Doctor Who & hiding behind the couch. Is it still a show for the entire family? YES! As as child I found the monsters terrifying & many old school Whovians will tell you the same thing. The saying about hiding behind the sofa comes from days even earlier than when Tom Baker fought off monsters with Jelly Babies. I didn’t hide behind the couch, I sat next to my mom & would put my head under the lap blanket that stayed on the couch & would bury my face in the couch itself. I was scared that if I left the safety of the sofa that the monsters would get me.
Now as adults the monsters are just as scary but now we don’t have to ignore the zippers. There are stronger sets, better designs & writers that have been fans of the show since early childhood. True the show has taken on a darker aspect but if you look back to some of the episodes that you loved as a child your favorites are probably the ones that terrified you to the point of almost peeing your pants on more than one occasion.
We love to be scared! Why do you think there are so many horror films being release every other day? We enjoy being terrified but at the same time always knowing that there is a hero that will save the day & rescue us all from the monsters. It doesn’t matter how dark it may get or how terrible things might seem, we know the Doctor will swoop down in his Blue Box & make everything good prevail in the face of darkness & evil. That Mad Man With A Box shows the goodness we have within ourselves to make the universe a better place to live in.
The show was always intended for children & has been a family show. It has been ridiculous at times & makes us laugh no matter what our age. It has also made us cry & touched on subjects that might seem a bit mature for younger audiences. I feel though it’s giving us a healthy platform to use to talk to our children about such things as depression, homosexuality, loss or even death & how we can help each other through our personal problems & conquer fears. There are subjects that other ‘family’ shows are afraid to touch but I don’t think there has come a subject yet that is too taboo for Doctor Who.
Throughout the years The Doctor has made me feel more at home in my own skin than I felt on my own. No matter which actor is playing the part there is always something that touches my very soul when I see him in action. He shows that actions speak louder than words but gives such depth & meaning to his words that you wonder how anyone could shoulder the weight of them.
Yes there are terrible episodes & there have been writers that deserve to be strung up for the travesty they forced upon our beloved show. Even then we have fun laughing at their terribleness & have been shown in the case of the 1996 movie that it could have been so much worse. Still today when watching old episodes I chuckle when the sets shake or when the obviousness of the green screen gives it a bit of a cheesy factor. Those are the episodes nearest & dearest to my own heart because of the memories I hold with them from childhood. I wonder sometimes if my fear of spiders didn’t come from Planet of the Spiders ‘cause it scared me so much. That takes me right back to the beginning. We love being scared & I remember one day playing with a granddaddy long-leg & the next day being terrified that they would jump on me.
