Why Who?

[vilakins]

At last I have finished my finish-a-thon story so I can relax and enjoy Torchwood tonight when Greg finally gets home. Then I'll be able to, as astrogirl2 has already said, read the third of my flist I've been avoiding.

Which leads me to wonder why very few other shows get so many reviews and opinions posted as soon as an episode airs. This doesn't happen for series like Lost, SGA, or BSG (though I do see one or two posts for the last). What makes Doctor Who and now Torchwood so different? The only other show that's come close is Life on Mars.

Comments

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

Er, because we're all maniacs who want to share the luv?

(Just posted mine, btw ;))

[hafren.livejournal.com]

I probably wouldn't have, if it hadn't happened to be et in my home city and if the Guardian's man hadn't seen fit to be sniffy about that.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

What makes it different from other series that people love though (Hustle, SGA, The Sopranos, Rome)? Or do I just happen to know a lot of DW fans?

I haven't seen it yet. Still waiting for Greg to get home. :-(

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Because it wasn't London or pretending to be? Feh.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I dunno, there seems to be lots and lots of people talking about BSG on my flist...

Anyway, Doctor Who is, well... Dude, it's Doctor Who! :)

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I love your icon. Seriously, I LOVE it ;0)

I don't know why, maybe it captures our imaginations more than any other programme. Maybe it feels like it's OUR programme.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Anything to do with them being British telly?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

But I know just as many Americans who post about it.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Bah. Wrong icon.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

:-D Thanks! Crossover strangeness.

Do you mean 'ours' in the sense of British, or because Doctor Who belongs to so many people's childhoods? Hmm. I think I might have answered it there.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I think I might have thought of something in the convo above: it belongs to our childhoods.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I only have one or two talking about BSG on mine.

And I think I've figured out it may be because it's tied up with our childhoods. Though so is Star Trek. [shrug]

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I think that's certainly true for a lot of British people... Really it's a British institution, and that's part of your answer right there.

But in my case, I didn't start watching it until I was a teenager, and I don't think it has a whole lot to do with childhood, and only a very little to do with my anglophilia... Doctor Who is special, that's all. Honestly. There's magic in it somewhere; it's just that kind of a show. Star Trek had that once, but lost it somewhere along the way. Doctor Who never did.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

[nods] Maybe that's it. It fires the imagination; I can't say BSG or SGA do.

[lizamanynames.livejournal.com]

My flist is CRAWLING with episode reviews for SGA, SG1, BSG, Supernatural and Heroes, (as well as Doctor Who and Torchwood) everytime a new one airs. Not LOST - but I suspect that's a fuction of my f'list. I also get reaction posts to half-a-dozen comic book series.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ah. It must just be the people I know then. Perhaps it's something to do with what appeals to B7 fans.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

The latter :0)

[britgeekgrrl.livejournal.com]

I honestly have no answer to that, luv, aside from the fact that immediately blogging one's opinion of an eps seems to be a tradition in the SF crowd.

One could be (self)catty and speculate that it's a symptom of a certain emotional immaturity (gotta share the tingly feelings right now!) but I'll be nicer and ascribe it to sheer enthusiasm and a desire to share the luv.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

[nods and pulls tarred brush off self] I've noticed that happening much more for Doctor Who (and this is a spin-off) but it seems from another comment that I just happen to have a lot of DW fans on my flist. :-)

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I reviewed the Eccleston season, because the comeback was a major cultural event... and it had Chris Eccleston in it. I'm not sure that I intended to do it when I started out, and I didn't bother with the second season (I'd already decided not to before I saw it, and I was pretty glad when I did).

And then I got into reviewing Deadwood, I think originally as a couple of throwaway remarks on each episode in season two, but more thoroughly in season three, because although that wasn't quite as brilliant as the first two it was still too important not to cover, even though I suspect no one ever read what I wrote (Deadwood fans being pretty scarce on my friends list, and none of those I know getting it at the same time as I did).

And in the meantime, I'd reviewed Life on Mars, though not until the second broadcast which, very unusually for the UK, started as the first one finished.

So of those, I would say the unifying factor is that they were all series to which I had a very powerful emotional reaction, and I can't think of anything else recent to which I've reacted on that level. Incidentally, I don't think I did an instant review of any of them; I had to watch every episode twice before feeling ready to offer a considered reaction, though I do pile in with off-the-cuff opinions in comments on other people's reviews.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

[nods] Yes, I've reviewed films I've loved too, but the lack of response put me off a bit. I was just wondering what made that big emotional connection with Doctor Who. lizamanynames however says she gets loads of reviews for other series, so it appears that I just have an flist full of DW fans. So I think it's a combination of a connection with people's childhoods, and most B7 fans also being DW fans.