I only know it from my sister and brother in law liking it....I do not think I ever saw it....

First off ChristianWhovian, welcome to the group! Second, love the post!

I've tried to get a "Doctor Who" discussion in the past but the people who used to be around here that watched the show besides myself weren't big on discussing it so it has since faded into the group archives...

I've never watched Classic Who, mind you (although I do sport a quote from it on my profile page), just the modern stuff, from Christopher Eccleston onward. David Tennant is my favorite Doctor and overall the Russell T. Davies era was the best in my opinion, so I'm happy he's coming back to doing the show next year (although with some of the recent timey wimey turns the show has taken makes me a little worried he might feel the need to continue down certain paths that I think have actually not been so beneficial for the show of late). Of the more recent doctors I was least impressed with Peter Capaldi (a good actor but I just didn't care for his version of the character, nor did I care much for Steven Moffat's writing during that era). I don't mind Jodie Whittaker in the role, wasn't sure I'd care for it because I hate the fan-pandering of picking a woman to play the role personally, but she's more in the vein of Matt Smith with her version so it fits, she's just been let down a lot by Chris Chibnall's writing (I had high hopes for him taking over this show but it's sadly been a real mess for her whole era).

I'm finding the current season a bit hard to follow at times, the way it's jumping around so much and having so many disparate elements thrown together at once not making a whole lot of sense, but I'm still watching to see how it shakes out. What do you think of the current season?

I am curious who Davies and the BBC will pick for the next Doctor (if they decide to pick a woman or a person of color or even someone who is LGBTQ+ that's all well and good, but one thing Jodie Whittaker's run has sort of lacked at times is recognizing that someone who isn't a straight white man wouldn't automatically be accepted as an authority in any circumstance, so they would really need to recognize more) and also whether the current companions stick around or if we get a brand new crop of people altogether all over again. Personally I like a little continuity at least for a short while but I get that writers tend to like to use their own characters and actors and not retain the old group. Got any preferences on who they pick?

I've only seen a few episodes of the classic series. I'm working on getting the rest.
Matt Smith is my all time favorite Doctor. He is such a great actor. I think Moffat was a genius in some aspects (like the plot twist with River) and failed in other things (Like The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang.)
My mom only allows me to watch up to the Time of the Doctor and then the Husbands of River Song. So I haven't seen any of Capaldi and Whittaker.
I don't like how they made the Doctor a woman. I am completely against LGBT lifestyles so you can kind of see why.
Sadly, for me, it's like Doctor Who ended. But I keep watching it.
What is your favorite episode? My all-time favorite episode is the Eleventh Hour. I've watched it so many times I basically have it memorized. Sometimes, I recite it when I'm bored.
I do think that RTD's series was really well written. I love the last half of season 3.
How did you celebrate the 58th anniversary of Doctor Who?

Interesting... see I thought the Moffatt era started off better than it ended; I kind of felt like the River twist (which didn't actually surprise me because she always acted strangely familiar with Amy and Rory) was when the show started to go off the rails, particularly because they suddenly introduced the idea that someone could become a Time Lord merely from being conceived in a TARDIS which has basically now led us down this path that The Doctor wasn't even from Gallifrey after all and somehow it's the Doctor's powers that other Time Lords have somehow been given over time, not a power of their own.

I liked Matt Smith overall as The Doctor but I think the one thing that began to bug me about his tenure was something that wasn't even in his control and that's the fact that Moffat decided to make the show revolve more around Amy and then Amy and Rory than The Doctor (right down to the opening sequence being about her house, the crack in her wall, and a blue box landing in her garden from which she met her raggedy man).

Just curious, why doesn't your mom let you see any episodes post-Matt Smith? Based on your beliefs I can understand you maybe would not be so keen on the last season of Peter Capaldi's run because his companion, Bill, was a lesbian, but there have been no other LGBTQ references at any other point that I can recall. Even with making The Doctor a woman, there haven't been any references to The Doctor being of a certain sexuality, although I can see why you might assume it since previous incarnations of the character did marry women (namely just River and Queen Elizabeth I, if I'm not mistaken). River's storyline came to an end during Capaldi's run though and Whittaker's version has maybe only mentioned in passing being married before this regeneration. Do you still keep up with what has happened on the show since you no longer have been able to watch it or no?

