How Doctor Who Became My Religion
Recently, my son started watching Doctor Who on Netflix and after a few months of hearing about time vortexes and sonic screwdrivers, I decided to check it out for myself. For those who don't know: Doctor Who is a British program that has been running almost continually since its 1963 debut. It involves a 900-year-old Time Lord from the destroyed planet of Gallifrey who travels through time and space inside the TARDIS -- a sentient spacecraft shaped like an old UK police call box. He also has the ability to regenerate, taking on new forms and new personalities which also has conveniently allowed for new actors to assume the role over the last fifty years.
My childhood memories of Doctor Who were from the few Tom Baker episodes I saw on public television. I remembered the Doctor's fro, long scarf, and some truly terrible special effects, but that's about it. Not something I thought appropriate for adult viewing.
Not a Marx Brother.
Still, I tuned in for a new episode, and a funny thing happened: I cried. Then I watched another episode and guess what? I cried again. In fact, I watched four episodes over two days and for each one, I cried. I can't think of any other show that has made me cry four times, let alone four episodes in a row, so I began to investigate.
I checked the mirror. Perhaps, like the Doctor, I had regenerated too, but into the form of a 14-year-old girl. Nope, it was still me. Also my penis and testicles had not suddenly gone missing.
They were safe on top of my dresser in their special box as always.
But even though my appearance was the same, I'd definitely changed. I'd become a fanatic. More than a fanatic: I'm a zealot. I want to sit around all day writing Doctor Who scripts. Lots of them. Hell, I want to be the Doctor. Who says he can't be American? He can be anything. BBC, call me!
Or actually call my son. He's much better at making David Tennant faces.
Initially, I thought Doctor Who was packing such an emotional punch because of the way it dealt with deeply-rooted issues and mythologies. Still, Star Trek and even Star Wars did that too, and I never cried from them.
OK, I cried a little during Phantom Menace but that's only because George Lucas was urinating on my childhood.
Craig Ferguson has suggested that nerds like me like Doctor Who because it's about the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism, and that's a very accurate point, but it still doesn't explain why I'd become such a huge wuss and fanboy.
Still, after much analysis, I came up with a three step answer. More specifically, one realization composed of three parts. I'll take you through the analysis, but because this is the Internet which exists only to oversimplify things to the point of being incorrect, the basic realization was:
Watching Doctor Who Is Like Having A Relationship With God.
And I don't mean the Doctor is a metaphor for gods we know, the way the lion is Jesus in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I mean the Doctor is a god. But one we can see and understand. And he loves us more than all the other creatures in the universe. He would die for us, but what he really wants to do is live with us. So it's no wonder the show has fanatics. It's not a show. It's a philosophy. A religion.
Before I go further, let me be the first to say I am in no way a Doctor Who scholar. I've seen a fraction of the episodes. There are whole seasons I know nothing about. I'm not pretending to be an authority. I'm just relaying why this show has emotionally clobbered me in a way that might be relevant to both the uninitiated and longtime Whovians.
#3.
We Are Not Alone Against Evil
Every week, Doctor Who introduces some new unspeakable horror in the universe. The galaxy it seems is filled with no shortage of pricks who want to devour our souls, our faith, and even our faces. There are evils that want to make us cyborgs, or collect our organs for spare parts, or just flat out murder us. Yes, us. With Doctor Who, it is humanity that's in jeopardy. Not Captain Kirk or Luke Skywalker. Not even Scully and Mulder. Almost every week, either all of humanity or at least a specific human companion of the Doctor's is confronted with more evil than anyone could be expected to bear.
But unlike real life where loved ones fall to cancers that consume their bodies or terrible fates that shatter their minds, we are not alone. Doctor Who provides a savior. The Doctor risks his 900 year old-plus life to save our miniscule existences.
And he often does it in some truly terrible clothing.
I've been hearing so much about this show, and people I know and love enjoy it. Your article's further convinced me to finally check it out.
