Welcome!

Welcome to Elv Who?, my first blog. As you can probably guess, it's going to be about Doctor Who; and for the foreseeable future it will be home to my thoughts on my first Who marathon.

Introduction

I have never taken part in a marathon before, and there are a number of reasons why I shouldn't do so now. The main one is that I am still missing some of the Hartnell stories, including early ones. Not the usual suspects - I have audios of all the missing episodes (except Tenth Planet 4, and there's plenty of time before I get to that one) - but rather the stories that are still due to come out on DVD. This means there will have to be a hiatus when I get to The Sensorites, unless I skip on to The Dalek Invasion of Earth or watch some dodgy internet versions.

On the other hand, there's one overriding reason why I should go ahead: I want to.

A few things have come together to push me towards doing it. First is simply the fact that I've been in a Hartnell/McCoy mood for a while now, so it's a good time. I've also been reading two relevant blogs: El Sandifer's TARDIS Eruditorum, which offers interesting thoughts on how the stories might have been viewed in the context of the 1960s; and Neil and Sue's Adventures with the Wife in Space, which is just pure entertainment. Finally, my son has been doing his own marathon - a Davros marathon, starting with I, Davros: Innocence and continuing with all the relevant TV and audio stories up to Journey's End. He's just finished The Juggernauts, and is still enjoying himself.

Rules

If I am going to do it, I need to set myself some rules. First off, prompted by the Eruditorum, I'm going to do this episode by episode rather than story by story, until at least The Gunfighters. I'm also restricting myself to no more than one episode a day, to stop myself rushing through stories. Whenever possible I'll do at least one episode a week, but I won't start a new story until I've typed up all my notes from the current story, and things like family take priority. I may put extra posts in on stories overall or other relevant subjects, but only if I've got something to say that won't fit neatly into the regular episode posts.

Oh, and no spoilers for episodes that are less than a year old.

Why Would Anyone Read This?

I don't know, really - I'm doing it mostly for my own benefit. You won't get the type of critical analysis you get from Philip, or the fresh eyes of Sue. I will be wearing several hats at once: watching it as a modern viewer, recapturing my childhood spent with Troughton and Pertwee, being an armchair critic. Tell you what, just try it and see if you like the style.

On with the show!