The problem with the whole idea of remaining unspoiled is that I'm curious and easily bored, and I have no self-control. I can't help looking at the BBC Advent Calendar, which has featured little snippets of music and pictures and games and whatnot all month and has done its job of drumming up interest in the special quite well, at least for me. (Also, who knows when it's going to go away? If there's anything cool, I want to save it before Christmas. It's not just cheapshit promo stuff -- they actually had the original recording of "Song For Ten," which gave half of the show's fandom a coronary by not appearing on the official soundtrack.)
The trailer for the special is also out -- curiosity drove me that far, and it was on the Advent calendar. It looks like it may possibly be rather awesome. Which is the point at which I got all twitchy and excited and stopped wanting to read any more about it. I was less than thrilled at the teaser when I finished Season 2, but it's gradually won me over. Also, apparently Sarah Parish is going to DESCEND UPON THE EARTH and... and nobody knows what for sure. 'Shine'? 'Dine'? Even... 'join'? 'Dine' seems by far the most logical, and yet I'm just not hearing a 'd' at the beginning of that word. I am in the kind of mood where that uncertainty seems kind of hilarious. Help! She's going to... she's going to... WE DON'T KNOW WHAT!
I've been watching Doctor Who since... well, I was too young to even remember beginning to watch it. I was probably in kindergarten. My brother, four years older, watched it, and perforce I did so as well. (Our shared bedroom did not, however, result in my ever actually watching Star Trek, Monty Python, or any of the other stuff my brother tended to like, so I'm not sure I can claim that it's not my fault I like Doctor Who.) I'll probably want to get all fuzzily nostalgic about that later, but what it boils down to is this: twenty-eight years of being a fan of this show, and I've never seen a first-run episode anywhere near the time of its actual airing. That I will do so next week is borderline miraculous. (I know the new series has been on the air for two years now, but I didn't hear about the revival until it was well underway, and then I wasn't sure it was going to be any good, so I didn't really investigate until SciFi started showing it. Having discovered that I liked it, I made up for lost time. [And what, you might ask, of the TV movie? Okay, I did see that when it came out. But that doesn't count, since it's not canon! Har, har, I kill me. Really, it's just... not the same. I was excited about that, sure, but I'm out of my little mind about this.])