User:CzechOut/Sandbox14

1.) Who are you and what do you do for the Tardis community?

Our administrative staff at Tardis tends to offer different tasks to different people. Though we have a few generalists, we have admin specifically mentoring certain areas of the site: short stories, books of the 1990s, and even just adventures involving the Eighth Doctor.

My name is CzechOut. I’m sort of a generalist, but really I was "hired" to be the chief technical admin there. That means that any of the coding errors you see there are mine!

2.) What drew you to the Tardis community?

It’s more a question of what sucked me in. I tried to resist for a while, editing initially at Memory Alpha and Bionic. But in the end, I couldn’t stand to see such a great franchise exist on Wikia without trying to make it look as cool as possible.

3.) What about Dr. Who makes it wacky, weird, and/or wild?

What doesn’t? Ya look at the first episode and ya think, "There’s no way this should work at all. A grumpy old guy inside of what is effectively a telephone booth flying through time and space?"

If you proposed the show in Hollywood today, you’d get laughed out of the office before you finished your first paragraph.

I suppose, though, that the thing that makes it wacky is that you never know what you’re going to get. It’s really just an anthology show, with episodes varying wildly from week to week. But then on top of that — certainly in the 21st century stories — you’ve got a sometimes bafflingly intricate through-line.

I got into the show because Tom Baker and Lis Sladen — stars of the mid-1970s version — were a comedy double act that seemed to fit into the Britcom scene that was then dominated by Monty Python. And though it’s still a comedy today, it’s become a show with a genuine emotional resonance that’s put it in line for the most prestigious awards on offer.

4.) Where would you recommend someone start with the franchise? Any particular story?

People are easily scared by the immensity of Doctor Who. They think, “Oh, it’s fifty years old! I’ll never be able to catch up!”

And so they give up without trying. But the cool thing about the show is that it re-invents itself time and time again, in every media. There are tons of jumping-on points!

• Comics: Start with Endgame, and work your way forward through the Eighth Doctor stuff. Widely acclaimed as the best stories Doctor Who Magazine ever told.
• Audios: Go for the cheaper stuff first to see if your brain will respond to audios. And the best of the more inexpensive audios definitely starts with Blood of the Daleks. It's the first in a range of stories that tells the tale of the only Doctor Who companion to have debuted on BBC Radio — the fantastic Lucie Miller played by the multiple Laurence Olivier Award-winning Sheridan Smith. If you really want your David Tennant, though, and don't mind that it's not a full-cast audio, go for the award-winning Dead Air.
• Prose. Well, there's more prose than anything. So I'm just going to pick a personal favourite, and leave it at that. Wonderland. It's a little harder to find these days, but so, so worth it. The Second Doctor. Jefferson Airplane. Janis Joplin. San Francsico. Bad acid trips at the start of the Summer of Love. Definitely R-rated, but in the running for the best prose to ever feature in the Doctor Who franchise.
• Television. Television is obviously most people's gateway drug, and at this point in my fandom, I'm of the belief that every episode is someone's first episode. In a sense, it doesn't matter where you start. That said, a logical place to start is the first story of every new incarnation of the Doctor. So, in the modern era, Rose, The Christmas Invasion, or The Eleventh Hour. That said, I think you could get easily hooked by watching Tooth and Claw, Vincent and the Doctor, Blink, Midnight, The Girl in the Fireplace, The Impossible Astronaut or The Empty Child — all of which have great hooks!

5.) What's the wackiest/wildest thing you've seen in the Tardis community?

Probably the Doctor window-shopping for a bong in Haight-Ashbury. Honestly, I thought I knew every possibility for an historical adventure until I read that one. Still, there is a lot of stuff about Captain Jack Harkness that we can talk about at Tardis, but would contravene this site's ParentPage!

6.) What can we expect from Dr. Who in the near future?

The big news for the future is the coming of Peter Capaldi's Doctor in late summer or early autumn. Again, another jumping on point! If you've never experienced Doctor Who, this is clearly the time to get on board. We don't have an exact broadcast date — the series is only in production right now — but look for it a little later in the year! But if you can't wait, don't forget to try Big Finish audios! Peter Davison's Doctor is in season as I write this in April 2014. Moonflesh just got released, and he's got another full cast audio drama in May! After that, the Sixth Doctor returns, then the Seventh, then the — oh, you get the drill!

A School for Glory A School for Glory (TV story) Alixion Alixion (TV story) Century House Century House (TV story) Farewell Great Macedon Farewell Great Macedon (TV story) Genesis of the Cybermen Genesis of the Cybermen (TV story) Hostage Hostage (TV story) Ice Time Ice Time (TV story) Killers of the Dark Killers of the Dark (TV story) Network Network (TV story) Project Zeta Sigma Project Zeta Sigma (TV story) Shrine Shrine (TV story) The Children of January The Children of January (TV story) The Daleks in London The Daleks in London (TV story) The Dark Dimension The Dark Dimension (TV story) The Doomsday Contract The Doomsday Contract (TV story) The Dreamspinner The Dreamspinner (TV story) The Final Game The Final Game (TV story) The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance (TV story) The Giants The Giants (TV story) The Hidden Planet The Hidden Planet (TV story) The Hollows of Time (unproduced TV story) The Hollows of Time (TV story) The Imps The Imps (TV story) The Laird of McCrimmon The Laird of McCrimmon (TV story) The Masters of Luxor The Masters of Luxor (TV story) The Nightmare Fair (unproduced TV story) The Nightmare Fair (TV story) The Red Fort The Red Fort (TV story) The Ultimate Evil (unproduced TV story) The Ultimate Evil (TV story) World War World War (TV story) Yellow Fever and How to Cure It Yellow Fever and How to Cure It (TV story)