MovieChat Forums > Doctor Who (1963) Discussion > How long have you been a fan?

How long have you been a fan?

posted 8 years ago by Dr Wily
59 replies | jump to latest

How long have you been a fan of Doctor Who?

For me, I was 9 years old in 1983 and saw my first picture of a Dalek in a Starlog publication. Since I live in America, I didn't have access to the show itself. The next year, a local TV station reran the first Peter Cushing Dalek movie and that my first exposure to any moving medium related to Doctor Who.

I didn't get to see the series proper until like 1987 when the Tom Baker VHS tapes were released in North America. Revenge Of The Cybermen, The Brain Of Morbius, The Ark In Space, and Pyramids Of Mars. The next year, on the night before I started my freshman year of high school, a local PBS station aired The Five Doctors and Robot in a pledge drive. It got enough pledges that a few months later, the station carried the entire Fourth Doctor stories. In fact, they showed them twice over the course of 3 years.

[–] Kevin_the_Cow 8 years ago

I caught the Nu-Who episode "Night Terrors" when it aired in 2011 when I had just turned ten. I started watching Classic Who somewhere in 2012 and now have grown to like it more than Nu-Who.

[–] AardvarkRatnik 8 years ago

The first Who memory I have is of Romana being sacrificed to Kroll in 1978 when I was just 4! A

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] old-georgieboy 8 years ago

yep. I remember the opening credits and going wow !

Balotelli...Aguerooooo! I swear you will never see anything like this ever again!

[–] bellatrix79 8 years ago

When I first saw it in Germany when I was a kid I'm 41 now

[–] mindbait 8 years ago

1986 I guess, I was 4 going on 5 and I saw 'planet of the daleks' I was pretty well hooked in with that, then I got treated to giant maggots, sontarans (think i missed dinosaur invasion first time around) more daleks, ice warriors, giant spiders and then the regeneration blew my mind and totally sealed my fate as a lifelong who fan!

https://soundcloud.com/coin-sides

New song "Are we green?"

[–] darryl-tahirali 8 years ago

Well, I didn't become a fan until just a few years ago, when I started to collect the DVDs.

I first saw the non-canonical movie Doctor Who and the Daleks when I was about six or seven. All I remember was that the Daleks scared the bejeezus out of me. Then I watched a few of the Tom Baker serials and then a few of the Sylvester McCoy serials on American PBS in the 1980s.

When the reboot came along in 2005, I watched the first few seasons, up to the end of Tennant's second season, and although I enjoyed them it really didn't strike me as being what I kinda, sorta, vaguely recalled from those handful of serials I watched in the 1980s, a decade that I only kinda, sorta, vaguely recall anyway because I used to smoke a lot of marijuana back then. Then when the reboot stopped being shown on the American SciFi (now SyFy) channel and moved to BBC America, I stopped watching the reboot because we didn't get BBC America, and I wasn't motivated to add it to our service.

So, it was when I ordered a couple of DVDs from the classic series that I started to become a fan. True, the first one I got was "The Leisure Hive," and neither I nor my ex-wife were too impressed. But then I got "Pyramids of Mars," and we both liked that one a lot. I was in business.

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"Meretricious persiflage!" -- D.H. Lawrence

[–] Dr Wily 8 years ago

I, too, only saw NuWho up until Journey's End because it aired on Sci-Fi in the States. I didn't, and still don't, get BBC America so I missed a lot of NuWho for many years. Then, I got lucky in that my local library started getting the NuWho DVD boxed sets. I just finished the Tennant specials I missed.

[–] darryl-tahirali 8 years ago

I, too, only saw NuWho up until Journey's End because it aired on Sci-Fi in the States. I didn't, and still don't, get BBC America so I missed a lot of NuWho for many years. Then, I got lucky in that my local library started getting the NuWho DVD boxed sets. I just finished the Tennant specials I missed.

Yes, I've been getting caught up on NuWho through Netflix. I'm halfway through Matt Smith's second season now.

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"Meretricious persiflage!" -- D.H. Lawrence

[–] tobyrclark 8 years ago

I started with the 2005 relaunch.

The Angels Have the Phone Box

[–] paulbeardsley 8 years ago

Since 1973. I'd watched it before but mostly casually. Then I saw the Dr Who and the Daleks film and The Three Doctors and was hooked. The Making of Doctor Who was my bedtime reading, along with the Doctor Who and the Daleks and Doctor Who and the Zarbi novelisations, and each TV episode as it came out.

So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.

[–] Culfy 8 years ago

Since about 1979 - although I can't remember not being a fan!

