Jodie Whittaker’s debut as the Doctor was special for me. I’ve only recently come into the world of Doctor Who, watching all ten (modern) seasons of the show last year. I began in the fall of 2017 with Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor (well, technically I started with David Tennant but my friend Theresa kept making sad sighs when she heard I didn’t start at the beginning so I went back and did) and finished Peter Capaldi’s run in the spring of 2018. So Jodie Whittaker became the first Doctor I got to watch as the season aired. It was so exciting! As this eleventh season (or series if I’m being English about it) of Doctor Who unfolded, I kept thinking of a post I wrote awhile back about being exhausted by binging and streaming TV shows. Jodie Whittaker and company have consistently delivered everything I’ve come to love about a Doctor Who episode! But I think part of the magic of this season came from watching it on a weekly basis.
Photo Credit – BBC/Doctor Who
Before I get to the whole “streaming vs. once a week” thing I have to say – I adore the Thirteenth Doctor!!!! To be fair, I’m a David Tennant guy. His Tenth Doctor is solidly my favorite. But with a season (where several episodes already got repeat viewings) under my belt, I can confidently say Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor is a strong second place. I felt it with her first episode but was hesitant to say it, not wanting to speak hastily while caught up in the excitement of the new. But if Jodie Whittaker and new showrunner Chris Chibnall keep creating episodes like I’ve seen this season through the rest of her run, there’s the chance she’ll become my all-time favorite Doctor. She effortlessly delivers the two things I like most in my Doctor – manic energy and an infectious joy in creation.
One of the earliest things I remember realizing about this show is the Doctor loves everything. Even viruses out to consume an entire planet or computer programs designed to destroy a species are brilliant and beautiful in their own right. What a wonderful way to see the universe! The Doctor loves it all and she makes you love it too. I’ve legitimately felt a fresh sense of awe at human potential as I’ve watched this show, a not insignificant feat in the dark and cynical days in which we live. I quickly came to understand why Doctor Who has endured for over fifty years.
I’m happy this was the first season I got to experience live. It was so great! I laughed. I cried – because I was happy and because I was heartbroken. I was moved. I was inspired. There were thoughtful, socially-conscious episodes along with the ones filled with goofy, sci-fi fun. There was adventure! There was intrigue! And her companions! I enjoy when the Doctor has more than one person with them in the TARDIS (the Ponds – Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) – being my favorite companions ever) so I’ve loved the “fam” she’s built this season :). There’s such a warm, interesting, and adventurous heart to the show with Yaz (Mandip Gill), Ryan (Tosin Cole), and Graham (Bradley Walsh) alongside the Doctor. What more could I ask for??
Graham, Yaz, the Doctor, and Ryan are ready for anything. / Photo Credit – BBC/Doctor Who
I was so excited by the Doctor’s adventures this season I’ve begun reading my first Doctor Who novel!!! This is a big moment for me, moving the Doctor into a category in my life once occupied solely by Star Wars. I have dozens of Expanded Universe novels I first began reading as a kid because I wanted to know more about that universe. I wanted more time with those characters, more time inside their world, learning all I could about it. That’s how I feel about Doctor Who now! I’m presently reading Doctor Who: The Good Doctor and I have the two other novels starring Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor waiting to be read after this one :). I may also have picked up a TARDIS owner’s manual… Just like I once wanted to know everything there was to know about the Millennium Falcon or the X-Wing, so now I want to know everything about the TARDIS.
So, the season was amazing. I’ve already pre-ordered the Blu-ray on Amazon because I can’t wait to rewatch it all. Getting to watch this show on a weekly basis was part of what made it special too. As I’ve written before, binging exhausts me. Part of the fun I had diving into Doctor Who was tempered last year by rumors Amazon was going to lose the show. I didn’t want to get stuck only having seen half of it! So I watched it but I moved at a fairly quick pace, realizing definitively this isn’t how I like to watch TV. I’ve learned it’s particularly rough with a show like Doctor Who. Sure, for a repeated viewings it’s fine. But the shifting of the characters – from the Doctor’s various regenerations to the changing companions in the TARDIS – make watching a dozen episodes in a weekend less than ideal.
