I found it on Netflix and starting bingeing it. I found it at the perfect time, I was the same age as Rose. 19 and utterly disenchanted with real life. I feel like I took his hand right along with her and was whisked into the stars. Now the first season is low quality and as unconventional as they come. None of that mattered, it won me over immediately. I was addicted, and even though I knew the Doctor changed his face. I was gutted when The 9th doctor left. I cried, which might have been the first time I cried over a fictional character. I was attached.
Of course, I fell in love with 10 right off the bat too. It's hard not too. He was a fast favorite. Everyone always has a Doctor that they think of as their own, and he was and still is that one to me. I loved his exuberance, converse, and occasional dark side. He stayed longer than 9 so I was even more fiercely attached when it came time for him to leave. I cried even more. My mom was so confused about why I was in love with the bean pole with giant eyes, but it didn't matter.
Then 11 stumbled in and I tried so very hard to hate him, but his natural charisma and humor won me over, he also has an amazing first episode, Amy Pond was also a new favorite and Rory right along with her. 11 is a fantastic doctor and his episodes are the most well written and produced in my opinion. I loved that they all have this air of whimsy and fantasy, like a fairytale. Each episode is so different and exciting.
The companions change up almost as much as the doctor, and by this point, I had said goodbye to Rose, Jack, Donna, and the Ponds. Luckily I really enjoyed Clara, it's a show that loves to put you through the emotional rollercoaster. I was caught up to the current season and had to say goodbye to number 11 in realtime. Meaning I had to wait in agony to see who would be cast as the new doctor.
I also got to enjoy the 50th special and see 10 and 11 together which was awesome and somehow bittersweet.
12 was another great doctor. I dragged my dad to the theater to see a special showing of the first two episodes. A bunch of people dressed as the doctor for it, they were carrying sonics and had merch. It was such a surreal experience. I loved those episodes, I was excited for more. I remember being surprised that even though the actor changed. The character still bled through. It's quite a feat.
It might have helped that Clara was there with him. Someone you had already been emotionally invested in, but I don't think he needed it. Peter Capaldi was born to play the doctor, and for most of his first two seasons, I was sold.
Then every episode was a two-parter, which I'm personally not a fan of. The episodes started feeling a bit artificial, the sets were big and expensive, but everything almost felt too clinical and sci-fi centric. I started missing the more domestic episodes, the simpler plots. But I still loved the main characters, so I wasn't going to quit it. Then Clara left, I didn't think that would have too much of an impact. 12 was still there and he was brilliant.
The next season everything felt even more contrived. The episodes all seemed geared to teach a lesson, and one episode even seemed like it was a lost magic school bus episode. It was almost like somewhere along the line, we had lost the plot. Lost what made it unique in the first place. The episodes started becoming super predictable and less magical. There was also a problem with the companion. Bill Potts didn't win me over like the others and even Martha who was never a favorite of mine had far more likability.
I don't think the fault lies with Potts herself, she and 12 worked well together, but they couldn't help themselves from touting how progressive they were. She's a lesbian, which they could've put in and made it a natural character trait, but that didn't happen. This is a show that had Jack Harkness a bi-sexual time agent, and a Madame Vastra a victorian era lesbian lizard woman. They've always had a leg up in that area. So it made the whole thing seemed forced. Regardless of my loss of interest I still held on for Capaldi and cried at his exit.
For me, Doctor Who had seemingly died somewhere in season 9, but I didn't want to let it go. They were getting a new showrunner and Doctor. I was hoping they could breathe life back into the series. When they announced that Chris Chibnall, I got excited because I was a fan of Broadchurch. So believe me when I tell you that I really wanted to like it.
I was shocked but not angry when they cast a female doctor. I was still hopeful, the doctor has always been a chameleon. The 13th doctor is a fine doctor, I have more issues with how they transformed the whole show. I don't really recognize it anymore. It's shot differently, the episodes are simplified to a ridiculous degree, they change elements as it suits them. The plots aren't complex and they lost the fantastical element that drew me in the first place. The companions have become an ensemble cast, instead of characters that we relate and care about. Characters that matter essentially.
I stuck with it still. I wanted to give Jodie a chance. A lot of people dismissed her because she was a woman. I wanted to like the new seasons essentially, but I'll admit it they've lost the plot. And I've officially lost interest.
I just watched the New Years Special, we were going to watch that, then try the first episode of season 12. Well, just the special was enough to send me over the edge. It was awful and I don't want to stick around for more.
To be fair, I should have stopped watching in season 10. Doctor Who doesn't suck because the doctor is a female. It sucks because of bad writing, agendas, and a misunderstanding of the source material. It was already a hollow corpse when Chibnall got it, and he brought it back to life just to kill it again.
*scene*
I will always love this show. It got me through so much and you'll definitely catch me re-watching old episodes. But in regard to its current state.
