Comfort Viewing- Classic Doctor Who

For the past month or two I have felt the need to curl up and watch some classic Doctor Who stories. This isn't all that unusual a desire on my part and it typically gets strongest during the Wintertime when I most want a quiet night, a mug of hot tea and Whovian adventure. I always enjoy my time spent with Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee, either Baker, Davison or McCoy as they whisk me away to odd, wonderful places with strange creatures and bizarre villains trying to rule the universe or at least their little corner of it. These tales always manage to put a smile on my face and I'm thrilled when a previously lost episode is located and released on DVD. I have yet to see every story available and the knowledge that there will (nearly) always be more out there to see is heavenly. Also, as I get older I tend to forget the details of most stories I haven't watched in years so revisiting them is like discovering them anew!

The fans of the newer incarnation of The Doctor will probably never be able to love the older tales but for me they are the beating heart of my Who fandom. They are 'comfort viewing' for me and can always make me feel oddly connected to my younger self and also to a larger world of other people that love these bits of low budget science fiction as much as I do. In much the same way as old hero pulp tales are my reading choice when I feel down or blue, I find myself gravitating to Classic Who when I need a lift of my spirits and a reminder that not everything in the world is depressing or hopeless. I suspect I'll be watching a lot of Who in the next three months.