Why It Sucks to be A Whovian

With the fiftieth anniversary of the British Sci-fi show Doctor Who coming up, I thought I would do a bit on it.

     I started watching Doctor Who over the summer and quickly realized that is the epitome of nerd. Advanced alien technology? Got it. Robot trees? Season five. Dinosaurs on a spaceship? Yup. Egyptian Queen Nefertiti? In the same episode.
     Fezzes and bowties? Of course.
     If you have never seen an episode of Doctor Who, here's a breakdown: A quirky British alien (who looks just like a human) named The Doctor has a police box that can travel anywhere in time and space (not just a time machine, it's also a spaceship!) He hops around the universe in this trusty blue box solving mysteries and saving worlds with the help of his human companions, who travel with him. It pretty much has everything: humor, adventure, mystery, and unbelievably confusing season finales.
     In the world of infinite fictions, Doctor Who is king. In the show, the Doctor can take on new forms by regenerating, it basically makes him immortal. In real life this means that if the actor playing the Doctor dies or wants to leave the show, they can be replaced no problem, there's still a Doctor, the show continues.
     But the human companions are not immortal. Everytime the actor who plays the companion wants to leave the show, it gets written in as a tragic death, or a mistake that results in them never being able to be seen again.
     You have to understand, Doctor Who fans are crazy. It's like a cult, but nerdier and with less sacrifice. We get dangerously and irrationally attached to the characters, especially the companions. Every time one of them dies, which is about every two seasons, the writers tell the fans in advance so we don't start some sort of uprising. We get a 6 month warning that our favorite characters are about to die, and that we better come to terms with it before the episode premiers so that we can keep the sobbing to a minimum and actually understand the plot when we watch it.
    So, in some ways, being a Whovian really sucks. Like how you get your heart broken every two years. Or how you have to wait three seasons to find the answer to one little question. But in the end, it's totally worth it. There's no other show like Doctor Who out there, with so much history and support backing it. Whenever you find out someone watches Doctor Who, they're instantly your friend, there's something to be said for that.
     Also, Doctor Who has bowties. Bowties are cool.