Children and Fandom (or Why Dora the Explorer is a Time Lord)

Abby is a Whovian. About as much as her mum is, plus all that gleeful obsession that nine-year-olds are so good at. She has her birthday party all planned out with Dalek piñatas and Weeping Angel Tag and fez party hats and a Doctor Dance Party (not that kind of dancing; get your mind out of the gutter. The kid is nine, and it went completely over her head in any case) and a "fish fingers and custard" dessert.

Her birthday is in December, folks; she's that big of a fan.

She's told me that she's sorry, but if the Doctor shows up, she is going with him. She'll try to be back for dinner, but you know how the Doctor is, sometimes he runs a little late.

And because of our mutual love of the Whoniverse, we have come across quite a lot of music, some canon (like actual episode sound tracks) and some more fandom-based-but-not-exactly-filk stuff as well. One of these is the band Chameleon Circuit, and Lizzy's favo(u)rite song from them is this gem, Still Not Ginger.

Now, although this song/video is about the Eleventh Doctor, he uses one of the Tenth Doctor's catch phrases: Allons-y! Lizzy asked me what this means, and I told her it means "let's go."

She said, "Oh. Like ¡Vamanos! - is Dowa like the Doctor?"

I blinked (don't blink, blink and you're dead! Keep calm and don't blink!).

But then she went on to something else and I thought about it while she started singing allons-y, vamanos tunelessly in the back seat of the car.

Let's look at the facts. Dora the Explorer is manic and loud as hell, appears to be eight years old but travels all over Central and South America (and occasionally the rest of the world) alone or with her madcap group of non-human friends. She speaks at least two human languages and Nickelodeon only knows how many non-human ones (I mean, come on, one of her besties is a lavender squirrel who drives a car and speaks Spanish). And she has catch-phrases and is always freaking running.

I think Dora's a Time Lord who's been grounded on Earth.