Monday night I went to see the
Doctor
Who anniversary special “The Day of the Doctor” in 3-D and on the big
screen via Fathom Events, and it was glorious.
Not only did they show the 75-minute special, but they kicked things off with a
specially-made policy trailer intro featuring Strax (Dan Starkey) that had the
auditorium in stitches. There’s a priceless bit with popcorn that has to be
seen to be appreciated. That was followed by David Tennant and Matt Smith (in costume
and character) against a stark white background, “turning on” the 3-D, which
led to the special proper. Once that was over, there was a ten-minute making of
special narrated by Colin Baker, so the entire program ended up probably going just over the 90-minute mark, and thus making it all feel like a true theatrical
experience. As if watching the anniversary special on Saturday wasn’t enough,
this kicked the whole thing up to a new level, and the folks who viewed this same
presentation theatrically on Saturday truly experienced the Mona Lisa of Doctor
Who anniversaries (and it was not a fake!).
Seeing the same program two days later
was nearly as special, as was evidenced by the enthusiasm of the crowd. The B.O. take for this massive experiment is pretty impressive, and the BBC bean
counters are surely over the moon. I do not know the specifics of how this
entire event was handled, but when I purchased tickets the day they went on
sale, as far as I could tell there was just a single showing, at 7:30 PM. Yet
Monday night there were numerous showings – at 7:30 and at 10 PM, in both 2-D
& 3-D! So it seems that somewhere along the way, more screenings had to be
arranged, presumably to accommodate the demand for tickets. When we emerged
from our screening at about 9ish, the entire theatre was packed with people
waiting for the next screenings. It seems that the initial expectations were
obliterated, and a proper Doctor Who theatrical movie, likely
starring Peter Capaldi, needs to
happen in the next couple years.
But that’s not what I’m here
to talk about today. I’m here to publicly recant something I’ve said numerous times over the years (though probably never online - which makes this as much confession as retraction), and that’s that I do not like Doctor Who fans, an opinion I formed
back during the lean years when the show was off the air, about an unhappy,
grumpy group of folks who often sort of seemed to dislike even one another (there
was probably a fair amount of self-loathing involved, on my part, too). That’s
all changed now, and with each new convention I attend, and each new batch of
Whovians I engage with, I realize that not only do I like Doctor Who fans, but I might
just love them.
I love their passion. I love
their ingenuity. I love their intelligence. And what I loved more than anything
else Monday night at the movie theatre was the love they have for one another. I
wore my Tom Baker scarf – one my aunt knitted for me back in, like, ’84 or
someting - and people just fawned and squealed over it. Men longed to have one
just like it, and women wanted to wrap it around themselves – and it was just a
scarf! Still, folks admiring my wares is also not what I’m here to discuss.
It’s Doctor Who families that
blow me away – parents that have in-Doctor-nated their children, and they were
all there on Monday: so many enthusiastic families – children waving around
their sonic screwdrivers, parents wearing fezzes. It was such a sight to
behold…and it gets better. My initial reaction to seeing all these children in
the auditorium was one of fear – how are these little ones going to ruin my one
and only chance at this particular cinematic experience? How many crying fits
and bored kids getting up and running around will I have to suffer through?
None of that ever happened.
They were so into the program that beyond the laughter and squeals in the
appropriate places, there were utterly, silently transfixed. Some of it was
because the program was so awesome, but much of it, I believe, was also down to
just plain good parenting. Maybe Harry Potter started all this, with
its books and movies, and now Doctor Who is picking up where J.K.
Rowling left off, by helping to make smarter, more imaginative children, by
demonstrating that intelligence and kindness and patience are attributes to strive for, not
to be ashamed of. As far as our TV entertainment goes, families don’t have much
to watch and enjoy together anymore. TV networks and cable channels have
splintered all the choices into specific groups and demographics. Very little
on TV tries to please everyone, and the networks have given up on trying to create something the entire family can enjoy.
Families coming together to
view Who
isn’t news to anyone living in the U.K.
This holiday season, figure out a
way to turn a kid onto Doctor Who. Share and connect. You’ll be doing the
world a favor.
