Doctor Who Cares Anymore?

As regular readers of my blog (all six of you) know, I used to be a HUGE Doctor Who fan. I dutifully watched both the old and new series, and bought tons of merch from the show. 

That all ended in 2017, when the BBC made the boneheaded decision to cast actress Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor. It was a stupid idea (in my opinion of course) and a blatant case of shameless pandering. 

As if that wasn't bad enough, it was also the point where the show ditched creative storytelling in favor of identity politics. How fun!

I wasn't the only one who felt this way, as the show's ratings plummeted after Whittaker entered the TARDIS (as I predicted they would). Audiences want to be entertained, not lectured!

Things got so dire that it honestly looked like the show might be canceled. In a desperate attempt to avoid that, the BBC announced it was bringing back David Tennant (arguably the most popular actor of the new era) as the Doctor, along with showrunner Russell T. Davies. 

Davies was the one who revived the show back in 2005, updating it for modern audiences. The show hit new heights of popularity with him at the helm, becoming a worldwide phenomenon. 

The news of his return actually gave me a small glimmer of hope, as I looked forward to him course-correcting the show and restoring it to its former glory.

Sadly, it doesn't look like that's gonna happen. In the years since he left, Davies has apparently hopped aboard the SJW train and is doubling down on the identity politics & pandering.

Case in point: Recently the BBC aired its annual Children In Need special (sort of the British equivalent to the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon). Each year the special features a Doctor Who mini episode, to lure in viewers and donors.

This year's mini-episode featured David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor encountering his archenemies the Daleks, as well as a familiar old foe. Well, kind of familiar.

This is Davros— a deranged Kaled scientist who created the Daleks. Clearly something bad happened to poor Davros at some point, as he's blind, missing his left arm and has a bionic hand. He may also be legless as well, and rides around in a Dalek-like mobility unit.

Davros has sported this look since he first appeared during Tom Baker's run back in 1975's Genesis Of The Daleks. He instantly became one of the show's most popular villains, and has returned numerous times over the years.

Oddly enough, this new mini episode features an all-new Davros, played by actor Julian Bleach— who's played the character for a couple decades now. For some reason, this updated Davros now looks like a hawk-faced Nazi and has four perfectly functioning limbs. What the hell?

At first I thought maybe this was a prequel, set sometime before Davros' accident. Makes sense, right?

Nope! According to Russell T. Davies, this is how our boy Davros is gonna look from now on.

Said Davies:

"We had long conversations about bringing Davros back because he’s a fantastic character. Time and society and culture and taste has moved on, and there’s a problem with the Davros of old in that he’s a wheelchair user who is evil. And I had problems with that, and a lot of us on the production team had problems with that, of associating disability with evil, and trust me, there’s a very long tradition of this. I’m not blaming people in the past at all, but the world changes and when the world changes, Doctor Who has to change as well."

"So we made the choice to bring back Davros without the facial scarring, and without the wheelchair, or his support unit, which functions as a wheelchair. I say this is how we see Davros now. This is what he looks like. This is 2023. This is our lens. This is our eye. Things used to be black and white, they’re not in black and white anymore. And Davros used to look like that, and he looks like this now, and that we are absolutely standing by."

"I thought it was absolutely vital to do this, and I’m very, very, very proud of the fact that we have."

Jesus wept. Nearly FIFTY YEARS' worth of continuity flushed right down the shitter, all because Davies feels Davros "associates disabilities with evil." Are you fucking kidding me? 

So now one of the best villains in the history of the show is ruined, because... we can't have evil people in wheelchairs due to representation or some crap like that. I assure you, at no time in the history of the show did ANYONE ever take a look at Davros and think "wheelchair user." And they certainly never thought, "Say, that disabled chap is evil. That means ALL such people are monsters as well!"

Here's a thought— if Davros is truly that problematic now in our miserable society, then... DON'T USE HIM! There are a crap-ton of other villains Davies could have dredged up that wouldn't have given him icky bad feelings.

I wasn't the only one who hated this pointless change. Many disabled fans actually loved the old Davros, and were offended that Davies apparently thought they were too frail and sensitive to handle seeing a handicapped villain, and complained about it online. His response to them? "Tough" and "Oh poor baby." 

Wow. What an asshole. Attacking the fans of your work for its shortcomings is always a classy move.