The controls of the Thirteenth Doctor’s TARDIS. / Photo Credit – BBC/Doctor Who
I found I’d fallen in love with David Tennant but then all of a sudden there was Matt Smith! I had no time to get ready for the transition, to say goodbye to Ten and get excited for Eleven. How could I be ready to see a new Doctor when I was still mourning the last one (whose final episode I’d watched the night before)? As a result, I’d be a half dozen episodes or more in before I could begin to appreciate what a new actor brought to the character. I had the same issue when Peter Capaldi took over. Companion changing can be just as hard. A more “traditional” TV schedule helped me tremendously! Having finished up with the Twelfth Doctor in May, I wasn’t just ready but excited to meet the Thirteenth Doctor come October.
More than just the transition time between actors though I found I enjoyed each episode more this way too. Sunday nights often find me thinking of an old Calvin & Hobbes strip where Calvin tells Hobbes, “I can never enjoy Sundays because, in the back of my mind, I always know I’ve got to go back to school the next day. It’s like trying to enjoy your last meal before execution.” But with Doctor Who Sundays became my favorite night of the week! (Well, second favorite because nothing beats dinner at Grandma’s every Friday night.) I enjoyed looking forward to watching the Doctor. I enjoyed the anticipation and I liked having something special to build my night around. I liked that I had time to think about the episode afterwards before jumping into another. I liked that Theresa and I could spend the week discussing it. And we could talk about it when we had the time! We didn’t have to worry about one of us getting way ahead of the other because we had one episode a week giving us plenty of potential banter time.
The Doctor investigates a wonky mirror in “It Takes You Away,” S11 E9. / Photo Credit – BBC/Doctor Who
Also, there’s the ritual of it all. Rituals are important to us as human beings. For just this reason, all religions have rituals as a core of their religious life and experience. Rituals mark important moments in the lives of believers and offer opportunities to draw closer to God as we experience them. But there are more than just religious rituals to our lives. Birthday parties are rituals. Having to wear a certain shirt when you watch a certain sports ball game so you can “help” your favorite team win – or wearing or carrying something specific when you compete yourself – is a ritual action. Anything that marks moments in time in a significant way is ritualistic to some degree. It may seem silly to think of it in this light, but watching TV can be a ritual action. To watch a certain show at a certain time on a certain day of the week is an example of a secular, personal ritual. For me this makes the TV show more special. It proves it’s more important to me too! When I stream and/or binge TV, I watch it when I have a free moment and when I feel like it. But no matter the lessons to be planned, tests to be graded, books to read, or movies to see, come Sunday night at 8:00 my world revolved around Doctor Who.
What excitement was awaiting everyone this week?!? I couldn’t wait to find out! / Photo Credit – BBC/Doctor Who
This week-to-week watching helped me share my growing love of Doctor Who too! I gave up cable years ago. Given my job, I just don’t have the time to watch a lot of TV. I had trouble justifying $90 a month to watch a few episodes of The Daily Show. So I dropped it and went with Netflix and Amazon Prime instead. I still rarely watch them (I haven’t even started Daredevil Season Three and I STILL haven’t finished Black Mirror OR Stranger Things 2) but the cost is far more reasonable so I don’t feel bad about it. However, watching Doctor Who the moment it was airing – which is what I NEEDED TO DO – required access to BBC America. Thankfully my parents still have cable so every Sunday night I’d go home to watch Doctor Who. I’d often get there earlier to have dinner with my parents and, because I was occupying their TV each Sunday night, Mom decided to give the Doctor a shot (Dad, was already in bed). She came to really like her! Soon I found myself talking about the Doctor through the week with Mom as well as Theresa! We’d talk about the last episode and speculate about what was awaiting her this week.
