relationship drama as well as science fiction. The two are NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE and the production team seems to get that.
62. Rose's adorable outfit in "Boom Town."
63. Martha's adorable outfit in "Blink."
64. The cast's complete enthusiasm for the series.
65. The random pop music that sometimes turns up in episodes.
66. Because Murray Gold is a crap lyricist but I can't stop singing along with the songs he writes.
67. Because it really gives me a sense of a complete universe heavy with history and events and consequences and things that exist even if we never see them. They're there, and we know they're there even though they're never explained. It's a universe that could almost be real.
68. Because the show can make me laugh and cry, sometimes within the same episode.
69. Because "Operation market stall" from "The Idiot's Lantern" always makes me laugh.
70. Because the Scooby-Doo chase at the beginning of "Love & Monsters" is cheesy and awesome.
71. The Dalek vs. Cyberman bitch fight in "Doomsday."
72. The inside joke with having Ten use a Scottish accent in "Tooth and Claw."
73. ...FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE!
74. Because "Blink" gave me an actual nightmare.
75. "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?"
76. The scene with Nine's hologram in the TARDIS during "Parting of the Ways," when he turns and looks directly at Rose, is one of the best moments I've ever seen on TV.
77. Because in the very first episode Mickey gets eaten by a garbage can and that is never not funny.
78. "Guests are reminded that Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation, and religion."
79. The way "The Sound of Drums" was shot. I love the crazy angles.
80. David Tennant's hair.
81. Because Jack constantly runs around wearing WWII-period clothing in the modern day.
82. Because John Smith managed to completely break my heart in the end even though I spent most of "Human Nature" wishing him gone.
83. "Now where was I? Here comes the sun...no! Resources!" Because I missed it the first time I watched "42" and for some reason I find it very funny.
84. The scene in "The Girl in the Fireplace" when Reinette steps through the tapestry into the spaceship, and stands against that backdrop in her lavish red gown. The juxtaposition there is wonderful.
85. The Harry Potter references in "The Shakespeare Code."
86. Time travel-related fun at the end of "Smith and Jones."
87. Because the Lion King reference in "The Christmas Invasion" made me laugh for an embarrassingly long time.
88. Because David Tennant somehow went from "okay-looking" to "HAWT" in the course of one season.
89. Because the password to hack into top-secret military sites is "buffalo."
90. Because I didn't like Jack to begin with but it only took one episode for him to become one of my most favorite characters ever.
91. Because the show can laugh at itself.
92. "See, there's this thing...well, four things...well, four things and a lizard."
93. Canonical fairies!
94. Canonical space rhinos!
95. Because everyone in the universe has a British accent (except Captain Jack, of course). Makes a change from everyone in the universe having an American/Canadian accent.
96. Because the show has led me to finding other entertaining British shows.
97. Because the suicide scene from "Out of Time" was superbly acted by John Barrowman.
98. The Doctor's descriptions of Gallifrey in "Gridlock."
99. Because Donna called the Doctor "Martian Boy."
100. Because it taps into some undefined something in my head that just makes me very happy when I watch.
*Actually, just until December 21st, because after that I'm going to be at my parents' house with no computer except my brother's frustratingly slow one. So I won't be online much at all over the holidays.
What I pulled up for today was "100 Reasons Why I Love Doctor Who", which was good because it reminded me that I really do like the show. My list (which contains things I love and/or amuse me about the show, the cast and crew, and even the fandom) is below. New series only, because that's what I'm familiar with. There's no particular order; I typed things as they occurred to me.
***
100 Reasons Why I Love (new) Doctor Who (and Torchwood)
1. Because of David Tennant, who is utterly fantastic. If it wasn't for Doctor Who I would have never discovered this actor or any of the other fun things he's been in.
2. "I'd call you a genius except I'm in the room."
3. Because Russell T. Davies shouting "Hooray!" at random times in commentaries and interviews always makes me giggle.
4. Because there are just not enough shows that use time travel on a regular basis.
5. Jack/Hand
6. TARDIS = coolest ship ever
7. Because in "Love & Monsters" Elton quoted a line from The Gunslinger, the first book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. That's one of my absolute favorite book series ever.
8. Because of all the Shakespeare dorkery in "The Shakespeare Code."
9. ihasatardis
10. Because Torchwood has a pet pterodactyl.
11. Because of the music. I've had the S3 soundtrack for less than a month and I've listened to it more times than I care to admit.
12. Because it gave me the coma-inducing cuteness of David Tennant + a kitten.
13. The audiobook version of The Last Dodo read by Freema Agyeman, because it's not terribly well-written but Freema turns it into something fabulous.
14. Because the show and the special effects just get better looking each year.
15. Because it's made by people who really love the show. Agree or disagree with their decisions, I don't think anyone can honestly argue that the production team doesn't care about the product.
16. David Tennant's video diaries on the DVD boxsets.
17. "Everything has its time and everything dies," because that's the scene from "The End of the World" that made me want to keep watching the show beyond that first night I tuned into the first two episodes on the SciFi Channel.
18. Because "I Can't Decide" is now one of my favorite songs.
19. Christmas episodes! I mean, who else has Christmas episodes anymore?
20. Because the Daleks are actually kind of terrifying despite looking ridiculous.
21. "The Angels have the phone box."
"That part's my favorite. I've got that on a t-shirt!"
And within a few hours of that episode airing you really could get that on a t-shirt.
