On Doctor Who: Past, Present and Future...

Just in case you weren't aware, today (depending on where you are in the world) is the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Celebration! Which is pretty awesome.

I'm a bit of a Doctor Who fan. Got a few Doctor Who shirts, the bow tie, the screwdriver, the DVDs, and my birthday party is going to be partly Doctor Who-themed (the other partly is Harry Potter).
So I thought I'd reflect a bit on my Doctor Who experiences.

I started watching Doctor Who when Martha Jones entered the scene. I was hooked from the first episode, and since then I've seen all the episodes since, as well as most of those from the Ninth and Tenth Doctors. (Perhaps all; I've never gone through and checked.) We've also got the Five Doctors anniversary special that I've seen, but insofar, I haven't been able to get into Classic Who. Planning to watch the Doctor Who movie to see if I can ease my way in a bit.

And Doctor Who has changed, over the years. Gotten more current; gotten bigger; seen a fair few different people. There have been a lot of companions, all very different, all appealing to various sides of the Doctor. Some had the brains; others the heart; some, just that little bit of spark.

And to me, the most exciting season so far has been this most recent, with the Eleventh Doctor and Clara. The previous section with Amy and Rory just seemed to me to go a fraction too long, and almost started to get a bit self-indulgent. Characters seemed to be spouting the words "Doctor Who?" every second episode, and writers seemed to be just indulging the fanboy inside (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship was pretty much the perfect example of that).

But, since this new season, they seem to have grown a bit, matured. The Snowmen was a fantastic way to introduce the season, with an episode showing the Doctor very differently; quite a broken man. It also brought in a new TARDIS, which was much less curiosity-shop like and more just stunning. And it introduced Clara, a companion to match the Doctor's wit and character.

Since then, that relationship has blossomed amazingly, and has easily been the favourite that I've seen. And I'm quite disappointed that the Eleventh Doctor is finishing up, and that much of that context will be lost, or have a very different dynamic; but I'm hoping that these last two shows with the Eleventh will resolve much of that partnership, paving the way for the new Doctor to arrive.

I'm curiously eager to see how this new Doctor handles things; and very eager to watch the Day of the Doctor!

Will you #SaveTheDay?