I’ve always assumed I was a nerd, but lately I’ve been finding out that might not be the case.  I don’t mean “nerd” in a bad way or even “nerd” in the now we’re cool let’s put it on a t-shirt way.  More in the “Ooh, that’s a bit more curious than most people would be and hey are these books sorted by literary period?” kind of way.  There doesn’t seem to be a Broad-Spectrum-of-Interests-in-a-Variety-of-Things Con.  Likely because it would make a terrible acronym.

Unlike most card-carrying nerds these days I don’t belong to a fandom.  I don’t collect the toys, or go to conventions or really relate to all of the inside joke nudge nudge wink winking going on.  The more pervasive “nerd culture” has become the less I’ve felt like a nerd.  Then recently I heard Chris Hardwick define a nerd as “the level of which someone has a passion and focus about something that they care about”.  And it hit me, I’m a nerd about pop culture.  

I enjoy knowing what’s going on out there in the world but I don’t feel a need to really go down every rabbit hole with it.  I will happily go see all the Marvel movies and never crack a comic book (sorry guys!).  I have read all of Harry Potter but I don’t have any real desire to drink butter beer or pumpkin juice.  There will never be a situation in this lifetime that I feel the need to paint my entire body.  Which is not to say that the cosplayers of the world aren’t having the time of their lives, by all means if you enjoy strapping on a pair of wings and a painting yourself purple you get down with your bad self.  I’ll be wearing a Seahawks jersey and crossing my fingers that they do well this year.  And neither of us will judge each other, deal?

But after writing for this site over the last month I’ve started to notice my geek cred is lagging a bit.  Much to their credit neither Simon nor Matt have done more than sigh or bite their tongues at my resistance to both Star Wars & Trek.  They have not criticized my lack of gamer knowledge, or comic book knowledge, or general geek awareness, and most importantly I have not once been on the receiving end of mansplaining.  I know that this is a rarity both in the nerd world and more importantly the online one.  The horror stories I’ve heard from females who’ve ventured into geek culture, especially blogging about it, are staggering.  I am very lucky.

So when I noticed that there was going to be a new season of Doctor Who starting up (and no one would shut up about it) I thought I’d dip my toe in the T.A.R.D.I.S.  I do love to learn about new things, which is ironic being as Doctor Who is one of the oldest nerd things around.  More importantly I was swayed by finding out Peter Capaldi was going to be The Doctor.  I love Peter Capaldi.  I’ve just watched the entire series “The Thick of It” and Malcom Tucker is my foul mouthed spirit animal.  With a new Doctor I didn’t feel the need to go back and catch up (because seriously, who has time to binge watch 50 years of stuff?).  But mostly the reason I felt I could watch Doctor Who was the fans.

I want to call them the Whos of Whoville, but I’ve been informed that it’s the less Seussian “Whovian” moniker they prefer.  Whatever they’re called, they seem lovely.  They didn’t lash out when I called it “Dr. Who”, or made endless jokes about it being a medical drama in space (‘How do they keep the surgical tools from floating away?’)  Overall they just wanted to share with me how wonderful it was.  How much I would enjoy it.  But not to feel any pressure about it either. Like a really very nice cult.  A cult that would buy you coffee and knit you a scarf for Christmas.

So I sat down to my first Doctor Who, and wrote down all of my reactions.  If you’re over sensitive to spoilers please take this as your AHHHHH SPOILERS OH NO DON’T READ ANY FURTHER warning.  To be honest I’m not so sure they really are spoilers because I’m not entirely sure I understood most of what I just saw.

• Please know that the only thing I know about Doctor Who is that Craig Ferguson has a tardis on his desk, and it’s bigger on the inside.  But seriously, tardis?  What is the etymology of that?  Sounds dirty.
• 2 hours?!  No, no, wait, I don’t think these people are on the show.  They’re not British.  There’s a pre-show?  Seriously?  Seriously.  Fast-Forward.
• Dinosaurs in old timey England.  Jurassic Park the Ripper.  Wait, but they have high tech looking gadget things.  Ooh!  Peter Capaldi!
• If it’s a police box why is there an ambulance sign on the door?  Is he a Bobby-Medic combo?  Speaking of medic, I think The Doctor might have some sort of brain injury.
• What a great font that is.  And quite the jaunty theme song!
• I feel like maybe nap time can wait until we’ve figured out what to do with the T-Rex in the Thames, non?
• Leaping Lesbian Lizards!
• And here we have Jeeves of the Potato Head clan.  And a Dandy Robot.  Sure, why not.
• I don’t know why they’re so down about Peter Capaldi being so old, he’s quite the sexy gent… oh no, he’s sniffing chalk.  Nothing good ever comes from manic math writing on floors.
• Okay, that was a good pet line, but dude is not riding that horse.  I mean, why even put a horse in the script if your actor can’t ride?  We’re all watching his torso thinking about poor Peter thrashing about on a chair or something.
• I’ve changed my mind.  He doesn’t look like a potato, but a toe.  Like a giant human sized toe.
• So the brunette just straps herself into a corset and bustle no questions asked?  Like, “Hey, no big deal!”  And then lets a giant toe x-ray her.
• “Who frowned me this face.” ~ well fuck me that’s poignant.
• He’s only just figured out he’s Scottish?  How much brain damage does this man have?  Also, what does that have to do with complaining?
• Meanwhile at Lizard Manor it’s time for art class!
• Did she say the game is afoot?  Let’s not get our shows mixed up, eh boys?
• But seriously though, how did she even know how to put on a corset?  And those ringlets without a curling iron, as if!
• He’s such a lovely grump.  Hold on, is this show just Sherlock but with time travel?  The Doctor is a mad genius with off putting personality traits and the brunette (seriously why can’t I remember her name?) is such a Watson.
• I bet that restaurant would get terrible Yelp reviews.  Wait, did he just say the restaurant was a spaceship?  Is everything a fucking spaceship?
• Sherlock would have so much fun with that electric toothbrush.
• Creepy Robo-Frankenstein!  Just leaving your girlfriend to be robo-chow?  Shit, that’s cold.
• Blowtorch arm!  Ninja lesbians!  The Police!  Wait, the Police?  So is he a doctor or a cop?  Is he a space cop?
• Creepiest. Hot air balloon. Ever.  Skin? Barf.  Good thing their spaceship wasn’t a subway car.
• I wish Peter Capaldi would swear more.  It seems so unreasonable not to hear a barrage of fucks coming out of his mouth.
• Love the jacket, very Teddy Boys, very rock and roll.
• Seriously Clara, he’s still the same on the inside let’s not be so shallow.  And no offence to the dead dude but Peter Capaldi is quite the sexy… oh seriously, no no no, don’t get all Notting Hill on us now you two.  I’m just a time cop standing in front of a girl asking her to love me even though I’m a bit wrinkled up.
• Whoa… and who’s this now?  She has quite the Single White Female stalker about her!  Watch out Doc, she’s even crazier than you are.

Thus concludes my adventure with The Doctor so far.  I’m still not quite sure how I feel about him.  Then again I’m not sure he knows how he feels about himself.  Let’s all just have a coffee and regroup again next week, shall we?  Good.