Dr. Who – The Fall

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Billions of eons ago when I was a kid back in the 1980s, my all-time favorite TV show was a fringe, weird, low budget, foreign TV show that I could only watch on PBS, since it was unavailable anywhere else. It was called Dr. Who. Maybe lots of people watched it in England back then, I don't know. But I do know that very few Americans watched it. It was a cult show.

-By Caleb Jones

It was considered too low budget and "stupid looking" for most Americans to enjoy. You could actually see strings holding up the planets, and see the seams on the costumes. Americans, when they saw it, which was rare, puked and said it was stupid. I loved it. It was extremely intellectual, very complex, thoroughly entertaining, and unlike anything on American television at the time. Each episode was usually two and a half hours long(!) or more(!), and that's without commercials. This made for extremely complex storylines that other shows, locked into a 30 or 60 minute model, couldn't match.

Moreover, it actually had a story arc that covered years and years of episodes, going all the way back to the 1960s(!). Yes, the props and special effects were terrible, and you had to get past that if you wanted to enjoy the show, which sometimes was hard. Nevertheless, it was awesome.

The main character, The Doctor, was different than other heroes I had watched on American TV or movies. Regardless of which actor portrayed him, instead of cool and heroic, he was an unassuming, usually ugly guy, and actually sort of a jerk. He was definitely a good guy, but he wasn't a nice guy, or even a cool guy.

Instead of wooing and getting the girl every episode, he was completely asexual. He didn't give a shit about women. Even when there were cute or sexy female co-stars, he was too smart for any that. He was a being "beyond" girls. At the time, this was hugely interesting and I really liked that aspect of the character. Don't get me wrong. Captain Kirk is awesome beyond belief, but not every sci fi hero needs to be a clone of him, nor should be.

You had to be a smart person to enjoy Dr. Who. Seriously. If you were dumb or didn't like to work hard to understand things, the show would come off as stupid or boring. That's what Dr. Who was. A show for smart people. Eventually it went off the air in 1989. I was really bummed. No more Doctor. No more Tardis. No more Daleks. A unique and complex show was gone.

To my surprise, 16 years later in 2005, they brought Dr Who back! A new show! A new doctor! I was excited, but cautious. Usually new versions of things like this are never as good as the original. But I wanted to give the show a chance. The first season of the show was...okay. It wasn't bad and I enjoyed it, but it wasn't nearly as good as the original. That's okay, I thought, since often shows need a season or two to get going and get good. So I kept watching.

Over time, I could see the show steering in a very clear direction...a feminine one. The character of The Doctor went from an older, ugly, intellectual, nonsexual, interesting jerk, to slowly morphing into a young, good looking, spastic guy who feel in love with his female co-stars, even kissing them on occasion. Just look at the picture of the various Doctors above, and notice how they start out as old and/or ugly (interesting) and slowly get younger and better-looking (typical TV shit).

This was not Dr. Who.
In various episodes, most female characters were featured as super tough and independent, while most male characters (who were not villains) were portrayed as extreme beta males.

This was not Dr. Who.
In the old Doctor Who, his companions were men, women, and often, aliens. In the new Dr. Who, his companion (usually only one) was always a girl. Always. Of course she had to be cute, strong, and spunky, with lots of sexual tension with The Doctor.

This was not Dr. Who.
Storylines in the new show spent a hell of a lot of time (out of the now 60-minute format) on girl-boy relationships, arguments, breakups, and marriages. What? In one episode, the Emperor of the Universe proposes to Dr. Who's female co-star after only knowing her for less than 60 minutes of screen time. What?

This was not Dr. Who.
Eventually I stopped watching. Dr. Who, once a deep show for intellectual nerds, had become one of the favorite shows of female teenagers. Seriously. It now has as strong teenage following. Teenage girls have pictures of Dr. Who on their walls now.

Um, yeah. That's not Dr. Who.
At some point, when I get some time, I'm going to go back and go on a Dr. Who marathon of all the old episodes I watched as a kid. That will be fun. Too bad that show is long gone.

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