"Peer pressure is a killer. And hence, I produce the list of eight resolutions that I need to write down so I don't forget them while associating with my fellow fans. "
I wrote this list three months ago for http://www.pagefillers.com/dwrg/, the best Whoreivew site on the web. I feel its time for a small edit - so lets go through and see if my resolutions still stand.
1. I will never stop loving Adric.
When I made the leap back, fate sent a copy of Keeper of Traken into my hands. The first thing that struck me about this pre-Rose world was his character. A companion who isn't a 20-something Earth girl - an alien, a chap and someone who can hold their own in the sci-fi world. I thought his relationship with the Doctor was really watchable. With a show based around a hero with the infectious enthusiasm of a ten year old, the idea of pairing him with a genius child was very appealing. I even liked his costume!
As soon as I got onto the web, I discovered I was in a minority of one.
I'm not sure where the hate comes from. Like liking one Baker, or disliking the other, this just seems to be one of those things you do. He's bratty and annoying - but how many 14-year-old kids do you know? Or people who are really clever, and know it? I'm also not sure where anyone got the idea his acting is worse than anyone else's, especially when paired with Tegan (who would improve somewhere after Time Flight) and Nyssa (who, to my knowledge, doesn't have the faintest idea what acting is or what possible use it could have). But a dodgy performance never prevented me from loving Nyssa, or coming to love Tegan, and it sure as hell won't put me off Adric.
Is it just a generation of bitter kids who've grown up and realised with the cynicism of middle age that he was meant to persuade them to study hard at school? In any case, kudos to the writers who granted him one of the most brilliant companion exits ever. It's hard to deny Earthshock is a good episode and even his militant haters couldn't ignore the impact of its ending. (I speak from experience here - somewhere a few episodes into Logopolis, me and Miss Jovanka fell out. From that point, she annoyed me no end - I cheered when she was temporarily left behind at Heathrow. I was quite looking forward to her real departure - but when it came, it was so good I rethought her whole character, fell in love and watched her remaining episodes in a totally new light.)
On this matter I am still inflexible. Adric is a worthy companion, his relationship with both his doctors is priceless, and it really is peer pressure that prevents more people from giving him a chance.
2. I will never stop loving Rose.
I never had an opinion one way or the other on Rose. Adorable, certainly, and also my benchmark for what a companion should look like. Now I've watched a bit wider, she also seems to be the Doctor's benchmark too - he shows a marked preference for young Earthgirls lacking in knowledge but make up for it with a sort of native intelligence (Jo, Ace and Rose to name three)
Wheras enquiring after Adric brought me a barrage of baseless hate, meeting the Rose fans had quite the opposite effect. Somehow, her character is inextricably tangled with the were-they-weren't-they of the first series. The people making videos to Coldplay tunes, and overlaying romantic lyrics on colour-tinted wallpapers. The other people, carrying the "you're a beautiful woman, probably" quote as a banner of distinction.
For the record: I don't have an objection to the Doctor being in love; I think it's highly unlikely someone as caring as he could spend that long alone and not be. I think there are several people in the Doctor's history you can point to and argue for perfectly eloquently (Jo and Rose being two of them). But please, it's done subtle in the show, so leave it subtle in the fanon...
But I digress. Dealing with these people was like dealing with the religious. There are hundreds of quietly practicing Rose fans out there, happily loving her and whatever relationship she may or may not have shared with our favourite Timelord. And then there are the extremists, the people who come to your door and give you leaflets, and start wars about it.
It's not the idea of it, but the way it was done - not by the show, but by that slice of fandom. The sheer cheesiness of the fanfiction. The use of Coldplay; never forgiveable. The implication that she was the love of his life. A love, yes, but life does go on. It might be hard, but he will get over it eventually. After all, it's not like she's dead; separated from him, but with everybody she loves (see: #1 Adric)
For me, the Ninth Doctor was all about the Time War. He ended it, resulting in the destruction of his planet, his race and the Daleks - and after that, his every act was one of repentance. From trying to help the Gelth and Nestine Consciousness whom he robbed of a home, to refusing to make the same decision a second time in Parting of the Ways. He's even thinking like a Gallifreyan when he arrives on Earth, with his callous comment about Mickey's death being insignificant compared to the bigger picture, while the concept of destroying the planet to save the universe is the ultimate Sensible Time Lord Decision. Rose is everything the Time Lords weren't. They are old and wise, she's nineteen and filled with life. She cares about a single Dalek, despite the threat it poses; the High Council were prepared to execute the Doctor for the potential threat he posed in Arc of Infinity, or remove San Fransisco from history to deal with a few vampires in Vampire Science. And he's on his own. Under the circumstances, we can allow him to lose at least one of his hearts.
