An Interview with Jed T.E. Rhodes
Starting off a series of interviews with Doctor Who community members! First, I spoke with Jed about his views and perspective on the community, state of the show, and his own content and channel!
Starting off a series of interviews with Doctor Who community members! First, I spoke with Jed about his views and perspective on the community, state of the show, and his own content and channel!
These will eventually be added to a fandom community zine for charity!
Theodore Powers: Going to start off with a good one. What inspired you to make your own Doctor Who fan content?
Jed T.E. Rhodes: So, I’d been wanting to make my own Doctor Who fan content since… what, 2005? Mainly because I was a Nerdy Teenage Boy ™️ and wanted to be Doctor Who. I’d actually done a bit of shooting for a fan film in 2006 (went nowhere) and some abortive shooting in 2010 (still went nowhere), before a friend of mine who makes films emailed in 2011 and said “you wanna make a fan film?” And my response was immediately like “YES”. And it sort of spiralled from there.
Theodore Powers: You make content on multiple channels and are the face of What Fourth Wall! What are your goals as a fan creator and production manager for the channel?
Jed T.E. Rhodes: Short version: I want to make fun things and for my friends to make fun things.
Long version: I never went into this business with the intention of running big channels. Man-At-Desk was just myself and Matthew Mills, Lungbarrow Brothers before it was just myself and Anthony Treasure, and those were really channels where I ran my own Doctor and that was it. What Fourth Wall was kind of… I won’t say “an accident”, and I won’t go into depth (yet, depending on questions 😂) but the circumstances that led to What Fourth Wall’s inception weren’t something I sought out. It’s been kind of surreal being the “head” of a channel, because that comes with a number of challenges, and also weirdly comes with the whole thing of people coming to me and saying “can I be on your channel”, which is surreal because these last two years have really only been - what, less than a third of the total time I’ve been in the fandom making things? So I’m conscious that it’s a responsibility. People come to me and want to not just be “a Doctor” but to be “A What Fourth Wall Doctor”. My goal, and really my only goal, is for people who I work with to be happy and to achieve what they want. Especially since - again, without going into depth, that’s not necessarily an experience I had elsewhere.
Theodore Powers: What’s your opinion on trans rights and the issues going on right now in the US and UK? And why were you interested in helping especially with this newsletter hopefully turned zine for charity? How do you think Doctor Who and trans rights connect?
Jed T.E. Rhodes: A lot of people will say “this is a difficult issue”. It’s not. It’s a simple issue. Trans people are who they are: not who they “say” they are or “believe” they are, but who they are. A trans woman is a woman. A trans man is a man. Non-binary people exist and are who they are. The existence of trans people has only become a debate because, to be frank, it’s easier to make a brouhaha about a minority than it is to actually do anything about the world. Add the general ease of making a quick buck from bigotry, and it becomes very attractive to the unprincipled mind.
It’s not hyperbolic to invoke the spectre of Hitler and Nazi Germany here: first they have come for the trans people. I speak out however I can because I have the privilege to do so. I will fight because the alternative is to submit to a decade or more of shame and horror. It must be stopped.
Doctor Who has always been a progressive show: women, gay men, feminists, pacifists, environmentalists… these are the bones of this show. Doctor Who fights for those who are marginalised. Doctor Who fights for those who have been ground down by systems of inequality and destructiveness. Doctor Who has decried fascism from the beginning. It would be a betrayal of this show and this fandom to do otherwise now.
Theodore Powers: What message do you get from the show itself as it was and as it stands now? And what message would you like people to get from the content that you make?
Jed T.E. Rhodes: The show itself is an interesting thing: its message is, broadly, to stand up to injustice with intellect and compassion. Sometimes it’s not very successful at showing that message, but that’s a question for another day. As for the message I would like people to get from what I make… I find it hard to objectively look at my work and decide things like that. My work is all about personal things in a way - self-expression, self-determination, and compassion for others. I think these are things all people should aspire to, as well.
Theodore Powers: Now that is completely fair! Are there any specific Doctors in the official series that have inspired you for your own content and stories? Whether it be a whole era or just inspiration off a certain Doctor themself?
Jed T.E. Rhodes: I find a big failing of most fan content - and increasingly most franchise media - is a failure to find media outside of the franchise to be inspired by. I’ve recently watched SAS Rogue Heroes and had fun ideas for UNIT and Torchwood, I’ve engaged with everything from comic-book media to Ferris Bueller for the work I do with Groovy or Blonde, I’ve read and watched classic sci-fi for other Doctors, and I’ve engaged with Napoleonic fiction a lot for works like Star Trek. Going back and finding where something begins is often a great way to find new ideas.
Theodore Powers: You also compose music for your series and others! What is your process for that?
Jed T.E. Rhodes: Honestly, to me it’s all about one thing: motif. I have been working on music for over a decade now and I have been lucky to compose for a lot of incredible series. My process is usually about finding a single hook - a feeling, an emotion, a connection - and often times tying that back into the bank of motifs and chords I use in order to make something feel like it connects with the greater body of work. I have been not-so-secretly creating a “bank” of motifs and ideas that I reuse across projects. That’s part of what I like to think of as a kind of magic I’m performing - connecting Who across the YouTube multiverse.
Theodore Powers: And finally, I’ll ask the obligatory basic question I’ll be asking everyone who was your first doctor? And which classic and modern Doctors are your favorites?
Jed T.E. Rhodes: Jon Pertwee was my first. He and John Hurt are my favourites. The War Doctor is the best.
Theodore Powers: And to wrap everything up! What’s something you’d like to tell our readers! Can be as basic or as involved as you want it to be!
Jed T.E. Rhodes: The world is an absolute mess right now, but there will be brighter days ahead as well. We are all of us the foundation for a brighter tomorrow, and that tomorrow is the foundation for a brighter one still. You will see it. Believe. Fight. Survive.
The Groovy Doctor Playlist
Bandcamp New & Notable May 4, 2020
