Happy 42!

Doctor Who fandom, perhaps more than any other franchise that I can think of, has institutionalized it's anniversary. Even for those of us that aren't in Doctor Who's country of origin recognize it, reaching back to distant memories of seeing The Five Doctors for the first time on November 23, 1983, or the legends of the mythical Chicago conventions held by multiple organizations and groups over the Thanksgiving weekend across three decades. (Chicago TARDIS is the current incarnation. I'm not going this year, but if you're in the area..)

The date is recognized enough that when the series was relaunched earlier this year, they went through the effort of placing the Doctor at the assassination of JFK as a way to connect the new incarnation of the series with the original back in 1963 when An Unearthly Child originally aired.

Doctor Who has had its most successful year pretty much everywhere around except the US over the last year. Hopefully next year we'll get a real invitation to the party, but seeing the success it has had so far has been a great thing to see.