Watching Sarah Jane's relationship with the Fourth Doctor has restored my faith (very similar to the Doctor and Rose in series 2; larking around the universe in a pretty cute way, and occasionally rescuing it from peril), while selective internet browsing has cut down on the amount of infuriating people I have to put up with. Let me revel in how nice Rose really was.
No, I haven't stopped liking her. Loving her, maybe. I still think she's brilliant in context - i.e. Series 1 and 2. Her Series 4 return was bizzarely unecessary, because her newfound sense of strength and knowledge took away one of her character basics. Wielding a gun and explaining the plot to Donna made her seem less of the no-hope Earthgirl we'd got to love. And no companion should be forced to share the screen with Donna Noble, really. Its just not fair. In the wake of Rose getting, erm, her own Doctor, I have completely ignored the internet response.
3. I will never compare the old and new series.
I've got a better perspective on this than most here, starting in 2005 and working backwards. Chrisopher Eccleston is my nostalga Doctor, and he's only two years gone. There's really nothing to choose between them. It's all one show. It's all one character. Books count too. And audios. And comics. Though not the bad ones. That's the comfort of the canonicity debate: if a piece of non-TV fiction rubs you the wrong way, then you have an excuse to forget it entirely.
Never have, never will. I mean, yes I compare - Black Orchid and Wasp and the Unicorn? Sontaran Stratagem as an update of Resurrection of the Daleks. But I'm still very against anyone who uncatagorically loves one and hates the other, because I still believe both can be appreciated more in light of what has come before/ is coming. What a waste to still be stuck in 1973, and miss seeing Doctor Who in shiny CGI with exciting direction and a modern approach to storytelling. And what a waste to be so addicted to the look of the new series to ignore the story potential in the old. Really, I still can't say strongly enough, that people who entirely disregard either new or old series are truly missing out on half the show. Isn't Genesis of the Daleks all the more fun for knowing about the Time War? And wasn't Sarah Jane and Davros wonderful in Journey's End?
4. I will never admit to having a favourite Doctor.
I don't have a favourite Hamlet. I don't even have a favourite James Bond. I love them all in different ways, because they all show up different aspects of the same character. This is slightly hypocritical; my random approach to the series means I still haven't seen 1, 2, 6 and 7 (properly), but it's highly unlikely given the before examples that I will find any serious problems.
I have now delved into every doctor save no.1 (if appearing on a screen for Three Doctors doesn't count), and having a solid favourite seems as unlikely as ever. I feel that in the future I will be able to do some serious clumping - in the wake of Curse of Fenric, I feel I might love the 7th Doctor more, even though I don't love any others any less. Anyway, it's hard to pick on performance alone - otherwise Colin Baker would be at the top of a few more lists. Yes, I'm halfway through Trial of a Timelord. Yes he's bloody brilliant, even if the casing isn't. You're not just choosing a Doctor, you're choosing an era. Companions, episodes, writing, production values, interesting storylines, childhood memories. A problem I'm beginning to have with the 3rd Doctor is I'm just not loving his adventures. He's awesome, and so's UNIT. But Inferno is still the only episiode I've loved, which is why I'm unfailingly more excited about watching Peter Davison instead. Its not the Doctor. Its the whole era thang.
5. I will never stop loving Resurrection of the Daleks
After Logopolis, I continued as chronologically as the BBC DVD releases would let me, and the first one which really hit me on an emotional level was this. Peter Davison instantly became one of my top ten favourite Doctors (irony intentional), Tegan really did become one of my favourite companions. Turlough excited my curiosity enough to order the entire Black Guardian trilogy off Amazon. I loved the punishing level of unecessary violence (it's still got the highest death toll of any story I've counted: 57), thought the "minor characters we want you to sympathise with" were actually sympathetic, and was, for the first time ever, properly scared by the Daleks. New series ones don't quite cut it in the same way. And all this in a story where the Doc spends two episodes tied to a table.
Since then, it has paled. I never understood the plot, it just gets more unnecessarily tangled. Cloning is done better in Android Invasion. Everything is done better in Genesis of the Daleks. Mind control is just overdone.
Maybe I've been watching better episodes - Mawdryn Undead, or maybe Enlightenment, is now my favourite oldie - or maybe the hate it gets online has got to me. My affection for it remains the same, even if my respect has dipped. There's nothing as horrible as falling out of love and, even though I feel colder from afar, even though if I rewatched it would be as exciting as it did the first time.
But pity my friend. Her first favourite of the old series was Time Flight. Imagine her disappointment when she discovered it was against the club rules!
In the week between Stolen Earth and Journey's End, I watched this again. I can now confirm it is a totally worthy episode, quite brilliant actually. As predicted, I did enjoy it as much on a rewatch as originally, and won't forget it again, even for a moment.
