My Wife Won’t Watch Doctor Who: PLEASE HELP

Greg here, while Beth is away this week.  I don’t think I’ll make the same mistake a made a few years ago.

I hadn’t planned to hijack Beth’s blog, no matter what she said at the end of her previous post, but, thanks to your comments, I’ve realized I need your help.

Beth writes about our family, openly, honestly, and transparently, and she writes about the importance of community and finding the Elusive Village. Now it’s my turn to tell the truth about what happens in our house and to ask for help from you, Beth’s Village. I think you can see that hijacking Beth’s blog is the only conscionable course of action.

Beth almost shared one of the darker secrets of our marriage in her last post when she alluded to her lack of interest in The Doctor. She didn’t come right out and say it, though, so I will.

Beth doesn’t watch Doctor Who.

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This from the woman I love, who eagerly binge watched Battlestar Glactica with me and loves anything Joss Whedon touches. But when she tried two episodes of the most recent series with me, it just didn’t resonate. Even starting with Mat Smith as the Doctor meeting Amelia Pond! She didn’t connect. They had me at fish custard, but not her.

I’m at a loss to convey to her the depth of the pathos, triumph, and tragedy in each new story arc. The whole of space and time, with love lost, found, and lost again, across four dimensions. Death, rebirth, the end of everything, and the rediscovery of hope.

I mean really.  We’re 6 episodes in to the first season of Outlander.

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I’ve helped with the DVR, alerted her to new episodes, and held her hand through the drama, without once suggesting we switch over to football (of any variety, round or oblong).

Perhaps it would help to relate it to something closer to her experience.

Story Element Outlander Doctor Who
time travel X X
political intrigue X X
dangerous secrets X X
imminent death X X
lost love X X
new love tinged with guilt/grief over lost love X X
moral dilemas over changing history X X
mysterious use of futuristic science X X
Scottish accents X 12th Doctor
swordplay X X
nightmares in the shadows   X
terrifying statues of angels   X
bigger on the inside (no, cheesy references to Jamie’s heart don’t count) X

 

I think Beth needs to give the Doctor another chance. We could have something really special together.

PLEASE HELP me compile a list of reasons for Beth’s return.
Why should Beth learn to love Doctor Who?

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41 responses to “My Wife Won’t Watch Doctor Who: PLEASE HELP”

  1. So according to the wiki, Jamie is actually based on a Doctor Who Character:

    ” In August 2014 it was announced that Frazer Hines had been cast in the role of a prison warden in an episode to air in 2015. From 1966 to 1969, Hines had portrayed Jamie McCrimmon in Doctor Who, a character who Gabaldon has said inspired the setting of the Outlander series and the character Jamie Fraser.”

  2. Should she? Yes. Can we make her? No. It’s ok for couples to have separate fandoms. However, I’ll gladly read your Who fandom blog. 🙂

  3. I’m going to go against the advise of many commentators, and say to start with Donna. She’s absolutely my favorite companion, and if a lesbian says that David Tennant’s sad dreamy eyes are something you should be watching, you should really take her advice. 😉

    I have to say that the first time I tried to watch Doctor Who, I started with 9 and watched several episodes, but couldn’t really get into it. I just never really liked the 9th Doctor. But then a couple of months later I saw the first episode with Donna as companion, and I was hooked! I also showed that episode to a friend who also hadn’t been able to get into DW, and she really liked it.

    Also, at first, although I liked Matt Smith, I thought of him as the “funny doctor”. And still do, mostly, but I think he gets so much better when he gets serious.

    • Yes, I adore Donna! I would start with the actual beginning of Donna’s first season though (Partners in Crime), not her first appearance. I remember seeing The Runaway Bride and being super-annoyed with her, especially because I heard so much hype. But Partners in Crime is totally charming. How can you not like adorable alien fat babies?

  4. I didn’t like Doctor Who at first either.

    I got really annoyed with everyone needing the Doctor to fix everything, and, like, the most helpful thing anyone really did was mention something offhand like, “I wish I had a fork”, and then the Doctor would be like, ” FORKS, THAT’S IT I’VE BEEN GOING ABOUT THIS ALL BACK TO FRONT what if the time streams FORKED and everyone can be saved if we go back to the fork in the time stream and find the pocket universe oh Donna you are BRILLIANT!!”

    But.

    Now I love it. Love love love.

    Greg, you can lead a Beth to Doctor Who, but you can’t make her watch. If she’s like me, if you make her watch it, especially with you, she will not like it, on purpose, because you are making her like it and SHE will be the boss of what she likes, thankyouverymuch. Painful as it is to watch someone miss out on something amazing like a person who won’t try chocolate, you have to let her be, and maybe one day there will be nothing on and nobody to see her watching DW. Then she will closet think the show is okay. Then she will watch more. Then she will love it, enough to watch it with you. Or, you know, not.

    OR. Could you imagine, if she like, really got into Doctor Who SO MUCH that it was actually really really annoying? Like, can-we-go-back-to-firefly-reruns-for-a-while-or-something-cause-we-have-been-watching-only-doctor-who-for-literally-weeks annoying? Can you imagine? That would be like a Doctor Who nightmare IRL. Everything would feel like it was on a repeated word loop. What if she started quoting Doctor Who. All. The. Time. How would it affect Business Time if you are filled with impending quote apprehension any time someone comes close to a light switch? What if you just want to walk past an angel statue, sans quote? What about libraries?

    Okay, I really went off on a tangent there, but sometimes we need to be thankful for what we DON’T have, is what I’m saying.

  5. *gasp* I have to say I’m surprised by this!

    In our house it is my husband who doesn’t watch, which also surprises me.

    I’m jealous you are watching Outlander. We don’t get Stars and my husband won’t let me order it just so I can watch Outlander. He just doesn’t understand. 🙁

    • You can watch it on their website without a subscription.

      I, on the other hand, am in a country where it’s not broadcast yet. 🙁

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