Kalie, when a break in her reading for comprehensive exams could be taken, would join on Sunday night as well. She wasn’t about to be left out of the fun! Kalie started digging the show too, intrigued by what Doctor Who does with the idea of “the monster.” But I’ll let her tell you all about that sometime on her blog :). As I hung out at my parents’ over Christmas vacation to watch the Doctor Who Marathon, Dad finally watched some episodes with me. He really got into David Tennant’s humor while Mom appreciated Matt Smith’s heart (although her favorite Doctor remained Jodie Whittaker). The fact that I ended up sitting around the table with my parents discussing their favorite Doctor was too much fun! A year ago I couldn’t’ve imagined it.
In the fiftieth anniversary spectacular, “The Day of the Doctor,” Matt Smith’s Eleven and David Tennant’s Ten get to investigate wibbly wobbly, timey wimey problems together! / Photo Credit – BBC/Doctor Who
None of this sharing of Doctor Who with my family would have happened if I was binging the whole season online. I needed my parents’ cable to watch Doctor Who so I ended up at their house with them. The fact that it was on one night a week led to Mom and Kalie watching (and enjoying!) it with me too. Dad came on board with the marathon, intrigued by how much Mom had come to like and talk about the show – “Once you get to know the characters it’s really fun,” she said, “I just love her!” I mean they were willing to pass up Hallmark Christmas movies for the Doctor people!!! For my parents this is BIG. (Okay, so they were always going to let me use their TV to watch what I wanted to watch because they’re my parents and that’s how they role BUT they didn’t go watch TV upstairs because they were into the show and willing to pass up Hallmark Christmas movies for the Doctor.) I loved sharing not just the show but Sunday nights with my family. I forgot watching TV could be like this :).
I know it’s a product of my age. And I’m sure my students will be waxing poetic about the joy of binge-watching their favorite shows as their grandkids get an entire series instantaneously beamed into their brain or something. But for me, TV shows are best enjoyed one episode at a time, once a week. Jodie Whittaker’s first season as the Doctor reminded me of the magic of experiencing a TV show like this and gave me the unique gift of sharing the joy of a show I love with my family. I can’t wait for Season Twelve and more of this magic! I mean I have to wait until January 2020 because I guess that’s how Doctor Who operates when you watch it live. But I’m okay with that. Good things are worth waiting for. And this – all the fun and adventure of the Thirteenth Doctor and getting to share it with people I love – is certainly a very good thing.
Wherever you’re off to in the TARDIS Doctor, I’m excited to come along for the ride. The wonder and awe is exactly what I’m looking for. With that being said, it’s time to get back to my new novel! / Photo Credit – BBC/Doctor Who
My Comic Relief 
So pleased you got to watch it ‘live’ and that you enjoyed Jodie’s Doctor and her companions. I think she’s brilliant, the companions too, and I was lucky that the show aired here in France only four days after the UK showing… unlike the Capaldi episodes which were never shown here on time, and sometimes not in the right order. Fair play to France 4, they got it sorted, and I’ve been impressed overall with what I’ve seen, the acting, writing, atmosphere and spirit. My only grumble would be some of the episodes were rushed, and it was a bit of a mad sprint at the end to tidy things up. Mostly the episodes were good, if not brilliant. The historical ones were my favourites. I think generally DW has done good historical pieces over the years, and they didn’t disappoint us here. Seems a long time doesn’t it, having to wait for the next series in 2020 – a slightly longer break than usual. Hopefully they have lots of surprises in store!
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The historical ones were my favorites too! There was so much to them. I thought they were incredibly done. And yeah, the break until the next series seems FOREVER. When I first heard it wasn’t starting until 2020 I ran into Theresa’s classroom to ask, “What is this?? What kind of a show have you gotten me hooked on?!?” She laughed and said, “Yes, Doctor Who makes us wait sometimes.” But I guess I’ll wait for the Doctor :). I’m excited to see what sort of surprises the next series will hold!
