Entertainment
Doctor Who writer Neil Gaiman hits back as troll comes for 18-month-old over his ‘inaccurate’ Dalek costume
Doctor Who writer Neil Gaiman has taken aim at a troll who made the strange decision to come for an 18-month-old dressed up in a Dalek costume, claiming he held the whisk in the wrong hand.
Doting dad Andy Dobson tweeted a sweet photo of his son Rory dressed up as one of the sci-fi villains, as he brandished a whisk in one hand and a toilet brush in the other to emulate the deadly weapons.
To make the snap even better, Rory looked overjoyed to be joined by a life-size Dalek and we’ll be needing one of those immediately.
However, Andy’s photo was accompanied by a cruel message he’d received, which took aim at young Rory for, of all things, holding the whisk in the wrong hand.
It read: ‘Stop posting photos of that kid in his crap Dalek costume – he’s not even holding the weapon in the right hand.’
The troll went on to claim that Andy and his young son were ’embarrassing proper Doctor Who fans,’ and urged him to ‘get off Twitter’.
‘Well, this is a charming DM from a “true fan”, received this morning,’ Andy wrote.
‘It wasn’t so much the criticism that upset me, more the incorrect use of “your”. I do get the distress caused by the whisk being in the wrong hand – but my son was only 18mths old and is much wiser now.’
Neil, who wrote Doctor Who episodes The Doctor’s Wife and Nightmare in Silver, went on to settle the situation, pointing out: ‘True Doctor Who Fans know you can hold the whisk in either hand. As long as you remember to say “Exterminate” or something vaguely like it, you are a real Dalek.’
And who can argue with that?
Andy has since told Metro.co.uk: ‘The initial DM hadn’t upset me, but I was concerned that they might have sent similar critiques to other fans who would have taken those sorts of comments to heart, so shared it.
‘I’ve been overwhelmed by the positivity of Doctor Who fandom from around the world and what started as something negative has ended up reminding fandom that there are lots of people ready and willing to support and encourage each other in their creative endeavours, no matter how daft they are.’
Some of Rory’s supporters have included Doctor Who Dalek operators Barnaby Edwards and Nicholas Pegg.
Barnaby wrote: ‘Speaking with a certain amount of authority on this subject, I can say to your son: YOU WOULD MAKE A GOOD DALEK.’
Nicholas added: ‘True fan? Hmm. I wouldn’t know about that, but you can take it from a true Dalek, whose vision is not impaired, that your son’s costume looks brilliant. Here on Skaro we’re all very proud of him.’
Author Malorie Blackman, who co-wrote the series 11 episode Rosa, added: ‘I consider myself a true fan and your son looks great.’
Doctor Who series 13 is currently in production, with Jodie Whittaker returning as the 13th Doctor, and Mandip Gill returning to her role as Yaz.
John Bishop is also joining ‘Team Tardis’ as new character Dan after Bradley Walsh (Graham) and Tosin Cole’s (Ryan) exits.
Doctor Who will return to BBC later this year.
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