This is without a doubt the absolute stupidest thing the show's ever done. Davies has proudly come up with a solution to a problem that never existed, and patted himself on the back for doing so.

I should also point out that the Doctor Who episodes Rise Of The Cybermen and The Age Of Steel featured a villain named John Lumic. Similarly to Davros, he was the creator of the Cyberman, and... was confined to a wheelchair!

Note that these episodes aired in 2006, when the showrunner was (checks notes)... one Russell T. Davies. Hmm...

If that wasn't strange enough, in 2008 The Stolen Earth and Journey's End aired, and both episodes featured Davros as the antagonist. A quick check of those episodes reveals they were written by... Russell T. Davies!

Apparently disabled villains were OK in the 2000s, but problematic here in the hellscape of 2023.

If villains are that upsetting for today's fragile audience, why bother having one on the show at all then? Why not just show the Doctor sipping tea with his companion for the entire season?

If Davros' physical appearance triggers Davies, wait'll he gets a load of the Cybermen. They're from a future where humans gradually replaced their limbs and organs with mechanical versions, until they were more machine than man. How long until Davies retcons all of them into less provocative Ryan Gosling clones?

I tell you, the day's coming when EVERY franchise devolves into the Porch Pals. 

So I'm out! When I heard the news that Davies was returning to run the show, I was cautiously optimistic that he might be able to save it. It's clear now that that isn't going to happen, and it's just gonna be more of the same crap we've gotten for the past five or six years. He's actually saving me a lot of time here, as I won't be bothering to check out the show again now.

I'll end here with a drawing I did of Davros, as a big "Screw You" to Russell T. Davies and his cockamamie ideas. 

Doctor Hugh?

This week rumors swirled that award winning actor Hugh Grant had been cast as the 14th Doctor on long-running BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who.

Eh. I'm not a huge fan of Grant, as I've never cared much for his "Befuddled, Sputtering Englishman" persona he uses in virtually every role he plays. 

That said, I'd take him in a second over the gawky, off-putting slag who's currently killing the series with every episode she appears in.

Grant denied the rumors of course, saying he has no idea where they came from. Truth, or misdirection before an official announcement?

This wouldn't be the first time Grant's been associated with the titular Time Lord. Showrunner Russell T Davies approached Grant about playing the Doctor in the 2005 revival of the series.

And he actually played the Doctor in The Curse Of The Fatal Death, a Doctor Who spoof filmed specifically for the 1999 Comic Relief charity.

If Grant does actually become the next Doctor, expect lots of underplayed, "charming" stammering and stuttering. "Um... yes, well, um... yes I'm the, um... the Doctor, aren't I?"

Remington Who

Remember that weird season of Doctor Who where the Fourth Doctor's companion was Marie Barone, from Everybody Loves Raymond? What an odd creative decision that was!

Actually it's a scene from an episode of 1980's crime series Remington Steele, in which Tom Baker (aka the Fourth Doctor) guest starred as a Scotland Yard detective named Anatole Blaylock. Gosh, with a name like that, I wonder if he turned out to be the villain of the week? 

Doris Roberts, who would eventually go on to play Marie Barone, was a series regular on Remington Steele. She played Mildred Krebs, the receptionist of the title character's detective agency.

I like to imagine the first meeting between Tom Baker and Doris Roberts went something like this:

Doris Roberts: "Oh, and who are you, dear?"
Tom Baker: (smiling his toothy grin) "My name is Tom Baker. I'm on one of the most popular series in all of Great Britain, about an alien with a time machine that's bigger on the inside than the outside."
Doris Roberts: (in Marie Barone's condescending tone) "Ohhh... that's nice. Well, I'm sure things will pick up for you soon, dear."

Happy Birthday To The Doctors!

Happy Birthday to actor Tom Baker, who turns 87 years young today! 

Baker's arguably the best Doctor of them all, as he played the role for a whopping seven seasons, from 1974 to 1981. He brought a surreal, alien quality to the role which for my money's never been topped.

Happy Birthday, Tom!

Oddly enough, today's also the birthday of another famous sci-fi physician. DeForest Kelley, aka Doctor McCoy, was born January 20, 1945! Sadly, Kelley passed away in 1999. Today would have been his 76th birthday.

Happy Birth Anniversary, DeForest Kelley!

Happy Fifteen Anniversary To New Who!

