Doctor Who has been running (on and off) for 50 years, it is officially the longest-running science fiction show and is currently one of the most popular ones. What makes the show so unique and its fans so loyal?
It’s interesting that for the longest time the idea of being kidnapped by an alien seemed like something out of a horror movie, yet fans of the show (like me) often dream of being swept away by The Doctor and off to look for amazing adventures in time and space where anything is possible. One of the biggest appeals about the show is that it allows for the impossible to become a reality while also maintaining some restrictions (which can be broken under some very unusual circumstances).
The show is about an alien, who goes by the alias of The Doctor, who comes from planet Gallifrey and has a time machine, called the T.A.R.D.I.S. (Time And Relative Dimension In Space), which allows him to travel through time and space. The T.A.R.D.I.S. looks like a blue police phone box and can blend into the background so that it is unnoticeable to unwelcome eyes.
The Doctor has a special power: he can regenerate into a new body whenever his current body dies, this allows him to live a very long life (the men above are all the different regenerations of The Doctor). For nearly 2,000 years The Doctor has been responding to distress calls in order to protect people (usually the people of Earth) from harmful invasions.
In many ways The Doctor is similar to Superman: he is an alien, he is the last of his kind (sort of), he sometimes feels lonely and misunderstood, and not many know his real (birth) name.
In a lot of ways, The Doctor is also similar to Batman since just like the caped crusader, The Doctor uses technology to help him save the lives of others. Like many Superheroes, The Doctor does not partake in unnecessary violence, does not like guns, and like so many others, is running away from himself.
Interestingly, The Doctor, much like the Superheroes we know from comic books, has become the very identity he has chosen – The Doctor. His chosen name is a promise: “never cowardly or cruel, never give up, never give in” and I think it is a promise he has kept over the years.
What I think is most striking about the show and the reason for its popularity is that despite The Doctor’s alien origin, he is innately human.
He knows what it is like to love and to lose someone dear to him:
what it’s like to be a good friend:
and what it’s like to fight for something so incredibly important, even if it hurts:
To the every end, The Doctor spends all his lives fighting for what is right, protecting everyone he can, sometimes at a very high price, and continuously reminding us what it means to be human. The show is fun, entertaining, and full of excitement, true, but it is much more than that. It is about love, it is about courage, it is about honor, and it is about pain – deep, emotional, psychological, inexplicable pain, that many of us, despite not having been in exactly the same situation can still very much relate to on a very deep, very personal level. And through this connection, we heal. The Doctor has done his job, both on the screen and ever after that.
So should you hear that sound, that deep wheezing sound, full of the agony that The Doctor has felt and the horrors that the T.A.R.D.I.S. has seen, know too, that it is the sign of hope, because The Doctor is here.
Allons-y!
-Shadow Quill
