Doctor Who Meme: Day 6
Jun. 8th, 2010 01:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
knitchick1979(little late this time cuz I was at knitting group)
Day 06 – Whatever Tickles Your Fancy
Well, inspired by seeing some of the wonderful women behind Chicks Dig Time Lords yesterday I thought I'd give a little bit of background on how I got into Doctor Who.
Let me back waaaaay up and state that I have been a geek pretty much all my life. I honestly don't know where it came from, since no one in my family is a talented professional geek like I am :) To give some perspective -- when I was a toddler one of my favourite shows was Mechanical Universe that aired on WYCC Channel 20 here in the Chicago area. For those who didn't grow up in Chicago - that channel was the precursor to online degrees; you could watch the programs, which were basically college class lectures, and I think you could actually get Chicago community college credit. Mechanical Universe was the physics class...and when I was a toddler (not even school age) I LOVED watching it and yes, I did kind of understand it.
I was interested in NASA from an early age, I think I was maybe 2nd or 3rd grade when I ran out of NASA books in the school library...was only a couple more years before I'd torn my way through the public library's collection of NASA books. The "I Read 100 Books" program at my library took no time at all and I did not read easy books but rather longer juvenile chapter books (I finished it in second grade).
I was also into fandom pretty young -- there is a drawing of Deanna Troi in my Brownie Girl Scout handbook from 3rd grade (which was I believe either the first or at the most second season of TNG). Quantum Leap was another top fave, I forget when I found it but I know I was hooked by the end of the fourth season because I remember spending all summer DYING to see how the Lee Harvey Oswald leap went.
So, I speak geek very fluently. VERY fluently. Even fandoms I haven't seen, I know some of the basics. I knew what Daleks were, and that the TARDIS was bigger on the inside, at *least* a decade before I ever saw Doctor Who. I have a theory that there is a collective geek consciousness that I tap into. I mean, I've never seen Battlestar Galactica but I know that Cylons look human but are robots and they don't know all the model styles yet. (and Dean Stockwell is a Cylon so I *really* need to get around to seeing it...)
That said, I am a procrastinator. I really am. It takes me years to get around to reading books or watching shows sometimes. I referred to my friend's car as a TARDIS back in college (somewhere around 99-2001 I think), but I did not see any Doctor Who until 2007. (honestly...y'all have no idea how many costumes she can pull out of this itty bitty Volkswagen Cabrio. Her car really is a TARDIS!!!!) I spotted a Fourth Doctor cosplayer, called "DOCTOR!" and got his picture at Anime Central 2007...and had not yet seen the show. Collective geek consciousness, I swear!
I had seen the ads on SciFi channel, and kept saying I need to get around to watching this but I'm a procrastinator and I kept forgetting when it was on. Finally I caught one, "Daleks in Manhattan". I really enjoyed it - I've been to the Empire State Building and I knew of the Daleks already. I made sure to remember to see the second half (it would have killed me if I'd missed it!) but then I forgot for a few weeks. In retrospect that's probably a good thing, since I really don't like "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood". Then, as I mentioned in the favourite new series episode day's post, "Utopia" is what really got me hooked.
Then of course, I had to research. I don't just *watch* a show. Oh no! Within a month of discovering a new fandom I know all the details, the plot lines, the inside jokes, the tenets and memes... I read my way through the TARDIS wiki and started snagging both classic and new series DVDs from the library. I'm still working my way through the back catalogue but I know most of the storylines even if I haven't seen them.
Those first episodes were August 07, then in November I got series 3 on DVD for my birthday (yay!). That New Year's I introduced![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pockychopstix and her sister to "Smith & Jones" and "Shakespeare Code" and about a month or two later had decided I *had* to cosplay Captain Jack. I also was working on a Fourth Doctor scarf (I started it in October, finished it end of January 2008, putting the fringe on the day before the record dangerous cold weather started -- perfect timing!!!) - that was the first scarf, made entirely of Red Heart Super Saver from my stash.
So that's how I begun in Doctor Who fandom. Since then I've cosplayed Captain Jack, as well as the Fourth Doctor, at Anime Central, Wizard World, and Chicago TARDIS; introduced many other friends to the show; and now I'm making plans to attend Gallifrey One in Los Angeles, which will be my first out-of-town convention. I've met Carole Barrowman four times now, and it's been such a pleasure each time! I've made many friends in this fandom that I enjoy talking to on Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal and occasionally in person. I've discovered that knitting, librarianship, and Doctor Who seem to be innately connected (it's amazing how many people in this fandom I've discovered are either librarians, knitters, or both!)
Most of all, I've discovered what a wonderful group of people are in this fandom. To borrow from Chicks Dig Time Lords and Lynne's essay - this fandom truly is bigger on the inside.
Anyway that's my rambling background...I return you to your regularly scheduled Torchwood squeeing (sorry if I don't join in but that's a rant for another day).