Just realized another anniversary slipped by me, what with the End Of The World currently happening and all. March 26 was the FIFTEENTH Anniversary of the return of Doctor Who! Fifteen years! How is that even possible?

Doctor Who ran on the BBC from 1963 (premiering the day after JFK was assassinated!) and ran until 1989— totaling a whopping 861 episodes! Holy Crap! That's a LOT of episodes!

There were numerous attempts to bring the show back over the years, but most never panned for various reasons. The BBC in particular demonstrated an appalling lack of interest in resurrecting the show, which is odd considering the amount of money they were raking in from various Who-related merchandise.

For years producer Philip Segal attempted to relaunch the show in America, without any success. Finally in 1996, the Fox Network agreed to film a TV movie that would serve as a pilot for a new series. 

The TV movie, simply titled Doctor Who, was a co-production between Fox, BBC Television, BBC Worldwide and Universal Television. With a budget of $5 million (an amount the original show could only dream of), the movie featured updated special effects and impressive CGI graphics.

Unfortunately the ratings were less than spectacular, and the project died then and there. While comic book and sci-fi fans were well versed in Doctor Who, the vast majority of Americans were unfamiliar with the character and tuned out in droves. It was just too weird for the general public.

Finally in 2003, producer Russell T Davies convinced the BBC to do a proper revival of the show. Unlike the original Doctor Who, which featured multi-part stories, each episode of this new series would be self-contained, clocking in at forty five minutes. This was intended to help speed up the pace of the show.

Davies claims he wanted the tone and structure of the show to be similar to such American series as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Smallville. In particular he liked Buffy's trend of featuring a season-long arc that built up to a confrontation with a "Big Bad."

In 2004, actor Christopher Eccleston was cast as the Doctor. Unlike old school Doctors who generally wore outlandish period-inspired costumes (often festooned with question marks!), Eccleston's wardrobe was downright pedestrian. He was decked out in a plain t-shirt, pants and boots, topped off with a black leather jacket. He wouldn't have looked out of place on any street in England or America.

British pop star Billie Piper was cast as his companion Rose Tyler. Virtually unheard of at the time in America, she was a big deal in Britain, releasing several bestselling albums.

Filming began in mid-2004 in Cardiff, Wales. The new series premiered on March 26, 2005, and was a certified hit, as the first episode— titled Rose— pulled in 10.5 million viewers in England. That number rose (heh) once the series debuted in other countries.

If I'm being honest, Eccleston isn't my favorite Doctor. He wasn't terrible in the role by any means, but I just never warmed up to him for some reason. He seemed too somber and morose, lacking the manic energy and eccentric charm of previous incarnations of the character. He finally started growing on me toward the end of the season, and then of course announced he was leaving the show. Typical.

The first episode not only introduced us to Rose Tyler, but her mother Jackie and boyfriend Mickey Smith as well. This was the first time any iteration of the series had given the Doctor's companion an actual family, who became recurring characters. It was a welcome change.

In a stroke of absolute genius, Russell T Davies figured out a way for the show to be both a continuation of the original and a fresh start at the same time. When we first meet this new, recently-regenerated Ninth Doctor, he's the same character we all knew and loved from the old series. 

But he also reveals that he's completely alone in the universe, as his race— the Time Lords— have all been wiped out in a mysterious and massive cataclysm.

By not explaining what happened to the Time Lords right off the bat, Davies leveled the playing field. Long time fans were just as in the dark about what happened as new viewers. Brilliant!

I'm not a huge fan of Rose, as it's kind of an awkward watch. The tone is all over the place, as there are moments of genuine terror juxtaposed with humor that seems very out of place. In fact the whole first season of the new series is kind of rough, as the show is very obviously struggling to find its groove.

Fortunately David Tennant (my second favorite Doctor) came along in Season 2 and showed everyone how it's done. That's the season in which I became an even bigger fan of the show than I had been before.

Eh... it's just too bad that Doctor Who has sunk to its current, unrecoverable depths. I hate to say it, but I think it's time to retire the series again.

Anyway, Happy Fifteenth Anniversary To New Doctor Who!

Make Up!

There was a time not all that long ago when I was a huge fan of Doctor Who. Sadly, that time has passed. I've not watched a single episode since Peter Capaldi left the show, nor do I plan to. My reasons are my own, I've stated them before and there's no point in rehashing them here.

