Nerd Blindspot: Doctor Who

So while we like to pretend that we are individually capable of covering all the nerdy things in the world, the truth is, each of us are guilty of having major things in the nerd world that we have just never gotten into.  For whatever reason, we have blindspots on some nerdy things that others say are awesome.  These are our confessions.

I moved right before high school and in the midst of that move, we landed in an apartment complex with nearly no other teenagers around. I did eventually find some kinship in the world of gaming through the Augusta Book Exchange, which was a bookshop that cashed in big time on the comic book and gaming pushes on the late eighties and early nineties.  Through that I found a D&D group and began to spend nearly every Friday night at my friend Ben’s house, where we would drink non-alcoholic beer, eat massive amounts of pizza and play D&D until dawn.

Ben’s dad was our “overseer” during those times.  He was a bearded man, who seemed to be one of the first nerds.  I recently thought of him as Gandalf, if you stripped away all the cool parts of Gandalf.  Not unlikeable but not, you know, Gandalf.  And Ben’s dad was the first person to ever try and introduce me to what is still to this day one of my biggest nerd blindspots: Doctor Who.

Now, I know enough about Doctor Who that I can fake my way through a lot of conversations. I know that every so often they change the actor playing the Doctor, as he reboots in some way. And I know the show has been going on a long time, the Doctor is a Time Lord (which is an alien? Maybe?) and that the show has had a recent surge in interest because of the BBC series that started a bit ago.

I also know the best answer to “Who is your favorite Doctor?” is “Who is yours?” and then let them talk until their hearts are content.  I also know there are scarfs, a phone booth that is more than a phone booth and bad special effects.  So I can fake my way through a good nerd conversation about Doctor Who.

But I just don’t get it.  Maybe it is the convoluted and long history that seems daunting to try and jump in and get fully up to speed.  Maybe it is the quintessential British nature of the show. Truthfully, maybe it is just the terrible special effects that make me want to start a Kickstarter for better CGI.

Regardless, in the world of Nerdom, I have a massive blindspot on the whole Doctor Who thing. Sorry, Ben’s dad, that’s my confession.

So, if I was going to try and get a grasp on it, where should I start?  What is the best entry point that is readily available? And be honest: Is it going to take me 10 episodes before I start to understand and want to get my own scarf?