Jehovah's Witnesses make me want to blaspheme.

[tenlittlebullets]

I was roped into watching Doctor Who last night. Yes, it was geekily awesome; no, I have not drunk the kool-aid yet. It seems like everyone and his brother is trying to drag me into the Who fandom, both online and real life, and it really puts you off it, you know? The show was fun, but it would've been a lot more fun if I didn't have a bunch of people telling me all the best lines in advance and acting like I had two heads for not wanting Tennant's babies right from the get-go. I understand the urge to spread the love, but when people are pushy assholes about it, that just puts me off.

And I know a lot of very good friends who are reading this are in the fandom, and I swear to god that if any of you reply with "...but Who is awesome and you shouldn't let pushy fans keep you from watching it!" I will bludgeon you to death with the point that just flew over your head. I like discovering fandoms on my own, not with a chorus of people peering over my shoulder and going "So do you like it yet?"

Unrelatedly, there is something sadistically beautiful about watching Wall Street implode. I know it will make the economy bomb and everyone will be hurting soon, but still, it's like the malicious satisfaction of seeing a bunch of sharks rip each other to shreds.

Comments

[ladyshrew.livejournal.com]

...but Who is awesome and you shouldn't let pushy fans keep you from watching it!

KIDDING! I am not a Who fan at all, and I was actually going to say "hear hear!" but then it was too irresistible not to vex you a tiny bit. BAHAHHAAA. ::cough::

Actually, I am really sick of Who fans trying to drag me into their fandom too. I'll go when I feel like, if I feel like it.

I did Potter in my own time, and if I do Who, it will be in my own time too, thankyouverymuch.

[brouhaha.livejournal.com]

I felt the same way. I actually didn't watch Doctor Who until the very beginning of Season 3, just because I was highly suspicious of something my flist was falling all over. (I remember one incident where about twenty-five people posted the same quote from an episode...in a row. I wanted to die.)

Of course, now my flist has moved on to hating it, as many fen do once a show passes its first few seasons, and sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who still *likes* it. Heh, I guess my tastes are just out of sync with everyone else's. (Other things I haven't seen/may never see that everyone seems to be coming all over these days: Heroes, Juno, Supernatural, Iron Man.)

[ladyshrew.livejournal.com]

My f-list still lurves it. ::sigh::

[10littlebullets.livejournal.com]

Fandom in general seems to splooge over the very mention of Supernatural, Heroes, Doctor Who, or anything to issue from the Holy Pen of Joss Whedon. And meanwhile I will just sit over here in the corner with my books, blissfully ignorant of anything that comes in installments that must be watched on the telly. (I think my only non-book fandom was Star Wars, not counting books that have been made into musicals.)

[brouhaha.livejournal.com]

I do admit I love Who now. :P But Joss! I still don't understand that. I really enjoyed Dr. Horrible, yes. I like Firefly ok, but I don't see the love that everyone else does, I think, and I have never really gotten into Buffy.

Aside from (now) Doctor Who, I'm really not into TV fandom either (though I do watch some shows). I can't get into the American TV format where storylines seem to become increasingly implausible as the show goes on and on (The Office, for example) or gets screwed up because of network influence (Scrubs from S3 onward, Veronica Mars S3). Usually a book or movie is either good or it isn't and you don't have the maddening ups and downs in quality.

[evewithanapple.livejournal.com]

Having seen Supernatural and Juno, I can tell you right now that you were smarter than I was in your entertainment choices. I still want the time I spent on that crap refunded.

[glamourcorpse.livejournal.com]

I am sorry the fans you know are pushy. I do think watching the show on your own the first time through is best.

Edit: WTF were they starting you off with Tennant for anyway??

Edit the second: it's like the malicious satisfaction of seeing a bunch of sharks rip each other to shreds. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6ac1YgegzmE

[srevans.livejournal.com]

LJ takes Who way too fucking seriously. Yeah, I know; insert fandom of choice in that last sentence, but for real, we're talking about a forty-year old sci-fi show meant for children. It's going to be silly all the time and very stupid a lot and there's a lot of weird subtext sometime, but whatever. Who is full of lulz.

It's like trying to be srs biz about Monty Python, or something. It's just silly.

[brouhaha.livejournal.com]

HA! You're so right. Which is why, though I love Who, I could never really be involved in "fandom" at large. Remember all the Rose vs Martha wank? The racism/feminism discussions that spanned months or years? The people who swear they're leaving the fandom forever after every season finale?

Um...Who fandom still isn't as wanky as Buffy fandom, though, IMO. :P Or maybe I've just been linked to one too many ridiculous blogs of Buffy analysis lately.

[srevans.livejournal.com]

Nah, Who fandom sort of hovered on the periphery of my flist for a while which made me vaguely aware of the show but never actually interested. Until my RL friend last summer was like, hey there's this thing I've been watching, watch 3x01 with me, and not until she made me also watch 3x02 was I impressed.

