#retrontario

Just learning about an early 1970s attempt by the CBC to present Dracula on television as part of a program called Purple Playhouse. It aired in 1973. The program also featured takes on Sweeney Todd and The Bells.

Was about to go down the rabbit hole of researching this curio when it turns out my good friend Ed over at Retrontario wrote about it earlier this year.

THIS. This transition from "The Polka Dot Door" to "Doctor Who" is SPECIFICALLY why "Doctor Who" scared me for years before I ever actually watched it.

Story Time:

Before I ever went to Cons or knew what cosplaying was, I watched "The Polka Dot Door" in on TVO. I enjoyed it - I even had a Humpty Dumpty doll that an aunt made me of my very own.

But the switch from the sweet melodies of "Door" - and you'll see how sudden and shocking it can be if you're not ready for it - to the electronic and surreal theme music of "Who" always shocked and frightened me.

And then, out of the swirling, frightening abyss, came THIS FACE. And the Doctor isn't really making a friendly expression in this image. He is imposing and combined with the music, the stuff of my literal nightmares.

Some kids hid behind the sofa from the Daleks - I hid from the Doctor.

Fast forward a few years, and I am at the proto-version of the con that would one day become FanExpo. It was my first time at a major multi-fandom event. The con was smaller then, and the crowds thinner, so it was easy to catch a glimpse of someone's costume across the floor.

Now, by this time I'd forgotten that I'd ever been scared of the weird man with the unnatural music. But my subconscious clearly had not.

For the crowd parted and THERE HE WAS. (Or rather, someone with a similar face cosplaying him). And I felt a massive surge of terror; my knees shook, my heart leaped into the back of my mouth, I made a pathetic little noise.

The friend standing next to me asked me what was wrong. I pointed. She was confused - "But that's The Doctor."

"I'm scared of him and I don't know why," I said.

"But he's a good guy."

"I'm still scared."

I took a moment to calm down, and shortly thereafter I was distracted by Ted Raimi accidentally bodyslamming me in the hall (that's a different tale for a different day) and I soon forgot.

Fast forward again to 2006. I'd been cycling in Japan and had been hit by a car. I was laid up for 6 weeks with a broken tibular plateau, and out of pity a friend sent me burned CDs of some shows to keep me entertained. One was "Doctor Who" - the new series.

I set up the laptop, placed it on my stomach, lay back on my bed, and pressed play. It seemed like an entertaining and well written show and I wondered how I'd missed hearing about this one - if it was only because I was in Japan when it had premiered.

Then THE THEME MUSIC STARTED.

I was seized with fear again.

I stopped the video and quickly researched the show - because I'd forgotten, again, that I had been conditioned to feel fear and lunge for the remote when I heard the theme song start.

After a few hours on the internet, I finally pieced it all together. That the man I'd seen at the con was the 4th Doctor, that the show had been on after something I'd enjoyed, that the theme music grated on my nerves because there were no "real" instruments in it.

I put it all together, marveled at the human brain, and then forced myself to watch the whole first episode. By the end of "Rose" I was in love with the program, and went on to obsess about "Doctor Who" to the point of presenting and later publishing an academic paper on the un-acknowledged Canadian contributions to the show.