Where No-One Has Gone Before- Unless they are a Time Traveller

PCGuy IV wants to know about our favourite pop culture series.

• What pop culture phenomenon have you bought into?

There are two shows I’ve enjoyed off and on for years. “Star Trek” and “Doctor Who”

• Were you hooked right away, or did it grow on you over time?

Both of these shows began when I was a child. “Doctor Who” originally in 1963 and “Star Trek” a couple of years later in 1966. I think I first saw “Doctor Who” during it’s first season. It was a children’s show back then but like many people my age I found it a bit scary especially those Daleks. They turned people into negatives! I can’t say that I really became a fan until I was an adult.

I’m not sure when “Star Trek” was first screened in Australia but I am pretty sure that I saw it in either 1966 or 1967. I did like it from the beginning.

• Did you initially get into it because it seemed interesting to you, or did someone recommend it?

When “Star Trek” began we were living with relatives, having not long arrived in Australia. The adults in the family all watched it and we kids were allowed to see it too on condition that we went to bed as soon as it was finished. I definitely liked it myself though, not because the adults liked it. I loved the characters. Spock was fascinating :-), I liked McCoy’s grouchiness, Scotty’s love of his engines and Chekhov’s insistence that everything good was invented by a Russian. There was a lot of humour in TOS that a ten year old could appreciate.

I can’t remember why or how I got back into Doctor Who. I saw it first in the UK but then not for a long time so I missed the whole idea of rejuvenation and didn’t understand why there was nobody in the show I recognised when I saw it again. David also liked the show and I think it was around the time we were first married that I started watching it a lot, by this time we were in the Tom Baker years and he was a lot of fun to watch.

• Was it just a passing fancy, or are you still a fan?

Yes and no. I’ve been back and forth on both shows over time. As I said I missed a huge amount of “Doctor Who”. I caught up with the surviving episodes of the Second Doctor and the Third Doctor and enjoyed those. I watched the Fourth and Fifth Doctors but decided that I didn’t care for the Sixth Doctor so I stopped watching the show. I didn’t start again until the 2005 reboot with the Ninth Doctor and watched it until the current Doctor arrived. I haven’t watched for the last couple of seasons. I may go back one day if they cast another Doctor that I like.

I have seen all of “Star Trek” TOS and “Next Generation” I didn’t really take to DS9 at first but have watched some of it and most of “Voyager” I liked the characters in both of these series and even in “Enterprise” although I haven’t see all of that either. I have seen a little of “Discovery” but haven’t decided whether I like it or not yet. I found it rather dark. “Star Trek” has been a big part of my life and I guess you could say that I am still a fan of the franchise even though I don’t like everything that they have produced.