ReplyAlso, that Craig Ferguson clip kicks ass. Another convincing argument.
i started my who experience with the reboot, and even though i was most familiar with david tennant being the doctor, i was so impressed with eccleston as the doctor, i was indignant when he regenerated. i thought for sure no one could top him, but by the end of tennant's first episode, i had almost forgotten what eccleston's doctor was like.. i cried big globs of tears and snot when rose left. i watch on netflix and didn't know at all what was coming. i had only started watching it a few weeks before, but i was already so invested that it actually took me a few weeks to get over rose. i currently have 3 episodes left of the 10th doctor, that i haven't had the heart to watch yet.. i just don't have the heart to say goodbye yet.
ReplyI shared this with my mom, who's first Doctor was Tom Baker and feels quite old now.
ReplyI just now realized that a different Cracked article called "6 Scientific Discoveries That Laugh In The Face Of Physics", I read about Dr. Who, and the weeping angels, and decided to check out this "Dr. Who" especially after reading some more in the comments section. I watched that episode, then decided I should start from the beginning, and here I am, a complete and total Whovian. THANK YOU CRACKED!
ReplyI think that The Doctor is "godlike", but the they throw in his flaws, his mistakes to show that, despite all of his amazing abilities and technology, he is in fact just a man....not human....but still just a man. I believe he loves humanity so much because he sees the best traits in his own (lost) people in us. I not only cry to the show, but I also find myself getting teary eyed to the soundtrack. "This Is Gallifrey, Our Childhood, Our Home" has to be one of the most beautiful orchestrations from a television soundtrack I have ever heard. Also I'm a fan of 10 (cry like a baby when he regenerates every time I watch it), but I also like 11.
ReplyYou know, I've heard that you tend to fall in love with your first Doctor. As in, people who first saw Eccleston will have long arguments as to why he's the best, Tennant's can do the same, etc. At first I thought myself one of the exceptions, until I realized I had, in fact, seen Tennant first. My very first experience with Doctor Who was seeing Tennant's specials. All four of them. In a row. Yeah, right in the feels, and I didn't even know the show yet.
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesAnd of course there ARE exceptions to this rule, it's just a rule I've heard.
But the important thing to remember is that while we can argue which regeneration is our favorite, we can't really argue which one is best.
Because it's the /same character/. Throughout all those years. It's like arguing "Oh, that person was best in their 20s." It doesn't make sense. The /person/ was great. And so is the Doctor. Always.
In my experience, even though I started with Christopher, the ninth doctor, and did hold to him being better than David Tenant for awhile, after I saw a few of the more powerful David episodes, I was really damn convinced. Eccleston was an awesome doctor, but I'm not convinced he was the best. THEY are great.
I watched since Christopher, but I simply can't decide which Doctor (out of David, Chris and Matt) I like the most. It's too difficult.
My sister and I both love Doctor Who and it really is a matter of which doctor you saw first one of my friends made me watch a David Tennant episode and I was hooked and David is now my favorite after watching the whole series. I made my sister watch the weeping angels double episode with Matt Smith and she got hooked and loves him more than all the others
Thank you so much for writing such an apt tribute to such a great show. I only recently started watching myself, and quickly made my way through the first 5 seasons of the new series.
ReplyI think that for all the totally deserved praise that Dr. Who gets, one thing I have yet to see a single mention of it it's suspense/horror abilities. There is some SERIOUSLY good stuff along those lines in any of the episodes about the weeping angels especially "Blink", and then the episode about The Silence called "Day of the Moon" that will creep you right the f**k out.
"And he often does it in some truly terrible clothing."
ReplyHey! Bowties are cool!
"I wear a fez now, fezzes are cool!'
"I wear a Stetson now, Stetsons are cool!" :)
I started watching Doctor Who a few months ago. It inspired me to stop putting my life on hold. I changed majors and I'm doing electrical technology now. Practical application; electrician. What I'm really going to do is build robots and shit.
ReplyI feel like I'm never going to be the same person again. I'm a rabid card-carrying Atheist, but Doctor Who is like ruffling the beard of Jesus Christ.
Love it. I resort to fanfiction sometimes, my love for this show is that preposterous.
ReplyTenant will always be my favourite but I have stopped hating Matt Smith. He does alright. I really want to see what happened to the half human Doctor!
