Enlightenment 99 - Aug/Sept 2000

Better Than Super Friends

     I started watching Doctor Who when I was in 7th grade (c1981/1982).
I can remember channel surfing and stopping on TVO where a short
commercial caught my eye.  It consisted of a tall, curly haired man in
outrageous clothes being threatened by a woman wearing a black
headdress.  She was brandishing a curved knife and was also forcing a
blonde haired girl holding a metal dog to shoot a giant green blob.
     I watched the episode on the next Saturday.  Creature From the Pit
was to a significant moment in my otherwise dull life, it was the day I
became a Whovian.  Believe it or not, I was immune to the horrific
monsters and gruesome deaths.  Color me weird, but I was more terrified
by the Super Friends.  (Yes, I can hear you all groaning and saying,
"Super Friends, give me a break!", to which I respond, if you were 7
years old and you witnessed a cartoon show where a psychotic woman
brainwashed every female on Earth and turned all men into computer dots
and a "ghost" turning world leaders and Superman and Wonder Woman into
zombie ghosts just to get revenge, I think you'd be terrified too...)
Watching Super Friends prepared me for the monsters and mayhem that
seemed to follow the Doctor wherever he went.
     As time went on, my family got a VCR for Christmas.  We were given
two videotapes each and I started what was to become to my family's
horror (not to mention contempt), a huge video collection (but that's
another story for another time).  I can remember being so desperate and
so obsessed to get every episode that TVO showed tat I even got on my
hands and knees to ask the kids that I was babysitting to let me use
their VCR to tape The Caves of Androzani (I was grounded at the time).
     When I was in Grade 9, I happened to wander into my town's only
book store where I went to get comic books.  There at the back on a
revolving stand was a Doctor Who novel, Kinda.  I bought is without
hesitation.  At $3.95, I couldn't resist!  When I came in 2 weeks later,
I was delighted beyond description to see a display with lots of the
latest Doctor Who novels.  I think I ended up buying every single one
they had.  I bought Doctor Who: A Celebration from a flea market comic
book dealer whom I befriended & before I knew it, I became a full-
fledged Whovian.
     My youngest brother Bryan loved Doctor Who and would often ask me
to read him the novels.  Once, when our dad disconnected the cable
because he had grounded us, Bryan came up with a terrific idea; I held
the cables together with tape and voila! - we were able to watch The
Horns of Nimon.
     When I went to England in April of 1988, I bought my first 2 Doctor
Who videos, Spearhad from Space and Death to the Daleks.  Even though we
were warned not to buy any videos as they are not compatible with North
American VCRs, that did not deter yours truly.
     When I was in Grade 11, I was the very first recipient of a cash
award for the Grade 10 student who achieved his/her goals.  I spent all
of the $250 on Doctor Who books, comics, action figures for myself and
Go-Bots for my brother Bryan.
     In July on 1992, I joined DWIN.  I would have gone to the Who Party
Convention, but a job came up in Alberta and I was unable to attend.  I
moved back to Goderich in December after that job fell through.  I moved
to London in June on 1995 where I still live to this day and in 1996, I
joined my very first club, Cybercontrol where I was elected Keeper of
the Matrix (Club Librarian/Archivist).  Cybercontrol London has come and
gone.  It's still hard for me to believe that it was been 2 years since
John Darling's announcement that they were going to move to Hamilton.
It was unanimous that I would be the President of a new chapter and that
er surviving members - Ben, Aaron and Ray - would start anew.
     After much pondering of club names, it was our then new member,
Peter that came up with the name Brethren of Time & Space (BTS).  It was
a whole lot better than my ideas which we used temporarily: Keepers of
the Matrix and of course the ultimate groaner, People Who Worship Other
People In Really Weird Rubber Suits (aaaargh!).
     After Peter left for Toronto, we were 3 once again, until March of
this year when I befriended another Whovian who was more than happy to
join our club, Dylan Downing.
     Here's to more members and more memories in the years to come!

Ray Currie is a member of The Brethren of Time and Space.  He lives in
London.