I'd actually heard about "The Definite Article" (aka, the 4th Doctor and his Jelly Babies) long
before I ever saw an episode. Then I got to see the 9th Doctor and I think i just missed his
regeneration episode! So when David Tennant showed up in the next part I was confused and
wanted MY DOCTOR with his daft old face back! I was genuinely upset that some traditionally
handsome guy was apparently the Doctor now and I didn't understand _why_ because I'd missed
the regeneration. Poor Ten, it wasn't his fault. I'd have loved him for the Lion King quote right away
if I'd been able to see that episode first.
I eventually got back into the show with Martha and that went well. Then I lost cable for a while.
And then, lo, summer of 2011 or so, I catch back up with Martha and Ten (God Bless Netflix). I watch him with Donna too. I see Silence in the Library and actually start considering Ten 'ok'. He's not my Nine, but he's ok. He can do the job now. (Moffat is magic...) Anyway, I slog through Journey's End and End of Time in the same week or so. My emotions are _spent_. I am done. I am done with this show, I am done with _life_ and my heart is broken like five times. And then Ten says his tragic final lines and regenerates. Just as I'm wiping my eyes, there's Eleven.
I'd seen him in the 2010 Christmas special and again, he'd been ok, good with kids, but He Was Not My Nine so I was havin' none of it. And then he's running around a crashing Tardis like a maniac, and I decided I -had- to see what this madman did next. I just had to. I'm so glad I did. Matt was the Doctor for me the minute he tells little Amelia "Do I even look like people? Trust me. I'm the Doctor." He was My Doctor by the end of the episode. And I've been running with him ever since smile .
(PS - You know a Doctor is your particular Doctor when he makes you want to discover all the others too smile