You are not alone in your tears. I cried when Captain Jack died (the first time), I cried at the end of Doomsday (like a f*****g baby), I cried when The Master died, I cried when Jenny died, I cried when River "died," I cried about what happened to Donna at the end of Journey's End, I cried for most of the last ten minuets of The End of Time, I cried when Ten regenerated... basically, that show has made me cry more than any sappy love story ever.
ReplyAlso, a little note on the Ood, according to my best friend, who is gay, an Ood's face is what gay men think a vagina looks like. I have never been able to look at them the same way again. Just thought I would share that little nugget with the masses. Also, if you ever read this, Quinton, f**k you for making me unable to watch the episodes with the Ood in them without cringing/giggling like a moron.
I sobbed like a f*****g baby during "The Family of Blood". Just the way "John Smith" suddenly broke down after seeing the captured TARDIS, how he became a mess when Martha said he had to die, and then the happy human story he *could've* had... oh man. Right in the feels, that episode. The longest I've cried, ever. I didn't even cry at my great-Aunt's funeral.
And about the Ood--I had that gut feeling the first time they were introduced. There was an article on Cracked about vaginas being everywhere in comics. And, well, RTD *is* gay (he mentions his boyfriend on the commentary for "Smith and Jones") so I think your friend is more right than he thinks.
If you're a fan, just don't even attempt to watch the regeneration of #10 around anyone who you don't want to see you bawling like a little bitch.
This is the best article I've ever read.
ReplyI would liked have liked Tennant to do a couple more years but then we probably would have missed out on. Matt Smith and the Ponds. I feel like a teenage mother who wishes she had a few more years of childhood but on the other hand loves and wouldn't want to give up her kids.
ReplyMatt Smith >>> David Tennant
Reply Hide All See All 4 Replies*runs away*
Glad I'm not the only person who thinks that! Matt Smith is my fav. :)
My first instinct was to downvote. But no, we must not fight. Although I heartily disagree with your opinion, you are not the enemy.
Now, if any dahleks post, I'm going to downvote the f**k out of them. (Especially if they say Matt Smith is better than David Tennant)
I downvoted. But I understand your view.
EX-TER-MINATE
I don't cry when I watch Doctor Who (usually)- I laugh. Not like a 'ha ha that's funny' laugh, or a 'omg that's ridiculous' laugh- laughter is, for some reason, what happens when I get really emotional.
ReplyYeah.
I'm weird.
I cried when the Master died. The one who was played by Simm, I mean. See at first, when he got shot by his 'wife' (CoughBeardCough), I was like "Ha, take that you little shit!" Because, I mean come on, he was being such an asshole. But that's besides the point. When The Doctor started telling him to regenerate and getting so upset... I started crying.
ReplyI don't know how much of a barometer Cracked is for these things, but I honestly had no idea that the Doctor has (what would appear to be) such a strong following in the States? It's also nice to see so many Americans seem to "get" it. Most of the best of British T.V mixes tragedy into its storylines. If you asked anyone from the UK what their all time favourite moment in comedy was, you'd be stunned by how many would say the last 2 minutes of the very last episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, even though (without wishing to provide spoilers) there is not a damn thing funny about that moment of "comedy". It sure as hell left you blubbing like a little girl though.
ReplyYeah, I get what you mean.
Black Adder goes forth was kind of like mash in that it had a touch (well more than a touch) of black humor, however it saved all the sad, he-could-die-at-any-moment stuff for that last moment when he said "Who would have noticed a crazy person around here".
At least among my friends (im from the us) 99% of us love Doctor Who, and the other 1% just haven't seen it yet.
Gladstone, you bastard, you made me cry.
ReplyPfft the Doctor is better than "God", he actually gives a fuck. Also he gets things done. Take that "God" =P.
ReplyTo be fair both god get thing done in their fiction universes.
Alternatively, you could say that "God" is the Doctor in an incorporeal transdimensional omnichronomatic form.
I spent my preteen years (9-14) watching Dr. Who on PBS late at night. Specifically, the Tom Baker ones. I was an addict. Year later, i caught on the Eccleston episodes and was fairly bored (I hate when the Dr. spends most of his time on Earth). But, hearing all the praise, and this article, I guess I'm going to have to check it out on Netflix. As if I'm not already trying to follow 10 other series on there.
ReplyThanks a lot, Gladstone. Now you can explain to my wife why I never get anything done!