A Plethora of Who

All of our lives have undoubtedly become a lot less exciting in the past several months as everything has closed up due to the coronavirus. Speaking for myself, I'm kind of on an emotional tightrope at the moment as we drag into month 3 and every day off becomes an internal discussion about where I'm going to order takeout from. In my state, we're just starting to open up restaurants but only for outdoor dining (great! Just in time for 90 degree heat!) and only at a much smaller capacity which means everybody and their grandmother is out looking to eat lunch at Applebee's and for people like me who have social anxiety and don't like crowds and don't want to wait 3 hours for a subpar burger and fries it is probably going to be a different kind of painful in the next several months. I went to every local hair cutter today as well only to find that they were all booked up and I'll be fucking damned if I'm going to make an appointment 3 weeks in advance at Supercuts. That's like making a reservation at Burger King. Fuck that. In any event, I've been watching a lot of movies and tv and listening to a lot of music to ease my emotional state lately and one of my favorite shows, Doctor Who, has had a lot of activity in recent months as episodes were airing in the UK and now that the entirety of NuWho has come to HBOMax. I've posted a few of these little "Lockdown" specials already but I decided to compile a bunch more that I've enjoyed and share them here. They've warmed my heart maybe they'll do the same for whoever else finds this. Even this massive list isn't complete. There are lovely interstitials (dubbed "Subwave Network Announcements" in step with the episode "The Stolen Earth") by past actors and Lis Sladen's daughter and grandchildren  which I didn't include here and there are numerous other bits and bobs that I either couldn't find or didn't care enough about to track them down but I encourage you to find them if you're a fan. It's a great time to be a Whovian.


First we have 2 lovely little animated videos from a recent book entitled "Doctor Who: The Women Who Lived". The first is "The Story of Susan Foreman".

And the second is "The Story of Rose Tyler".

Next is "Pompadour", a short meant to fit into "The Girl in the Fireplace" featuring the last words to the Doctor that Reinette will ever write. Somehow, it makes the episode even more heartbreaking.

Next is "Fear is a Superpower", a comic strip meant to fit into the season finale of Series Eight, "Death in Heaven", which links Danny Pink in his half finished Cyberform back to the episode "Listen" when he first encountered the Doctor and Clara as a little boy.

Next is "Revenge of the Nestene", a narrated final chapter to the First Doctor and Rose's encounter with the alien race in NuWho's opener, "Rose".

Next is "The Zygon Isolation" which takes place sometime after but links back to "The Zygon Invasion"/"The Zygon Inversion" in Series 9.

Next is "Shadow of a Doubt" which takes place after Series 3's "Human Nature" 2 parter and features expanded universe character Bernice Summerfield (who has never appeared on tv) encountering Daughter of Mine trapped in the mirror where the Tenth Doctor left her.

Next is a fascinating sequel to the last short titled "The Shadow in the Mirror" which features the Thirteenth Doctor finally returning to the mirror and facing Daughter of Mine.

Next is a short called "The Descendants of Pompeii" which links back to the Series 4 story "The Fires of Pompeii".

Next is a beautiful mix of episode quotes and fanart called "Vincent and the Doctor's Gallery" based around one of the most touching NuWho episodes ever from Series 5, "Vincent and the Doctor".

Next is an absolutely beautiful version of "Long Song" by Murray Gold which is featured in the Series Seven episode "The Rings of Ahkaten" while the Eleventh Doctor is giving one of his most famous speeches. This version of the song was put together during quarantine and is sung by hundreds of fans.

Next is "Doctors Assemble!" which is an absolute delight as the Fourth Doctor is trapped in his TARDIS and must call on all of the other Doctors to help him escape. Voice actors take over the roles and for the most part they do a fine job. But the kick in this one is from seeing the Doctors play off of one another, something we will never get to see in the series most likely. My favorite, The Third Doctor, gets some brilliant lines. A joy.

Next is a lovely video of current Doctor Jodie Whittaker being surprised by Coldplay as she records a version of their song, Yellow, for a charity album. I love hearing Jodie's accent come out so heavily when she sings.

and next is a fanmade video incorporating some of the Thirteenth Doctor's scenes with Jodie's version of "Yellow".

Next is a hilarious video mixing my love of music with my love of Doctor Who. Jodie is guesting on the Graham Norton Show along with Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, and Lady Gaga when the subject of a theremin (one of the unusual instruments used to originally create the Doctor Who Theme) comes up and Graham brings one out. Enjoy!

Next is an appearance by both Jodie and David Tennant on James Corden's program. Most amusing to me is when Tennant bemoans the lack of real leadership in the UK right now and Corden has an apt reply.

Next is a second clip from the same program where Jodie and David interact with fans via Zoom and judge a Cosplay Contest.

And lastly is an extended interview with Jodie, David, and adding Matt Smith to celebrate NuWho moving to HBOMax. There are some great fan questions that I always love to hear the answers to (favorite story? what companion besides your own would you most want to work with?) and its lovely to see how each of them has taken on the mantle of being The Doctor in some cases long after their tenure is over. I hope these videos brightened your day! Enjoy!