or, How Me Mum was Introduced to a Certain Time Lord
- Ooh, I *know* you’re a Time Lord…
The poor woman…I didn’t start her off easily, that’s for sure. Nah, I couldn’t leave her life to be changed with something simple, like a hell-bent, Earth-bound, seven-foot tall robot, insane with a Frankenstein complex. Of course not…that would have been too simple, naturally. We jumped in with both feet to “Pyramids of Mars,” me, squeeing all the way, like the total dork frickin’ Sarah! Jane! fangirl I am and dying to rewatch it for the Marx Brothers’ improv Tom Baker and our Lis Sladen engaged in, not to mention the scene when Sarah! Jane! put the scarf over her head; my emm, a little hesitant and wanting to make sure I would explain anything she didn’t get. “Sure, Mom,” I replied. “Just after I regain my senses after a long period of mouth-breathing. It is Sarah! Jane!, after all.” Thankfully, she’s seen her eldest daughter fall under the spell of one sassy, disobedient, leather-booted companion over the past year or thereabouts, so a little fangirl squeeing and being all flappy hands doesn’t concern her in the least.
Me mum was not put off by the what the fuckery of Sutekh and his small cast of minions in the least. Upon further reflection, that came as no surprise, really, since she does watch “Days of Our Lives” regularly and has been known to spend far too much time watching “Passions,” which both top the scales in the what the fuckery department. “I find this quite fascinating,” she admitted as we barreled through the serial, stuffing our faces with pizza and cashews and washing it all down with soda.
“Wasn’t Sarah! Jane! just adorable when she put the scarf over her head?” I asked.
“Just adorable,” she replied. “Now, this man she’s with…the Doctor? Is he the first Doctor or…”
“Mom! Tom Baker played the fourth Doctor! Come on, keep it straight,” I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air. “Here, repeat after me…William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker…”
“And Tom? Tom Baker is your favorite?” she asked in all innocence, interrupting me.
“Oi, mum, no! He’s not my favorite, though he’s on the short list.”
“Then who is your favorite?”
“Jon Pertwee!”
“And he was third, right?”
Now I was getting somewhere and I could sense my emm wanted to see what all the hubbub about Pertwee was, at least to me. “Yes. Tell you what, I’ll order a Sarah! Jane! Pertwee serial, plus one Liz Shaw and one Jo Grant serial, so you can see Jon Pertwee and other companions besides Sarah! Jane!” This led to a monologue about what Pertwee serials to get, with me mum just looking at me a bit boss-eyed. I’m used to it…and I finally decided on “Doctor Who and the Silurians,” “The Green Death,” and “The Time Warrior.”
My emm totally grokked Liz and her magic hair*, though I think the giant maggots and Sontaran Lynx were sort of not as easy for her. But Jo’s rings were a hit, as was Sarah! Jane!’s sassiness. And the Brigadier. Oi, she loves the Brig as much as I do. Or so I like to think. “Days of Our Lives” and “Passions” can set someone up in such a way that Satanic possession and witches with dolls/midgets doesn’t trouble the viewer in the least, but maggots and aliens do. However, being the good sport about it, me mum watched it all and is, I think, anxious to see more. I’ve decided to start at the Pertwee beginning, with “Spearhead from Space,” then and go through the bitter end with “Planet of the Spiders.” Then I’ll poll and see if she wants to continue with Sarah! Jane! into the Tom Baker era.
Because I can’t do this by Doctor.
Of course not.
I have to do it by companion.
And in chronological order, though I realize I’ve already fat manned and little boyed that all to hell, because Sarah! Jane! will always trump my OCD, at least in the first round.
*I would love to grok Liz, magic hair or bad wig, except maybe the “Inferno” look.