Despite the fact that the show's dead to me now, it's nigh impossible to avoid seeing or hearing about it. Last week I ran across a few pics from the recent episode Orphan 55, and noticed something interesting about the alien makeup in current Doctor Who...

I think this gentleman from the episode is supposed to be an alien. Or perhaps he's just a human with a thing for anime. Either way, it appears the makeup budget ran dry this season, so they spent $9.99 on a wig at a pop-up Halloween store and unceremoniously plopped it on this unfortunate actor's head.

And then there's this... thing, which calls itself "Hyph3n with a three." What... what the frak is that?

Here's a closer look at Hyph3n (sorry about that). I assume she's supposed to be some sort of human/cat hybrid? Maybe? So apparently the show's given up on using prosthetic makeup altogether, and just hired a ten year old to paint vaguely feline features on an actor's face.

This is just embarrassing! They obviously wanted her to have a ca-liket muzzle, but instead of following the lines of her face they just painted right over her nasolabial folds and hoped no one would notice. They clearly don't know what they're doing here.

Internet wiseacres have pointed out that Hyph3n closely resembles Barf from the movie Spaceballs. They're not wrong! At least that movie had the excuse that it was a comedy, and not meant to be taken seriously like Orphan 55!

I actually feel sorry for the poor actress who had to try to perform with this embarrassment on her face. Hell, the Cats stage play has more convincing makeup than this. Same goes for Peter Criss of KISS!

For comparison, here are two Catkind members of the Sisters Of Plentitude from the David Tennant era of Who. As you can see, they used elaborate prosthetic makeup here, and the result was quite convincing. They really do look like feline aliens.

The early years of New Who had some amazing looking alien makeups. In fact The End Of The World (the second episode of Christopher Eccleston's run) featured a whole slew of impressively elaborate aliens...

There was the Moxx Of Balhoon.

The Ambassadors Of The City State Of Binding Light (whatever that means).

Coffa, Jabe and Lute, who were living trees from the Forest Of Cheem.

And the massive and imposing Face Of Boe, who was literally a giant head in a jar.

As I said, these alien makeups and animatronics all appeared in one single episode of the show! Quite a change from Orphan 55, eh?

The Eccleston era also gave us the Family Slitheen from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious (no, really!).

Tennant's run had a host of outstanding alien makeups as well. The Sycorax appeared in his first episode, The Christmas Invasion.

Then there were the Ood...

An exceptional update of the classic villains the Sontarans...

And revamped Silurians as well.

Tennant's era also gave us the amphibious Hath.

Chantho the Malmooth (actually that should be "Chan Chantho the Malmooth tho").

And the fly-like Tritovores.

But Bob, I hear you bleat— the latest episode of Jodie Whittaker's run featured the return of the Judoon! Just look at how elaborate and awesome those animatronics are! Surely that pokes a giant hole in your rambling complaint!

Yes, it's true that everyone's favorite space rhinos did appear in Fugitive of The Judoon. But they're legacy aliens, created back in the Tennant era. The BBC just dug the masks and costumes out of their storage closet and trotted them in front of the camera. They're hand-me-downs, and they didn't spend a dime making anything new for the episode.

So what the hell's going on here? How's it possible that Doctor Who aliens look worse in 2020 than they did fifteen years ago in 2005?

I'm assuming that as always, it comes down to money. The BBC is notoriously cheap, and always has been. Heck, just look at the episode count if you need proof. In the Eccleston, Tennant and Smith eras, they pumped out thirteen episodes per season (plus an Xmas Special). Starting with Peter Capaldi's run though, they cut it down to twelve. Now that Whittaker's, er, taken over, the episode count's down to a measly ten per season! Eventually there's gonna be one ep a year!

There's no doubt in my mind that this austerity initiative has spread to the Doctor Who makeup department as well. Their budget's been cut so much that they likely fired Millennium FX (who created the prosthetics during the Eccleston through Capaldi runs) and have resorted to using primitive stage makeup for their "aliens."

At this point I think Classic Doctor Who had more impressive makeup!

Reverse The Polarity Of The Urine Flow

So I was watching clips of classic Doctor Who on YouTube today, and this happened:

In this clip from the episode The Time Monster, we see the Third Doctor and Jo Grant are inside the TARDIS. Note that the Doctor's holding some kind of high-tech device...

