Classic Who discoveries so far

Ooh, okay, I'm in trouble. The gleeful, fannish sort of trouble. I'm only two Doctors into the Classic Who Marathon, have only been catching a handful of stories in full, plus snippets of a some others, and I'm already turning into a Classic Who fan as well. This is going to be so bad for my finances. Because do you know how many DVDs there are out there?

The marathon is free, but working full time + Finnish time zone = not managing to catch more than a fraction of the stuff. Enough to give me a feel of the show back in the days and to introduce me to the characters and actors, but meaning that if I fall for any of them, I haven't seen most of their episodes.

Despite only seeing The Tomb of the Cybermen and The War Games in full out of his episodes (plus decent-sized portions of The Enemy of the World and The Mind Robber), I'm already in love with the Second Doctor, and all of his main companions that I've seen - that makes Jamie, Victoria, and Zoe. After watching The War Games today, which is a fantastic TV story from decades ago, I'm too emotionally wrung up from it to even go on to the Third Doctor yet, as I discovered when I tried to start tonight's viewing. I'll return to the show in a few days - The Terror of the Autons will be on at a time when I can reasonably watch it, and maybe I'll have recovered by then. Also, the Verity Podcast did a quiz show a while back where something like every fifth answer was The Terror of the Autons so I want to see it just because of that.

But gaaahh, I guess I'll have to start stocking up on the Second Doctor stories that are available (so damn many are lost, argh). And of course they're not available in conveniently priced DVD boxes, but each story in its own DVD. Some stories can be found online, but as far as I can tell, classic seasons aren't on any streaming services I can access. I hope I at least won't fall this hard for every Doctor and Companion I see, because damn, that would get expensive.

From the First Doctor's era, I didn't see a lot, but I loved Vicki to bits and I'm going to want to get some of her stories for myself eventually. Also, William Hartnell is charming and the First Doctor is odd and delightful, and I'm currently super-mad at Steven Moffat for how unfairly he wrote the character for Twice Upon a Time (the latest Christmas special). David Bradley's acting was great, but the writing did the First Doctor a great disservice. It also seems to me rather false about suggesting the First Doctor's era would have been super sexist. Classic Who does seem to have more women screaming or conveniently fainting than modern Who, and occasionally being left to the more peaceful (but important) pursuits while the men run off to danger, but otherwise? A lot of the women are headstrong, smart, capable, adventurous and totally holding their own. I love Barbara's poised, intelligent demeanour, Vicki is smart and adventurous (and when she and Steven adventure together, she's totally the boss and the brains). Even Susan has her bright moments, though she does a lot of whiny-teenage-girl stuff that gets annoying. I haven't seen any Polly and hardly any Dodo, so I can't comment on them. But I'm generally impressed with the female characters so far, though one noticeable thing is way fewer women in non-central, background roles.

Also, I like that because there are a lot of companions in these stories, always at least two at a time, there's room for different kind of personalities. So you can have a more soft-spoken, introverted, gentle girl like Victoria, who still is in no way stupid, just coming from an era where girls like her led a sheltered life; because you'll still have Jamie charging on and bouncing about as a counterbalance. I love that there are male companions who aren't just the main companion's boyfriend - Jamie actually is the main Companion of the Second Doctor, seeing as he's there for almost all of his run - and that the TARDIS tends to be crowded. Even in New Who, I've usually loved it the best when there has been more than one companion on board. I like it when there's an opportunity for a multitude of dynamics and personalities, not just one companion who for the duration of her stay is The Most Important Special Person Ever In The Whole Universe and her relationship to the Doctor is The Most Special Ever. (Ahem, excuse me. I've just gotten through the entirety of Clara's run in New Who. And when I'll be ready for another Super Special Companion Because She Is Special and Her Loss Will Devastate The Doctor In An Unprecedented Manner... uh, how about NEVER.)

Don't get me wrong, I want the Doctor to care about his companions, but I'm tired of there always being This Super Special One That Makes All The Others Unimportant And They're Special Exactly Why? Well, They Are.

Also, I'm so relieved to find, at least in these first seasons, no overt sexual-tensioning and romancing on the TARDIS! (Though Two and Jamie are super slashable. But they're comrades first. And the creators probably didn't intend for them to be slashable?) I'm so tired of assuming that anyone who wants to travel with the Doctor must do so because they want to shag him. It's fine if some occasionally do - especially when Jack does, because Jack does - but I'm getting tired of it happening all the damn time, like that's the only reason you'd follow a time-traveling alien who can take you anywhere in space and time in his gorgeous retro timeship. Honestly, if I was in Doctor Who, I'd likely be more in love with the TARDIS than with the Doctor.

So... I look forward to continuing, once I've recovered enough from The War Games. It's kind of crazy, though, that they're showing 36 years worth of TV in seven weeks. I'm not sure I'll be able to jump from one Doctor to another quite that fast.