My Journey through Time with the Doctor

For me, it all began on one of those weekends at home with the family.  We all sat squished up on the couch watching one of those old black-and-white movies showing on OETA, something we enjoyed doing from time to time those days.  After it was over, everyone went their separate ways, most going to bed because it was quite late.  I don't recall anything about the movie, but I remember that I went back after the commercial break, when everyone was gone, to turn off the TV, and a new show had started.

The camera panned out over an old wrought-iron gate as a girl about my age climbed over it, with spooky music playing in the background.  Intrigued, I paused to watch.  The girl entered an old, abandoned (perhaps haunted) mansion, and began to explore, taking pictures.  In one room, she noticed some writing underneath the wall paper that was starting to peel up.  Underneath, she discovered a note, written 38 years previously but addressed to her, saying two things: beware the weeping angels, and duck.  It was signed: The Doctor. Surprised, she paused momentarily.  Then, realizing the significance of the latter part of the message, she gasped and ducked just as a large stone was flung across the room, hitting the wall right where her head had been.  Little did I know that one of my most memorable journeys in the world of science fiction, my journey through time with the Doctor, had just begun.

"Think you've seen it all? Think again. Outside those doors, we might see anything. We could find new worlds, terrifying monsters, impossible things. And if you come with me... nothing will ever be the same again!" -The Doctor

When most people think of shows or movies that changed the history of science fiction, they think of Star Wars and Star Trek.  Indeed, both had huge influences on the evolution of science fiction television.  But without looking at the bigger picture, you miss a lot.  The Pluggedinonline.com review (whose reviews I read often but always with a grain of salt, since they tend to be quite harsh) of Doctor Who says "Before Captain Kirk set his first phaser to stun or HAL 9000 sent his first innocent man into the vacuum of space, the good Doctor was cruising through the airwaves of Britain."  Indeed, while Star Wars and Star Trek may have set the standards for American science fiction television and film, Doctor Who was there before either of them, without the advanced special effects to draw the crowds.  How much earlier, you might ask?  Well, the first episode of Doctor Who was aired on November 23, 1963, years before color television became standard.  And Doctor Who has existed (though not continuously) for 48 years since.  If you were to watch the entire series from beginning to end, you would indirectly learn a great deal about the history of television, everything from the evolution of TV acting to special effects and even computer-generated music.  For a brief history of Doctor Who, check out this six-minute video:

"One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel." -Reinette (The Girl in the Fireplace, 2.4)

"The thing is, Adam, time travel is like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guidebook, you've got to throw yourself in! Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers! Or is that just me?" -The Doctor (The Long Game, 1.7)

After watching my first episode, Blink (which, by the way, is still my favorite episode) on OETA, I found the rest of the series on Netflix.  In a matter of weeks, I had watched every episode since 2005, when the show had restarted after a 15-year hiatus.  I traveled to the year five billion and sat on the edge of my seat as I witnessed the end of planet Earth.  I traveled back in time and met Shakespeare, and watched him defeat witches with a spell from Harry Potter.  I also found out what really caused Pompeii to be buried (space aliens), and what one thing will survive for billions and billions of years because our kind just likes them too much (books).  I found out what those diet pills really are about (space aliens), what happens when a people long enslaved rise up against a dictator, and that the University of Mars is behind the times.  I traveled with the doctor as he marveled at all the beautiful things in the universe, like the Medusa Cascade, or a supernova.  I watched him save Earth countless times, and the universe at least twice, sometimes at great sacrifice.

Rose: Who are you?
The Doctor: Do you know like we were sayin'? About the Earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... That's who I am. (Rose, 1.1)

The Doctor has taught me many things, some odd, and some extraordinary.  But the one thing the Doctor stands for, for the young and young at heart, is that you can dream such big dreams.  The Doctor represents a universe that is so much bigger than your everyday human can see, a concept he has been teaching children since 1963.  The best way to put it is in the words of the Doctor himself: “You’ve got a lot to look forward to, you know. A normal human life on earth, mortgage repayments, the 9 to 5, a persistent nagging sense of spiritual emptiness. Save the tears for later.... You are so young, aren’t you…And you know right now, every thing’s ahead of you. You could be anything. You could walk among the stars.”

When you're a kid, they tell you it's all "grow up. Get a job. Get married. Get a house. Have a kid, and that's it." But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It's so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better." -Elton (Love and Monsters, 2.10)