Oh, and seeing the Capadli episodes out of order?!? That would be so frustrating! I can see having to deal with the extra long wait, but getting the story all disconnected would be maddening. I’m happy they got it sorted for you.
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I totally get what you mean about binging, particularly with Doctor Who. My first “live” season was the 2nd half of season 7, and before I that I had binge watched the rest in like less than a month (I was in college and an idiot lol) and there’s just sooo much emotional whiplash doing it that way. Like I’m bawling my eyes out about Tennant’s regeneration and then *click* there’s Matt Smith being goofy with fish fingers & custard with no time to process (my fault, but still). It’s nice getting to spend so much more time on the show without that binging temptation just sitting there.
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“Emotional whiplash” – oh my gosh I love it! That’s exactly it! What a perfect phrase! I will now quote you forever whenever I talk to people about my struggle with binging Doctor Who :). I’m happy you get where I’m coming from. The struggle is real!
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I burst into happy/joy tears when I first saw the new Doctor. After being a fan for all of my life, the Doctor finally was like me. Which reinforced to me why we need more diversity and inclusivity on our television and movie screens, to have folks have the same wave of happiness and joy seeing themselves reflected in our media is imperative.
A huge step forward for the series, and though I shall always have Pertwee as my fave Doctor, Whittaker comes in as a close second. She brings such a sense of joy and warmth to the role, that I am hopeful 2019 will bring many more great episodes. (I agree that the historical episodes were the strongest). Great supporting cast round out a good solid start.
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I don’t know what else to say other than AMEN! Yes, yes, and yes! I’m absolutely with you on the diversity/inclusion note. As a white male, I’ve always been given the gift of seeing myself in so many of the characters I love. It makes me so happy to see that expanding! As you said, everyone deserves that experience.
On the how-great-this-season-was note, I’m actually on my third ‘Doctor Who’ novel featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham because I loved them all so much and couldn’t wait for new episodes :). The novels have been amazing and I expect rereads will follow!
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Hi Michael,
Thank you for your insights into Doctor Who. I wasn’t sure how the Doctor being a female would go down. Does the Doctor retain memories of past lives or is that only in the transition moment?
I have a question to a fellow nerd who loves more than one fandom? There are lots of very specific blogs and podcasts out there for Star Wars, Star Trek and the like. How about the fact our faith is quietly woven within our messages?
I have been talking to my blog/ podcast team about what genre does that fall into and who is our audience. What do you classify a platform that hits a wide variety of fandoms? Are there people out there like us? Does positive fandom meet a need? Are we geared towards who? Fans? Family? I didn’t just want us to get in the religious/ Christian market but to be a bridge to see doors open up to talk to people on both sides. Does that make sense?
We really feel like we aren’t finding our target audience and wonder what we need to do to find them? I know networking with like-minded people like yourself is a start. If you have any thoughts I would like to talk.
Thanks for your time,
Gary
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Yes, the Doctor retains all of the memories from previous regenerations. It’s sort of like being reborn. The Doctor remembers their personal history but they are still a new person (adding tragedy to the narrative as each regeneration is also a death while allowing each actor to put their own stamp on the character). The BIG traits of the Doctor’s personality – the brilliance, compassion, joy in creation, rejection of killing, passion for life, etc. – remain in each regeneration. However things like their specific sense of humor, what they “like” or “dislike,” the way they carry themselves, etc. can change – sometimes in big ways and other times in small ways – with each regeneration.
As to the blog/podcast audience…I’m not sure how much I can help. I like the idea of “being a bridge” and opening this door to explore the spiritual messages through all these stories. Obviously I like that! I try to do that in some of my pieces here :). And I think people are interested in exploring it. And the positivity in fandom in general, I think is important too. How best to make that marketable, how best to share that with as many people as possible, I’m not sure.
These are just my immediate thoughts as I reply. I know I have an email waiting from you so I’ll put together something more thoughtful and send it your way later today.
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Thanks, Michael. I think just being part of a positive “Neek” network is a great place to start.
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