Run!!

Ten years ago today, my faith in an often mocked, derided and dismissed TV program was justified. Ten years ago today, something I had loved since I was 12 years old became renewed in my eyes and in the eyes of millions of people. Ten years ago today, Doctor Who came back. 

Christopher Eccleston starring as the Doctor – my inner film geek (ok, outer film geek as well) couldn’t have been happier. Not keeping up with UK pop charts, well, ever, I had no idea who this Billie Piper person was, so she was kind of an unknown quantity to me. But I had faith. I had faith in knowing that the production team, the writers, and the producer himself were all fans.  During the wilderness years when Doctor Who wasn’t being made, I devoured the New Adventure novels, so I KNEW the names Russell T. Davies and Mark Gatiss. They understood what this show meant to people. Before March 26, I had faith when I learned that the basics of the show would remain unchanged, but spruced up – the theme song, the TARDIS. True, my faith in the show, and that of other fans had been tested before, but I was IN, this was the real deal. I had faith that my hero was coming back to TV.

Then he did. Ten years ago was well before the time of same-day release worldwide, before BBC America, before even Sci-Fi channel had a chance to show it. So that was when I learned about downloads, and soon I’d learn about bit torrent and other various ways to obtain this program. But I got it, and watched it, and I couldn’t believe it. Everything was *right*. This was Doctor Who as it had always been in my head, but now was on screen. My inner child smiled and my outer adult literally cried over how happy I was. The Doctor was back and life as a Doctor Who fan was never, ever going to be the same again. 

Thank you, Russell T. Davies for bringing back the show that I was always proud to love, even when it made me an object of jokes. Thank you BBC for having the faith to bring it back in the first place. Thank you Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper for being so incredibly good that by the end of the first season, you were the TARDIS team I wanted to run away with.  Thank you, Doctor Who, for being something that never gave up, never quit even when everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, indicated its time had passed. Thank you, Doctor Who for being my favorite thing, and for being as good, if not better, when you came back as you were for all those years in my imagination.  Happy Tenth Anniversary to New Doctor Who. You were, and still are, Fantastic!