I am SuperWhoLock(ed): Opinion Piece Part 3
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| Popular design on a T-shirt...this came from Google... |
But there is a trifecta of three TV shows out there that give fans an extraordinary fandom name to become a part of: SuperWhoLock. The three shows are Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock. And I am not ashamed to say that I am one of these fans. If you like Supernatural, you are called a Hunter because that's the type of profession that the two main characters do. But not your typical hunting either. If you like Doctor Who, you are called a Whovian. If you like Sherlock, I'm not sure what you are called, other than a fan but some sites say Sherlockian. But liking all three earns you of being part of the fandom, SuperWhoLock.
Let's start with Supernatural. Here's the basics: It airs on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. on the CW network and it will have episode ten of the ninth season airing January 14th. It's a story about the Winchesters, older brother Dean and younger brother Sam. The two of them end up "following in their father's footsteps as 'hunters', fighting evil supernatural beings of many kinds including monsters, demons, and gods that roam the earth" (imdb). Sam and Dean also get help from Castiel the angel and fellow hunter Bobby and later in the series Kevin the prophet. The group make quite the team in hunting things because as Dean always says, it's the "family business". And it's not just about hunting things, it's about family and the 1967 black four-door Chevrolet Impala that the boys ride around in calling each other bitch and jerk.
Now for Doctor Who. It first aired in the 60's as a black and white half hour show for kids and then a movie in '96 and finally a revamp in 2005. So all in all it's been on for fifty years, as of 2013. Doctor Who is described as "The further adventures of the time traveling alien adventurer and his companions" (imdb). Doctor Who is about the about an alien who's name is the Doctor. That's all he goes by; no one knows his real name. He's a Time Lord, has two hearts, complains about other species when he's upset, flies around in a blue London police box called the TARDIS, and is very lonely. The first actor to play the Doctor was William Hartnell back in 1963. And now for season eight set to come out later in 2014, the actor is Peter Capaldi. You see, the Doctor doesn't really die, he regenerates. And each time he does that, they bring in a new actor. So Peter makes the 12th. Matt Smith was the 11th, David Tennant the 10th, and Christopher Eccleston the 9th, back when it was revamped in 2005. He battles Daleks, Weeping Angles, Cybermen, and anything and everything that threatens to destroy planets. He feels the need to do this because of what happened to his own planet, Gallifrey.
And now for Sherlock. The story of Sherlock Holmes and his friend and partner John Watson are familiar characters because of Arthur Conan Doyle's creations. The character Sherlock has been leant to modern day actors: Robert Downey Jr. in his two movies, Jonny Lee Miller for Elementary, and now to Benedict Cumberbatch in BBC's Sherlock. I'm familiar with the two Robert movies and with Jonny's Elementary but not with BBC's production. So I binged on the first two seasons of it on Netflix; there's only three episodes per season. It's more of "A modern update finds the famous sleuth and his doctor partner solving crime in 21st century London" (imdb). Benedict's acting in this series is incredible; his character of Sherlock is very quick with his findings and regularly gets in trouble or makes people upset because of his ego and bluntness. I feel too that he is also lonely, just like the Doctor, but uses his brilliant mind to cover up his loneliness.
So far this post has been about facts: names of characters, premiere dates, and such, but not much for opinion. Well here's the opinion.
Many people who don't watch these shows say that "it's just a TV show". That is a cardinal sin for those people to commit, especially if said to a person that watches these three shows. It is much, MUCH more than just a TV show! It's about friends and family, love and loss, trust, humor, the occasional 'bromance', and any other adjective you could possibly imagine. Long after these three shows are gone I will remember them because of the messages they gave and of the brilliant words spoken. “This is one corner…of one country, in one continent, on one planet that’s a corner of a galaxy that’s a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much, so much to see.” This is a Doctor Who quote, but it fits for all three shows. So don't stand there and tell me that they're "only TV shows".
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