Whovians gather at UQ to mark 60 years of the travelling Time Lord
In 2016, Joanne Anderton was going through the breakdown of her 14-year marriage. The salve that helped her navigate the crisis came from an unlikely – fictional – source, British sci-fi TV series Doctor Who.
“One of my good friends suggested a weekly ‘gin and Doctor Who night’, and it turned out to be just what I needed,” Ms Anderton said.
“The home I’d built, the world I thought was mine was fading in and out of space and time before my eyes.
“Maybe it was the intensity of the situation or the fantasy of escape, but the Doctor helped me in a way that nothing else could.”
The PhD student from UQ’s Centre for Critical and Creative Writing and self-described nerd already had the expected bona fides – a passion for sci-fi, fantasy, Star Trek and Lord of the Rings – but until then, had not watched Doctor Who.
PhD student and author Joanne Anderton.
PhD student and author Joanne Anderton.
“I saw parts of the show as a kid but found it terrifying, even the music,” Ms Anderton said.
“It had somehow escaped me until this confluence of events in my personal life and came at just the right time.
“I fell for it hard.”
Now an award-winning author of sci-fi, fantasy and horror, children’s books and speculative fiction, Ms Anderton has written about how the character of an immortal timelord gave her solace, and the wider concept of finding companionship and identity as a fan.
Her paper is part of the Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary Symposium, being held at The University of Queensland.
Symposium organiser, Dr Catriona Mills from UQ’s School of Communication and Arts, is a longtime Doctor Who fan.
“I’m a 19th century scholar by training and have written a few papers about the Doctor’s ongoing obsession with the Victorian era, which he’s always travelling back to,” Dr Mills said.
“I was on a panel for the show’s 50th anniversary, and along with some other academics thought we should also mark this 60th year of the world’s longest running sci-fi television show.”
Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary Symposium organiser Dr Catriona Mills.
Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary Symposium organiser Dr Catriona Mills.
The themes of the symposium are renewal, recovery, regeneration and reinvention.
“We have 11 speakers from Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, the UK and US presenting short papers on topics including comedy and gender identity, trans aesthetics and consistency of character in Doctor Who,” Dr Mills said.
The event’s guest speaker is former cast member Mark Strickson who played Vislor Turlough, the Fifth Doctor’s companion in the early 1980’s.
“Mark took a break from acting to study a PhD in zoology here in Australia, and produced nature documentaries, including Croc Hunter Steve Irwin’s earliest programs,” Dr Mills said.
“He has some really interesting things to say about the intersection of academia and popular culture.”
Dr Mills said Australian fans of Doctor Who were passionate and many, and include an active fan club based at UQ, WhoUQ.
“The show’s long association with Australia also includes the occasional Brisbane reference,” Dr Mills said.
“The villain of the Fourth Doctor story ‘The Talons of Weng Chiang’ was Magnus Greel, a 51st-century villain known as the Butcher of Brisbane.
“And when the Fifth Doctor needed to find ‘a neutral environment, isolated and cut off from the rest of the universe’ his Australian companion Tegan quips, ‘He should've told me that's what he wanted ... I could've shown him Brisbane’.
“To be fair, that episode was made in 1982.”
Symposium organiser, Dr Catriona Mills from UQ’s School of Communication and Arts, is a longtime Doctor Who fan.
“I’m a 19th century scholar by training and have written a few papers about the Doctor’s ongoing obsession with the Victorian era, which he’s always travelling back to,” Dr Mills said.
“I was on a panel for the show’s 50th anniversary, and along with some other academics thought we should also mark this 60th year of the world’s longest running sci-fi television show.”
Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary Symposium organiser Dr Catriona Mills.
Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary Symposium organiser Dr Catriona Mills.
The themes of the symposium are renewal, recovery, regeneration and reinvention.
“We have 11 speakers from Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, the UK and US presenting short papers on topics including comedy and gender identity, trans aesthetics and consistency of character in Doctor Who,” Dr Mills said.
The event’s guest speaker is former cast member Mark Strickson who played Vislor Turlough, the Fifth Doctor’s companion in the early 1980’s.
“Mark took a break from acting to study a PhD in zoology here in Australia, and produced nature documentaries, including Croc Hunter Steve Irwin’s earliest programs,” Dr Mills said.
“He has some really interesting things to say about the intersection of academia and popular culture.”
Mark-Strickson, who played Vislor Turlough, and Sarah Sutton, who played Nyssa. Image: PA Images via Getty Images
Mark-Strickson, who played Vislor Turlough, and Sarah Sutton, who played Nyssa. Image: PA Images via Getty Images
Dr Mills said Australian fans of Doctor Who were passionate and many, and include an active fan club based at UQ, WhoUQ.
“The show’s long association with Australia also includes the occasional Brisbane reference,” Dr Mills said.
“The villain of the Fourth Doctor story ‘The Talons of Weng Chiang’ was Magnus Greel, a 51st-century villain known as the Butcher of Brisbane.
“And when the Fifth Doctor needed to find ‘a neutral environment, isolated and cut off from the rest of the universe’ his Australian companion Tegan quips, ‘He should've told me that's what he wanted ... I could've shown him Brisbane’.
“To be fair, that episode was made in 1982.”
Joanne Anderton says her fandom of Doctor Who may not have happened if she’d started with the earlier episodes.
“I came into the show at the so-called ‘New Who’ era, when the Doctor was written to be more modern I guess, and more emotional and empathetic,” she said.
“I identified strongly with the 10th Doctor played by David Tennant, the ‘lonely god’, an isolated figure whose entire planet and species was gone.
David Tennant played the 10th Doctor in the Doctor Who series. Image: Wendy Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images
David Tennant played the 10th Doctor in the Doctor Who series. Image: Wendy Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images
“Watching his story arc was cathartic and helped me process emotions that I couldn’t articulate, even to the friend whose couch I was sitting on.
“It didn’t matter that it was fiction, that element can actually give you permission to transpose your own feelings and circumstances and explore them with some distance.”
Ms Anderton and the friend who introduced her to Doctor Who 7 years ago now live in different cities, but plan on watching the 60th anniversary specials together online.
“It’s the kind of friendship and fandom that you can hold onto, even when time and distance get in the way ... they’re still there,” she said.
“And we’re very excited.”
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