{"id":38037,"date":"2023-03-26T13:02:30","date_gmt":"2023-03-26T12:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedoctorwhocompanion.com\/?p=38037"},"modified":"2023-03-26T13:02:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-26T12:02:32","slug":"celebrating-seven-years-of-the-doctor-who-companion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedoctorwhocompanion.com\/2023\/03\/26\/celebrating-seven-years-of-the-doctor-who-companion\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Seven Years of the Doctor Who Companion"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Today (26th<\/sup> March 2023), the Doctor Who Companion<\/em> celebrates its seventh birthday. That feels quite mad, honestly. As you might or might not know, the DWC was created after Kasterborous seemingly sunk and the displaced crew was looking for somewhere else to enthuse about Doctor Who<\/em>. I began writing for Kasterborous in 2011 and the DWC launched in 2016; while the K has been going long before that (indeed, I was an avid visitor and pitched to its editor, Christian Cawley \u2013 who, I\u2019m happy to say, has become a good friend \u2013 based on my years of reading), I\u2019ve now technically been working on the DWC longer than I had on Kasterborous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DWC launched on the anniversary of Rose<\/em> airing, so today also marks a celebration for 21st Century Who<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven years, though. There\u2019s something curious about seven years, isn\u2019t there? There\u2019s the old adage of the \u201cseven-year itch\u201d, of course, but you can find patterns and cycles relating to that number all over. Astrology, chakras, religions, science, psychology: all find seven-year milestones to be important. Our very minds and bodies change in seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what’s changed for Doctor Who<\/em> in seven years? Everything and nothing, perhaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fundamentally, it’s the exact same show and franchise as it was in 2016, as it was in 2005, as it was in 1989, as it was in 1963. To survive that long, of course, it’s got to change, although I shirk at that notion that “Doctor Who<\/em> is all about change”. To me, “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is more so true. Doctor Who<\/em> is about a traveller in all time and space fixing wrongs and fighting monsters. There it is. That’s true of every era: if it weren’t, it wouldn’t be Doctor Who<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DWC debuted at a difficult period in Doctor Who<\/em>, i.e. in the long gap between The Husbands of River Song<\/em> and The Return of Doctor Mysterio<\/em>, so the latter was the first episode screened while the DWC existed; but we’ve gone through more difficult periods since, both in the show and behind the scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, in those seven years, we’ve had 45 episodes, from the aforementioned Return of Doctor Mysterio<\/em> to The Power of the Doctor<\/em>, including some classic stories like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n