What a treat this morning to roll out of bed and have tea and cake for breakfast while watching the latest Doctor Who Christmas special! Of course we could have sat and watched it last night, but television without ads is the way to go, as far as I’m concerned. And cake for breakfast with the Doctor? Well, really, it doesn’t get much better.

The title of this entry comes from the snippets at the end of the episode that show what’s to come in the season this spring, btw, and I’m stoked! Dr. Song was all over those clips, and I’ve been taken with her since the Library episodes with Donna in season four.

I’m intrigued by her evolution from season four to season five – in the fourth season, she’s a bit sassy, but by season five, she’s gained a sharp edge. When I first saw her appear in the latest season, I have to admit, I was a bit startled by her hardness, but I did grow to like her again, in all of her notebook-toting and , “Spoilers, sweetie!” And she has secrets! Perhaps we’ll get to find them out this coming season – perhaps as well, the story of how she comes to learn the Doctor’s name.

Will and I were talking yesterday about watching Doctor Who as kids. Where he lived, the episodes were on at night, and he had a little black and white teevee in his room that he would sneak watches on when he was supposed to be sleeping. In my house, it was also in black and white, watched on the teevee in the den that lived in the closet (to watch, you had to shimmy back behind my dad’s desk and open the closet door), but Doctor Who was a Sunday morning affair. I dropped a lot of toast crumbs on that green carpet while watching Tom Baker (and K9!), much to my father’s chagrin.

Doctor Who was a fairly solitary fandom for me as a kid.  I watched it in reruns, and I was too young to realize that anyone else was really into it as much as I was. I love so much that now the three of us can sit down as a family and watch the show together. Lines from different episodes have become the occasional inside joke that we share. We discuss different pieces of the drama with fervor on occasion*. We have house favorites. Really, it’s lovely.

Will’s niece was astounded the other night when we were at her mother’s place for Christmas dinner** and her husband and Will and I were talking Doctors and companions. Betsy had no idea that anyone other than Dear Matt was interested in Doctor Who at all. I think she was under the impression that it was some obscure show that no american really watched with anything more than a passing interest – Oh, those wacky Brits! I’m pretty sure she filed it away with Monty Python reruns. By the end of the evening, she was a little less in the dark, but I’m sure still mostly unconvinced. She grew up a bit sheltered, you know. ***

I fully intend to have a popcorn and tea marathon with Betsy sometime in the near future. If she has been unlucky enough to not grow up geek, she should at least be treated to some geekiness as a grownup, amirite? Besides, she and Matt have two small ones who will in a few years be able to wrap their little heads around a time machine that’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. We get the luxury of another childhood as we raise our children – she could totally rewrite her business, you know. After all, that’s how this timey-whimey wibbly-wobbly stuff works, right?

***

*Quite often, the issue of who is the favorite companion. While I do love Rose very much, I have to tell you, I’m rooting for Donna – lordisa, I love that brassy loudmouth lady and her, “No WAY!”
**The Coghey and Kelley wings of the family are practicing christian.
***As well as homeschooled, so much of popular culture kinda flew right past her. To this day, I’m not entirely sure if that’s to her detriment or boon…