Originally Posted by solenoid:
“I caught "Doctor Who Explained" but didn't really learn anything new from it.”
That's fine, but for some of us who love DW, but don't have your encyclopaedic knowledge of all the background information, these programmes are interesting and informative. So, whether you, or anyone else, learned anything or not, some of us did and we enjoyed doing so!
Knowing it all, seeing every episode or owning every DVD does not mean anyone who hasn't done/doesn't have those things is any less of a fan of the show as a whole. I don't have the time, the technology or the money to know it all, see it all or own it all, but I love DW and have done since I was 5 years old (I'm 46 now).
I totally understand how easy it is to be so caught up in the nitty-gritty of something you love to the point where it's easy to lose sight of the fact that others may, for whatever reason, have a different (but no less valid) experience of it to you. I know it's probably not at all the intention of some of the dedicated fans/posters to make occasional/casual visitors to this thread feel uncomfortable. However, as one of those occasional visitors who doesn't know it all, hasn't seen it all and won't ever own most of it, there is often the impression that anyone hasn't done those things is some kind of 'second class' or 'lesser fan' and not welcome in what comes across as being a bit cliquey sometimes.
It's such a big year for DW for those who care - isn't everyone who feels something for DW welcome to take as much or as little as they want/can from anything and everything that ends up being broadcast?
To be honest I'm surprised at how negatively, for the most part, these Watch specials have been received by posters who've commented. Clearly I'm naive, but the dismissive nature of many of the comments has surprised me - but I think again that's because the majority who post here regularly are members of the 'know it, seen it, own it' club. I'm not sure some think people like me even being here... which make me nervous of even saying what I'm saying now!
Anyway, speaking for myself and my family (including two teenagers who've never seen any classic DW and know very little about the detail of Doctors, companions or stories) we've hugely enjoyed what we've seen so far on these Watch specials, even though some of it is clearly the same interviews re-edited into different individual programmes. None of us has ever seen the episodes featuring Hartnell and Troughton before (my first Doctor was Jon Pertwee, and only then in his very last story - as I say, I was 5 at the time, but that's my first DW memory) so we enjoyed those and made the most of them, knowing we'll probably never see them again unless they're repeated. That will go for every other classic episode too - unless they're on TV we'll never see them, because we can't afford to create a DVD collection to play 'catch-up'. Unfortunately that does reather limit us to post-2005 episodes at the moment, so we'll take what we get and enjoy it!
