Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for April 07, 2015

Why wife is the Whoovian, I’m the Brony. However, she’s managing to seduce me to her universe, and I’m making a good pegasister out of her. :P

I was a fan in the Tom Baker days, I think I preferred the cheesy version myself.

Tom Baker was wonderful. <3

Was this in the first run? I don’t remember the reference to the Doctor. (but then I have a really poor memory _)

@ronrab Tom Baker was awesome.

@strangeanimal Those cheesy episodes were great but I also really liked Mat Smith, and Peter C is growing on me.

@Nabuquduriuzhur Nah learning to fantasize and use your imagination comes first ;-)

@Dana Simpson It’s well worth the effort to get into it. Depending on where you start watching, don’t get discouraged if you at first don’t like it, try out some of the other incarnations of the Doctor. The early seasons were great but are now dated, so are great for the anachronist amongst us (The William Hartnell – Tom Baker). The middle years was written with the focus more towards children, trying to capture a new audience (Peter Davison – Sylvester McCoy). Although Christopher Eccleston was one of the new Doctors the writers were still aiming at a predominantly child based audience but since then the writing style has continued to progress towards a more encompassing style for both adults and children with much more believable plots. I hope you finally get to watch it one day, it’s the sort of series that could have unicorns in (unless it already has, my memory often fails me ;-))

So is the Dr. Who marathon going to replace the slumber party in this retelling?

Also, I don’t think you can demand to be a nerd. Either you are or you aren’t.

As Yoda said, “There is no try. Do… or do not.”

(Does the Yoda quote give me a little nerd cred?)

If Science Fiction defines nerdhood, then i got my card when i was in grade school.I cut my reading-teeth on Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert E. Howard and Isaac Asimov.

As cool as Tom Baker was, I’m old enough to have cut my teeth on John Pertwee.

I have not watched much of Doctor Who. In fact, the only exposure to this show was when I was a kid, and my dad would watch it. I would watch about five minutes of it and then go outside to play.

@Dana (how do people make these links tag anyway?)

I really have to second the don’t ever shorten doctor. I assume this one hasn’t been put in a book yet, so maybe edit the text when you publish it?

The sad part of this is that I’m not even a fan, I just know a lot of people who are. I prefer that choice to the more polarising star wars/trek ones you could have picked, though. Its a good call.

Despite liking none of the above (can we just point out I don’t really watch tv?) I do love science fiction (written) and fit a fair number of people’s definitions of nerdery.

@Happy I hadn’t actually heard of Burroughs, so was surprised by all the famous stuff he wrote :p

Thanks for the heads up though! Gosh I started out with Lloyd Alexander (a great age choice for Phoebe in fact), Anne McCaffery, Susan Cooper, J.R.R. Tolkien (whom I did have to abandon, Tom Bombadil was too much) and Piers Anthony, I think. (Plus the rats of nimh and a few others that came through school.)

Its different to the ones I like the most today, and I’m actually struggling to remember my first science fiction full length book (I’d read ray bradbury and some other famous short stories.)

Possibly McCaffrey’s Planet Pirates would have been early, Darkover by 11 or 12 anyway. I wish I’d kept a lot of the bad science fiction books I had when I was younger… I still have a reasonable sized collection today, mind.

Ok then!

If there’s a Retro TV station in your area, Tom Baker Doctor Who episodes are currently showing on weeknights at 8 pm Eastern, and Jon Pertwee episodes are on Saturday nights.

I know I haven’t read comics in a long time… but why change the name from Heavenly Nostrils?? I loved that name!!

My wife and I caught all the extant old “Who” back in the 80s, when NJ Public Television (which no longer exists) was the capital of US Whovianism, saw the 90s movie, and watched the new series from the beginning. I agree that Clara is the greatest blend of ingenue and epic heroine ever, and I love her to pieces. Come to think of it, she could be Phoebe, if Phoebe were English and in her 20s.

I cut my nerd teeth on all the Star Treks and have only watched a few episodes of Dr. Who didn’t care for it much but since I am a Peter Davison fan I watched one season of his episodes.

TNG is better

Doesn’t anyone like “Red Dwarf”? Never got into Doctor Who (saving it for my retirement). Original Star Wars (episodes !V & V) was good until they tinkered with it. Other titles for Phoebe would be Andre Norton under various pseudonyms, A. M. Lightner, and Poul Anderson. Keith Laumer would be of interest to any O & M fans, and of course anything by the late Sir Terry Pratchett (some of which have been turned into videos or film. (Going Postal has Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister-Game of Thrones as Vetinari + a cameo by Sir Terry), and the Dragon Knight Series by Gordon Dickson.

Who is Dr. Who?I thot he was on First.Im a trekker and a Star wars Freak.And to top it off, Im a Hypotenerd, as well as a ChemPhysinerd. As life has gone on I feel I have become the quentessinal Renaissance Nerd.

She’s just as awesome as the Doctor.

Mmmm I know, but it came back with a vengeance in the Davidson – McCoy years and the writing for Eccleston was still very much aimed at the younger audience. sorry If I gave you the impression that I thought the Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee and Tom Baker Seasons were childish, what I meant was that they are rather dated and hence a bit camp for some people. I have fond memories of Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker’s runs as the Doctor and have never thought them childish.

Must .. stop .. watching .. Doctor Who .. on Netflix…

I really only discovered Doctor Who during the 50th anniversary online celebratory activities, especially inspired by the animated interactive Google Doodle. Have yet to see an actual episode – haven’t been able to decide where to start.

I believe this is the link for the Google doodle:

http://www.google.com/doodles/doctor-whos-50th-anniversary

Tom Baker. You never forget your first Doctor. David Tennant is my favorite of the new crop.