Doctor's american fans - now with RABIES!!

[Dalek38]

Hello, Tom.

This is my first time posting on your site, but I have been an avid fan of your turn as the Doctor ever since I first saw a syndicated re-run of "Ark in Space" on a little black & white telly with my Dad while we were camping with the family. (I was 12. I'm now 38.) Please excuse any random hero-worship comments I may make from time to time in any posts I may make in future. They're purely intentional, I can assure you.

Anyway, on to the question: From your observations over the years, are the fans of the Doctor in the UK as rabid as the ones I've seen here in the USA? Actually, the last Who convention I can remember here was way back before Pertwee died. I think he and "Bessie" were there. I remember this, because my Dad wanted to go, but we couldn't because of him having to work that day. But most sci-fi cons I have been to have had some really *ahem* AVID fans running around, and causing random havoc, both in-costume and out.

Didn't know if fans in the UK were a bit more reserved in their behavior at convention. If so, the fans here in the USA could really look to the UK for a stellar example of how to properly act at con.

Thanks!

A fan of Doctor Who forever,
James Neighbors
Bowling Green, Kentucky USA

[Tom Baker]

Hello James

I think rabid is not the word to describe Who fans. They are so different. Some treat going to a Convention as if they were on a pilgrimage. Others just enjoy being together in a long queue waiting patiently to meet their favourite characters. I remember a queue in Chicago was so long that one couple were engaged to be married by the time they got to me! True. And some take me for a benevolent alien who has secrets. Mythology is full of mysterious strangers turning up with tall stories. Some people treated such strangers as Gods. I told the story in my last newsletter of an encounter a few weeks ago at Camber Sands when a darling young American boy assured me I was God. It went to my head a bit.

And another time at an American Masquerade when the curtain went up about 30 young fans all dressed like me were walking about the stage in very odd ways and they all insisted that they were giving an impression of me!

Thanks for your question,
Tom