22. Rose Tyler, because she was my favorite character back in season one.
23. Martha Jones, because I identified with her so much.
24. Donna Noble, because she slapped the Doctor. Twice.
25. Captain Jack Harkness, because who doesn't love an immortal time-traveling omnisexual con man from the future?
26. Mickey Smith, because he went further than any of them.
27. Because Russell's complete inability to give imaginative names to characters is kind of endearing.
28. Because you can never have too many exploding aliens.
29. Because the crack fan speculation has a habit of becoming canon. I mean, Jack = Face of Boe?
30. Bad Wolf.
31. Because Martha is so awesome that she saved the universe simply by telling a story.
32. TARDIS/taxi chase from "The Runaway Bride."
33. Because it makes me laugh.
34. Because I end up caring about even the one-off characters.
35. The last scene of "The Doctor Dances" will never not put a grin on my face.
36. Because "Boom Town" was a good episode despite everyone telling me it wasn't.
37. "New teeth. That's weird."
38. Because no one can resist a great big button that must never, ever, ever be pressed.
39. Because bananas are good.
40. Because the werewolf was so much better than the one from Harry Potter.
41. Because "The Girl in the Fireplace" is just a beautiful episode, and any show capable of producing an episode like that is worth watching.
42. Because I understand British slang better now.
43. "57 academics just punched the air."
44. Because Ten wears Converse shoes all the time no matter what else he's wearing, plus he color coordinates them with his outfits (navy blue Converse = appropriate with formal wear!).
45. Because John Simm took a character I was very wary of and kind of upset about and made him brilliant.
46. I love any show that features men in long coats. Blame Mulder, my first TV crush, for that (but he belongs in another list entirely).
47. Because of that bit in the opening credits where the TARDIS exits one vortex tunnel, stops while the camera spins around it, then drops down another tunnel.
48. Because it helped me survive the summer of 2006.
49. Because every episode looks completely different from the one before it, and that's not something you see in any other TV show.
50. "Oh, look what the cat dragged in. The Oncoming Storm."
51. Doctor/TARDIS
52. Because the cast is pretty, especially in "The Lazarus Experiment."
53. David Tennant's eyebrows.
54. Freema Agyeman's eyebrows.
55. Because it's just made for cracktastic crossover fics, even if most of them are only in my head. More people need to write these!
56. The Journal of Impossible Things.
57. Because the opening scene of "Everything Changes" from Torchwood immediately grabbed my attention.
58. Because of the gratuitous glasses porn.
59. Because Ten ruffles his hair when he's trying to figure something out.
60. "If we end up on Mars, I'm going to kill you."
61. Because there's family and relationship drama as well as science fiction. The two are NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE and the production team seems to get that.
62. Rose's adorable outfit in "Boom Town."
63. Martha's adorable outfit in "Blink."
64. The cast's complete enthusiasm for the series.
65. The random pop music that sometimes turns up in episodes.
66. Because Murray Gold is a crap lyricist but I can't stop singing along with the songs he writes.
67. Because it really gives me a sense of a complete universe heavy with history and events and consequences and things that exist even if we never see them. They're there, and we know they're there even though they're never explained. It's a universe that could almost be real.
68. Because the show can make me laugh and cry, sometimes within the same episode.
69. Because "Operation market stall" from "The Idiot's Lantern" always makes me laugh.
70. Because the Scooby-Doo chase at the beginning of "Love & Monsters" is cheesy and awesome.
71. The Dalek vs. Cyberman bitch fight in "Doomsday."
72. The inside joke with having Ten use a Scottish accent in "Tooth and Claw."
73. ...FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE!
74. Because "Blink" gave me an actual nightmare.
75. "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?"
76. The scene with Nine's hologram in the TARDIS during "Parting of the Ways," when he turns and looks directly at Rose, is one of the best moments I've ever seen on TV.
77. Because in the very first episode Mickey gets eaten by a garbage can and that is never not funny.
78. "Guests are reminded that Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation, and religion."
79. The way "The Sound of Drums" was shot. I love the crazy angles.
80. David Tennant's hair.
81. Because Jack constantly runs around wearing WWII-period clothing in the modern day.
82. Because John Smith managed to completely break my heart in the end even though I spent most of "Human Nature" wishing him gone.
83. "Now where was I? Here comes the sun...no! Resources!" Because I missed it the first time I watched "42" and for some reason I find it very funny.
84. The scene in "The Girl in the Fireplace" when Reinette steps through the tapestry into the spaceship, and stands against that backdrop in her lavish red gown. The juxtaposition there is wonderful.
85. The Harry Potter references in "The Shakespeare Code."
86. Time travel-related fun at the end of "Smith and Jones."
87. Because the Lion King reference in "The Christmas Invasion" made me laugh for an embarrassingly long time.
88. Because David Tennant somehow went from "okay-looking" to "HAWT" in the course of one season.
89. Because the password to hack into top-secret military sites is "buffalo."
90. Because I didn't like Jack to begin with but it only took one episode for him to become one of my most favorite characters ever.
91. Because the show can laugh at itself.
92. "See, there's this thing...well, four things...well, four things and a lizard."
93. Canonical fairies!
94. Canonical space rhinos!
95. Because everyone in the universe has a British accent (except Captain Jack, of course). Makes a change from everyone in the universe having an American/Canadian accent.
96. Because the show has led me to finding other entertaining British shows.
97. Because the suicide scene from "Out of Time" was superbly acted by John Barrowman.
98. The Doctor's descriptions of Gallifrey in "Gridlock."
99. Because Donna called the Doctor "Martian Boy."
100. Because it taps into some undefined something in my head that just makes me very happy when I watch.
*Actually, just until December 21st, because after that I'm going to be at my parents' house with no computer except my brother's frustratingly slow one. So I won't be online much at all over the holidays.