Saturday, June 27, 2009

Doctor Who

My little sister will swear up and down that she hates science fiction with the exception of Stargate: SG-1. If asked if she likes Doctor Who she would answer with a fervent no.

This summer I'm living with my little sister while I work at my co-op and she goes to summer school at UCF. Yesterday she kept saying she needed to do work, but I wasn't feeling well so I wanted to watch TV. I said I would watch Doctor Who since she didn't like it, therefore, the show would not distract her. She said I could and I preceeded to select one of the episodes I had recorded.

The episode I picked was an episode from the first season of the Doctor Who revival. For those of you who aren't Doctor Who savvy, Doctor Who is a British sci-fi show that started in 1963. It aired from 1963 to 1989. Then in 2005, the British brought it back. The great thing about the revival is that foreknowledge of the original series isn't necessary, but for the people who grew up watching the original, all of the same bad-guys and idiosyncrasies are there. It really is quite awesome.

The main character of Doctor Who is this alien, a Time Lord, called the Doctor. Because the show has been on so long they had to find a way to be able to change actors for the Doctor. The method is that since the Doctor is an alien, instead of dying he "regenerates". This regeneration essentially turns him into a different person. Though he is still the Doctor he has slightly different tastes and idiosyncrasies. And of course, he looks completely different.

What does this have to do with my little sister? Well I picked a first season episode which means the Doctor was played by Christopher Eccelston, the ninth Doctor. My little sister had only ever seen an episode from seasons 2-4, meaning the Doctor was played by David Tennant, the tenth Doctor.

The episode started with Rose talking to the Doctor and my little sister looked up from her work in horror. "What is this?" she demanded. "I thought you were going to watch Doctor Who."

"I am watchng Doctor Who," I responded, confused. Rose and the Doctor were obviously in the Tardis. My sister may not have known much about Doctor Who but she could surely recognize Rose and the Tardis.

"That's not the Doctor!" she exclaimed. "This is wrong! That's not the Doctor!"

"This is the first season, it's the ninth Doctor," I explained.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she responded. "That is not the Doctor." My sister then made me switch to an episode with the Tenth Doctor in it. Then instead of doing work she watched five episodes with me.

I prefer the Tenth Doctor myself. Something about the spaztic, clever protrayal of the Doctor by David Tennant just makes me happy. Apparently, my sister prefers him too. For someone who doesn't like Doctor Who, she sure does have strong feelings about who the Doctor is.

If you've never watched Doctor Who, you should. Find your own favorite Doctor. If you're like me you'll like the Tenth Doctor. If you're like my super awesome best friend, you'll like the Ninth Doctor. If you love robotic dogs, you will be all about the Fourth Doctor.

Yes there are ten doctors. You have a lot of catching up to do.

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