Been a Doctor Who fan since junior high when I stumbled across episode one of “The Ark in Space” with Tom Baker as the Doctor on a local PBS station in Ohio. This was LONG before the Internet so for all I knew as I was immediately hooked (and for each day’s next episode) it was a short series that ended with the “Invasion of Time.”
Years later I learned that I was seeing a small fraction of a series that had premiered in November 1963, that Tom Baker was the 4th actor to play the role and that I was about to embark on a lifelong love affair.
Some years later we had moved to the Chicago area (during high school) and PBS stations got the rights from the BBC to show all existing episodes. Channel 11 (WTTW) in Chicago then ran all of the existing stories in order and I greedily recorded them and watched them with childlike awe. I read the Target books that novelized all the episodes (expanding on the existing ones in some cases and filling the gaps for the missing episodes – long story short the BBC was/is cheap and taped over old episodes to save money before they knew they had a cash cow).
I took part in a study abroad program in the Fall of 1989 and was actually living in England to see the latest Doctor Who with Sylvestor McCoy as the Doctor. As the final credits ran on “Survival” I was thrilled to actually have seen Doctor Who on the BBC, IN ENGLAND. I finished my trip and came home. And then heard the news-the show was canceled. Sadness and emptiness crept in, I finished college and got a full-time job.
Fast forward seven years and the news that the BBC with Fox in the US were doing a movie of Doctor Who and possibly a series (depending on the ratings). How it was going to be handled (a remake, a prequel, or a sequel) was in much debate. Fortunately the team behind it went with a continuation of the “classic” series (as it’s now referred to) and even had the decency to hire Sylvestor McCoy to open the movie and film the 7th Doctor’s “death” as a lead-in to his regeneration to 8th Doctor Paul McGann.
It wasn’t great, but it was good and at least kept your love going (it was received well in the UK, but lost out to the Bulls in the playoffs and part 2 of the Roseanne episode where Dan had a heart attack). So timing (ironically) was off and most considered the show dead and gone. It had low budgets so as people grew up from wide-eyed kids to adults there was a tendency to find the show laughable. But then it took on a wistful tone and people remembered the core of the show and their love for it.
Flash forward to 2005 and the relaunch of Doctor Who in the UK under the guidance of Russell T. Davies with Christopher Eccleston as the 9th Doctor. It was the same and yet totally different (music, pacing, quality of filming/f/x) and was extremely reverential to the original. Honestly I know that now. I was a few years behind as I was afraid to try it and what would happen. Was it good? Did it still have the magic? Was it better? While the rest of the world was awaiting Series 4 (2008) I found Series 1 (2005) on Netflix and gave episode 1 (“Rose”) a try. I blew threw Series 1 in a week, ordered it and and Series 2 and 3 (David Tennant taking over as the 10th Doctor in Series 2). The rest is again history. I am back in love and totally enjoying every moment including the 2010 Series 5 restart with the amazing Stephen Moffat producing the awesome Matt Smith and Karen Gillian as the 11th Doctor and his latest companion.
So I’ve seen greatness and wonder in over 20 years of watching. But what haven’t I seen as a general lover of sci-fi and time travel in particular? I started to ponder and thought I’d make a list to share with the other Doctor Who fans out there-add your own as comments. Maybe someone at the BBC will see these. I would have had an American episode (like one really filmed here in its entirety but they beat me to the punch as we’re only a few months away from the 2-part opener to Series 6 set in New Mexico in the 1960s).

Top 10 things we haven’t seen/unanswered in Doctor Who
1-Any real information about why someone as egomanical and oppressive as the original Time Lord Rassilon pushed so hard to create time travel and then forbade interference in the timelines of the universe. Why would someone that eager for power and glory gain the ultimate power and then tell everyone to just sit back and watch time go by? How about the Doctor meeting up with Rassilon on his first TARDIS trip and what lead him to recoil from time travel and make it taboo? Fell in love with someone on some far off/ago world and realized the impact of meddling or living longer than those we love?
2-Any solid information as to his wife/partner and the son or daughter who had Susan his reputed grand daughter.
3-With the constant mantra that Gallifrey and all of the Time Lords are gone (and he’s “the last” of them)-what happened to: Susan (his grand daughter last seen on Earth in 2150AD in love with a young rebel who had fought the Daleks with her), Romana (last seen in E-Space in “Warrior’s Gate”), Leela and K-9 Mark 1 (last seen on Gallifrey in “Invasion of Time”), the Rani (last seen in “Time and the Rani”), the Meddling Monk (last seen in “The Daleks’ Masterplan”), etc. I know some of the books and audio adventures have featured some/all of these, but it’s never 100% if they’re official or not.
4-Ok we’ve got a US story coming, but I’ll still say it-I know we’ve got a lot less history to work with than the UK, but hopefully the massive fan base and popularity will allow for more US-based stories which can play with famous US authors interacting (like the British authors showcased like H.G. Wells, Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, etc.). I could dream of an X-Files or Twin Peaks crossover, but seriously, plenty of US mysteries and UFO stuff to play off of and historical figures to interact with. Just make sure to cast great American actors.
5-The Doctor encounter and interact with a younger Master. He and the Master always meet in chronological order-why? They’re f’ing time travelers? He’s met his younger/older selves so why not a younger Master?
6-Speaking of the Master, what happened to the Master’s TARDIS? He still had it as late as 1984′s “Planet of Fire” and presumably in 1985′s “Mark of the Rani.” But in 1989′s “Survival” he faced the 7th Doctor on a dying planet and appeared to have been killed when the Doctor escaped and left him there. In the “1989″ movie, the opening sequence detailed that the Master bizarrely had been captured, tried and executed by the Daleks. Since then he’s returned in the new series, but never with a TARDIS (though he stole the Doctor’s). It’s implied that he was still dead, but in the final days of the last great Time War, the Time Lords brought him back to fight the Daleks, he panicked and fled to the farther place in the universe at the end of time and made himself human to hide (which suppressed his memories). So where did it go? Could imagine a team hunting for the Master’s TARDIS and the Doctor in a race to stop them.
7-Anything of substance about the Doctor’s parents.
8-The Doctor’s real name (don’t really want to know) and more importantly-why “The Doctor” as an alias?
9-The Doctor is definitely in love with Earth, the UK in particular. But only recently Wales and nothing really taking place in Ireland or Scotland? They’re literally right there and both have rich histories (and several actors playing the Doctor were even Scottish!). And great actors! How about getting Sean Connery, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Colin Farrell or Pierce Brosnan on the show (I know a leap)?
10-Any stories set on a world outside of the Milky Way galaxy? The universe is infinite and his TARDIS can go anywhere in time and space. With the exception of “Utopia” when the Master is found at the end of time on the edge of the universe and a few other moments, there hasn’t been an attempt to explore much of this galaxy’s billions of stars/planets let alone another galaxy. How about the Andromeda Galaxy which is one of the biggest galaxies in proximity to the Milky Way? It was mentioned in 1986′s “The Mysterious Planet” (the first part of the full season “The Trial of a Time Lord” season) that Time Lord secrets had been stolen by the “Sleepers of Andromeda.” Never mentioned before or since. Just seems like we could see some really amazing stuff (granted budgets are an issue) exploring really alien worlds, really far from “home.”
Well just my random two cents-any other ideas?