6. I will watch Caves of Androzani
First it was after I've finished the other DVDs. Then the other videos. Then once I order Planet of Fire. Then after all the other episodes. Then after Series Four. I'm not putting it off, honest.
This is my first proper regeneration from a Doctor I really care about and have followed for a long time. I claimed above that I love them all equally, and that's true, but the Fifth Doctor has, so far and from sheer chance, been the only one I've done properly. I've seen over half the episodes, and most of them in the right order. I've got to like all his companions. It's going to be the End, and no matter how many novels and audios I stockpile, that'll be it. It's like Mr Tennant announcing he's going to leave, only worse because it's already happened.
The irony is, excepting Mr Tennant when it comes, he's one of the few Doctors I'm ever going to go through this for. Somebody who knows their stuff better than me should really make a guide for confused new-fans making the leap backwards, because in retrospect I got it wrong. I watched as large a spread of Doctor Who as I could get my hands on, and fate presented me with an insanely high number of regeneration stories. Planet of the Spiders was my first Pertwee. Logopolis was my second Baker. I got to know the Seventh Doctor minutes, nay, seconds before he walks out of the TARDIS and into the TV-movie. At the time, I wasn't particularly upset because I didn't have the background - and once I do, I'll have already gone through it, so I shouldn't be too distressed second time around. I only caught the first series from Dalek, so even Parting of the Ways wasn't that big a deal. I'm anticipating War Games and Survival to be kickers when I get there however...
It's a small consolation that Caves is Everybody's Second Favourite Episode After Genesis of the Daleks. It's another consolation that even the Davison-haters admit its brilliant. It'd help if everyone was less negative about Colin Baker though...
Well I decided I was being ridiculous about this in the run up to Stolen Earth, so I started laying tracks and making time. And then came that cliffhanger - the fake 10 regeneration - which completely spoilt my good intentions, and proved that there really is something to be worried about. Folks, I may never see this episode. After Stolen Earth I was miserable for days. I got ill. I felt sick, couldn't sleep and had a cold, and one of my friends lost her voice. And then after Journey's End, I didn't exactly feel like it; then I was on holiday; now I'm watching Trial of a Timelord. I was honestly gonna do it, but Stolen Earth gave me such a shock it proves I'll be inconsolably glum. And its not like DT's even leaving for good (which I kinda worked out as soon as the suprise wore off). Anyway, I don't want to be stuck with Warriors of the Deep as my last ever episode, right? At least this way I'm saving up something decent...?
7. I will never again read a novel about a Doctor I haven't seen first.Human Nature was the first pdf I plucked off the BBC website. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant, just like its episode. I fell in love with Benny, like everyone else in the known universe (even if it took me a few chapters to establish she was female).
It's gorgeously written, an excellent novel in its own right. Afterwards, seeing the Seventh Doctor on screen (yes, in Dimensions in Time, but it's really the same thing) was a horrible shock. His voice was plain wrong; in my mind, it was something mossy, like Ian Holm's. I'll get over this in time, I suppose, but it's a rule I'm sticking to. I recently gave up on The Eight Doctors halfway through, because I had really enjoyed appearances by the Fifth and Third Doctors, and missed the point of the rest.
Consequently, along with Day of the Daleks, Terror of the Autons, Four to Doomsday and (still) Planet of Fire, ANYTHING with Mr McCoy and Ace is on my list of must-buys. Chiefly so I can read Love and War; it's set in my home town, during the only interesting historical event which has ever affected us... I've been dying to read it, but can't in the name of goodness. Half the joy of both Dying Days and Sands of Time was enjoying how well its respective Doctors had been captured on the page.
What a mess. Well, I've stuck to this and I'm glad. Cold Fusion - 7 meets 5, hilarity ensues - is now my favourite book, by virtue of having waited. Amusingly, I am still sans Day of the Daleks, Terror of the Autons and Four to Doomsday. And it turns out the book I was after was Just War not Love and War, which pissed me off no end. The novel I was actually after is going for £34 second hand on Amazon, which makes me even more angry because I refuse to pay it. Stalemate.
8. I love 6's coat and I'm proud.
Still ain't seen an episode of his, but I think its fantastic. Wait, tell a lie - he's in Dimensions in Time. Telling Ace her new jacket clashes.
I still love the coat. But it does him few favours having seen it on screen. Plus, I'm currently painting the Black Tree Doctor Who minatures (about 2cm high models) of each of the doctors, and my regard for the costume is swiftly divebombing. I did the red piping on 5's jacket. I did the little red questionmarks on 7's sweater. That was fine. But this is impossible.
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