Yes, I've missed the Doctor (Who).

I might never have seen him again had it not been for the explosion of old-fashioned television onto the the Web.

When my sons were young and there were still four of us, we watched it together from time to time. Most of the shows were black and white.

Mother Dianne was distressed by the Daleks. She didn't understand that it was (is) the Doctor's humanity that appealed to me. She didn't understand that I believed my sons would learn from me and with me the appreciation and excercise of compassion by fallible men. We are fallible, are we not? She still doesn't understand my penchant for science fiction and some of its kin.

The first episode I found (it was on YouTube) is more violent than those earlier episodes my sons and I watched -- they in their footie pajamas and I in running shorts or big blue robe.

Yet this and the other episodes are quaint by current standards. It is less violent than than Saturday morning's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," which is aimed straight at kids.

Doctor Who is richly informed by the humanity of the Doctor and his companions. To my eye, the core of the series is their defense of our collective and individual humanity against technological, extraterrestrail and other threats, some of which are as real in their way as sunset.

My sons are in their 20s now. They're stalwart, upstanding young men with various degrees and growling lists of achievements. Their mother was right to be protective, and I was not wrong either, for they were not harmed by those brief, pre-bedtime viewings.

I don't think the new tales of the Tardis will hurt me, now that I've found this and the other recent episodes on YouTube.

When I watch, I smell that wonderful, unique smell your own children have when they're happy and at peace in their footie pajamas.

Do you remember, too?