March 6th, 2004

DOCTORIN' THE TARDIS:  THE ANTI-CLIMATIC MEETING OF MY CHILDHOOD HERO

Bagpipes played in the background as the line slowly moved along towards the table where the middle aged, fair featured British actor was signing autographs. I had just spent five hours and a silly amount of money to travel to Toronto to the Toronto British Exhibition to meet my childhood hero - British actor Peter Davidson. Peter Davidson is well known for playing two major roles on British television - Tristan on "All Creatures Great and Small" and, more notably, the fifth actor to play the mysterious time traveling Doctor in the classic sci-fi series "Doctor Who". Now, for those who aren't up on their Doctor Who lore let me explain how this works. Eight men played Dr. Who over the thirty five years it ran on television (I don't want to explain how that worked - it's confusing and not important for this story). For those up to speed on the concept, Peter Davidson was the blond guy after Tom Baker (known amongst non-Doctor Who fans as "the guy with the scarf"). Anyhow, although Tom Baker is the most popular Doctor, when I was nine years old I was watching the adventures of Peter Davidson's Doctor and he was my hero. There wasn't another man on earth that meant more to me.

I am not sure what it was about this strange and campy science fiction show but as a little kid my sun and my moon revolved around the adventures of the eccentric Doctor and his interchangeable companions as they traveled through time and space in an old British telephone booth. It really was good fun and I watched the show twice a week; once on Thursdays and the same episode repeated on Saturdays, and if I missed either episode I thought my world would end. Nothing in the world was more important to me. It drove my family insane. It drove my teachers crazy and, on at least one occasion, it got me in a heap of trouble.

When I was a kid my mother would bring me to church. I am not sure why as my family has never been overly religious. Anyhow, when we first arrived at the church we would have to wait a good twenty minutes or so as the congregation assembled and as the organist played. I had a hard time waiting for the service to start so my mother didn't see the harm in me bringing books to read while I waited for church to begin. Anyway, at that time I always had a Doctor Who novel on the go. Nobody seemed to mind me reading before church but later on, during Sunday School (where the kids were sent ten minutes into the service), I was caught reading the space adventures of the good Doctor instead of the teachings of Jesus that I was supposed to be reading. Later that night the Sunday School teacher called my mother and told her she didn't think it was appropriate for me to be reading such things in church. However, my mother still allowed me to bring my Doctor Who books to church but I had to leave the books with her before I went to Sunday School.

That seemed like a lifetime ago as I crept closer and closer in the line to where Peter Davidson sat signing autographs; yet the memories of watching him on Dr. Who came flooding back. There he was. He was a bit older and had a bit less hair but the voice was unmistakable. I recognized his voice the most, although it has probably been over ten years since I have watched an episode of Dr. Who featuring him. Truth is, I have a hard time sitting through an episode of Dr. Who these days and it's pretty much been that way for a number of years. It really is something from my childhood. For a while in high school and university I got a bit nostalgic for the show and watched a bit of it - even joined a fan club for a while - but I lost interest nearly as fast. However, scattered throughout my apartment the images of Dr. Who, the Dalek, Cybermen, and what not pops out at you here and there. Fandom never really does leave me I guess. When something gets under my skin it's often there forever.

Finally I got to the table and was permitted to go and talk to Peter Davidson. I walked up to him and shook his hand. He looked at me and acknowledged my existence. I passed him a glossy 8X10 featuring him as the Doctor along with his three most famous companions - Adric, Tegan, and Nyssa.

"Can you make it out to Sam," I said to him.

"Sure," he said and wrote on the glossy 8X10 "To Sam, from Peter Davidson."

I took the picture back and thanked him and was about to say how it was good to see him and that I hope he enjoys his stay in Toronto but he seemed much more interested in the next two people in line - two very attractive young girls who had admitted to me earlier in line that they had no idea who he was and was getting the autograph for one of the girls cousin. I stood there dumbfounded for a moment. Peter Davidson was done with me. Wow. That was very anti-climatic.

Then it dawned on me - this is the harsh reality of it. Doctor Who fans are a "unique" crew of people. To take the job of playing the Doctor you are pretty much condemning yourself to eternity of people asking you silly questions like why your celery stalk was shorter in "Arc of Infinity" then it was in "Logopolis," or, "If you could have had sexual relationships with any of your companions which one would have it been?" Something like that would then start a fight from the fan behind that one stating that "the Doctor doesn't have sexual relationships," and so forth. The only way to stay sane from that kind of madness would be to create walls and barriers between yourself and the fans.

Either that, or Peter Davidson is a pompous dickhead who likes blonde jailbait far more than an old fan looking for a bit of childhood nostalgia. I haven't figured out what truth I believe yet.

So I looked at my autograph and was at least happy to get that much from him. I looked back for one last look at my childhood hero and rushed off to get some English style fish and chips before I had to line up to meet a "Coronation Street" actress.