Author Archive: Muldwych

Traveling the Vortex > Articles by: Muldwych

Which Type Fan Are You?

September 8, 2011 8 Comments

I have been a Doctor Who fan for over 20 years now and I have met and spoken with thousands of fellow fans over the years. From this, I have established that there are four types of Doctor Who fans and I am going to try and explain each of them.

Obsessed with Rose Tinted Glasses

This type of fan is obsessed with everything Doctor Who and thinks that everything to do with the show or anyone linked to the show is AMAZING and just BRILLIANT. This is the type of fan who follows everyone on twitter who even mentions the shows Doctor Who, Torchwood or SJA; they ‘Friend’ everyone on Facebook and always feel the need to tell everyone how ace everything is all the time.

This is the type of fan who is constantly worried about upsetting anyone to do with the ‘Who Scene’. To them, every podcast is amazing, every blog is amazing, every writer of the show is amazing and this type of fan has to tell them ALL THE TIME.

The Obsessed with Rose Tinted Glasses fan doesn’t really have any real opinion themselves because as far as they are concerned its all amazing with no criticism at all.

The Negative Obsessive

This type of Who fan is a type that we all know. There is one in ALL of our Twitter timelines. They are NEVER happy; the companions are always rubbish; the story was too dark/silly/lighthearted; the writing is terrible now; they are never happy with the Doctor no matter which one it is; the other fans annoy them for being positive.

This is the type of fan who, like The Obsessed with Rose Tinted Glasses fan, doesn’t really have any of their own opinions because as far as they are concerned it’s all rubbish and they have no specific criticisms. Sometimes you wonder why they are even a fan at all.

The Positive Obsessive

This is the type of fan I would like to class myself as and also most of the people I usually talk too about the show. We are obsessed with the show too; are usually upbeat and positive; we will watch and listen to EVERY episode of classic and new Who no matter who the Doctor is; and we want the show to be great, but at the same time we are still able to be honest and say whether we like something or not without worrying about upsetting anyone. We are grown up enough to have an opinion on what works for us or what we like.

We follow and are friends with loads of people on Twitter and Facebook, but if we don’t like someone or a podcast, etc. we won’t stay friends with them just because they like the show. We don’t feel the need to keep telling the writers, Moffatt and Gold, how amazing they are all the time (we reserve that for when there is actually an outstanding episode).

The Normal Fan

This is where I would class my partner. She is a big fan of the show and Torchwood; she can’t wait for when they are on; she likes most of the actors, but unlike me doesn’t feel the need for it to be in every part of her life. She doesn’t need to listen to the podcasts or audio stories, she doesn’t need to search car boot sales for toys and books and she certainly doesn’t feel the need to tweet any writer or fan, etc. in the little hope of some kind of retweet.

She isn’t obsessed with Doctor Who, she is just a fan who likes the show and spin off.

I like to think I am and always have been a Positive Obsessive Fan. Which type are you?

Regards,

Alex “Muldwych” Giles <>

Misc

Animated Doctor Who Would Be Bow Tie

August 24, 2011 2 Comments

Recently on twitter and in a Doctor Who forum I am not naming I have seen it been mentioned that people would really think a Doctor Who Animated was bowtie.

I couldn’t agree more and would LOVE to see an animated Doctor Who series but only if it was done right.

There has already been hundreds of fan made animated videos already which are great to watch, you just need to check out youtube for these and even BBC had The Infinite Quest which was an animated Doctor Who episode which aired alongside the 2007 series of Doctor Who as part of the children’s television series Totally Doctor Who, this actually had the real voices of the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) and Martha (Freema Agyeman) but is not considered canon or part of that series.

Two years later in 2009 on the Doctor Who website and on the BBC interactive red button BBC aired another Doctor Who animation in the shape of a six part serial called Dreamland.

EVEN if we go all the way back to over two decades ago in 1980 an animation company called Nelvana was sanctioned to put together Concept art for a Doctor Who animated series that they could show but it was never produced.

