About

Hi there Whovians! Welcome to TARDIS Thoughts: Episode Analysis From a Novice Whovian, a blog that fulfills my craving for analysis and also allows me to dig deep into the timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly wonder of a series that has captivated audiences for the last half-century.

For years, I had heard bits and pieces about Doctor Who -- being a geek on the Internet, how could I not? -- and seen the displays and merchandise Syfy put up at Comic-Con. I first saw an episode of Doctor Who on Syfy several years ago; I came across it while channel surfing to kill the half hour I had to wait for something else (something I wanted to watch) to come on. That episode was "The Satan Pit" (whether it was the original airing or a re-run I'm not sure) and it scared me out of my mind. So much so that it wasn't until late last year, when we got a cable package that included BBC America and I started seeing promos for Series 7, that I decided to give the series a second chance.

And oh boy am I glad I did. And although I made the mistake of watching some of the specials first and ridiculously spoiling myself (River Song would not approve!), I've somehow still been able to ease myself into the series and understand most of the canon references I come across.

What I really like about Doctor Who is that, as different and unusual as it can be at times, it still has a lot of the elements sci-fi fans appreciate -- spaceships and aliens and planets and action and suspense -- combined with some time-travel for the history and fringe science buffs. It even dabbles a bit in horror at times (the one part I don't like). And unlike other "aliens-interact-with-humans" shows, it's not dependent on highlighting how different the aliens and humans are -- either through ridiculous humor due to the aliens' "fish out of water" view of Earth (Mork and Mindy, the new Nick series Marvin Marvin) or through aliens who integrate into our society and appear nice but are really evil (V). Instead, the Doctor is portrayed as remarkably human for being an almost-immortal, essentially omniscient, chronokinetic alien from a planet nowhere near our solar system.

Besides all that, the show has very good writing (something which always enamors me to a show) and casting. Plus, Doctor Who, with its 50 years of history and plethora of canons (TV, comics, prose, film, video games, the spin-offs Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and K-9 And Company), has a huge canon to play around in and explore, and I like huge canons. (Case in point: Besides being a Whovian, I'm also a Tolkien superfan, a Pokéfreak, a Moonie [Sailor Moon fan], a James Bond fan, and a Star Wars fan, among others). To paraphrase Eleven, huge canons are cool.

So how did TARDIS Thoughts come to be? Well, it was a crazy idea I had not long after I started getting into Who. Mostly one of those crazy ideas that's been propelling the as-yet-unfulfilled quest for internet stardom I've been pursuing off-and-on for the last 15 years, but also an idea born out of that thrill you get when you first get into something you really like. I went into this knowing nothing about writing analyses of TV episodes, though my parents will tell you I do quite a bit of it verbally when we're watching TV. And I also tend to get really into the details of some TV shows, like my favorite reality show, The Amazing Race (I have Phil's classic race-starting words memorized) or one of my new favorites, Once Upon a Time (I have a rough Fairytale Land timeline in progress that needs a proper online home). This may be because I'm a nerd, or because I have Asperger's Syndrome (restricted interests and interest in the details of subjects are prominent symptoms of that), or both. Anyway, for some reason, I was insane enough to think this idea would work.

It's been about six months now, and based on the stats for my blog, my crazy idea seems to be possibly working out. My blog has over 1,700 lifetime page views (though I admit some of those are probably mine) and my most popular post - my analysis of last year's Christmas Special, "The Snowmen" - has 142 lifetime views. I hope that, as I start promoting this blog more earnestly, that it will be successful. I pray to God that it will. That would be super "fantastic" and as "cool" as bow ties, fezzes, and Stetsons.

So, allons-y Whovians, come along Ponds, grab your TARDIS keys and sonic screwdrivers (or sonic lipsticks or vortex manipulators or sonic blasters) and let's follow the Doctor's adventures in his magical blue box, in hopes that one day we might hear those oh-so-familiar engines ourselves (unless, of course, the Doctor actually takes River's advice and remembers not to leave the brakes on, in which case we might not hear it). Till then, hopefully my crazy Whovian thoughts, my TARDIS Thoughts, will suffice.

Lara
Written February 20, 2013