I've only learned about The Doctor recently. Well, I knew about Doctor Who for a while, but never watched it. There was a guy in my class in high school who had the coolest Tom Baker scarf, and i *think* we might have watched a Tom Baker story in one of my English classes, but I can't remember for certain (it was only 9 years ago, but...). The last place I lived, my landlord kept a bunch of his crap at the house. One day I opened the kitchen cabinet and saw it was FULL of Doctor Who on VHS. I thought ot myself "Hmmm, I oguht to watch some of those some time, I've heard good things about it," but never got around to it (I moved soon after, as my landlord was super creepy).
I started watching the new series in I think February or March 2012 (wait, almost a year already?) on an impulse - I had Amazon Prime and it said "You might enjoy this!" Boy, were they ever right. I watched one episode ("Rose") and though hey, this is kind of interesting. So then, of course, I had to watch the next episode. And the next. and the next, and, well, you get the idea. When I reached the end of the first series, I was thoroughly confused, shocked, excited, a bit sad...I had no idea what regeneration was or that the Doctor was capable of it. When the next guy showed up I thought "There's no way I can get used to this man..." Well, of course I DID get used to him, he was fantastic. Then came Smith, and again I thought "I KNOW there's on way I'll get used to THIS guy!" And again of course I did. I say it took me "a season" to get used to Matt Smith, but that's not fair, because that season was viewed over the course of two or three days (I think that makes it hard to get used to anyone when you're new and playing catch-up...you don't have time to think anything through with a marathon).
After I finished series 6, I thought maybe I'll stop here, and just watch the new ones as they air. Surely I couldn't go back and watch 26 seasons of this. That would be insane. Right? Well, I finished by the start of April, thinking the new season would be starting in April. Obviously it didn't, and I had 5 months to kill before I got a new episode. So I figured I'd watch Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures, and then at least one story from each classic Doctor. But that wasn't enough. You see, I have autism, annd part of autism is that when I get into something, I get REALLY into something. I'm not done until I know everything there is to know about something.
A few months back someone told me to start with Pertwee and work my way forward, then go back to Hartnell after that. I started that, and I'm currently getting ready to start season 17 with "Destiny of the Daleks." I've had a bit of trouble finding that one (not even my library has it, and they have almost every available Doctor Who episode at least on VHS if not DVD). I think I have finally tracked it down as a Netflix DVD, so as soon as I finish what I'm watching now I'm switching over to DVDs instead of streaming and hoping it's there. I tried starting City of Death without watching Destiny of the Daleks, but I just can't do it.
Tom Baker is, as of yet, my favorite Doctor. Of course when I was new, the Doctor of whatever season I was on was "my favorite" but now...I KNOW he's my favorite. There's just something about him that I can't quite put my finger on. I'm SO glad I decided to go ahead and start the classics.
Sarah Jane is my favorite companion. When I was new, I didn't know that Elisabeth Sladen had died. As it approached the anniversary of her death, I found out about it. I have never cried for someone I don't know before, ever, but I cried when I found out about her. Still do. I can't watch "School Reunion" without crying at the end anymore. And of course I cried like a baby when she left in the classics.
Speaking of crying, that's something Doctor Who has done for me. It's opened up a whole world of emotions that I've never been able to properly express before. As I said, I have autism, so the expression of emotions can be confusing at best to me. When I watch Doctor Who (or Torchwood, or Sarah Jane Adventures), I'm not ashamed to cry, to laugh, to tense with excitement...it was strange at first, but now, it's just the way it is, and I LOVE it. It's also given me a completely different perspective on life. It sounds cheesy, but Doctor Who has significantly changed my life.
Anyway, if you're still with me by now, you know I like to write. A lot. Anyway, some more background on me. I'm in the US, currently in Kansas (bleh). I'm on the board of directors for our local UKC dog club which is not even a year old yet (and one of our members is a classic Whovian, she even grew up in Cardiff!). I compete in both AKC and UKC with my dogs. My smooth collie (Logan) is my all-arounder - I do rally and lure coursing with him, and will start traditional obedience this year. I'd like to start herding with him as well. He is also my service dog. My boxer (Gavroche) was my "starter dog" and is the reason I do dog sports at all. He has AKC and UKC rally titles, but is now semi-retired from the ring due to anxiety originally stemming from hypothyroidism. He does still do lure coursing, and LOVES it! I'm working on my second undergraduate degree, this time a BS in Zoo Science - my first degree is a BA in Psychology with a minor in biology. I work part time in a vet clinic and part time in the education department of the local zoo. I've been toying with the idea of going to grad school, but if i go I want it to be amazing, as in overseas amazing. Part of my still says I'm 25 and ought to be done with school and be an adult, but what's the point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes?
My other addiction, besides Doctor Who, is tea. Whole-leaf loose tea. I could write pages just about that, but I'll spare you and leave it at that for now.
I'm pretty much an open book, so if you have questions, feel free to ask!