I’m disappointed to say that often I wish Dr Who was better
that it is. The show often begins with a
good premise or some intriguing puzzle, but the writers often have no idea how
to solve it. Perhaps it is due to the
complexities of dealing with the character.
I’m sure it is hard to write for the most intelligent sentient being in
the universe if you’re not much smarter than the average person.
I was initially introduced to Dr Who in the eighties. At that time it was easy to ignore the
laughably poor special effects and gaping plot holes and just enjoy the science
fiction/science fantasy of it all because I was eight. Deus Ex Machina isn’t as disappointing as a resolution
when you’re eight. Now it seems like
poor writing or an attempt to wrap everything up in an hour.
I saw the Tom Baker and Peter Davidson Whos on PBS. After rerunning those episodes a few times,
the show was off the air in my area.
There was no attempt to show the Colin Baker or Sylvester McCoy Doctors
at all. Being the eighties, before the
internet age, there just was no place to see these other episodes. I was even a member of the small Dr Who fan
club who met once a month to discuss all things Who and to watch videos. Unfortunately, the best videos I can recall
us watching contained a few episodes of the BBC’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy TV series.
For years after I called myself a Who fan. With no access to the show and never actually
watching them with more mature eyes I had no idea if the show stood up as more
adult fare. It lived fondly in the realm
of memory. I’d probably rather remember it
as I remember it, not as it was.
Dr Who was a great super hero for me. He wasn’t faster than a speeding bullet,
stronger than a locomotive, and he couldn’t leap tall buildings in a single
bound. He wasn’t a master of martial
arts. He doesn’t shoot guns or lob
grenades. The Doctor succeeds because he’s
smart.
Sure, it’s nice to have a ship that can take you anywhere in
space and time. It’s also nice to have a
sonic screwdriver, which many of the writers tend to use more as a magic wand
capable of doing anything than as a screwdriver. But, as a pocket multitool, it’s unsurpassed. With this tool, the Doctor was MacGyvering
before MacGyvering was a trope. Unlike
MacGyver, who could make a flash bomb out of chewing gum, string, duct tape,
and a match, the Doctor could use that to sequence DNA and then tell you the
likely point of origin for the specie.
The Doctor, though not a pacifist, is averse to killing,
unlike the shoot first catch phrase later action heroes of American television
and movies. He can’t leave a question
unanswered or a riddle unsolved, which is what gets him mixed up in so many
situations in the first place. He’s on
no great, overarching quest to right some wrong. He’s not some mercenary for hire available to
rescue your kidnapped daughter from some nefarious group. He’s just out to see as much of the universe
as possible and maybe have some good conversation along the way.
Unfortunately, the revival hasn’t delivered on what the
Doctor should be. I should rephrase
that. The revival hasn’t delivered on
what I think the Doctor should be. I don’t
want to see the doctor as boyfriend or the doctor as Christ figure. I’d much rather see the doctor as detective,
naturalist, and teacher.
The revival has also overused classic Dr Who villains. The Daleks weren’t an every season villain,
but they are now. That infrequency added
to the perception of how much of a challenge the Daleks were. How much of a challenge can the Daleks
actually be if the Doctor beats them every week? The rarity of their appearances made them an
exciting foe. Their current commonality
makes them boring.
Guess what the title of the next season’s first episode is
called: Asylum if the Daleks. The
episode promises to show every different kind of Dalek the Doctor has ever
faced. How fresh.
I don’t need to see the Cybermen again for several
years. They could possibly bring the
Sontarans back once more without wearing out their welcome, but I don’t want
them to ruin another of the Doctor’s classic enemies.
They absolutely misused the Master, the Doctor’s classic
Time Lord rival. I have no idea where the
Jedi-like powers of the Time Lords came from other than Davies’ desire for an
epic battle between the two Gallifreyans. I don’t recall the Doctor ever shooting lightning
bolts from his fingertips before.
The new series even managed to ruin the best villain they’ve
introduced: the weeping angels. It was a
pretty good science fictiony idea. The
creatures were described as, “quantum locked,” though it has absolutely nothing
to do with actual quantum locking. When
they were observed, they were stone.
When not observed, they were free to move about. Even if you blinked, in that instant, they
were free to move again. Turning to
statues wasn’t a defense mechanism; it was a physical law of the universe. That’s a great idea for an assassin. It made for a fantastic episode called “Blink”
which I would urge you to see if you haven’t.
It was more of a suspenseful story than a science fiction story. Unfortunately, the show brought them back in
a later episode and Moffat ruined the creature he created. Now, apparently just pretending to be able to
see them was enough to turn them to stone.
Frankly, the best episode of the last few years was the Neil
Gaiman penned “The Doctor’s Wife.” It
gave a voice to the Tardis as the Doctor finally met her face to face.
As I stated before, Dr Who doesn’t deliver on what I want it
to be. Maybe I should just enjoy it for
what it actually is instead of what I wish it was. Maybe I should just quit watching if I don’t
like what I’m watching. Maybe I should
just accept that this is not science fiction but science fantasy.
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