Fish Fingers and Custard

An Open Letter to Steven Moffat

Hey guys, I'm a film blogger and I go by the name TheCinemaChick. I also happen to be a “Whovian”, a person who is a committed fan of the BBC show, “Doctor Who”. For some people, its just that, a show. It's a strange story of a mad man traveling all of time and space in a blue phone box. To them, it doesn't make sense. If you're someone like you, you see past the premise and learn to love The Doctor himself. You see, The Doctor is a character played by an actor. I will never understand why someone prefers Eleven to Nine or Ten. He's the same man, just a different face.

But I am not writing about the arrival of the twelfth Doctor. In fact, I welcome Peter Capaldi with open, albeit cautious arms. I say cautious because I am not familiar with his work. As stated, this isn't about which Doctor I prefer. I am choosing to write this because I want everyone to know why someone like me, watches “Doctor Who” on a regular basis. If this should ever come to Steven Moffat's attention, I will make a shirt that says “Moffat is my king” on it or something, then take a picture of myself wearing said shirt and put it here.

I am an average nobody. I don't stand out, I'm not incredibly important to some business and I'm not famous. In fact, I'm pretty sure a lot of my readers are. We're not CEO's or millionaires. We are just regular people living ordinary lives. For one hour, we get the chance to travel to world's we'll never see and meet amazing people we want to know. Many people have also connected, dare I say it, bonded over the show. I got my friend Kathryn watching it and not to long after that, my friend Ashley joined the Who side.

A lot of people grew up watching the show, but I was not one of them. My story of how I came to love the show starts with me hating it. The first time I watched it, Billie Piper had just joined Christopher Eccleston and they were in Cardiff with Charles Dickens. I remember seeing a maid in a stone door saying, “Pity the Gelth” as a man in dark clothes watched on, a blond woman at his side. I had no idea what I had seen, so I ignored it. That is, until I discovered Matt Smith. This episode was even weirder than this first. A young man stood before a giant eyeball, raised his arms and yelled, “Who da man?” only to receive horrified looks from others.

The third episode I saw had a man named David Tennant. He was with a copy of himself, a feisty redhead, the blonde and one of the saddest goodbyes I have ever seen on television. Since then, I have found myself hooked on the show known as “Doctor Who”.

What non-Whovians don't seem to understand is that we don't just watch the show for the adventures. It is so much more than a mad man with a box. I cannot speak for everyone but I can only go on record saying what the show has meant to me. To me, “Doctor Who” is about the adventures of a man, who has lost everything and is trying to find meaning in his life. For me, the Doctor has been a source of inspiration, laughter, inspiration and a means of coping with loss.

The Doctor has lost so many people in his life, making hims a sympathetic character. He is relate-able in so many ways. For me, I felt like I understood his pain. Losing Amy and Rory was traumatic for him. I will admit, watching “The Angels Take Manhattan” made me cry. However, that episode helped me to cope with my own loss. Not too long after the Ponds were gone, I lost my mother to cancer. I knew how Eleven felt when he watched his family vanish before his very eyes. I had to do the same thing.

After losing my mom, I slipped into a deep depression. I lost interest in everything, had no desire to try and get out, absolutely nothing. Just waking up in the morning was a huge effort for me. For the first time, I had to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas without my mother, which was like a punch in the chest. When I saw “The Snowmen”, things began to change. The Doctor did the exact same thing I did. We had both withdrawn from the world, unable to face our lives without the people who meant the most to us. As the Doctor returned to his normal self, so did I. It was like we were going through everything together.

For most people, that sounds fairly nonsensical. How could a television show be such a huge impact on a person? The answer is actually quite simple. There are elements of the person watching the show in the show itself. No matter what the Doctor goes through, a person can relate to it in some way. For instance, “The Rings of Akhatan” shows that the smallest sacrifice can have the biggest impact on another person's life. “A Town Called Mercy” proved that lonliness can be a person's biggest folly. Loneliness can make a person depressed to the point of anger and indifference.

As I said, I am a normal, average woman. While I know that the TARDIS will not magically appear in my yard and a 1200 year old Time Lord won't take me on adventures, the idea gives me hope. Perhaps one day I will find a companion (whether it be platonic friend, partner or spouse) who will go on unexpected journeys with me. The Doctor shows me that even when life seems like it cannot get any worse, things can and will get better. If you lose someone, they are not gone as long as their memory lives on in our hearts. I think my favorite lesson of all time is knowing that no matter how insignificant you feel, you are important.

I suppose I should edit my statement. I am not normal. Like a lot of people, I have been diagnosed as bipolar and I have severe depression. There are many times when I feel as though no one cares about me and that maybe things would be better if I were gone. By gone, I mean leaving my family and friends behind. During times like this, I remember that everyone is important for some reason or another. Donna Noble taught me that even when life seems like a total drag, you could be the most important person in the universe. No one is worthless. Nobody is useless. I know this because the Doctor believes in us all.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is, thank you Steven Moffat. While you write some of the most heart wrenching stories, you also provide millions of fans with episodes that stick with us in our minds and hearts for years to come. It it not just you, but every single person who has contributed to the “Doctor Who” show, starting way back in 1963 with William Hartnell. Now, as Whovians prepare their hearts to say goodbye to Matt Smith, we anticipate the arrival of Peter Capaldi.

To everyone who has ever worked on the show, past or present, please know how important you are to each and every Whovian out there. We find companionship in other die hard fans and joy in converting others into fans.

Please keep bringing us a source of hope, happiness, sadness and inspiration. So long as there are new episodes to look forward to, we will always be more than happy to watch them, our jelly babies and fish fingers and custard at hand.

My story may seem like it's lame or not worth telling. I wanted to share how “Doctor Who” has helped me with my own struggles, with my dark times and how it will always be the show that brought me closer to some of my friends. Life truly is a pile of good things and a pile of bad things, but in the end, life is a mix of the two. You have to take the good with the bad. I believe in the Doctor.

Besides, I'll just be a story in the end, right? I might as well make it a good one.

Sincerely,

The Girl Who Believed

TheCinemaChick