This is like the black sheep of everything I've written (if that doesn't draw you in I don't know what will)
It was published in the 'One More Lifetime - A You And Who Miscellany' but even now re-reading it I think its a bit muddled and I'm not sure that I managed to get across what I was thinking onto paper...
Pyramid At The End Of The World
Since the return of the show, most Doctor Who episodes I manage to watch on the day of broadcast, either ‘live’ or slightly afterwards when kids are in bed or I know there are going to be no distractions. It’s become a thing that when I watch Doctor Who I tend not to speak for the duration of the episode (although it’s rare that anyone will watch with me), thus allowing myself being absorbed into it, taking in all the details, the Easter Eggs and nods to fandomI imagine I’m not the only one, I’m sure many fans have habits or quirks when sitting to watch their favourite show
With ‘Pyramid At The End Of The World’, my viewing of episode had to wait. I couldn’t watch it on the Saturday evening as I was attending the ‘British Soap Awards’ as the guest of one of my closest and oldest friends, Paul (Liam) Fox, and at the episodes scheduled start time of 19:45 I was chatting to and having my photo taken with none other than David Bradley (I know this was at this time as my phone tells me!) For me meeting David, and earlier in the evening getting a hug off and photo taken with Bonnie Langford were the highlights of my evening despite being surrounded by 100’s of ‘talented’ and probably more ‘famous’ faces
So it came to be on the Sunday morning, still a little hungover and feeling fuzzy, basking in the afterglow, I sat down on the sofa to watch the previous nights episode…
Except I didn’t, not really.
It was on, but I can’t actually remember that much about it other than thinking afterwards that Tony Gardner was wasted in such a ‘small’ role and potentially would have been better playing a reoccurring character
For the 46 mins of the episode, and a few more after until my battery stared to die, I was looking at my Facebook, reading peoples comments on the pictures I’d posted from the night before, many recognising the likes of ‘Ian Beale’ and ‘Steve McDonald’ but not ‘Mel’ or ‘Solomon’ / the would be ‘William Hartnell’.
Only paying an occasional glance to the TV, I read, I tweeted, I uploaded to Instagram… that said I’m not an autograph hunter or celeb selfie stalker, I’m fortunate that I have opportunities in life where I have worked with people who are in the public eye and have old friends that ‘live’ in that world.
Sitting here several months on, I’ve not rewatched ‘Pyramid At The End Of The World’ or even the following weeks ‘Lie Of The Land’ despite owning the DVD Boxset and rewatching the rest of the season… to be honest the thought ‘I should rewatch…’ has never even entered my consciousness
Why? because they didn’t grip me on first showing and I didn’t enjoy them
So that got me thinking what kind of ‘fan’ I am… I have all the DVD’s, all the Target Books, a number of ‘non fiction’ books, I read every issue of Doctor Who Magazine…
I regularly listen to Radio Free Skaro; the ‘Who’s He’ Podcast; Flight Through Entirety; and of course the Blue Box Podcast… but that said, I don’t spend every spare hour searching out interviews online, I don’t have a burning desire to go to conventions or to cosplay… ?
Does this make me a heratic?
Does this mean I’m not a ‘true’ Doctor Who fan
Should I be willing to rewatch every episode at any opportunity and be prepared to defend them to people who criticise the show
No…
For me Doctor Who is something that’s been with me since I was old enough to watch television and make a decision of what I wanted to watch but not knowing why
It allowed flights of fantasy through my teenage years through the Target Books and various incarnations of Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly
In later years, when things have sometimes been tough it’s given me something to lose myself in and comfort meIt allowed me to a ‘cool Uncle’… passing my VHS tapes to nephews as I replaced them with DVD’s
And more recently it’s given me something to pass on to my youngest son, something for us to share as well as our joint love of football and music
Whilst some will have different views on what fandom is and how it can be measured… whether on pounds / dollars spent, number of conventions attended or autographs collected for me it just comes down to the love of the show and what it means to the individual
For me, for every ‘Pyramid At The End Of The World’ there is a ‘Horror of Fang Rock’ or ‘Earthshock’ which I’d rather watch… for someone else thought this could have been their first story and one which they’d prefer to watch over and over
At the end of the day, we’re all different shapes and sizes, all have different ways of doing things and thinking, but the great thing about Doctor Who is that it’s all inclusive… we may not all like every episode… but we will the next, or the one after that…
So I’m happy, I am a Doctor Who fan… and that’s not going to change anytime soon
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