Day 06 – Whatever Tickles Your Fancy
Well, inspired by seeing some of the wonderful women behind Chicks Dig Time Lords yesterday I thought I'd give a little bit of background on how I got into Doctor Who.
Let me back waaaaay up and state that I have been a geek pretty much all my life. I honestly don't know where it came from, since no one in my family is a talented professional geek like I am :) To give some perspective -- when I was a toddler one of my favourite shows was Mechanical Universe that aired on WYCC Channel 20 here in the Chicago area. For those who didn't grow up in Chicago - that channel was the precursor to online degrees; you could watch the programs, which were basically college class lectures, and I think you could actually get Chicago community college credit. Mechanical Universe was the physics class...and when I was a toddler (not even school age) I LOVED watching it and yes, I did kind of understand it.
I was interested in NASA from an early age, I think I was maybe 2nd or 3rd grade when I ran out of NASA books in the school library...was only a couple more years before I'd torn my way through the public library's collection of NASA books. The "I Read 100 Books" program at my library took no time at all and I did not read easy books but rather longer juvenile chapter books (I finished it in second grade).
I was also into fandom pretty young -- there is a drawing of Deanna Troi in my Brownie Girl Scout handbook from 3rd grade (which was I believe either the first or at the most second season of TNG). Quantum Leap was another top fave, I forget when I found it but I know I was hooked by the end of the fourth season because I remember spending all summer DYING to see how the Lee Harvey Oswald leap went.
So, I speak geek very fluently. VERY fluently. Even fandoms I haven't seen, I know some of the basics. I knew what Daleks were, and that the TARDIS was bigger on the inside, at *least* a decade before I ever saw Doctor Who. I have a theory that there is a collective geek consciousness that I tap into. I mean, I've never seen Battlestar Galactica but I know that Cylons look human but are robots and they don't know all the model styles yet. (and Dean Stockwell is a Cylon so I *really* need to get around to seeing it...)
That said, I am a procrastinator. I really am. It takes me years to get around to reading books or watching shows sometimes. I referred to my friend's car as a TARDIS back in college (somewhere around 99-2001 I think), but I did not see any Doctor Who until 2007. (honestly...y'all have no idea how many costumes she can pull out of this itty bitty Volkswagen Cabrio. Her car really is a TARDIS!!!!) I spotted a Fourth Doctor cosplayer, called "DOCTOR!" and got his picture at Anime Central 2007...and had not yet seen the show. Collective geek consciousness, I swear!
I had seen the ads on SciFi channel, and kept saying I need to get around to watching this but I'm a procrastinator and I kept forgetting when it was on. Finally I caught one, "Daleks in Manhattan". I really enjoyed it - I've been to the Empire State Building and I knew of the Daleks already. I made sure to remember to see the second half (it would have killed me if I'd missed it!) but then I forgot for a few weeks. In retrospect that's probably a good thing, since I really don't like "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood". Then, as I mentioned in the favourite new series episode day's post, "Utopia" is what really got me hooked.
Then of course, I had to research. I don't just *watch* a show. Oh no! Within a month of discovering a new fandom I know all the details, the plot lines, the inside jokes, the tenets and memes... I read my way through the TARDIS wiki and started snagging both classic and new series DVDs from the library. I'm still working my way through the back catalogue but I know most of the storylines even if I haven't seen them.
Those first episodes were August 07, then in November I got series 3 on DVD for my birthday (yay!). That New Year's I introduced
pockychopstix and her sister to "Smith & Jones" and "Shakespeare Code" and about a month or two later had decided I *had* to cosplay Captain Jack. I also was working on a Fourth Doctor scarf (I started it in October, finished it end of January 2008, putting the fringe on the day before the record dangerous cold weather started -- perfect timing!!!) - that was the first scarf, made entirely of Red Heart Super Saver from my stash. So that's how I begun in Doctor Who fandom. Since then I've cosplayed Captain Jack, as well as the Fourth Doctor, at Anime Central, Wizard World, and Chicago TARDIS; introduced many other friends to the show; and now I'm making plans to attend Gallifrey One in Los Angeles, which will be my first out-of-town convention. I've met Carole Barrowman four times now, and it's been such a pleasure each time! I've made many friends in this fandom that I enjoy talking to on Twitter, Facebook, LiveJournal and occasionally in person. I've discovered that knitting, librarianship, and Doctor Who seem to be innately connected (it's amazing how many people in this fandom I've discovered are either librarians, knitters, or both!)
Most of all, I've discovered what a wonderful group of people are in this fandom. To borrow from Chicks Dig Time Lords and Lynne's essay - this fandom truly is bigger on the inside.
Anyway that's my rambling background...I return you to your regularly scheduled Torchwood squeeing (sorry if I don't join in but that's a rant for another day).
