A lot of people have been asking me to discuss the most recent series of “Doctor Who,” and since it’s available on DVD so that anyone can see it, I figure now is as good a time as any. I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum.
It may be that not since the departure of Tom Baker has any actor had bigger shoes to fill than Matt Smith, replacing the incredibly popular David Tennant in what is probably the longest running leading role in television history.
I’ll say this for him: I can’t recall someone who looked quite as alien without any makeup. That’s not remotely intended as a knock on Smith; he just has very unusual features. Sloping brow, jutting jaw. He doesn’t look like a typical bloke you’ll see hanging around the pub. Attired in a natty outfit that makes him look like an English teacher, he conveys an air of someone mostly fascinated by philosophical aspects and broader themes (as opposed to his predecessor who, dressed like a businessman, basically got down to business. Although I do miss the long coat. There was just something about the way it flapped when he ran that seemed really cool to me.)
It has been pointed out repeatedly that he is the youngest actor to play the role. I suppose it makes sense since the likelihood of having an older actor than William Hartnell (the first Doctor) in the role is pretty slim. Yet interestingly in some ways he reminds me of Hartnell in his occasionally acerbic demeanor and impatience. Yet he also sometimes displays the puckish attitudes of Hartnell’s immeidate successor, Patrick Troughton. That’s just my opinion. The Doctor is, in many ways, a Rorschach test for the viewer: You always see bits and pieces from the previous performances that you liked. Nor does Smith come across like a pure rehash of any. He’s his own Doctor, and although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Tennant is promptly forgotten, Smith remains tremendous fun to watch, with a unique energy to his performance.
Yet what I find most interesting in this past season, with Steven Moffat having no smaller shoes to fill in taking over the series direction from Russell Davies, is the expanded role of the Doctor’s companion. Under Davies watch, the show became less about companions coming and going and more about focusing on the companions’ stories. Moffat has expanded upon this: Amy Pond, played by the relentlessly charming Karen Gillan, drives the action in a way that no companion before her has. We may have witnessed Rose Tyler’s journey from aimless shop girl to capable defender of the universe, but she was ultimately just reacting to the circumstances thrust upon her. But this first season of Smith’s Doctor is entirely Amy’s story. It’s all about her, from the crack in her house introduced at the beginning to the revelations in the final episodes. It’s a compelling narrative (although I kept wondering whether the giant crack was simply the backside of a giant repairman.)
You sure can’t say that Moffat didn’t think everything through, as fleeting moments during the run of the series are explained in a new light at the end (although Kathleen completely nailed the sequence in the Weeping Angels two parter where the Doctor has a conversation with Amy that seemingly made no sense at the time).
Yet for all the expansiveness and universe-impacting moments in the story, I find that what stays with me the most are the little moments. The high point of the entire series, for me, was the transcendent look on Vincent Van Gogh’s face when he sees with his own eyes that his life’s work is not the worthless etchings of a lunatic, but something that will be immortalized, admired and worshipped for generations. It makes our hero the Doctor in his purest sense: Someone who tries to cure what ails you. But ultimately, even though Van Gogh’s artistry is validated, it doesn’t alter history, much to Amy’s crushing disappointment, when she learns that the circumstances of his suicide did not change. In one stroke are the limits of any doctor, even THE Doctor, underscored. It is those moments of genuine humanity, of grief and loss, that elevate “Doctor Who” in general and this run in particular.
And no, you don’t have to have watched the previous five seasons of the current incarnation, not to mention the twenty six seasons worth of episodes before that, to be able to watch and enjoy the latest season. It’s a perfect jumping on point for the uninitiated.
PAD
• 
Matt smith couldn’t replace Tennant, but he’s a grandly fun and entertaining regeneraion, and I’m looking forward to the holiday special and next season.
And can i interject that Rory might be my favorite “companion’s companion” of all time?
I had reservations learning that my childhood hero would for the first time be a younger man than I am.
Matt Smith put me at ease. He’s a perfect successor to Tennant. While one misses Tennant’s performance and his Dcotor’s quirks. I have no doubts this is now the Doctor.
I agree: This was a very good season of DOCTOR WHO. Smith did very well in the role (acquiting himself of the concerns that as such a young actor the series would somehow shift in a TWILIGHT-esque direction), from his joy at discovery to impatience with those he felt couldn’t keep up with him to his little quirks (“I like bow ties. Bow ties are cool.”) Amy Pond was a lot of fun, and her (minor spoiler) appearance in the finale of this season was a terrific surprise — along with her perfectly written and delivered line. We also got to see more of the Doctor’s once-and-future wife, plus the Doctor having two companions instead of just one. (No sign of the Master this season — perhaps to give Smith some breathing room for the new role?)
