FIGHTS: ZBF.com salutes Doctor Who's 50th

THE TV LEGACY OF SPACE/TIME CELEBRATED GLOBALLY
by
Bowie V. Ibarra

 



When I was a kid, Doctor Who was totally unknown to pretty much my entire hometown community.  There' was no one I could talk to about the shows, no one who watched it.  It would air on KLRN, the PBS station out of San Antonio, Texas, Monday thru Friday, at 10:30pm.

Now, raised as a good kid all my childhood, I went to bed at nine.  So I only got to watch one episode a week.  That was on Friday night.  I would record the shows with my audio tape player because I didn't know how to use the VCR yet.

Now, if I was lucky, during their fund raising weeks, they would show an entire Doctor Who series.  See, Doctor Who used to air in 25 minute episodes, usually around four-episodes long.  So during these fund raising events, they would show all four parts.  Sometimes, you might even get TWO full episodes.

We got the episodes years late here in the states.  We were never up to date for Doctor Who, but we got it.

But then it got canned in the UK, and it eventually disappeared from KLRN.  I knew I'd never see it again.

Then one night, years later, while house sitting, I noticed a movie on TV called 'Doctor Who'.  What?  Yep.  It's the Paul McGann flick, and it was a great one-shot.

Then, gone again.

Years later, it reappeared, and I couldn't believe it.  It even had the same opening that I remembered, right down to the music.  The special effects were much better than the original Tom Baker opening segment that I will always associate with Doctor Who.  But you could tell it was a total tribute to that.

I was moved.  Here was something that brought me so much joy as a child returning to television.

And now, years later, it has developed a global following that blows me away.  I never thought Doctor Who, that obscure UK TV show I used to watch as a child would ever return and be as huge as it is now.  Who would have thought that a TV show that was meant to be filler between TV shows on the BBC 50 years ago would set a world record for the number of people watching a TV show across the world?  I certainly didn't.

And although I miss the old days, I'm so happy to see the world sharing in the noble glory that is Doctor Who.

Now that little dorky kid that made a TARDIS out of an old refrigerator box doesn't feel so lonely anymore.

BOWIE V. IBARRA is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press.  One of his latest titles, 'Room 26 and the Army of Xulhutdul', is a magical young adult title filled with magic and adventure and is available in paperback or Kindle here.

Network with Bowie at his official website, ZombieBloodFights.com, where zombies, blood, and fights matter.