There are different styles and types of animation that they could inevitably use for this and BBC would need to choose a style that didn’t alienate the adult fans as I know nearly EVERY adult now watches at least one cartoon with the likes Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy which are of course adult aimed BUT I also watch cartoon now which are from Marvel and DC like Marvels Spiderman, Iron Man series and the brilliant Planet Hulk movie or all the excellent DC animation movies which there are about 10+ titles in the last 3 years including the newest out very soon Batman Year one which looks out of this world.

Everything I have said so far leads me to one conclusion and that is there is absolutely 100% a place for a Doctor Who Animated series and they way to go with this is to have manga/anime inspired art which DC and Marvel have clearly been doing while keeping the same type writers as the series.

The proof for me is a video that has been going around for a little while its a Doctor Who anime animation which I am sure most of you have probably seen which is so well made and I have yet to speak to someone who has seen it and didn’t like it.

I know a lot for people would worry and panic that if that came out then to cast save BBC might drop the main show which I can totally understand the fear about but I am talking about having these as animated movies along the line of Marvels ‘Planet Hulk’ or the DC movie that is coming ‘Batman – Year One’.

This for me would be just epic, every two or three years a full length Doctor Who animated movie written by guys like Neil Gaiman or even get special guests like some of my favourite comic book writers Mark Miller, Grant Morrison or Alan Moore, the potential is endless and I think its something the should move along with.

Imagine being able to bring back to life some of the old Doctors?

Or SEE your favourite audio books as animation?

Anyways, thanks for reading.

Misc

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To Spoiler, Or Not To Spoiler? That Is The Question

August 17, 2011 4 Comments

Being a Doctor Who fan is great especially now with the internet and social media, being able to meet loads of like minded people from around the world, like me for instance. Im from Scotland and Shaun, Glenn and Keith are from America. I have met and enjoy speaking to fans all over the world; America, Asia, Africa etc.
 
We discuss how great the show is and our favourite characters, stories and the like, our theories on what is going to happen, take part in mass commentary on twitter with the #FridayNightWho and #dwbar.
 
That is some of the fun points, but as like ying and yang, with the good is usually some bad. With all this more people I speak too in forums, facebook and twitter, the more complaining people do which gets me to what I want to speak a little about.
 
Spoilers.  Every week there is a new spoiler on line in Doctor Who from pictures being leaked to spoiler reviews from pre showing and it kicks up such a storm on line. I have read people screaming at each (well cap locks) on twitter and some being so highly offended and I can’t understand why. They inevitably block the person and such but I can’t understand why some people get so worked up on it.
 
The type of spoilers I am speaking about is not massive ones but enough to evoke a huge wrath by people.
 
I think the reason I don’t understand the reaction is because in this day and age some spoilers are inevitably going to leak out, we have twitter, facebook, google+, forums, blogs, podcasts and fanzines to start with and I have come to accept that in this day and age NOTHING can be totally locked down.
 
During the Doctor Who”off season” like now, I tend not to visit the forums as much but I still listen to the podcasts and obviously I am still on twitter and facebook and I firmly believe that if you are using these then you have to expect some titbits to be coming your way.
 
I would cross the line at someone posting the ending to the whole arc after going to to the doctor who spoiler’s website but when someone posts a picture of a scene during filming or the actors who are making a special appearance in that episode is it that bad?
 
I don’t think so and personally I wouldn’t even call it a spoiler, and if I am to be 100% positive someone could send me through the scrip’s to read and it wouldn’t take ANYTHING away from the episode for me, bit it seems even finding out the title of an episode 3 weeks before it is published by BBC is a punishment fit by hanging.
 
There is so many links on twitter by Doctor Who blogs with “SPOILER ON S7 E2” and such like and we all have to find ourselves answering the question, to spoiler or not to spoiler?
 
Depending on the severity I admit I sometimes do go and have a little nosey look.  How about you, do you nosey? Do you spoiler? Do you have cyberbabies every time someone throws a tiny new piece for information on the series your way?
 
Regards
Alex Giles (Muldwych)

Misc

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