Kelly has been watching Doctor Who. She watches an episode or two each evening. Usually I am writing or reading while she is doing this, but occasionally, I’ll get sucked into an episode. It’s rare, but it happens. It has, however, happened the last two nights in a row. She watched an episode called “Silence in the Library” and I was vaguely reminded of Audrey Niffennegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife. It was a fascinating episode, really. And it ended with a “To be continued…” cliff-hanger.
So last night, she watched the concluding episode, called “Forest of the Dead,” and once again, I was sucked in. But I liked it. In fact, the double-episode quickly rose to the top of my favorite of the small handful of episodes that I’ve seen, eclipsing “Blink,” which was the first episode I ever watched, after a crowd-sourced recommendation. The ending of “Forest of the Dead” was spectacular.
Now, before anyone jumps into say, “Oh, you have to watch episode x, or y, or even z!” understand that this was a fluke. As much as I liked the episode, I just don’t have time for TV. Unless I really need to give my brain a rest, the time I spend watching TV is time that I could be writing. It’s not that I don’t like what I see. It’s that I like writing more.
Well, also, with rare exception like this double-episode, I can’t really stomach TV dramas anymore.
In any case, I thought I should at least mention that I saw and enjoyed both these episodes of Doctor Who since there are people out there who can’t believe that, as a science fiction writer, I don’t watch the show regularly.
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You might be surprised what Doctor Who can teach you and how it can impact your writing in a positive way. Some episodes of Doctor Who, especially in seasons 5-7, are unbelievably well-written and executed. You might find yourself getting sucked in more and more as your wife reaches the Matt Smith era 😉
Sometimes you are still spending your time well, even if you’re not writing. Writers like Neil Gaiman swear by the show, and he even pens two episodes (two of the best episodes of the show, to boot)! So don’t feel bad if you get sucked in and you don’t write as much because of it — you might find that quality will trump quantity in those instances 🙂