Guest Post -James M's Doctor Who 56th Anniversary Review + Retrospective

Salutations my friends, I'm here to discuss the popular British Sci-Fi show of all time, the wonderful, the well-acclaimed and incredible DOCTOR WHO.

"Allons-y!"
-Tenth Doctor, David Tennant
(Various episodes) 2005 to 2009-2010



I am so honored to be a fan of this amazing franchise and it has a special place in my heart as it had from the moment I started watching this show back in 2015 after a few years of reluctance about the show. Back when I was young, my only exposure to Doctor Who was through the Daleks, who appeared in stop-motion videos I watched on the internet, and a brief appearance by The Doctor himself in a LEGO Harry Potter video. However, in 2013, when I was 13 years old, my pop showed me a montage of Daleks shouting "Exterminate" and I freaked out. I decided, "No, I'm not gonna watch Doctor Who."



A few years later, with pop bugging me about Doctor Who, I was like "Fine I'll give it a shot" and I recorded the episode "Lets Kill Hitler", given my interest in Nazis then, and I soon fell in love with the show. Over time, I immersed myself in the lore of Doctor Who and the show's history, understanding everything about The Doctor, the Time Lords, The Doctor's friends and foes, the universe and everything else including the infamous event known as The Last Great Time War where it originally ended with The Doctor wiping out all the Time Lords and almost all The Daleks. Looking at when the show first aired that fateful day in 1963, I am amazed that it became more than what it was intended to be and survived beyond the sixties, despite cancellation in the 80s.

Who could've thought back in November of 1963, the day An Unearthly Child  first aired, that Doctor Who would become a sci-fi mainstay? Who could've foreseen The Doctor's first regeneration and the changing/recasting of actors?? Who else could've expected our first glimpse at the Doctor's arch enemies, the pepper pot-looking humanoid-turned mutant robot race known as The Daleks? Almost nobody. But if you went back in time to the night Doctor Who first aired and you told somebody in England "Hey, you know about that cool show that just aired? Well guess what, Doctor Who's gonna be a sci-fi staple and become the longest-running TV show fifty years from now." nobody would believe you and would think that you're some sort of madman.

But fifty six years later, those who saw Doctor Who back in 1963 and still alive today would believe you now. This show has had a long history of success with highs and lows, incredible stories and being a bit weird... in a good way. When Doctor Who went off the air in 1989 and experienced a 16 year hiatus, with the show briefly returning in 1996 with a movie for one night, nobody could've anticipated its return thanks to Russel T Davies and the incredible Christopher Eccleston and the lovely Billie Piper. But hey, Doctor Who is still with us and always will be, long after we've kicked the can and the show has long moved on a thousand years from now.



Also, back when the show returned in 2005, who expected The Doctor to be played by a female by the name of Jodie Whitaker. I mean, thats crazy weird, the main character played by men for decades becomes a female played by a woman. The whole idea has been in discussion as far back as 1983 when Peter Davidson was about to leave the show. But Colin Baker came in, the discussion continued, even after Sylvester McCoy came and went and after the show was cancelled. 2017 came along and BOOM, Female Doctor. I had expectations for the Twelfth Doctor's final episode Twice Upon a Time and how The Doctor would react to becoming a woman. I actually expected the Doctor to check herself, look in the mirror and be in absolute shock and be like, "You gotta be kidding me."

But instead, all we got was The Doctor smiling and saying "Oh brilliant" happily before The TARDIS went haywire and started to blow up. *Facepalm* Nobody likes it when expectations are subverted! Either way, Doctor Who has proven to be the best, even when its off the air. In its decades long history, there have been more than just the show. We've gotten comics, novels and video games to name a whole ton. Yes, I've actually collected some Doctor Who comics and I've just about read a few novels. Video games? Thats a different story but I will play one of them soon. I have a few Doctor Who favorites, I have my least favorites like that two parter where The Doctor encountered a creature who claimed to be "The Demon" himself which was interesting but absurd at the same time.

Doctor Who has a legacy, one that will be respected forever. As of this review, series 12 of the revival series has not aired so its best to wait patiently by watching old Doctor Who episodes, writing Dr Who stories (if you're a writer and fanfics are your thing), read Doctor Who stories, play some video games and, yes, listen to some audio adventures. This is CrazyGamerHistorian1999 signing off and I shall leave you all be.

-James M