These long breaks between new episodes are killing me. I know everyone has been having a rough time of it these last few years, and I’ve talked about it more than once here myself, but the way my brain has been coping with the pressures of the global COVID pandemic has made me less and less interested in Western visual media. There are very few properties made outside of Asia that can still garner my attention.

While Doctor Who is admittedly one such property, I’m not finding much comfort lately in retreading old ground. That is, I’d rather read or watch something brand new, something I don’t know at all, than go back and watch something I’ve seen multiple times, even if it’s been ages since I last watched it. There are plenty of Classic—or even modern—Doctor Who adventures that I haven’t seen in years, but right now I’ve got absolutely zero interest in revisiting them some evening when there are so many other items on my to-watch list that I’ve never seen before.

That’s why the long breaks between new episodes these last few years have taken such a toll on my personal fandom. I’m no longer “fanatical” about the show in the sense that I love to think about it all the time. If there’s no new content to latch onto, I’m just not going to think about Doctor Who unless something external forces the issue (like, for instance a posting deadline…).

It’s depressing to think that over the next year and a half or so, we’ll only have three new episodes. On Sunday we’ll get Legend of the Sea Devils (and my review will go up the following Wednesday); in November 2023 we’ll have RTD’s return for the 60th anniversary special; and some time in between (exactly when doesn’t seem to have been announced yet), we’ll get the regeneration episode, Jodie’s final one as lead.

Even with one or more potential conventions sprinkled through those months (and honestly I only anticipate participating in Gallifrey One in February 2023 and maybe CONsole Room in January 2023), that’s not enough content to sustain me. I only get a boost of about a week after either a new episode or a con. Even if I commit to both of the aforementioned cons, that only gives me five events—five total weeks—of renewed enthusiasm across about nineteen months.

In other words, the outlook for my lasting engagement with Doctor Who is currently pretty poor.

I suppose that somewhere in those long, lonely months there will be news items to pique my interest: the casting of the next Doctor, announcement of guests for the 60th, and more details of the upcoming RTD2 era. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that those spark more joy than ire, but I’m still bracing myself for the possibility of ending up on the “not for me” end of the fan spectrum.

What would I do then? I suppose I’ll keep watching anyway. After nearly sixty years, we know one thing for certain: the only thing guaranteed on Doctor Who is change. And if I can just get through the next couple of years, I’ll have new content again—love it or hate it.