They sat with popcorn and their best friends from the station and began with the earliest seasons. They had done this for quite some time, twice a month, since they moved here. Twice a month, on a weekend, they made popcorn, and invited friends for a couple of hours of watching Dr. Who, discussing the episodes, and enjoying themselves. And, of course, enjoying being fans of the show. -- HelloImTheDoctor
[AN: You know I can't sell my anthologies for potential money if I use somebody else's IP, right? Right?]
The smell of butter, salt, and heat filled the air. Most of the warmth was from the cogniscents sharing the couch, since the tubs of popcorn were only minimal contributors. There was laughter, there was chit-chat, there was even some paying of attention to what was on the entertainment screen.
Human Tav had been sharing this with his friends, once a week, for months[1]. Almost an entire year, and only now had they caught up with the colour era. It would be years yet before they reached the holovision episodes.
That didn't matter. They were there to laugh at the special effects, some of the scriptwriting, and definitely the alien design. They were there to discuss the history of the longest-running science fiction series in Galactic history, including all the variations taken down to deep time colonies[2]. There were, understandably, a lot of episodes to nominally watch.
It was pack-bonding at its best. Sharing food. Laughing together. Having at least one shared experience to talk about. Of all the variations, changes in cast, crew, props, and sets, one thing remained the same. The sound of time travel was not entirely unlike someone dragging a house key up and down a piano wire.
The last gurgling notes of the final episode faded away. Human Tav paused the media play before it could launch onto the next serial batch. "That was Terror of the Autons. The first Doctor Who in colour. It's been through a journey. Some episodes were lost through technological incompetence, but found footage and fandom spliced together something coherent. Then more found footage returned it to its whole self. The Archivaas are very pleased."
Laughter among the assembled crew. "So was it meant to be that sexist or did it just not age well?"
"This was the early Seventies, so the overall gender games were in phase two."
"First we get the vote, then we get the intercourse freedom, and THEN haha, we get the equity!"
"Thank you," said Tav. "And yes there was a definite era when the companions weren't wearing very much at all. There were angry letters about that. I'm not too certain about the reforms, either."
"I have a question about Jo...? Is she always going to be the damsel?"
"Most of the time yeah. For the longest time, the companion existed to have the pseudoscience explained to them and then go ooh and aaah when the Doctor saved the day. They're still working on that."
Chaos, popcorn-throwing, and mock wrestling. It was a great night.
[1] The Galactic Standard Calandar consists of ten-day weeks, four week months, and a ten month year. This is only confusing to Humans.
[2] FTL travel via wormhole also warps the travelers' place in the time stream. Those using this mode of transport cannot return as they would crash into themselves to prevent a paradox. Thus, the cultures that result are isolated from the rest of the universe until they catch up with the present day.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / ArthurBalitskiy]
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