My biggest issue with making the character a woman was merely because it felt too much like fan pandering just because a certain small but vocal group of people began to target a lot of typically male characters and insist on making female versions of them and because the ratings for the show were dropping, they thought the groundswell on social media meant it was something they needed to do. It's not to say that Jodie Whittaker hasn't been good in the role; she is very much in keeping with the Tennant and Smith eras in her portrayal (it's the writing that has let her down because the show's been either a complete bore or absolutely confusing). But it feels gimmicky to just suddenly change the canon of the character and for a time-traveling alien who tends to swoop in and save the day when things go awry, it's harder to send that character into the past and not have it make more sense that she get overlooked in favor of a man because in many societies over the ages she would've been dismissed but they rarely point that out.

My favorite episode? Hmm... I don't know if I would say I have just one favorite. I like "Blink", which is ironic since it's Doctor-lite, I like "Midnight", I like the two parter "Silence in the Library" and "Forrest of the Dead". I think overall my favorite season was the Ten and Donna Noble season because I think overall it had some of the best episodes individually and I liked how they brought back a lot of characters for the two-part finale, including Rose Tyler, who was one of my favorite companions (I feel like their 60th anniversary ep. should involve whoever the next Doctor will be going back to the alternate Earth they dubbed "Pete's World" where The Doctor would find Rose happily married to the Meta-Crisis Doctor - now going by John Smith, of course - and it could be like Rose is about to give birth or has just had a child with The Doctor's human former clone and some of The Doctor's foes have sensed this child and believe it to have some sort of special abilities so they show up and try to steal it and the Doctor, Rose, and John Smith have to team up to save the child and along the way they can involve some other former companions, monsters, and even some other versions of The Doctor again too, that would work for me anyway...).

To be honest, I didn't "celebrate" the anniversary, but I have been watching the current season so I guess that's something?

My mom doesn't allow me to watch the current seasons because they started taking the show too seriously and it was too dark and angry for her.
Most of the episodes by RTD are brilliant. My family and I love Science In the Library/Forrest of the Dead. (My mom really likes any episode with River Song in it.)
Have you tried writing in Gallifreyan?I found a Circular Gallifreyan alphabet by Loren Sherman that's free to use and I have a (very small) business selling Gallifreyan Christmas cards. It's one thing that really calms me (unless I make a mistake)

I was never a fan of any Dr. Who, just not my thing

ChristianWhovian, I kind of get your mom's point about it getting a bit serious, but the latter seasons with Matt Smith were fairly dark and serious too and she let you watch those... and the show is considered a family show (it was originally written for children, after all) so it's not like anything they do on it is going to really be that dark and angry ultimately. How old are you now? Maybe your mom would be willing to allow you to see some of those episodes now that she didn't want you to watch when you were younger... especially since River does appear again during the Capaldi era (including the episode that explains how it is she came to have a version of The Doctor's sonic screwdriver when Ten meets her in the Library).

I honestly have no idea what the Gallifreyan alphabet looks like so no, can't say I ever tried to write it, but good on you for figuring out how to do so and managing to make it into a business and also a way to help destress.

Jean, it's cool. Everything isn't for everyone.

She does allow me to watch the Husbands of River Song.

Well at least she's allowed you to see that one...

Will she allow you to see the show again when Russell T. Davies returns as the showrunner?

HE'S RETURNING AS THE SHOWRUNNER?!?!?!
I didn't know that.

Oh yeah... you have obviously not kept up with the news... Yeah, Chris Chibnall had announced shortly after Jodie Whittaker said she would be leaving that he too was going to be leaving as showrunner next year and then it was announced shortly after that that RTD was coming back (Chibnall and Whittaker are leaving at the same time, after the current 6-episode season dubbed "Doctor Who: Flux", there will be I think 3 specials next year that will lead up to the 60th anniversary which is when RTD will return as showrunner - so technically he won't take over until 2023, but he is definitely coming back). No word yet on who will take over as The Doctor - lots of rumors but nothing concrete yet.

So yeah, you should let your mom know... maybe she'll let you watch it again. Course two years from now will you even still need her permission to watch it?