Who?As a child, there were two things that I really looked forward to when I was sick. The first was The Price is Right. Don't ask me why, but this show absolutely fascinated my eight-year-old self. I would guess the prices for dining room sets, mutter at contestants who made obviously foolish bids, and cheer when (at regular and predictable intervals) someone was given the opportunity to win a Brand … New … Car!!
The second was Dr. Who. Though a somewhat sickly child at times, often home with the flu and other ailments, I must admit that I was never able to watch the show consistently enough to truly understand the plot. (Time Lord? Alien? What?) However, this did not stop me from loving it and having very strong opinions regarding the show. For example, as far as I was concerned Dr. Who did
not have blond curly hair. I hated the episodes with the blond, curly-haired Dr. Who--he was not my Dr. Who, anyone who thought that he actually was Dr. Who was crazy, and I wanted him gone.
And, if you've talked to me long enough, you've probably heard the story of my distress when, during a rather nasty, week-long illness, my mother sent me over to the neighbor's house for a few hours while she went to get groceries just before Dr. Who came on. I asked permission to watch it, and then waited anxiously--it was the middle of a two part episode, the Doctor was trapped in a basement with some kind of bad creatures slowly surrounding him, and I needed to know what happened! But, I had no sooner turned on the TV and heard my beloved theme song than the neighbor's daughter--a friend of mine--came home from school and demanded to watch Batman and Robin. I was incredulous. Batman and Robin?! How could anyone choose
that over Dr. Who??
(Sometimes I still wonder how he got out of that basement. … Or was it a cave? Something underground, at any rate.)
So it was with great nostalgia that I turned on the first episode of the new Dr. Who series last night. It was, quite honestly, silly. There were plot holes that I would have furiously attacked had this been a story that I was critiquing, and at times the story bordered on ridiculous. It was also witty, clever and delightfully entertaining. Simply put, it was Dr. Who. (The editing was slightly bizarre, though I don't think that this would be something I'd have noticed if I did not share an apartment with a Film and Video grad.) I admit, when I spied the "blue box" in the background I did a little mental chant: "TARDIS, TARDIS!" Who knows what I would have thought had I not watched the original (erratically) for so many years.
Whether or not the show remains on the air, and whether I keep watching it, almost seem to be inconsequential issues at the moment. I'm just happy to have had that hour.
