Well, the BBC has given a little bit of a gift to the many Liberal Democrat conference goers who are Doctor Who fans. The new series starts on the Saturday night. Unfortunately, this presents a little bit of a dilemma to inveterate rally goers like me. Do I go and see the new leader at his first big event of the Conference, or do I go and watch Doctor Who with the other fans?
Conference is full of such clashes. In any given time slot there is likely to be at least 3 things you want to go to. To have one so early in the event, though, is unusual.
It would be really lovely if the Federal Conference Committee, at their meeting tomorrow, could look at the possibility of providing Doctor Who fans with a room and a screen somewhere so we could all watch it together. We never get the chance to do that and it would make us all very happy if they could. Here’s a taster of what we might see:
I know that ALDC provided a separate room for fans to watch the 50th Anniversary episode which happened during a Kickstart weekend.
Last year there was a film night in Glasgow, so there is precedent for this sort of thing.
And now for a bit of Friday fun. The leadership contest has so far been themed more round Star Wars than Doctor Who. The Normtroopers thing, you have to confess, is brilliant, even if you might not want to take that analogy too far. There are a few Star Wars themed avatars appearing on Facebook from Tim’s supporters, too, now.
Both Tim and Norman, though, could make pretty good Doctors. Perhaps Whovians might want to speculate on the sort of Doctors each could make. I can see them both in the role. It would be tempting to compare Tim with Christopher Eccleston but he doesn’t have that underlying darkness. He might be more of a Troughton with a bit of Matt Smith and a frisson of Davison with his energy and passion? Norman’s more of a Tennant, I think. But I guess we have to remember that when the Doctor faced his biggest crisis in the 50th anniversary episode, it took all his incarnations together to defeat the enemy. Once this contest is over, we all have to work together to drive this party forward again.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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13 Comments
Sadly I must agree that Norman is more of a Tennant. Given that my chart of favourite doctors goes:
1, Colin
2, All the others, including Joanne Lovely & Arab ells Weir
3, Tennant
… you can see why there’s a “sadly” in that sentence.
And yeah, I reckon Tim is a Troughton.
As for whether to watch Who or go to the rally? After the toe-curling embarrassment of last conference’s rally, that’s a no-brainer. I’ll be in my room, with a nice G&T, & PCap on my telly.
Of course, Norman is not a fan …
… so would that not make him The Master?
No contest for me 😉
There’ll be other rallies.
If I make it to Conference, it’ll only be for the last couple of days so there won’t be a dilemma for me. Anyway, I think Tim might turn out to be more of a McCoy: not taken seriously at first, but then revealed to be playing a much more complicated and ambitious game than anyone suspected. Not quite sure who he’s got following him round with a rucksack full of Nitro-9 though…
Can’t quite work out Norman right now, but have realised that Paddy was clearly our Pertwee: the action man ready to leap into any situation. and trained in all sorts of obscure martial arts.
Seriously can’t understand this fascination with Dr Who!
The Daily Politics on BBC TV also debated why Liberal Democrats like science fiction.
They did not get an answer .
(Alpha-male Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn please prove me wrong,
I am your viewer and my video-recorder is the other one).
Treating the issue seriously, there may be something in setting objectives.
Suppose you wanted to land a man on the moon and bring him back alive,
How would you escape Earth’s gravity?
How much money would you need?
How much time do you need?
Nick: OMG yes! Paddy is totally our Perters
‘like’ Paula. I can’t believe that Caron would write about this, or that I am reading it! A TV prog can be recorded but you have to BE at the rally to enjoy it.
Especially if it is your first conference rally.
Actually, I tend to find my enjoyment of the rally is multiplied by not being at it.
Now if it was past and present notable LibDem pparliamentarians in terms of Game of Thrones, that would excite my geekery – but Dr Who doesn’t float my particular nerd-boat…
No brainer get the screen set up at conference .Allow us to enjoy both events and pleasures .
I disagree totally with Jennie. For me, the greats were Baker and Tennant. Besides, Tennant was hyperactive and sparky – hardly Norman, more Tim, though I can see Tim adopting the dress sense of Davison or Baker. Norman’s more Capaldi, I think, though not so irritable.
But the analogies can go further. What do I think of the programme of late? Good leadership figure, indifferent scriptwriting, weak plots. Well, weak plots sounds like us. Maybe the other two as well.