My history with Doctor Who Part One

As this Christmas marks the passing of the torch from Matt Smith to Peter Capaldi I thought I would regale you with the story of my life with the Doctor.

My first Doctor as I mentioned in an earlier post was Tom Baker. My father and I sat down to watch the first episode which aired on Saturday night. To me, Tom Baker was amazing. He was funny, but also stylish. Not many people can pull off a fedora and extra long scarf. And that coat with multiple pockets which seemed to be bigger on the inside. I was hooked. Baker also seemed to me to be a true hero always ready for an adventure and outwit his opponent through brains rather than brawn. 

While the special effects by today's standards are sub par, I thought it was amazing. And, oh, the stories that stick with me to this day. 

I spent several years watching Doctor Who on Saturday night, but my younger sister hated it. She complained to my mom that it was scaring her, and my mom was just about to say I couldn't watch it any more. So I used a page out of her logic book, saying how could she make a judgment on the program unless she watched it. So she did. For the next several years my mom and I never missed an episode. She even named one of our dogs Nyssa after Princess Nyssa of Traken. 

When Tom Baker's time came to an end, my mother and I were glued to the television as we had the first experience with regeneration. I was blown away. I knew the Doctor could regenerate, but all of a sudden there was a young blonde man who reminded me of Peter Tork from the monkeys playing the Doctor. 

Peter Davison's Doctor eventually grew on me. The big shocker of his tenure was the death of Adric at the end of Earthshock. I have since learned that Adric wasn't everyone's favorite companion, but I thought he was great. I could relate to Adric much more than any companion before him. When Earthshock ended and the final credits role silently on an image of Adric's golden badge, I just sat there mouth open and amazed at what I had just seen. Adric wasn't the first companion to die, but it was the first time I had seen it. 

Then there was The Five Doctors episode to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Doctor Who. I enjoyed the show, but my interest in the show was waning. It aired on Saturday nights, and as I moved into my later teen years, I found there were other things to do on Saturday night outside the home. 

I would return to the Classic series, but it would be in another city and state. I'll talk about that in Part two tomorrow morning.