My only complaint — one that’s frequent through the new series — is the continual use of the Sonic Screwdriver. I believe this started as a, well, advanced screwdriver, something that worked well at disabling or unlocking electronic devices. Now it’s used for everything from a general scanner to a medical device (when someone got shot, the Doctor immediately started scanning him). Given the absolute brilliance the Doctor has, you think he’d use a few more different items. But this is a small quibble in a fun, enjoyable series.
Yeah, it seems like the Screwdriver has morphed into a combination of passive weapon and tricorder. On the other hand, it IS a new one so, y’know, whatever.
.
PAD
I’m still waiting for someone to hear about the sonic screwdriver and ask if it’s anything like a Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster. To which, in my mind, the Doctor would reply after a mild shudder, “No, this is much easier on the head.”
Until they explicitly say so in an actual episode, i don’t think River is the Doctor’s wife.
.
I’m more interested in the bit about “She killed a man.” “Who?” “You don’t want to know.” (Or words to that close effect.)
.
Personally, i’m holding out for her being Jenny…
They said it in her first episode, Silence in the Library in S4.
.
Actually Paul, they never actually said it. They gave you the idea that she could be, but there’s always room for her to be something else.
Yep. They let you believe all sorts of things about her, but the only definitive statement about her is that she killed a great man, and that’s what she was in prison for.
.
Interestingly, in looking up the episode to confirm my memory that the Doctor’s daughter’s name was Jenny, i find that if was Steven Moffatt who requested that Jenny should be alive and heading out for adventures at the end of the episode.
.
Which leads me to wonder if, perhaps, Moffatt has plans for the character, since he’s the show-runner now.
Actually, my assumption is that River killed, or at least is believed to have killed, the Doctor. Personally, I think it would be a kick if she were a future incarnation of the Doctor himself.
.
PAD
She said, and I quote, more or less, “I killed the best man I ever knew.” And as she puts it, he’s younger than she’s ever seen him. But no, she never says she’s his wife. Be cool if she was, though.
I sort of figured that the implication was that it was the Doctor she killed, too.
.
As to her being the Doctor … i’d considered that, too. Back in the day, there were rumours that the BBC was considering a female Doctor, and Dame Diana’s name was bandied about. Oddly enough, it appears that it wasn’t Mrs Peel being considered – but Purdey.
.
(And Judy Dench was in the running to be the Ninth Doctor?)
Oh, I saw that, too! I found it on a BitTorrent site, Mike, and Purdey makes a hot-ášš Doctor. “The Curse of Fatal Death”, written by Steven Moffat, with Jonathan Pryce as The Master, Julia Sawalha as the Doctor’s girlfriend, Emma, and…
Rowan Atkinson, Richard Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley as The Doctor! It’s a whole 23 minutes long and worth seeing.
Having been a Doctor Who fan forever, I have to say I really have enjoyed the last five+ seasons.
While Eccleston didn’t do much for me, Tennent may have become my favorite Doctor (replacing McCoy for that position), and like others have mentioned, I’ll miss him, but Smith is working out just fine for me, as well.
Some great stories in the last few seasons!
I’m personally of the opinion that Matt Smith is a better Doctor than David Tennant. Not a better ACTOR, Tennant wins there, but whereas Tennant can act quirky at times, Matt Smith *is* quirky, in looks, movement, everything. He makes the perfect 900-odd-year-old alien and I never ever notice how young he is when watching the show. He also has real chemistry with both Karen Gillan and the guy who plays Rory.
I’m with you on the Van Gogh episode by the way – it’s a brilliant piece of writing. Very unlike most DW episodes, but then most of the very best DW episodes aren’t like anything they’ve done before. It’s the genius of the show that they can do something new constantly and still have it be the same programme.
Now if Richard Curtis will just write a few more. The Van Gogh episode was lovely work, and Curtis’ son is the reason it got done. “Um, Dad? Mr. Morrisey, next door, he did a Doctor Who, why don’t you?”
Rumor has it Neal Gaiman’s gonna do one, too.
No rumor. Fact.
.
PAD
“Blink”
Of the new Doctors… the ones since 2000… this is what I see:
Eccleston: A manic tragic dark hero. His mania was amplified by the actor, and he probably was on the edge of, well, the edge until Rose came along. I loved Eccleston and his interpretation, and hated that he only had 13 episodes… until…
Tennant: Wow. Manic, yes. Funny? Definitely. Pure genius. He actually showed how the Doctor was a genius. And at the same time, he was a kid. Too afraid to admit what he really felt. He ran the scales of emotion. An excellent Doctor.