1 mark deducted for not being Curse of Fenric. Insert 'The' into previous if you are Ant-Mac

[–] louiseculmer 8 years ago

Since the first episode, in November 1963. I was seven.

[–] Dr Wily 8 years ago

So, you actually saw some of the lost episodes back when they originally aired?

[–] old-georgieboy 8 years ago

think LouiseCulmer and I have seen them all. I was lucky that I didn't start missing any until the early 70s (alcohol and girls). I, too, was 7 in Nov 63

Balotelli...Aguerooooo! I swear you will never see anything like this ever again!

[–] Dr Wily 8 years ago

So, you saw some of the missing episodes back when they originally aired, then. Too bad it was so long ago no one could really remember much of the visuals.

[–] old-georgieboy 8 years ago

I can remember feeling awe at the visuals on Marco Polo and Mythmakers. The sets probably wouldn't look so good on the higher definition screens of nowadays. And I can remember I loved the Smugglers and the Highlanders.

Funny that I am a sci fi nut, but I remember the historicals the best.

Balotelli...Aguerooooo! I swear you will never see anything like this ever again!

[–] Dr Wily 8 years ago

I would love to have been able to see things like Mission To The Unknown, the lost Dalek Master Plans, especially The Feast Of Steven, The Tenth Planet Episode 4, The Power Of The Daleks, the other 6 episodes of The Evil Of The Daleks, and The Wheel In Space.

Of course, as a fan, I love whenever any lost Who is found, like the recent recovery of The Enemy Of The World and The Web Of Fear. But, of particular interest to me are the missing Dalek and Cybermen episodes.

[–] louiseculmer 8 years ago

yes, I saw them all. I still have quite vivid memories of Marco Polo for instance, and the Celestial Toymaker, and the Yetties, and that one where the daleks are given human characteristics, I remember finding that one very funny.

[–] paulbeardsley 8 years ago

Well that's the first time I've ever wished I was 7 years older than I am!

So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.

[–] Dr Wily 8 years ago

The Daleks with human characteristics is most likely The Evil Of The Daleks.

The Celestial Toymaker is a story I've always regretted being missing. From what I've seen of it, it seems to be a story I think I'd really like to see completed someday. I also have always liked the character of the Toymaker.

[–] old-georgieboy 8 years ago

I loved the novelisation of the Missing Story, The Nightmare Fair. It was the best of them and would have been good for Colin's reputation.

Balotelli...Aguerooooo! I swear you will never see anything like this ever again!

[–] Dr Wily 8 years ago

Was The Nightmare Fair the Toymaker story that was never made? I'm thinking it's the one that would have taken place in Blackpool after Revelation Of The Daleks? But I'm not sure.

[–] old-georgieboy 8 years ago

Yep, that's the one.

I think it may be available as an audiobook

Balotelli...Aguerooooo! I swear you will never see anything like this ever again!

[–] Dr Wily 8 years ago

Wasn't there also a Big Finish adaptation?

[–] paulbeardsley 8 years ago

There is. It is not very good, though. It is often not clear what is going on - there's shouting, shooting and stuff, but it has not been well adapted as an audio drama, and it feels as if the story is a long way from the finished stage.

So this is permanence, love's shattered pride.
What once was innocence, turned on its side.

[–] mindbait 8 years ago

Was The Nightmare Fair the Toymaker story that was never made? I'm thinking it's the one that would have taken place in Blackpool after Revelation Of The Daleks? But I'm not sure.

"I think I'll take you to B..."

https://soundcloud.com/coin-sides

New song "Are we green?"

[–] Dr Wily 8 years ago

I think I'll take you to Brighton!

[–] mindbait 8 years ago

I think I'll take you to Birmingham... 

https://soundcloud.com/coin-sides

New song "Are we green?"

[–] old-georgieboy 8 years ago

I think I'll take you to Bruges

Balotelli...Aguerooooo! I swear you will never see anything like this ever again!

[–] mindbait 8 years ago

Belgium? they're just famous for chocolates and child abuse... and they only invented the chocolate to get at the kids"

https://soundcloud.com/coin-sides

New song "Are we green?"

[–] old-georgieboy 8 years ago

great movie.

I go for the beer.

Balotelli...Aguerooooo! I swear you will never see anything like this ever again!

[–] zaphod08 8 years ago

Late 1978. I was 21. First thing I saw was the last few minutes of Hand of Fear as Sarah Jane was leaving the TARDIS.

In the kingdom of the blind, you're the village idiot.