My History with Doctor Who

Originally this part of my blog was included in my Eleventh Hour review but it grew to become it's own beast so I decided to post it as a prelude to my reviews so that you guys can get a background into my history with Doctor Who. So come with me on a trip down memory lane all the way back to 2003.

Matt Smith's Doctor would be the first time I was watching a Doctor's tenure unfold in front of me in real time as I had missed both Christopher Eccleston's and David Tennant's first series (I joined the show in series four) but this was not my first foray into Who-dom. A few years ago, the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) were reshowing Classic Doctor Who's at 6pm right after the weekday cartoons. Usually me and my brothers would flick over to Channel Ten to watch the Simpsons (cause everyone loved it then) but one day, my mother walked in on us watching it and flicked through the channels to find this weird little science fiction show on and said "You can watch this or the tv goes off", little did she know what she had started. So we sat there and watched Planet of the Spiders - Part Five. I don't remember much about those two episodes with Jon Pertwee because the next evening he was a diferent man.

Tom Baker (although I didn't know his name at the time) was the man in charge and he was taking his friends for adventures in his TARDIS (didn't know that one either). We start in awe as each day we watched the Doctor travel through time and space, battling Daleks, Cybermen and any other monsters he came across. We watched week after week (I even have early memories of those episodes each time I rewatch certain episodes) until the Fourth Doctor was out and the Fifth Doctor was in. We continued to watch as Peter Davison kept the excitement alive for his companions and for us watching.

Then Peter left in a blaze of glory and Colin Baker stepped in with his bright coat and big personality. We kept watching until we reached the Trial of a Time Lord season in which for some reason, the ABC had stopped screenings of the episodes. But that point, being so young I forgot about this show but I always had fond memories from those days of watching a quirky science fiction show with my brothers on a weekday afternoon.

Then in 2007, Everything Changes.

My best friend (who I met on a bus to school one day), said to me "I've started watching this show and I think you may like it". "Really? What it is?" I said. "Doctor Who" came the reply. I was stunned, I thought why would he be interested in an old show. I said exactly that and he replied "No, I know that one but this one is brand new". We sat down that weekend and watched New Earth. And we were hooked. Ever since then, We (me, him and my bros) caught up to date with the show in which we made it to series 4 about halfway through when it was airing. We eagerly watched the final few episodes of David Tennant awaiting the arrival of the Eleventh Doctor and we would not be disappointed.

While some episodes have failed to fire and others stand up to even the classics such as The Caves of Androzani, Matt Smith's four years (and three series) at the helm have inspired children and children at heart around the world and have revitalised a fifty year show for a new generation. For me personally, I have had a wonderful ride with this Doctor and will be sad to see him go but THANK YOU Matt for making me believe you truly are the Doctor and have become my favourite doctor of all time (along with Tom Baker :D).

COMING SOON: THE ELEVENTH HOUR 

P.S. Feel free to post your history of Doctor Who in the comments as I would love to hear how other fans got into the show.