Beginnings

[Dr. Dasha]

Hi, everyone!

So, the latest Dr. Who story that I've borrowed from the library is "The Ark in Space."  As I watched it, I started reminiscing about how this was the story that got me hooked on Dr. Who.  And so I thought I'd ask y'all how you first got into Dr. Who/Sarah Jane.  I'm sure that there must be some interesting stories out there!

As for me, I was about 8 years old when I first saw Dr. Who on TV.  It aired in a half-hour time-slot Monday through Friday around 4:30 p.m., so my brother and I would watch it while my mom made supper.  I missed "Robot" the first time around, and began viewing with episode one of "The Ark in Space."  My brother and I often made up games based on our favorite TV shows, and Dr. Who was no exception.  We would run around the house calling each other Harry and Sarah, while imagining adventures on alien planets.  Sometimes we could even convince one of our parents to play the part of Dr. Who!  (This behavior may have led to my mistaken belief that Harry and Sarah were siblings.)

I grew up, but I never lost my love of Dr. Who.  When I heard that Sarah Jane was going to have her own show, _The Sarah Jane Adventures_, I said to my husband: "This is the first time that I've ever known I would like a TV show before I actually watched it!"  Although the episodes of SJA are being cut down to fit into the SciFi Network's time-slots, I am still enjoying them.

Well, that's my story.  Now I'm eager to hear everyone else's stories about how they first got interested in/became a fan of Dr. Who and Sarah Jane Smith.  :)

[hrh]

Hi Dr Dasha:

My story is pretty much the same as you, watching on PBS after school in the late afternoons while Mom made supper. I remember Robot and Genesis, I think. But then at some point, Zygons maybe?, Mom said it was too scary for me and forbid me from watching anymore.

Later on my father started liking the show (he likes sf in general, especially original ST) and he's currently watching through the whole 26 years! He's not much interested in new Who. I got SJA on the internet and showed it to them, and they both enjoyed it, though they're not watching it on SciFi.

I also had the same first-time reaction to you when I heard about SJ's new show - "oh yeah, I'm watching that in whatever way possible and KNOW I'm going to enjoy it before ever seeing a minute of it!!" I was a little put out that it was going to be a kid's show, but they're featuring SJ enough so I do enjoy it.

[Dr. Dasha]

Hi, hrh!

That's funny that we both had the same experience of watching Dr. Who on PBS as kids.  My mom was a bit concerned about the violence in it as well, but luckily she never stopped my brother and me from watching it. She would just say, "Turn it off if it scares you too much."  I remember that the only episodes that really scared me were "The Robots of Death" and anything involving the Daleks--but even so, I never turned the TV off during Dr.  Who.  :)

Have you noticed that AARP seems to be the main sponsor of SJA on Sci Fi?  At least, judging by the number of commercials for AARP, that seems to be the case.  (For non-Yankees reading this messsage, AARP is the American Association of Retired Persons.)  To me, that says that Sci Fi expects Baby Boomers, not kids, to be the main viewing audience for SJA.  It makes sense, since Sarah Jane belongs to the Boomer generation.  I just hope that enough people are actually tuning in to SJA here in the States.  I know that a lot of my friends would love to watch SJA, but they've had to cancel their cable/satellite service b/c they just can't afford it in this economy.  :(  At some point I think I'll have my cable-less friends over to watch the DVD's of SJA...just doing my part to spread the love.  :)

Take care!

[Llin]

Ooh, what a cool topic! I can't believe I missed this when you first posted it...
I grew up with Doctor Who as one of those things that was always sort of around in the background. Unfortunately, the show was being cancelled just as I was getting old enough to watch TV back in the 80s, so I never really had the experience growing up of waiting for Doctor Who to be on and following the adventures from week to week. However, my dad liked it and had some on video, and there were repeats and things, so sort of by accident I became aware enough of the show to at least know which Doctor was which, and most of the companions, and to even have a couple of favourites.
Although I was familiar with the show and liked it, I never counted myself as a fan because I didn't feel I'd seen enough of it. I wanted to know more but I wasn't sure where to start.
When the news started to come through that the series was being revived, that gave me the push I needed. I decided that I didn't want to watch the new series without at least a good grounding in the old series, and so I started to track down copies of the older stories, starting with my favourite, Sarah Jane, and then moving on to Leela, Romana, Ace, and eventually almost everyone else. The only eras I'm still not very familiar with are the First and Second Doctors, and I'm trying hard to catch up!

[Stardoe]

I first saw Doctor Who when I was 6. We went to Sydney to visit my grandparents who had just moved off their farm to go work in factories because they ran out of money. They were living in a little caravan in my great aunt and uncle's back yard. Every night my grandmother used to watch Patrick Troughton on Doctor Who on her little black and white telly and I would sit with her. I don't remember much of what I saw but I remember being very interested in all the aliens etc. Then I went home and mum wouldn't let me watch it. When I was about 11 I was watching the ABC one afternoon and I saw this show that had a strange man with a scottish hat on traipsing over a moor with another man and woman in tow. They came to a road and the strange man asked a man in a car for a lift. Then I switched channels. It wasn't until the following year that I started watching Doctor Who at my friend's request. I was immediately hooked and used to carry  a bag of jelly babies and a yoyo around in my pocket. [VEry strange child] Then one day I was watching TError of the Zygons and lo and behold, there was the scene I had watched the year before. I couldn't believe how close I had come to watching Doctor Who a whole year earlier. Fortunately Doctor Who got rerun a heap of times during my teens, especially the Pertwee/Baker years. So of course TB is my favourite Doctor and Sarah, my favourite companion. I've never stopped watching it, although I did lose interest during the Colin Baker/McCoy yrs. Seeing Sarah again in School reunion was the most exciting TV event in my life and having SJA on TV is just an amazing TV dream come true. Well, I never would have dreamed it ever possible. And now my kids have been totally brainwashed and are also avid fans of both series. :-D

[Dr. Dasha]

Thanks, everybody, for sharing your stories!  I enjoyed reading them!  :)