You Always Love Your First Doctor Who

The other day I was in the checkout line in WalMart and the checker remarked on my tee shirt, saying,  "Wow that really is a classic Doctor Who shirt."  I was wearing my Doctor Who tee that had a picture of Tom Baker, the  actor who played the fourth Doctor, on the front.

"You always love your first Doctor," I replied.

The clerk thought for a moment and said, "I don't remember who my first one was.  I suppose it's the current one, but I still remember watching the old ones on PBS when I was a kid."

As we left the store, I began to think what else is there in the nerd world that folks love because it was their first?  "A lot," came the wise answer from one of my schizophrenic other selves.

"Oh yeah? What?"


There have been about twelve or so Doctors since the show debuted in 1963, not including Doctor Who movies, TV specials, radio shows, spoofs and stage plays.  Heck, even Mr. Bean, Rowan Atkinson, played him one of those spoofs.  So there are a lot of Doctors to be your first character.  And then there is Star Trek."

"Well that's easy classic Trek. They are, after all, the founders of the franchise."

"Well, I, for one, like Next Generation.  They had the longer run and better effects."

"I liked Enterprise," piped in a third
voice, the personality who also loves bad B-Movies.


"Okay, Okay. There is Star Trek  the original series, Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Voyager, Enterprise,  Star  Trek the Animated Series, and those new guys in the two reboot movies."

"I really like those, but a lot of fans didn't. Afterall, you always love your first Star Trek," said a sly fourth voice which had been patiently waiting to turn my words against.  I hate that guy.

"And then there are fantasy books.  There were Tolkien and Lewis and Brooks and Burroughs and Howard and those Dungeon and Dragon books, and now Martin and guys like Rothfuss and Weeks and Gaiman.  Who do you choose: the master, Tolkien? The ground breaker Brooks? The political world of Martin? The fantastical of Gaiman? Who?"

I pause.  I ponder.  I gather the group of my schizophrenic voices in close.
 "I like them all. I choose them all."

And they nod in agreement.

 "But you still always love your first Doctor Who," I think myself, once they are all out of range.