Things I’ve Learned from Dr. Who
I’ve been rewatching all of the nu-Who recently with the family. It’s given me a chance to reevaluate things about the show and pick up some words of wisdom.
First, I am no longer confident who my favorite Doctor is. It use to clearly be Tennant as his episodes were the ones that finally got me to keep watching. Originally, I was disappointed with Matt Smith’s run. But on the rewatch, Smith has grown on me as he brings a very different performance than Tennant. It’s quite fun to watch. We’ve just gotten to Capaldi so I’m interested to see how I view him a second time. Originally, his performance challenged Tennant for my favorite. And it will be interesting to see my son and wife’s final opinion as Whitaker was their first Doctor.
There’s a lot of over the top stuff during Moffat’s run as showrunner but I’m rolling with it more now. Especially the Christmas specials, they’re just better than the earlier ones. It’s a real shame they stopped doing them. But, hopefully, they’ll continue to live on as New Years specials. We’ll find out come 2020.
Bow Ties are Cool
I never really picked up on this running line the first watch through. But this idea to be who you are is a good one. Especially for this shows role as a family show. The 11th Doctor likes bowties. People make fun of them but he insists that they’re cool. And they are cool, because he thinks they’re cool.
It’s a lesson I struggled with during my teens, as I am sure most everyone did. I never went to extremes but I certainly hid my geeky side as much as possible. I didn’t want others to know what I liked for fear of them making fun of it. But it’s confidence in liking what you like that’s cool, not any particular thing.
Are you armed?
Yes, with overconfidence and a small screwdriver.
For the most part, the Doctor doesn’t use violence to solve problems. There’s some questionable decisions and instance where he lets other people use violence, but never does the Doctor result to using a gun or physically attacking someone. This is a lesson I’m hoping sinks into my 7yo boy who is growing up in Texas.
Weapons and violence aren’t going anywhere any time soon. And they have an undeniable appeal in story and play. But as much as possible, that’s where they need to stay. In stories. Not in the real world. If more people learned to resort to talking first we wouldn’t need them as much in the real world.
In 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important before.
This is something we all need to remember. Everyone is someone. We tend to forget that. A lot. Especially when we’re feeling strong emotions. Even people who do things we can’t comprehend or agree with. They’re still people. Opposing someone does not mean we have to stop thinking of them as people.
Anyways, these are just a few ideas that stuck with me. We’ll rapidly reach the end of new-Who soon, and with no new seasons in sight, we may give the classics a try. Or go back to Star Trek. Still lots of TOS/TNG my son hasn’t seen and then there’s DS9 too.
