Happy birthday, Theta Sigma

[khaosworks]

"Let me get this straight. A thing that looks like a police box standing in a junkyard... it can move anywhere in time and space?"

-- Ian Chesterton (William Russell), "An Unearthly Child" (November 23, 1963).

"He is impulsive, idealistic, ready to risk his life for a worthy cause. He hates tyranny and oppression, and anything that is anti-life. He never gives in, and he never gives up, however overwhelming the odds against him. The Doctor believes in good and fights evil. Though often caught up in violent situations, he is a man of peace. He is never cruel or cowardly. In fact, to put it simply, the Doctor is a hero. These days, there aren't so many of them..."

-- unrecorded bonus track on "Doctor Who: Seasons of Fear".

"His one abiding characteristic, whichever body he wears, whatever gibberish he speaks, however erratically he acts, is his unerring sense for what is right. I trust him absolutely, and I always have."

-- Romana (Lalla Ward), "Doctor Who: Neverland".

"I know monsters... I'm the Doctor!"

-- The Doctor (Richard E. Grant), "The Scream of the Shalka".

I first met the Doctor in a comic book annual, in 1980. I'm not even sure why it was given to me - in those days, the annuals were expensive for a kid my age and usually gifts from various adult relatives. I might have asked for it, thinking it was Blake's 7 related (I was a huge Blake's 7 fan, and loved to run around, electric hair-curlers in hand pretending to shoot people).

Anyway, here it was. Tom Baker as the Doctor, and his companion was Leela. I didn't understand it much, really - there was a police box, and it could travel in time and space, and it broke down a lot. But the pictures were cool, the stories were a bit scary, and there were these things called Daleks. He did make an impression, because I recall calling one of the many comic book characters I drew as a child Tom Barker, and that was very consciously a take-off on Baker's name.

My next memory of the Doctor is watching him on television. Only two images stand out in my mind - the swamp creatures climbing out of the mist at the end of the first episode of "Full Circle", and the awakening of Davros at the end of episode two of "Destiny of the Daleks". Funny how you always remember the cliffhangers...

Over the years, I read the occasional Doctor Who Magazine, flipped through the Marvel series drawn by Dave Gibbons, was vaguely aware that Tom had been replaced by Peter Davison, but paid not much attention beyond that. I wasn't even aware that the Doctor had been cancelled in 1989.

I came to London in 1991, and people were gearing up for the Doctor's 30th birthday in 1993. There were tons of videos on sale, and the Virgin New Adventures were in full swing. Since there was precious little on the telly that was worth watching as far as British SF was concerned (except for the odd episode of Red Dwarf), I decided to re-educate myself as to the Doctor. I think my first NA was probably Love and War, and the first new Doctor Who I saw was "Remembrance of the Daleks."

And at the end of the first episode when the Dalek floated up the stairs, I was in love with the show forever. Funny how you always remember the cliffhangers...

How did you meet the Doctor? Share your memories, if you have them. Favorite quotes, episodes, cliffhangers, whatever.

Comments

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

I was probably 5 or 6 years old, and it was the era when our local PBS station was playing the Baker episodes by the half-hour. Some of the earliest episodes I remember (and ones I haven't seen in over 20 years) were Hand of Fear and Ark in Space. So Tom Baker's my Doctor.

[peteyfrogboy.livejournal.com]

"Did you try waggling his tail?"

[gala.livejournal.com]

My dad would watch Doctor Who in his ugly green reclining chair. I would curl up on his lap, or hide behind the sofa during the opening credits, because something about them scared the begeezus out of me.

I don't remember much about the show because I was mostly too scared to take my hands off my eyes.

[peteyfrogboy.livejournal.com]

There is something creepy about the opening credits. The psychedelic flushing toilet effect plus the "ooo-eee-ooo" music makes it all a little eerie.

[mrpsyklops.livejournal.com]

Nah, nah, the opening credits are the best part, with the music in your head and the whirling spiral that hypnotically pulls your attention into the show.... (g)

Seriously, I really like the opening. I was glad to see that the last TV incarnation didn't change it too much.

[gala.livejournal.com]

But it's more than enough to scare the pants off a 4 year old.

[mrpsyklops.livejournal.com]

Agreed. We watched Ghostbusters II as a family when Jennifer was three or four. We didn't think about the movie being frightening, but the goo in the bathtub that reached for Sigorny Weaver left her afraid to get into a bathtub for sometime afterward. (We stopped the movie when we realized she was frightened and spent some time cuddling with her.)

[mrpsyklops.livejournal.com]

I've posted my reply in my journal.

[cheshyre]

I've posted my recollections here, in the second half of the post. [It'll appear on riba_rambles within the hour.]

[djfanboy.livejournal.com]

Sometime in the mid- to late 1980s, I remember flipping channels on the TV late one night. It was either a Friday or Saturday, and I remember because it was one of the two nights I could stay up past 10p.

I saw this boy running away from ... something, I wasn't sure what at that moment. He was inside a cave (I think it was a cave) and sees this - police box.

Inside a cave.

So he runs inside, thinking he can hide in there without being followed. Somehow I doubted his motives, because if I was in a cave and saw a police box, I'd be motivated to check it out. I wondered how he thought whoever or whatever was chasing him wouldn't do the same.

And then he's inside this huge room, with a control desk in the center.

And the room is obviously bigger than the police box.

And he's just as confused about it as I am.

The man at the control desk turns, all teeth and curls, and sees this boy. And says hello.

And the boy faints.

"Full Circle" had me from there, and the Doctor has been a friend ever since.

I've recently purchased the first two in the Paul McGann audio series from Big Finish, and look forward to receiving the others with great anticipation. A few of the 'Unbound' sets will be coming this way soon, too.

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

I don't remember when I first saw the Tom Baker episodes, but I had skipped back and forth through time—uh, through the episodes—until I was in grad school, and Elizabeth and I started watching them regularly. My favorite doctor is definitely Sylvester McCoy, though Jon Pertwee runs a close second. And even Colin Baker and SCREEEAAAAAAAMMMMM! Peri could redeem themselves in "Vengeance on Varos," the best television double-entrendre I've ever seen. My children haven't seen it yet. I wonder if I should show them it now...