WATCH: Fans Express Their ‘Doctor Who’ Love at NYC Screening

Fans brought along some K-9 companionship. Photo: Susie Felber

Throngs of people coiled around a New York city block, all with one goal in mind — seats inside the Village East Cinema to view the U.S. premiere of Doctor Who‘s latest season opener on Monday night (April 11).

The most determined seat-seekers, numbering in the hundreds, had spent 12 hours or more queued up. Some turned up a full day before, camping out at night alongside 12th Street. Yes, Doctor Who can inspire you to give up the comforts of a mattress for a cold, hard sidewalk.

But if you talk to fans, none of this was seen as “roughing it.” Au contraire, this was the hot party ticket in Manhattan on a breezy Sunday night. There was camaraderie, there were costumes, there was music piped in via an iPhone plugged into a boom box. You even had the show’s cast dropping by in the morning to provide some sugary sustenance. This was fun, a carefree adventure worthy of the show itself.

For U.S. Whovians, it was their first opportunity to watch the opening episodes of the new season. The screening was followed by a Chris Hardwick-moderated Q&A with actors Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, and Alex Kingston, writer/executive producer Steven Moffat, executive producers Piers Wenger and Beth Willis, and episode director Toby Haynes. Here’s an Inside Look at all of the day’s (and night’s) happenings.