I’m a big Doctor Who fan.

I found the show in the 1970’s while waiting for my cool “big kid” friend, Susie, to come home from school. Susie’s mom, Greta, let me sit inside while I was waiting, and I turned on the TV to pass the time. Nothing good was on the regular channels, so I turned the dial to our local PBS station, KTCA Channel 2. I’d hoped to find The Electric Company, but instead found The Doctor. Susie came home, but instead of jumping up to see her, I sat in front of the TV and watched the show through to the last note of the closing theme song. It was fantastic. The story ended on a cliffhanger and I had no idea when the next episode would air. I ran home to find the TV Guide and learned that I could watch a Doctor Who episode every weekday at 3:30, OR I could watch an entire story all at once on Sundays starting at 1!

I did both.

For years.

Eventually, I had other commitments after school that kept me from the daily installments, leaving Sundays as the only time I could watch the show. Luckily, no one else wanted the TV during those two hours and I could claim the family room all to myself.

Well, me and The Doctor.

In high school, KTCA stopped airing the daily program, and moved the full story showing from Sundays to Fridays at 10:30 pm. I rearranged my schedule accordingly. Sometimes my dad would sit and watch with me. I know he liked Doctor Who, but I think he preferred the show that followed (Monty Python’s Flying Circus).

Eventually I went off to college and lost easy access to a television. There were TVs in some of the dorm lounges, but they were the property of everyone/no one, and majority vote chose what to watch. While I was a solid advocate for my program, Doctor Who was rarely the winning option.

BBC eventually cancelled producing new episodes with The Doctor in 1989, but KTCA intermittently aired reruns throughout the 90’s, preferring stories from the Tom Baker era. And then one day, sadly, Doctor Who disappeared completely from my television set, only to be found on the VCR tapes I squirreled away “just in case”.

Miraculously, BBC revived the Doctor Who series in 2005 and I could watch it again on cable’s BBC America channel! I know there are other watchers who haven’t liked the newer stories as much as those from the 70’s and 80’s, but I’m not one of them. In my opinion, any Doctor Who adventure is better than no Doctor Who adventure at all.

Last year I discovered that between Christmas and the new year, BBC America broadcasts a Doctor Who Marathon 24/7. I loved it so much that I went looking for it again this year.

And…

I must guiltily report that I watched Doctor Who almost nonstop from December 26 until January 1. I only took breaks to sleep, eat, and exercise; it was all Who all the time here at Chez me.

Such a marvelous escape.

But during the commercials, I would reluctantly have to return to reality here on Earth, ruminating on all that transpired in 2020. I thought 2020 would usher in a new decade full of focus and vision, but instead it was a year of blinding clarity, like one of The Doctor’s you-are-tiny-specks-in-the-universe-get-your-heads-out-of-the-sand-and-start-acting-as-if-all-you-have-to-depend-on-right-now-for-survival-is-each-other-because-that’s-it-that’s-all-you-truly-have-right-now lecture/rants that he offers when he’s completely exasperated at another’s inability to grasp a situation bigger than their own interests.

And then it hit me.

2020 would be a perfect backdrop to a Doctor Who story.

Picture it.

The Doctor and trusty companion (let’s choose a Number 10 and Rose story) land in New York City, all excited to see a broadway show and eat some tasty food. But instead of exiting the TARDIS to find a bustling metropolis, the city is quiet, theaters shut down, and people are masked. The Doctor checks his watch and reads the year: 2020. “That’s strange” he says. “I could have sworn I put in the right date for our tickets.”

The two travelers give each other an impish “let’s go check it out” look, and start walking until they find a newsstand. The Doctor grabs a paper and reads the headlines, COVID Shutters Broadway and Trump Promises All Clear By Summer.

He stops, wide eyed.

“Trump?”
“COVID?”

The Doctor drops the paper and runs back to the TARDIS, companion trailing and asking, “what’s wrong Doctor? What’s COVID?”

By the end of this thrilling episode (it might take a few if you bring in UNIT and Torchwood), Earth’s hero has unraveled COVID’s spread across the globe, helped a scientist to create an inexpensive/easily distributable vaccine that saves the planet, and exposed the underlying diabolical political dysfunction as an alien plot.

In the final minutes, The Doctor and companion stroll through a now bustling and maskless Central Park. They reflect upon the tragic death of millions of people from COVID and how the Daleks were so easily able to influence multiple international governments. The companion suggests that they could go back in time to stop it all from happening in the first place, but The Doctor shakes his head sadly and simply says “We can’t. This is one of those rare fixed points in the time continuum. I was able to halt the complete erasure of humankind, but eliminating COVID completely would most certainly rip the fabric of time and space.” The travelers would take a last poignant look at each other and the city, return to the TARDIS, and dematerialize into next week’s episode.

It’d be a great adventure, wouldn’t it?

*****

Here’s to 2021 and our own, next episode. May the new year be filled with health, happiness, and many many many in-person experiences!