Hello, I'm the Doctor

"Who's she?"

"Nobody important."

"'Nobody important.' Blimey, that's amazing. D'ya know, in 900 years of time and space I've never met anyone who wasn't important before?"

Today is November 23rd, 2013.

50 years ago, a little science fiction show about a mad humanoid alien in a blue time-travelling spaceship premiered on the BBC.

"He's C.S. Lewis meets H.G. Wells meets Father Christmas; that's the Doctor" stated Verity Lambert, Doctor Who's producer, and the first woman producer ever employed by the BBC.

50 years. 1963 through 1989, a TV movie in 1996, then the new series in 2005 running through the present.

Here's a few basics for non-Whovians:

• The Doctor is a 900+ year old Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. Time Lords "regenerate" and get a new body when they are about to die; the Doctor has regenerated 11 times thus far. He's the same person, he just looks different and displays different aspects of his personality with each version.
• He lives and travels in his stolen TARDIS (time and relative dimension in space), a time machine spaceship that's more or less alive. She's disguised as a 1950's police box, she's "bigger on the inside" and she won't always take you where you want to go, but she will take you where you need to go.
• He travels with one or two companions, usually a human and usually a woman, who get caught up in his latest adventure and join him in the TARDIS at his invitation. We won't get into how he loses companions or why they leave. It's too painful.
• His adventures happen in the past, in the present day, and in the future. He's visited Shakespeare, Vincent Van Gogh, and the like. He was there for the 2012 London Olympics (the episode aired in 2006), he's rescued human colonies on alien planets, and he's rescued aliens from Earth. Let's just say he gets around.

Doctors 1 - 11

Why do we Whovians love Doctor Who so much? I can't speak for everyone, but here's why the story of the Doctor and his companions mean so very, very much to me.

1. The Doctor, despite all he goes through, is still a cheerful, curious, mad professor sort of a fellow. I started watching Doctor Who in a not-so-awesome season of life and I wanted to be like him. I wanted to live fully and pull myself up and care because that's what he does, he cares. He asks questions, gets into trouble, and discovers amazing things. The show is a mass of creativity and impossible things and it opens your mind up to just about anything. Ask why and how, the answers can lead you anywhere. And in the case of Doctor Who, the answer is quasi-scientific. Being the gigantic nerd that I am, I get quite a thrill listening to the Doctor ramble off the timey-wimey, spacey-wacey science behind the phenomenons he and his companions get into.
   
2. Nowadays media is riddled with violence and promiscuity. Doctor Who? Not so much.
   The Doctor is known for is resistance to violence. He doesn't shoot first. When faced with danger, he runs away and thinks of a brilliant plan. He gives his enemies a second chance, and they know him for his mercy. Furthermore, because Doctor Who was originally a children's show (and it still is, just a little creepier sometimes) it is squeaky clean. There are references and flirty bits sometimes, but it would fly over kid's heads.
3. He is a friend. The Doctor's relationships with other people mean the world to him, and he feels a sort of sacredness towards other people because (being a time traveler and all) he knows the fragility of life. When he takes on a companion, they are under his protection and he follows that to the letter. He shows them the wonders of the universe throughout the whole of time. If they land in trouble, he does what he can to protect everyone involved.
4. During my years as a homeschooled kid, my mom used a curriculum that brought fiction alongside our textbooks (i.e. historical fiction novels alongside our history textbooks). My brain learns by lining up fiction with the facts and using the former to understand the latter. Therefore, fiction stories and characters via metaphor or simple similarity make me connect the dots and come to a realization or better understanding about reality, especially about my faith. God reveals Himself to His children in many different ways, and to me it is through fiction. And in Doctor Who, there are overarching themes and small, little bits in almost every episode that make me go, "ah-ha!"
   Example A, the first quote and video of this post. When I heard the 11th Doctor say that he's "never met anyone who wasn't important before," I suddenly understood how God has, does, and will love everyone since the beginning of time. I can't fully explain it, but I get it know. I make connections and things just make sense.
5. Finally, this: The Lessons Doctor Who is Teaching my ASD Kid.

You may think I'm crazy for loving a simple British television show as much as I do. And that's okay. We have a support group.

If you are now intrigued and want to go watch an episode of Doctor Who I highly recommend "Vincent and the Doctor" in Season 5 of the latest series. If you want to take a further look without jumping over the edge and starting at Season 1, let me know and I'll give you a list.

So here's to 50 years. Here's to 11 Doctors, his TARDIS, his companions, the monsters, and the adventures through the whole of time and space.

 

Happy Birthday, Doctor Who.