It is the 23rd of November and we all know what that means? No, I do not mean One Direction Day. I mean the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary! As I live in Australia, the 50th Anniversary special (
The Day of the Doctor) does not air until 6:50 am tomorrow on ABC1. Now you know what I will be doing between 6:50 and 8:07. To celebrate this momentous occasion in Doctor Who history I have compiled a list of 50 reasons why I, and so many others around the world, love Doctor Who.
1. The story is timeless and has adapted over time to suit the current era. Throughout its entire run it has managed to give audiences what they want and boy, have they taken it.
2. You never know quite what to expect. Anything can happen where The Doctor is involved.
3. Even though the stories can seem so out-there you are still able to connect with the story which is a very hard thing to achieve with something that is not even human.
4. The stories are believable. For all we know, the silence could exist and we just can not remember them. The vashta nerada could in fact be the reason why people are afraid of the shadows. Everything makes sense.
5. While the show has changed a lot over 50 years, the writers still make references to Classic Doctor Who and even in Season 6 there were references to episodes with the first ever Doctor, William Hartnell.
6. Regenerations keep the show moving. It makes it plausible to have many actors play the same role over 50 years and could even see the show go on for much longer as they are not limited by the age of actors.
7. Companions make up half the show. As much as the show is about
Doctor Who it is also about the doctor's companions and their relationships and experiences. They represent us, as humans, and are our 'representatives' if you want to call them that in the story. They give us someone else to connect to, who did not cry when Amy and Rory jumped off the building to stop the Weeping Angels (As River Song would say, Spoilers).
8. The show appeals to people all around the world and it creates a global community that connects so many different people all over the world.
9. It can teach us a lot about history with many episodes featuring historical figures such as Queen Elizabeth the 1st, Madame le Pompadour, William Shakespeare and Vincent Van Gogh, you learn just as much as you enjoy without even realising it.
10. You can jump into the show at almost any episode and still have it make sense. The first episode I watched was
The Girl in the Fireplace and that is in the second season (of the modern series) with David Tennant as the Doctor.
11. Comedy. The show has serious times but it also has laughter. It is a great balance such that the show does not become a comedy, but it still has light-hearted moments that always make you laugh such as the Doctor always wishing he was ginger after every regeneration.
12. Heart. Throughout the 50 years this show has been running there is one thing it has never lost, its heart. It may be funny, it may be serious but it is also full of heart and emotion with so many highs and so many lows. It really is an almost all-round show.
13. Continuity. The show always continues stories that it left off in previous seasons, if not decades. Sometimes they are small little references and other times they are huge. However, each time you notice one it does give you a bit of a kick.
14. Whovians. Perhaps one of the best things about Doctor Who is the fans. This big fandom around this show (which I am not going to call little) adds an extra element and makes the show that much bigger. Without the fans, Doctor Who would never have made it this far.
15. Donna Noble. Whilst the majority of the other companions were busy flirting with the doctor, Donna here took no such nonsense and did not let the Doctor take advantage of her. She also added another layer of comedy as well as a lot of emotion (have you seen
The Fires of Pompeii?)
16. Exterminate! After all these years, the one creature that can strike fear into the hearts of every Whovian through the use of one word is, of course, the Daleks. They may not seem very scary to an outsider but to a Whovian it does not get much worse.
17. Catchphrases. Each Doctor has had their own thing, or catchphrase, that you would often hear them say. For David Tennant it was "Allonsy" and for Matt Smith it was "Geronimo". It added another layer to the Doctor that you would only uncover if you looked hard enough.
18. The Mystery. After 50 years you would think that you would know every secret of the Doctor but oh, we only know the tiniest portion. This time lord has many secrets and it only takes a good writer to weed them out and make out like they were planned since the very beginning.
19. The TARDIS, Time-And-Relative-Dimensions-In-Space. This infinite time machine of the Doctor's again hides many secrets, as we discovered in
Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS and as such there is still a lot more to uncover. Oh, and did I mention that it can change?
20. Signature style. The Doctors have many things in common but one easy way to distinguish between them was their signature style. This has been the same since the very beginning and the writers have stayed true to this the whole time. You have Matt Smith's bow-ties, Sylvester McCoy's Umbrella, David Tennant's suit and many more.
21. Torchwood. This government agency looks into and covers up events and issues relating to outer space and, dare I say it, 'Aliens'. This organisation even had its own television series thanks to Doctor Who. Torchwood, you are so awesome.
22. Doctor Explanations. These are when the Doctor tries to make things clear by explaining them but only succeeds in making even less sense. For instance, he explains the time-locked time-war as being trapped inside a giant bubble before saying, oh nothing like that. Matt Smith's Doctor is the worst I have seen as he does this every time. He asks you to think of something and then says it is nothing like that.
23. Monsters. The creative monsters never cease to amaze. At first they seem superficial or just scary but then you find out their background and realise how deep their stories actually are. What whovian has not been creeped out by the Weeping Angels, or being afraid of the shadows thanks to the Vashta Nerada?
24. Stormageddon, the dark lord of all. Who did not immediately fall in love with this baby from the episode
Closing Time in Season 6. Craig's reappearance in this story only made fans love the story ever the more.
25. The Doctor's Languages. Is it not very convenient, and hilarious, how the Doctor can speak so many languages, even the ones we never knew actually existed? He can speak baby, animal and many other things. Sometimes I wonder if he just makes half the stuff up. Then I remember he is a fictional character.
See 25 more reasons why I love Doctor Who in tomorrow's post! See you tomorrow!
