I’ve been a Doctor Who pretty much my entire life. I think it was probably my Dad who got me into the series. He has always interested in sci-fi and fantasy so, inevitably, he watched Doctor Who and I would watch with him. One of my earliest memories of Who is being allowed to stay up and watch The Five Doctors when I was four.
At some point in the mid to late Eighties I switched from being just a viewer to a fully-fledged fan and I still am to this day.
I’m really looking to contributing to the site and to this forum!
Welcome! I’ve been watching since 1975. This show is dear to me and this forum/site is undoubtedly the best I’ve found yet. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. Opinions are welcome, provided they are polite and constructive. It’s like a breath of fresh air in comparison to some forums I have known. I look forward to exchanging thoughts with you!
Welcome to forum @mrtc2003 - pretty sure I recognise your username from Gallifrey Base. It’s great to have you here and look forward to your contributions.
Ha! Me too, but wassy back in 1975. I remeber my mother giving my father a good tick8ng off for letting me watch something that would give me nightmares… as Styre lifted his helmet and I saw my first alien!
Thanks. You’re right I have posted on Gallifrey Base and Outpost Gallifrey before it. In fact it was one of your posts there that led me to this place.
Wow! That must be a vivid memory - and definitely a great one! My earliest memory is a spinning Christmas tree and killer Santas, which were both silly and creepy for 10-year-old me.
Absolutely! It’s a very vivid memory indeed. Burned into my mind. And from that day forwards, Doctor Who has been a part of my life.
Your earliest memory is also a good one. My daughter still goes on about her first: She watched “New Earth” with me and my wife, terrified by the plague victims or “Help Us” people (as she still calls them to this day). She tried again the following week, only to give up when the host’s eyes turned black and he began his (pretty horrifying) transformation into the werewolf. She couldn’t stay away though and, by the end of the season, was heartbroken as Rose said goodbye to the Doctor on Darlig Ulv Stranden.
My twin boys were rapt from their first full episode, “Smith and Jones” the following year. Since that day, the Judoon have been the firm favourites of one of my sons. He practically exploded with joy in 2012 when he saw Judoon feet away from him at “Doctor Who Live”. A memorable experience for us all!
That’s a very good question. I think it was a gradual as I literally grew up with the series.
As I said before, I started watching at around four years and my memories of those early years is predominantly images from various stories like the sailing ships in space from ‘Enlightenment’ or the giant Malus head in ‘The Awakening’. I wasn’t really following the stories, it just all looked really interesting. I do remember watching the regeneration in ‘Caves of Androzani’ but I don’t think I really understood what was happening as, for a while, I thought Colin Baker was just Peter Davison in a wig.
But during the Colin era, I was able to follow the stories more easily. Also, I was learning to read and that inevitably led me to discover the Target books. I think that’s probably the point where I became a proper fan. It was through reading those books that the series’ past was opened up to me and I found it fascinating.
So, by the time Sylvester arrived in 1987, I was a fully fledged fan, I was reading DWM and I wasn’t far off buying my first Doctor Who VHS - The Robots of Death, which would become one of my favourite stories.
So that’s pretty much my journey into fandom. Sorry for the long reply but it was a long journey!
I have a similar story but it was with my mom. She got all of my siblings and I to watch it back in 2015 and I was the only one that stuck to it. It didn’t hook me at first but eventually I got hooked. It’s nice to hear that your father got you into the show! Welcome to the forum @mrtc2003
Those books made such an impact on so many. It delights me that the range has been continued of late, and that it is producing such original and interesting works as “The Giggle”. The DW community is so lucky to have the Target books. Admittedly, some are much more prosaic but others are a total joy. Moreover, many of the covers were true classic pieces of artwork. Do you have “Kklak: The Doctor Who Art of Chris Achilleos”? It’s a fantastic collection of his cover art, with a few extras too. Just beautiful!