Smith: Poor Matt Smith. Having to follow DT… but he’s given us a Doctor that is funny, self-loathing, but in times, more than any other Doctor, he shows us a Doctor that is Dangerous. Very dangerous. And he can dance.
Thank the gods for Steven Moffat.
Oh, on a side note, in a Leverage episode, two of the characters introduced themselves as “Agents Davies and Moffat.” Which cracked me up to no end.
And yes, the guy who played the invisible man in the dreaded League of Extraordinary Gentleman redeemed himself with Vincent Van Gogh.
TAC
On Leverage, Nate has a number of fake IDs in the names “Tom Baker”, “Peter Davison”, etc…They flip through them once in a Season 1 episode (the one where they’re having to get on the airplane to find the informant they believe is in danger).
Back to DW: I adore Matt Smith to little bits. I really like the way that he’s made the part his own, the little alien touches, the bits where he just doesn’t “get” people. And yes, the fact that he’s a bit dangerous and a bit manipulative, in much the same way that Troughton was: the goofy act conceals a much more scheming mind than you’d expect from the surface.
I believe Smith has said Troughton is his main inspiration. A wonderful idea as if not for Troughton the show could have ended the moment that tried to change the lead actor.
Leverage showrunner John Rogers is a known Who fan, having shown up at Gallifrey One, the LA Who convention.
The producers and writers on Leverage are Doctor Who fans. They’ve stated so in their DVD commentaries. One episode had them boarding an airplane and had them using passports under the names Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Tom Baker and his wife Sarah Jane.
This has been my favorite season of “New Who”. While I liked the RTD seasons, I thought that he tended to go too much over the top with the stories.
I have watched an episode here and there of Doctor Who but this is the first time I’ve watched a whole season and I have to say I loved it! I’m definitely ready for more. I thought Matt Smith was awesome as the Doctor and I enjoyed Amy and Rory too. Between this and the new Sherlock I can’t wait to see what Steven Moffat does next!
Or already did – Jekyll. Like “Sherlock”, it’s a modern-day twist on an older character
.
(There almost seems to be a “stock company” of sorts involved – Michell Ryan {Lady Christine de Souza}, Fenella Woolgar {Agatha Christie} and Meera Syal {Nasreen Chaudhry} all have important roles in “Jekyll”…)
How was Jekyll? That’s one I hadn’t heard about but if it’s as good as the others I’ll try and find it on dvd.
Only watched the first (of six) segments so far, but interesting – the transitions from Dr Jackman to Hyde are interestingly handled – mostly dark contacts with the actor carrying the rest, no fancy CGI or makeup.
.
Hyde comes across as pure id – a child with no brakes with the body and urges of an adult.
.Well worth putting in your Netflix queue.
Loved Jekyll, but Moffat caught my eye with Coupling (the original). And for someone who doesn’t watch sitcoms as a rule, that’s saying something.
TAC
Thanks Mike! I’ve added it to my Netflix queue. I’m looking forward to it.
NBC attempted to Americanize “Jekyll” as “My Own Worst Enemy.” Another failed attempt to adapt a classic!
On the subject of the new Sherlock, did anyone else think that the actor playing Holmes looks like he should be a Doctor?
We ran “Vincent and the Doctor” for the Who-fans at InConJunction last summer. As the episode entered its final moments, I could tell there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.
The Vincent episode was, for my money, one of the best Dr Who episodes ever (speaking as someone who’s been watching since the later Tom Baker years). If ever an argument was needed to justify the existence of this particular TV programme, that one episode would be all that was needed. Well written, superbly played and genuinely moving.
I’m personally of the opinion that Matt Smith is a better Doctor than David Tennant. Not a better ACTOR, Tennant wins there, but whereas Tennant can act quirky at times, Matt Smith *is* quirky, in looks, movement, everything. He makes the perfect 900-odd-year-old alien and I never ever notice how young he is when watching the show. He also has real chemistry with both Karen Gillan and the guy who plays Rory.
I’m with you on the Van Gogh episode by the way – it’s a brilliant piece of writing. Very unlike most DW episodes, but then most of the very best DW episodes aren’t like anything they’ve done before. It’s the genius of the show that they can do something new constantly and still have it be the same programme.
I felt that this past season of Doctor Who was the most even and consistent of the seasons so far since the show returned. And a lot of that is due to Moffat, where as RTD’s series, much like his writing, tended to be all over the place.
.
