Doctor Who and the Fandom of Fear

For the first 26 years in its history, [Doctor Who] was a TV series. Fans might have disliked individual players, objected to a couple of developments, whatever, but on the whole they'd accept what they were given because it /was/ Doctor Who. When the series stopped, this changed radically.

DW became, over a period of 14 years, a source of constant speculation. /If/ or /when/ it comes back, it'll be spectacular, they said, because it could do anything - it could be anyone, at any time, having exciting adventures. Of course the extension of this was that in our own heads everyone's private vision of /their/ Doctor Who became definitive. At any rate, this notion of infinite possibilities had a certain appeal and a whole generation has grown up with 'the possible Doctor' as their Doctor.[...]

...until 2003/4. On 26 September 2003 Russell T. Davies became the new face of DW until the main casting happened. The infinite possibilities that had hitherto been around had suddenly narrowed, and now that we know the identities of all of the writers they have narrowed even further. It's an actual series again and as such a generation of fans is slowly realising that this 'wow, we could do anything' ethos is being replaced by 'we are going to do this'. They're going to be stuck with 'This is the Doctor and companion and these are their stories.' And some of them are objecting.

By overshadowing all these competing Doctor Whos with a single canonical program, the BBC has enacted an enclosure of sorts. And because of that, the fans' options are being reduced.

Except that they really aren't. Fans who dislike the new series can stick with the old stuff, can produce their own unauthorized adventures, can simply move on to better things. One lucky fan, name of Davies, is even getting to run the program. ("Putting a fan in charge of producing a TV show is a really bad idea," says McKee, "unless it's Russell T. Davies. He is one of Britain's best scriptwriters and producers, and he's going to do a fantastic job.")

Nobody's choices are being constrained. All that's changed is the "official" Who narrative—and as Jenkins taught us, disgruntled fans have never allowed such petty barriers to stand in their way.