What Makes A Whovian

I've been thinking lately. Not good, I know. What have I been thinking about, you ask?

Doctor Who. A shock, I know. So it should go without saying that if you don't like Doctor Who, get out.

   Here's a picture of Nine for you to look at, while we wait for the haters to leave.

 Source

I couldn't NOT include Ten. Isn't he beautiful? Source

And there's Eleven. Adorable! Source

Great. Just us Whovians now? Good. Hello. How's it going? I hope you're not torturing yourselves too much with episodes like "Doomsday" or "The End of Time."

What I was thinking about specifically, was us. Whovians. What draws some to Doctor Who, but not others.

It's not merely an affinity for science fiction. It's something else.

A couple weeks ago, I implored my fellow Whovians on social media to tell me what it was they liked most about the show.

I received a plethora of answers in return. Kirsti posted this article on cracked.com in her response, which is a pretty fitting description of why people like Doctor Who. Many said the adventure, the stories, the emotions, the relationship between the Doctor and his companions.

One of my favorite answers came from Emily: "It shows the best and the worst in humanity. It's all about the underdog. Anyone can make a difference and everyone is important. Life should be valued. Sometimes the world just needs saving. It's making the tough calls."

And these are all true. We all love the adventure, the emotions, the Doctor in the TARDIS. 

But the thing is, I'm not wondering about the show. I'm wondering about us. What inside of us draws us the show, what is it about ourselves that makes us such loyal followers?

I've been thinking about it a lot, friends, which is why I haven't posted in a while.

We're dreamers. 

We dream of the far away places to which the Doctor can take us. We have restless spirits. Our hearts pine for the places we haven't been and the people we haven't met. We long to see the the world, to learn what it has to teach us.

We're romantics.

Think about it. It all sounds a quite romantic. A perfect stranger shows up and offers all of time and space to you. Which of us would honestly refuse if the madman in the blue box showed up to take us away? Which of us doesn't want to be swept off their feet and given all of time and space?

We're emotional.

We torture ourselves with repeated viewings of episodes that leave us in a crying heap on the floor. We all know those particular episodes that wreck our hearts completely. Yet we keep going back. We know the value of a good cry, we know how useful tears can be. But in addition to craving the lowest of lows, we crave the highest of highs. We rejoice when everyone can be saved, when there's a happy ending for everyone. Because when we experience these intense emotions, it is in these moments we feel alive.

We want to be important.

The Doctor has a habit of making his companions realize their own importance. They aren't important because the Doctor makes them so. They merely had it in them all along. Sometimes you need someone to remind you that you're important.

This last one is why the role of the companion is so essential to the show. We are the shopgirl who absorbs the heart of the TARDIS and saves the universe. We are the temp who is the most important woman in the universe. We are the Last Centurion. 

I think it's not merely the show we love, although it is quite brilliant. It's us. The show has captured something of ourselves and placed it in the show. It so very wonderfully shows us the things we truly want. We want adventure, we want to feel alive, we want to be important, we want the madman in the blue box to come and take us away.


Now I want to know what YOU think? Am I anywhere close to being on target, or am I overthinking again?