Here's a closeup of the device. Um... OK, then. This had to be the work of a disgruntled prop man at the BBC, right? I mean there's no way this happened by accident. Some worker got pissed at management and decided to see if he could sneak a giant dick on the air in 1972.

Timey Wimey!

Last year the BBC began releasing full season box sets of Classic Doctor Who on blu ray. As you might expect, they started with Tom Baker's first season on the show, since his Fourth Doctor is arguably the most popular version of the Classic Series.

I already owned most of Baker's run on DVD, but I went ahead and bought his first season on blu ray anyway, mostly due to space. The new case is about an inch thick, and takes up about one percent of the space of the DVDs.

Here's where things start to get confusing though. As you can see, the case is labeled Tom Baker, Complete Season One. But chronologically, he debuted in the series' TWELFTH season! Wha...? 

OK, I can kind of understand why they labeled the box set as Season One, as it would likely be confusing if it said the Complete Season Twelve. Casual buyers might be reluctant to buy it, thinking they'd missed the first eleven sets. So I get it.

They did the same thing a few months later when they released Peter Davison's (aka the Fifth Doctor) first season on the show. His was labeled Complete Season One as well, despite the fact that he actually debuted in Season Nineteen! Confused yet?

And now to make things even more convoluted, another Tom Baker box set just went up for pre-order. Inexplicably, the next release is of Tom Baker's SEVENTH year on the show. Which of course is technically Season Eighteen.

So what happened to Seasons Two through Six box sets? Why the hell would they jump straight to Seven? Now when people see them side by side on the shelf, they're definitely going to think they've somehow missed several releases. 

It's almost like they're deliberately designing these releases to fail!

Maybe it's only natural that a series about an alien who travels back and forth in time should be chronologically nonsensical as well.

Told You So!

Back in December I noted that for the first time in thirteen years, there would be no annual Doctor Who Christmas Special. The reason for this? According to the BBC, their brand new crack production team was "out of ideas," and couldn't come up with an Xmas theme.

Later on it began to look like they canceled it due to their newly implemented draconian diversity policy, which has no room for such Christian rituals like Xmas. This theory was bolstered by the fact that the BBC announced that for the first time ever, there'd be a Doctor Who New Year's Day Special.

I pointed out that this was a very bad idea. The Christmas Specials routinely generate the show's highest ratings, and why not? The presents are opened, the dinner's eaten, the guests have all departed and all the stores are closed. There's nothing else for the family to do but gather round the telly and watch the Doctor.

Compare that to New Year's Day, when the stores are open, lots of people have to work and even more are in bed nursing a hangover. Because of this, I predicted a New Year's Special would be a ratings disaster.

Welp, looks like I was right (cue sound of falling slide whistle).

The New Year's Special, titled (appropriately enough) Resolution, was seen by just 5.15 million viewers. That's the lowest rating of any holiday special since they began back in 2005. It's also actress new Doctor actress Jodie Whittaker's second lowest rated episode of the season!

For comparison, the first Christmas Special, starring David Tennant, scored 9.4 million viewers. And Matt Smith's first Special drew in a whopping 10.3 million!

Jesus Christ! It doesn't take a Nostradamus to figure out that more people are gonna be home watching TV on Xmas than on New Year's Day. It's simple logic. I hate to say I told 'em so, but...

I have mixed feelings about this whole situation. I said from the beginning that casting Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor was a stupid idea, and her presence would end up destroying the show and getting it canceled. So it's somewhat gratifying to see everything I predicted come true. 

On the other hand, seeing a show that I once loved flush itself straight down the crapper makes me very sad, and I hate to see Doctor Who implode like this.

I don't see any way to salvage the show at this point, even if the BBC fires Whittaker and showrunner Chris Chibnall. They're gonna end up cancelling it, and bringing it back again in five to ten years.

R.I.P. The Doctor Who Christmas Special

For the past thirteen years, the Doctor Who Christmas Special has been a holiday tradition, as families around the world gathered around their TVs to watch. Sadly, that tradition's been flushed straight down the crapper, as the BBC recently announced there'll be no Christmas Special this year. 

What the hell?

So why no Special this year? According to the BBC, the Doctor Who creative team, including brand new showrunner Chris Chibnall, has simply "run out of ideas."

Jesus wept. There's a lot to unpack in that simple little statement.