When I was in HP I actually thought the wank was interesting, so I read that, but now I am not interested in the drama so much. Fandom: I skim through to the bits I like. :)

[evewithanapple.livejournal.com]

Have to disagree a bit there- I think it's even more important to take weird subtext seriously when it's a show meant for kids, because kids don't know better. I.e. if I had kids, I wouldn't let them watch a show that involved the male lead treating his girlfriend badly and getting rewarded for it, even if it was a kid's show.

I really can't get into the fandom, though. I've peeked at the main Who LJ community a few times, and everyone was so incredibly bullheaded and snappish about how their opinion was the ONLY opinion, I really didn't want to hang around. I watch the episodes, post my reactions, and occasionally read a bit of fic, but I don't have the patience for real fandom involvement.

[srevans.livejournal.com]

I watch the episodes, post my reactions, and occasionally read a bit of fic, but I don't have the patience for real fandom involvement.

Me as well. Also, my journal's mostly RL-focused, so any fannish activity I might have remains largely between me and the author whose stuff I'm reviewing.

Also, re: I think it's even more important to take weird subtext seriously when it's a show meant for kids: I may have misspoken a little bit here. Weird subtext certainly does raise my flags (I surf around all kinds of progressive/equal rights blogs), it just isn't something I'm interested in actively addressing within fandom because my participation's so low. So yeah, it's weird, but there's not much more I'll do about it than with any other weird subtext, which is mostly just to voice concerns to non-online people when the subject comes up.

[evewithanapple.livejournal.com]

Apropos of nothing in your entry, a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses showed up at my house last week, and I answered the door because my dad was asleep. They spend about twenty minutes talking to me about how people were wondering about life after death in the wake of the recent natural disasters, and quoted at length from the Book of Job. They were very nice, if a bit long-winded.

I like Who. I like Torchwood. I like a lot of Joss Whedon stuff. But when one of my friends doesn't, I don't bring it up to them more than once. Hell, my friends shoved Firefly at me, but I didn't get into it for months afterwards. Also, people are trying to convert you via Tennant? Bah. He's cute and all, but out of all the show's actors, I prefer Billie Piper.

[ulkis.livejournal.com]

Who is fun, but I don't think it's the greatest show ever, ya know? I'm a casual viewer, which is good because I don't think it's necessary to watch every episode to understand what's going.

And I like Tennant, but he's defitely not the hottest guy ever. He's best with his converse sneakers and glasses.

But I get how you feel about Who. I'm feeling that way about the Sarah Connor Chronicles at the moment.

[mmebahorel.livejournal.com]

Aww, I think he's just as darling as Casanova. (but seriously, I'd rather sleep with Freema, and I'm usually straight.)

But I don't participate in telly-derived fandoms anyway. Except for New Amsterdam. But in general, no. Because my brain doesn't work well with open canon. (I was never in HP fandom, either, though I devoured those books like everyone else.)

[ulkis.livejournal.com]

Aww, I think he's just as darling as Casanova. (but seriously, I'd rather sleep with Freema, and I'm usually straight.)

Hell, I would rather too. She is ridiculously beautiful.

[followthatcab.livejournal.com]

I'm with you here--I'm told forever to watch Dr Who and really, who has the time? A lot of my friends are intimately familiar with about eight THOUSAND fannish television shows, and I literally don't understand how, because I can't even watch the Rome* episodes on my iPod with regularity.

Also there's this thing I have about shows that take place after cravats had gone out of style.

*WATCH ROME

[mmejavert.livejournal.com]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with not wanting to have Tennant's babies. :P

[srevans.livejournal.com]

I, for one, would only have his abortions.

[mmejavert.livejournal.com]

If I'd started watching Doctor Who in season two rather than season one, I'd never have kept going. Tennant's all right, just... not the best Doctor.

(It took me five years of poking until I saw any of it. People started poking me back when "yes it's from the '60s but it's the best '60s show ever!" was the best argument they could give me. Someone mentioned a year or so ago something about it and that's why I started from the beginning. XD)

[srevans.livejournal.com]

Ah, yeah, I started with season three, so I'm sort of partial. "Shakespeare Code" cemented my infatuation.

Of course, now I also adore Eccleston, and Pertwee, and Davison, and Troughton and Hartnell and McCoy and... mmm, silly forty-year canons. :)

[mmejavert.livejournal.com]

I think anything BUT season two should get people in for new!Who, but watching it from the beginning is best. Shakespeare Code is fabulous, but Blink is totally the best of season three (and the creepiest of the whole new!canon).

I'm trying to get hold of past!Who, but so far I've only succeeded in getting one episode of Hartnell, one of Pertwee, and the 1996 movie (which just made me want more McGann.)

[srevans.livejournal.com]

COMMENT AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT FOR OP: My but we've hijacked your post. Um, watch what things you like, because TV is for fun!!

[silent-sybil.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't quite get it, either. I mean, it's entertaining, and all, but... O_o Fortunately I've only got one really obsessed flister, one quite serious fan, and a handful of half-hearted watchers. I watched and enjoyed one episode, but had no real desire to see another.

(The really popular stuff rarely gets me, actually. I got into HP before it exploded, and loved the first three, so I'm not sure if that counts. Eoin Colfer? The Twilight books? Nothin'. Weird. ^_^)