If anybody is curious, Matt Smith is supposed to be on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson this coming Tuesday night. And then Doctor Who’s principals – the Doctor and companion(s) – are filming in the United States for the very first time later next week in Utah for a story for next season.
As to Matt Smith’s look, both physically and as the Doctor, find on YouTube (or pull out the DVD) the closing credits for Buckaroo Banzai. About 40 seconds in, there’s a shot of Buckaroo (Peter Weller) where he could be the Matt Smith Doctor’s older brother, in all of head shape, hair, and bow tie and tweed. Two Who writers, Paul Cornell and Neil Gaiman, have agreed with me on this.
When he’s in profile, yeah, a lot.
.
PAD
and ’bout time 😀
I am absolutely thrilled Moffet brought Gaiman on board for an episode.
Fairly certain I meant to put this comment elsewhere…I must have been really tired…
Someone told me your first Doctor is usually the Doctor you remember more fondly. And while I kind-of remember some late 80s runs of Tom Baker Doctor in a local TV station, my first was Ecclestone. It took me quite a while to feel confortable with Tennant (tho I now consider him a huge talent, see Blackpool to be able to truly understand how inmense his talent is).
.
So I had a great deal of fun watching my friends, whose first was Tennant, dissing Matt Smith for the first few episodes and then warming up slowly until they started to truly enjoy his additions to the role. Amy Pond was a great addition to the show as well but her importance might have become a bit overwhelming sometimes, and Rory was a much more simpathetic characters than any of the other companion’s companions I have seen in the show.
.
Minor complain: while I enjoyed the weeping angels episodes, the terror they inspired in (the absolutely fantastic) Blink kind of diluted halfwway the second episode of the two-parter.
.
On a tangentialy related note: PAD, I remember mentioning some weeks ago another brit show called Misfits. After watching the first episode of the second serie/season, I can only repeat this recomendation with vehemence. It is absolutely brilliant.
My first Doctor was Tom Baker; in the early to mid Eighties, WGN Chicago was doing reruns, and one morning I flipped the tv on and saw a goofy-looking guy with lots of teeth and curls, wearing a mile of scarf, trying to outsmart a big dámņ robot. My ášš was hooked. I’ve been a devoted fan ever since, although the Colin Baker episodes lost me for awhile, and WGN stopped carrying the show. On DVD I discovered Troughton and Pertwee, and even saw Hartnell a couple of times.
When Eccleston came back, I jumped in with both feet. Haven’t missed one yet.
Travis, I agree, it was a shame that Eccleston only did 13 episodes. Based on those early episodes (in which they were still creating the series itself) I thought he could have been absolutely fantastic. You can’t blame Eccleston though; if the actual production schedule wasn’t so miserable he might have stayed on, but kudos for having the common sense to move on. It’s ironic though, I was in the front row at his press launch in South Wales just before the very first episode aired and he had to sit there with a big smile of his face, knowing he had already quit.
As i recall it, Eccleston had already said he was only doing one series pretty much before the series began airing.
This Doctor is a lot more intellectually aggressive than the last two. While The Doctor has always been clever, this one plays more to that aspect than the others. But that is more in the writing than the acting.
And I really like the new Companion. But I’m a dirty old man. 🙂
I think Matt Smith is doing a great job as the Doctor, and Karen Gillan is likewise impressive as Amy Pond. And PAD, there are definite Troughton influences. In an interview in Doctor Who Magazine #418, Steven Moffat says that Smith was “raving” about “Tomb of the Cybermen”, and how much he loved Troughton. Among other things, Moffat realized the bow tie was a given at that point.
.
Moffat also said that in watching “The Invasion” he felt that all of Troughton’s dialogue could have been spoken by David Tennant’s Doctor; and that, broadly speaking, a lot of what Troughton brought to the character is how the Doctor has been portrayed ever since.
.
“He was always asking for tea and biscuits or something,” Moffat said, adding the Doctor still does that. And he does. See “Victory of the Daleks” as an example. “I was promised tea,” a somewhat petulant Doctor (not unlike Troughton in that regard) complains to a Dalek.
.
I’ve said this elsewhere (and possibly in another thread on this blog), but I suspect that (regeneration and new personality notwithstanding) one reason the Doctor asked Amy to travel with him– after he’d decided to forgo having companions near the end of his 10th incarnation– is that he recognizes his need for someone to keep him grounded. Whether he’ll ever address some of his previous actions as the “Timelord Victorious” remains to be seen.
.
Of course the real world reason the Doctor has a companion is that it’d be rather awkward to have your main character talk to himself all the time.
.
