Not even two years after its 50th anniversary, Doctor Who is now celebrating its (second) tenth birthday, a scenario normally reserved for the timey-wimey plots of the show itself.
2012
If 2011 was one of the best years for televised Doctor Who, then 2012 was the closest we had been to the ‘wilderness years’ since the show’s return.
After the sub-par ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’, leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of some fans, we had to wait nine months until September before the Doctor returned to our screens. With the show’s 50th anniversary looming, we were promised big blockbuster episodes, with ‘slutty’ titles such as ‘The Asylum of the Daleks’ and ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’.
Whilst some choices for this half of Season 7 didn’t sit quite right with me the run did give us (another) emotional exit for Amy and Rory, setting us up for the year to come.
Just like those who suffered through the real wilderness years of the ‘90s, the lack of Doctor Who on television didn’t hold me back. At the invitation of a friend from university, I attended my first ‘proper’ convention, a first that was also true for Matt Smith.
The weekend was fantastic (although I do regret the alcohol consumed on the Saturday night, which has resulted in a picture of me looking very worse for wear stood next to Matt!). If I thought I’d known Doctor Who fans before, then this was a whole new level. The costumes were fantastic, with people younger than me taking from classic Doctors for ideas. If I hadn’t realised it before, that is when I saw the extent to which Doctor Who touched people of all ages and backgrounds.
2012 also saw another big change for me, buying and moving in to my first house with my future wife. We very much put our stamp on the place very quickly, my large remote control Dalek Sec and an ornamental brass cow (my wife’s favourite) sitting pride of place in a display cabinet in the hall way.
Whereas before, my DVDs and autographs had to be stored wherever there was space, I now had a space of my own for them. Their own room! Frames were purchased, nails were hammered in, and I soon had an autograph wall featuring every living Doctor (and for completeness, pictures of the first three with a companion, signed by them).
With the house also came the responsibility of hosting Christmas, and the grown up decision I had to make to not watch Doctor Who as it aired. And that’s the balance I had to find; between my life and my obsession. Although the show is a huge part of my life, that’s all it is; only part of it. When push comes to shove, the Doctor will always be there, waiting on my TiVo box, in a book or on a DVD for when I need him. Because, by now, my collection was complete (or as close as I could get at the time.)
2013
Now, this was the year to be a Doctor Who fan. The build up to November 23rd was almost enough to make up for only having half a season at the start of the year.
The January of this year also saw me achieve something that I remain proud of to this day; a 50,000+ word fanfic featuring all (that we knew of at the time) of the incarnations of the Doctor (not all together, only Terrence Dicks could pull that one off). It was a sprawling piece, chapters featuring each Doctor, all tying in to one bigger story. I consider it as my Fiftieth Anniversary story, a labour of love.
There were of course, the official celebrations. I attended both the Proms and the Sunday of the official convention. The biggest stand out for me was the pure mix of people of all ages, gender and background.
Older fans showed no sense of superiority to the younger or more casual ones, fans who didn’t cosplay didn’t look down on those who did, or visa-versa. The atmosphere at both events was just lovely, a sense of camaraderie and joint appreciation of something everyone in the room loved, all in their own way. Although it may seem overly sentimental saying it now, being part of those crowds reminded me of the dénouement of ‘The Last of the Time Lords’; thousands of people, all thinking the same thing: Doctor Who.
It would have been easy for the 50th year to just focus on the past, and whilst the episodes shown in spring 2013 had lots of nods to the past, efforts were also made to keep things fresh including introducing a past incarnation we’d not seen before. This alone caused more debate than almost anything since 2005; was he really the Doctor? What did it mean for the regeneration limit? Did that even still count? And more importantly, did we need to renumber all of our merchandise?
I’d already guessed where the War Doctor fitted in chronologically, but like everyone ‘The Night of the Doctor’ was the perfect tease for the anniversary itself. Fortunately I was able to see the short spoiler-free. I’d thought that they might make a regeneration mini-sode, but that didn’t spoil the surprise for me.
The struggle I’ve had since details and pictures have become more readily available online, is finding the balance between keeping myself informed and dulling the thrill of not knowing what’s coming. Fortunately, Doctor Who has always managed to stay exciting enough to counter this, and I still feel a thrill whenever the title music starts.
The anniversary episode itself blew me away. Like many, I would’ve been very happy if Christopher Eccleston had featured, but for me John Hurt fitted the gap that the Ninth Doctor left. Perhaps, even more so. Whilst I expect that the script would have been vastly different with Eccleston rather than Hurt, I don’t think I could picture the Ninth Doctor fighting in the Time War, not in the way the War Doctor was shown to have.
The great thing that ‘The Night of the Doctor’ did was show that the production team could still keep secrets. The whole way through the ‘Day of the Doctor’ I wasn’t sure who or what was going to turn up. After the scene of the Doctors saving Gallifrey, and those eyes, I thought we’d seen all of our surprises for the evening. So, when the Eleventh Doctor was sat in the gallery, and that voice spoke to him, I was utterly amazed.
Granted, in hindsight that scene doesn’t sit too well with me as it seems to be completely ignored in the very next episode (If the Doctor thinks he may become the curator one day, why is he convinced he’s going to die?), but taken on its own, it’s a lovely scene.
The next thing we all knew, it was Christmas and as the year was coming to an end, so was the Eleventh Doctor. Whilst his swan-song isn’t quite executed with the finesse of ‘The End of Time’, it’s a moving end for a loved interpretation of the character. This time, I was much more prepared. With the teases of the next Doctor being much ‘darker’ and more similar to Doctors of old, I went in to the regeneration story excited for the change that was coming.
Continued on Page 3…