Being a Doctor Who fan...

Someone told me that the BBC Doctor Who website has a trailer for the new series starting at Easter. It puts me in the mood to see this new series. Which is a shame as I probably won't be able to see much of it this year due to the move... but more about that in another post.

Thinking back six years to when the Russell T Davies revival was first announced, I felt ambivalent about the revival. Russell was a good writer and loved the series. I'd seen his Channel 4 series, and heard good stuff about the serials he did for children's TV.

I was prepared not to like it. As a thirty-something male fan of the original series I realised that I had no right to like it- it would have to primarily grab the attention of the younger audience. If us old school fans liked it too, that would be a bonus, if not then we still had the tapes of the old series, and the CDs made by Big Finish.

But the younger audience liked it. And I got my bonus- I thought it was great too. It was better than anyone had any right to expect. What's more to cap it all it all, lots of other people liked it and it became incredibly popular.

It doesn't always hit the mark. But, by and large, it has a better hit rate than the old series, and you need your rose tinted glasses to pretty deeply coloured to think otherwise.

Doctor Who has just come to the end of a golden age, and is entering a new one, with a new chief writer, and lead actors. It may not repeat the success of the Davies-Tennant era, but five years of top-notch TV was more than any fan had any right to expect.


Anyway- talking of Doctor Who nostalgia: Prior to the move I'm trying to flog as much of my stuff that gathers dust in attics as possible. I don't think it's fair to ask my parents to store more stuff while not doing anything with all the boxes that have remained untouched for five or more years.

My old New Adventures seem to have gone like hot cakes on Amazon marketplace, and the few ten to twenty year old copies of Doctor Who Magazine that were still intact have found new homes courtesy of eBay. Who would have thought it.

I'm having more difficulty getting rid of the remainants of my collection of video tapes. Who fans are typically quicker to adopt new technology than people in general, so have no desire to pick up episodes on an old format. I got rid of a few tapes at work to people wanting to show their kids what they used to watch back in the day, but I think I'm going to have to take drastic action with the rest.

The life laundry is therapeutic. It feels better to know this stuff is with people who will appreciate it, rather than just taking up room or being pulped to become part of next weeks Daily Mail.