Well any Doctor Who purists are going to hate this post
because when I say Doctor Who I am referring to the new incarnation of the show
that re-appeared thanks to Russell T. Davies back in 2005.
And to add insult to injury I’ve never watched a single episode of
Doctor Who classic. Nor do I have any real desire to do so, based on my complete
and utter disagreement with most comments posted on the TWOP forum by classic
Doctor Who fans. Basically the things
they hate about the new show and compare disparagingly with classic are the
things I love about the show.
And, fair warning, this is going to be a very long post.
So with that out of the way I can start gushing about what a
fantastic show Doctor Who is. I have to
admit the first few episodes did not immediately grab me. Somewhere in the middle of season 1 however I
became completely smitten. It is because
of this initial impression, that I urge any new viewers to give it a few
episodes. It’s not until episode 5 or 6
that the addictive drugs kick in.
The problem is that at first glance, the show can seem silly, goofy, and
shallow. And well it is often silly and
goofy but it most certainly is not shallow.
What at first seems to be fluff is only the outermost layer of a most
delicious and chewy treat.
First, a quick synopsis.
The Doctor is an alien that bears a striking resemblance to a slightly
goofy Englishman. He’s a Time Lord to be exact and as new Who
starts we meet Doctor #9 just after he has lost his world and his people in a war
with archenemies the Daleks. The Doctor likes to travel space and time saving
the universe and he’s particularly fond of a small rainy island on a planet
called Earth. He can do all this
universe saving because the time lords are technologically advanced and uber
brilliant. Oh yeah and he has the
coolest ship ever called the Tardis which looks like a 1960s call box but “is
much bigger on the inside.” The other
thing to know about the Doctor is that he likes to travel with a companion, usually a human who serves
as the viewers entry into the adventures because while the Doctor looks human,
and even sometimes acts human, he is not human which becomes a very interesting
theme throughout the New Who. Oh and one
final thing. Doctor Who was initially
intended for kids. So you get episodes
with farting aliens and some other silliness but as long as you are not too
high brow to soldier through these moments you’re in for some awesome telly.
So what’s so fabulous about Doctor Who? Well with the traveling in time AND space the
adventures to be had are almost endless and the stories are usually creative
and interesting. There’s the fantastic
and campy sets and props. There’s the prevalence of the 2 and 3 parter that
provide a change of pace at least 1-2 times a season. There’s the almost across-
the -board high level of the acting. But
what really does it for me is the relationship between the Doctor and his
companion.
We’ve had 2 Doctor’s (time lords don’t die they just
regenerate with a whole new look and body – hence why the show could run for 40
years – clever Brits :0) in the fist 4 seasons both really excellent.
Chris Eccleston was Number 9 and filled the role during the first
season. His Doctor was darker, harder,
and angrier with a bit of scary edge.
Don’t get me wrong he was also goofy and manic but always with an
underlying streak of violence. Number
10, played by David Tennant, is hyperactive and over the top and really
fabulous. It’s a great combo because as
mentioned above number 9 has just lost his planet and his people in the time
war. He is filled with violence and
loss, a little bit of self loathing and an undirected desire for revenge. The events and companion of season 1 serve to
lessen the sway of that darkness and the result is the lighter but not less
substantial number 10. The most
important thing to know about the Doctor is that he is profoundly lonely and
each of the 4 seasons have dealt with a different aspect of the loneliness as
explored through the eyes of and the relationship with the companion.
There were 3 companions over the first 4 seasons. During seasons one and two we have Billie
Piper as Rose Tyler, arguably the most important of the companions. She also shows up briefly in Season 4. Season 3 is Martha Jones and Season 4 is the
heartbreaking Donna Noble.
First Rose. We meet
her as a 19 year old living in a flat with her mum and working in a
shop. She’s clever but uneducated and is
looking ahead to a life of mundane dullness floating just above the poverty
line. She meets the Doctor when he blows
up her shop and after a few more encounters where she proves her strength
despite her immaturity; the Doctor lures her into the Tardis with the promise
of time travel. The first thing he does
is take her to the day the Earth explodes and thus subtly put them on the same
footing. Rose is great and is by far my
favorite companion though I’m not sure this is a popular opinion. Billie Piper surprises, well, everyone I
think, by turning out to be a really terrific actress, with fantastic chemistry
with both Chris Eccleston in season 1 and David Tennant in season 2. The writers also take her character through a
believable evolution from a young working class girl with more sass and heart than
confidence who has a wide-eyed wonder at the world the Doctor has opened for
her, to a confident, almost arrogant girl who devastatingly falls in love with
the wrong alien and loses everything.
There are times in season 2 where she is hard to take with her
possessiveness of the doctor but it’s the doctor forgetting that he is not
human and letting a part of him fall in love with her that’s to blame. How is a 20-year old supposed to act when
adored by a god? Rose serves to heal the
Doctor of the hurt from the time war but then crushes him in a new way by
reminding him that he is not human and that he is very truly alone.
Martha Jones is quite different from Rose. She is young but closer to 24-25 and more
mature than Rose. She comes from a middle class background and is studying to
be a Doctor. She’s beautiful and smart
and has a bright future before her. It
is because of this, coupled with the fact that Freema Agyeman is a rather meh actor
in my opinion, that, at least for me, Martha Jones was not nearly as likeable a
companion. She is extremely competent,
more so than Rose, and is actually called upon to be more self-sufficient and
make more sacrifices. But still. One of the aspects of the show that is so
addicting is the idea of a random human being given the chance to live up to
their full potential, travel through time and space and save the universe. It is an opportunity to be ones most noble
self and to live a life that matters and is significant. When that random human is an unremarkable
person working a job to pay the bills completely unaware of their nobility it
is beautiful and so easy to root for.
When that random human is a successful, remarkable young lady already
embarked on a noble career saving people’s lives it is less compelling. Still, Martha serves her function, by
developing an immediate crush on the Doctor and being wonderful and then strong
enough to give the doctor the finger when he very studiously decides not to
notice. You see he’s just seen what
havoc he can wreak in his companion’s and his own life by letting himself open
up too much. So with Martha, he closes
up and is really rather cruel to her at times with his coldness but he learns
this too is not the answer and he must open up and accept the pain on both
himself and those who choose to travel with him. Being closed away makes him too dangerous
and causes him to lose touch with his more human and less godly side.
The companion for season 4 (and also the special between
season’s 2 and 3) is Donna Noble. Donna
is a 30 something with little ambition or skill with life. She
has even less going for her than Rose and even less reason to believe in
herself. Her transformation as number
ten’s companion is pretty epic as she finds that not only is she
self-sufficient but quite a bit less self-involved and compassionate than she
appeared to be in her “normal” life.
She’s a great companion, very funny, and is a great friend to the
doctor, which is just what he needed after Rose and then Martha’s crush. What happens to her at the end of the series
is arguably one of the most heartbreaking things to happen on this show. We’d been shown, quite forcefully, in series
2 that life for the companions post doctor is pretty devastating – they’ve
experienced wonderful things, been heroic and now they have to go back to
mundane life. However they get to hold
on to that heroic part of themselves and they are changed, for the better,
forever. Donna must go back to everyday
mundane life but she doesn’t get to remember that she can be heroic.
I don’t go in to series 5 and 6 here. I’m having some trouble warming up to number
11 and these “new” adventures. But I’m
thinking I may need to re-watch s. 5 and watch s. 6 when I’m in the right frame
of mind. Because this show is too good
to give up on!
So… Who’s your favorite companion and why? Do you enjoy the doctor’s complicated
relationships or do you just wish they’d get on with the farting aliens,
already?
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