Synopsis, review and discussion of first story of Doctor Who -- An Unearthly Child, aired November 23, 1963. Ross and Victoria discuss what drew them to the show, or what helped overcome resistance to the original episodes. They discuss show history, budget, and how the story holds up more than 50 years later.
But why another Doctor Who Podcast, you ask?
Because we think we bring unique, informed perspectives to our experience and enjoyment of Doctor Who. And we want to share those with you.
But firstly, who are we?
Ross is the long-time fan. He's that guy who talked about Doctor Who before you'd ever heard of the show, who got angry when people talked about cheesy sets and funny accents and all the reruns. His brothers introduced him to the show on a fuzzy black and white TV and he was hooked (after enduring a lot of Tom Baker episodes). It took the fifth Doctor to turn him into a passionate Doctor Who fan, and he began collecting all the magazines, books, audios and video tapes he could find. The internet made it possible to order things all the way from the UK and share audio files and reconstructions of missing episodes all over the world (bless, the BBC). And all this before Christopher Eccelston noted how many places have "a North."
Ross brings his extensive theater background to his love and analysis of Doctor Who. He's designed and built professional sets, stage managed, directed and tech'd live professional theater productions. He studied acting and has appeared in shows as diverse as 1776 and Comfort and Joy. He knows great story-telling and credits his early fandom of Doctor Who with honing that skill.
Vic is the new fan. She's the idiot who mocked Ross' passion for the cheesy sets and had to endure his harangues about the "eternal quality of great stories." She was a reluctant convert. But one day, having reached the end of the internet, she clicked on the Doctor Who thumbnail on Netflix, and was transported to new galaxies. After gobbling up everything new, she demanded more and Ross had the decency not to laugh (though he might have said, "I told you so" once or twice . . . or a hundred). And then she moved on to the books and comics and magazines . . . the whole new worlds that Doctor Who introduces.
She brings her training in history and law to her analysis. So while partial to the time travel fun of Doctor Who, she also loves his love of humanity (whether earthly or otherwise) and his deep and abiding sense of fairness.
So come listen as these old friends share their love of, knowledge of, and analysis of all things Doctor Who.