Doctor Who

Lately I've been revisiting the newest Doctor Who series. These episodes, starting in 2005, are a far cry from the old time Doctor Who, with the low budget monsters and wobbly sets. Today the special effects are decent enough not to call attention to themselves.

I love that the characters travel in time, but we don't have to get all hung up on the details of the technology that allows them to do this. No super-hyper-mega-warp-schmarp-burp drive like they'd have on Star Trek. It's funnier than Trek, and more history-friendly too. (Stories include characters like Shakespeare and Dickens and Queen Victoria.)

Most of all, I love that the main character is a big old geek who takes a childlike sense of wonder and joy in life and adventure and all of the little things that make people (and other weird creatures) work. It's that joy that makes the character (and the series) so much more attractive to me than someone like Spock.

But don't tell my stepmother I said that. She's a huge Spock fan, and this would be tantamount to blasphemy.