First of all, even if it's true that they're out of ideas, WHY THE FRAK WOULD YOU ANNOUNCE THAT IN A PRESS RELEASE? Even if it's true, why let the public know they hired a pack of talentless hacks? Why not just say the show's taking a break, or it's being pre-empted by another show or something. Anything but "we can't think of anything."

Secondly, this isn't some world-weary, battle-fatigued group that's been pumping out show after show for thirteen seasons. This is a BRAND NEW creative team! Last year the BBC swept out the entire Doctor Who production office and replaced EVERYONE, from the showrunner all the way down to the lowliest grip. So there's absolutely no reason for their brains to be spent already!

I suppose maybe they mean that after thirteen Christmas Specials, there just aren't any more holiday-themed plotlines left. That's no excuse either, as the stories don't need to be ABOUT Christmas. In fact, the very first Special, titled The Christmas Invasion, had little or nothing to do with the holiday. It was David Tennant's first episode, and was ll about him trying to adjust during an alien invasion that just happened to take place on December 25th.

Same goes for The Runaway Bride and Voyage Of The Damned. Neither was actually about Christmas (under showrunner Steven Moffat, the Specials gradually became more and more about Christmas though). So I'm calling bullsh*t on that excuse. There has to be something else behind the decision.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to use that excuse in your daily life, and get away with it like these writers have? "Sorry boss, I can't design anything for you today. I'm fresh out of ideas! Excuse me while I go to lunch!"

Eliminating the Christmas Special seems like a really bad idea to me. As you might expect, the Specials are a huge deal for the series. They pretty much have a captive audience, as most everything's closed on Christmas, so what else are you gonna do but watch 'em? 

Plus, the Specials consistently get the shows highest ratings, as people who don't normally tune in will watch. It's a chance for the series to gain exposure and draw in new viewers. Why would they want to give that up?

Oddly enough, a week or so after stating there'd be no Christmas Special this year, the creative team said there WOULD be a Doctor Who New Year's Special. Wha...?

I don't have any insights into the BBC, but I'm wondering if this is all part of their recent rabid push to be more diverse and inclusive? That's right, the BBC is now officially "woke," with a capital W. 

Since Christmas is a Christian holiday, it would not surprise me if it's now become problematic and distasteful to them, and they're trying to distance themselves from such a religious-tinged celebration. Don't want to offend anyone who's not a Christian after all, even though I doubt anyone cares.

In the end, it doesn't really matter to me what they do, as Doctor Who's now dead to me. It died the day the BBC chose identity politics and forced diversity over telling fun adventure stories, so they can cancel the show altogether as far as I'm concerned.

Easy Come, Easy Go

Now that my once favorite show Doctor Who has become a huge dumpster fire and is now dead to me, I've been streaming a lot of episodes from the good old days. You know, from back when the series was actually watchable.

I recently watched 2005's The Christmas Invasion. It was the first Doctor Who Christmas Special, and also served as David Tennant's introduction to the series.

In it, a race of aliens called the Sycorax invades Earth on Xmas day (hence the title). The recently regenerated Doctor then defends the planet against them.

At one point, the Sycorax send a message to Harriet Jones, the Prime Minister Of England. For some reason, their message features four of the aliens onscreen at the same time.

Hmm... there's something about their message that seems familiar somehow, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is...

Ah. There it is! The Sycorax are apparently big fans of Queen. Maybe the band's music was beamed out into space and picked up by the alien's ship?

I'n betting this was an homage rather than just a coincidence. It had to be, since the only Sycorax who spoke was the one at the bottom center of the screen. There was no reason to have four of them there except as a tribute to Freddie and the boys.

Happy 55th Anniversary To Doctor Who!

Happy Anniversary to Doctor Who, which premiered a whopping fifty five years ago (!!!) on Saturday, November 23, 1963! It aired just one day after the assassination of JFK!

I wonder if anyone working on that first show had any idea people would still be watching it over five decades later? Probably not.

I became a casual fan of the show back in the Tom Baker days (as did most Americans). I REALLY got into the revived series though, which premiered in 2005. I loved David Tennant's performance, as I think his Doctor may be my all-time favorite (sorry, Tom!). 

It's just too bad the show ended with the 2017 Christmas Special. I miss it already, and I hope someone at the BBC decides to revive it a second time soon.