Once upon a time, I know that I was one of three hardcore Doctor Who fans in Springfield, MO. I knew this because the Barnes and Noble randomly got four or five copies of the Virgin Publishing/Sylvester McCoy New Adventures of Doctor Who book series, and they only ever sold three of them. Every single time. It was a lonely life.
These days, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Doctor Who fan. A few weeks ago, I walked up to the check-out at Walgreens at 7:30 on a Friday night, and was standing behind two fifteen or sixteen year old girls. One said, “You know they really are married.” The other girl responded, “I don’t know, you know how Moffat writes these things”. It was like an amateur theater production of a Gallifrey Base forum discussion, performed in the round at Walgreen’s. On a Friday night. By girls.
For a pleasant surprise, my daughter bought me a wicked Matt Smith “Bow Ties Are Cool” shirt at Hot Topic last week. At. The. Mall. We went out to dinner the next night, and three different people commented on my shirt. One little boy just screamed, “Doctor Who SHIRT! Doctor Who SHIRT! I LOVE DOCTOR WHO!”. Yeah, kid I know just how you feel. I remember having to drive to St. Louis or Kansas City to buy the latest release of a Doctor Who VHS episode. I’m sure I was at least as excited as that shouty kid. And he only has to go ten minutes to the MALL to buy a T-Shirt!
One thing is clear, Doctor Who not only entertains the fans, but it leaves them wanting to contribute something also that can be consumed and traded by other fans. Knowing that there are very many brand new WHOvians now out there, we have decided to lead up to the premiere of Asylum of the Daleks on BBC America on Saturday, September 1st, 9p/8c with a timey-wimey road through the essential Doctor Who related viral videos that every casual and hardcore fan should fold into their own blue TARDIS diaries. Fan made music videos, ultimate trailers, original songs, classic “viral” moments and essential short trips and side steps.
TIMEY-WIMEY VIRAL MATINEE COUNTDOWN TO DOCTOR WHO: SEVEN DAYS
VIDEO 40: Who Knew by tearsofpearls89
My daughter was ten when the Ninth Doctor first told Rose Tyler to “Run for your life!” I had discovered this fan made video telling the Doctor and Rose’s tragic story, set to P!nk’s Who Knew and showed it to her, and it really moved her. She wound up performing the song at several school talent shows, and we both still think of the Ninth Doctor and Rose when we hear the song on the radio.
VIDEO 39: The Doctor and I by John Barrowman
There’s not an actual video for the song, but you can sit back, relax and listen to one of the most charming Doctor Who fan projects I have ever heard. Then again, “Charming” is probably Barrowman’s middle name. In this track that was exclusive to one of his UK Greatest Hits albums, he has created a very meta moment, where a leading actor in a television series takes the time to record a devotional fan-love ballad about his favorite show, the show that he is often co-starring in. Talk about Timey-Wimey! The tune is from The Wizard and I from the Broadway musical, Wicked but Barrowman has “personalized” the lyrics to fit his character’s relationship with a certain Time Lord mentor. Hate to say it, but it is as cute as a box of kittens. In space.
VIDEO 38: 500 Miles by the Cast and Crew of Doctor Who
It’s a real treat to see nearly every important companion and guest star and behind-the-scenes personality marching and lip-synching the Proclaimer’s biggest hit in unison. David Tennant is so easily excited and overly-emotional as his tenure comes to a close in this video for the Davies/Tennant-era wrap party. I dare you to watch this swan song without smiling.
VIDEO 37: Say Hello by stopitsgingertime (also covered by Amanda Palmer and Reggie Watts)
Another ‘celebrity meta’ Doctor Who fan video. Filmed on the set of one of BBC America’s excellent specials, Amanda Palmer performs a short little fangirl song written by an actual fangirl about her favorite episode of the series…The Doctor’s Wife, which was written by AMANDA’S HUSBAND, NEIL GAIMAN. Reggie Watts is on hand to provide impromptu percussion. It’s a catchy little tune that punches you in the gut in the end. The Amanda Palmer cover version can be viewed at this website.
The original full song by TROCK (Time Lord Rock) artist stopitsgingertime can be viewed below (both are really neat, and well worth watching!)
VIDEO 36: I Am The Doctor by The Doctor Who Fan Orchestra
The amount of work and dedication that went into this is staggering. Sheet music for Murray Gold’s Eleventh Doctor suite was distributed to all interested musically-inclined fans around the world, and each fan video recorded themselves playing or singing their respective parts in the song. The video and audio of which was then edited together to form pure internet awesome. The DWFO has produced several pieces now, with more in the works. I’m sure they’ll sneak into the countdown again! Tell your ears to warn your mind that it is about to be blown.
We will see you tomorrow, for another round of THE TIMEY-WIMEY VIRAL MATINEE COUNTDOWN TO DOCTOR WHO! Please respond below with your favorite parts of these videos!
About Brent Kincade
Brent Kincade has often wondered if there was an alternate universe where Aquaman was instead called Waterhombre. He also spends a fair amount of his waking life patiently waiting for friends to mention a Thunderdome so he can roll his eyes and plead, "Can't we just get BEYOND Thunderdome??" (Six times, thus far.) His first comic book was Spidey Super Stories #4 in 1974, his first Star Trek episode was "City On The Edge of Forever" in 1975, his first Doctor Who was "The Visitation" in 1984. Once when he was young, he stashed his vinyl Halloween Spider-Man costume in the neighbor lady's shrubs and was later caught red-handed, crawling into the shrubs to change into costume because he had, "Heard a cry for help". He's a father, an artist, a graphic designer, a cartoonist, and usually pretty handy in a pinch. Brent requests the story of his days be co-written by Harlan Ellison, Steven Moffat and Neil Gaiman, drawn by John Romita, scored by Ben Folds and riffed on by the fine folks at Mystery Science Theater 3000.
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