In a recent online discussion about whether “Moffat detractors” are numerous or just loud, I saw someone posit that those fans “usually want RTD and Tennant back.” After countering that assertion—and another that fans familiar with pre-Hiatus Who are more likely to like Moffat (what?)—with both my own experiences and the opinions of several of my friends (none of whom have ever suggested anything so absurd as to bring back a previous Doctor for regular episodes), I got to thinking about the human tendency to wax nostalgic about “the good old days.”
Are the Good Old Days ever really as good as we remember?
I think fandom is much like parenthood (or any number of other experiences), in that once an era is well and truly in the rear-view mirror of our lives, it is far easier to remember the good parts than the bad (barring any truly traumatic moments). We look back on the episodes that made us fans and think, “nothing will ever be quite as good as it was when X was the Doctor,” or “when Y was in charge,” and pine for a time when everything was “as it should be.”