In “Vincent and the Doctor” (a great episode, by the way), the Doctor instructs Amy not to follow him under any circumstances, as he investigates a potentially dangerous situation. Van Gogh asks her if she’s going to follow him. “Of course,” she replies. In that respect, Amy reminds me of one of my favorite companions, Ace, as played by Sophie Aldred opposite Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor.
.
In the episode “Silver Nemesis”, the Doctor and Ace keep vigil on a craft operated by the Cybermen. The Doctor asks Ace, who has a penchant for blowing things up with Nitro-9, much to his annoyance, “I don’t suppose you’ve completely ignored my instructions and secretly prepared any Nitro-9, have you?”
.
“What if I had?” Ace asks.
.
“And naturally you wouldn’t do anything so insanely dangerous as to carry it around with you, would you?”
.
“Of course not. I’m a good girl. I do what I’m told.”
.
“Excellent. Blow up that vehicle.”
.
I suspect the Eleventh Doctor will also come to expect Amy to completely ignore his instructions.
.
(I also liked Ace because (among other things) she whacked a Dalek with a baseball bat in “Remembrance of the Daleks”, when it referred to her as “small.”)
.
Who is River Song? Well, as I said over at ComicMix, we don’t know that she’s the Doctor’s future wife. It’s a possibility, but not the only one. Because of River’s continued use of the term “sweetie”, I doubt she’s Jenny, either.
.
She’ll probably turn out to be the last person anyone would expect: Cameca from “the Aztecs” (who somehow has come to look quite different). Of course, as I also pointed out at ComicMix, Cameca would actually have prior claim over River for the Doctor’s hand in marriage.
.
Speaking of future wives, the Sarah Jane Adventures two-parter, “the Death of the Doctor” (which features an appearance by Katy Manning) has a line that confirms a conclusion reached by some fans (including myself) regarding whether X ever married Y. I’m not naming names to avoid spoilers, albeit minor ones.
.
I also liked the Doctor’s facetious comment (and Russell T. Davies has said it was meant to be facetious) that he can regenerate 507 times.
.
Of course if Doctor Who continues to be successful, there will be a 14th Doctor, the 13 lives limit notwithstanding. When the time comes to cast a 14th Doctor, this is what I would do were I the producer: State that yes, we know Timelords only have 13 lives. So does the Doctor, who doesn’t expect to regenerate. When he does, he’s very confused. Figuring out how and why he’s still alive would then be an obvious story arc of the 14th Doctor’s first season.
.
But getting back to the current season, I also like a particular feature of the redesigned TARDIS console (though I don’t think we’ve seen it used since “The Eleventh Hour”): the inclusion of an Olympia manual typewriter (not dissimilar to one I own).
.
I also really liked the Doctor’s confrontation with the Atraxi in “The Eleventh Hour.” He gets them to acknowledge that Earth isn’t a threat nor have the peoples of Earth violated any of their laws. Then he casually asks what’s happened to others who’ve come to Earth and made threats; and finally, without shouting or raising his voice, introduces himself, and tells them to run.
.
I wonder, though, was that understated threat the reason the Atraxi were there in “The Pandorica Opens”? In fact, in some ways, over the course of his 11 incarnations, the Doctor has (likely unwittingly) reinforced for his enemies that they need to take the steps they take. Not unlike the Doctor’s and Rose’s light-hearted bantering in “Tooth and Claw” setting in motion events that would lead to their forced separation in “Doomsday.”
.
Again, the TARDIS is in good hands with Matt Smith as the Doctor and Karen Gillan as Amy. Looking forward to the Christmas special and the two (yes, two) seasons in 2011.
.
Rick
When they resurrected Doctor Who I was leery but Eccleston really did a great job at portraying the Doctor. His best episode was “The Empty Child”. The sheer joy he showed at the end was to me the best moment in his term as his Whoness.
David Tennent’s arrival was no lurching jump but a shift into high gear. The stories on a whole were much darker with Rose’s storyline and then the End of Time. The introduction of River Song (Alex Kingston) was marvelous. Someone who could finally beat the Doctor at his own game while still on his side. She was a marvelous foil in the Matt Smith series as well.
I found Smith’s Doctor an odd duck at first but have grown to like him. He’s as scattered as Baker was I think. I agree with the comments about Amy and Rory. A good pair. I hope we get to see Jenny again as well. Would she be River’s daughter as well?
“I hope we get to see Jenny again as well. Would she be River’s daughter as well?”
.
If I recall correctly, the whole deal with Jenny was that she was generated from the a cell sample forcibly taken from the Tenth Doctor. Given the way her creation was shown in that episode, it seems unlikely that River Song can be said to be any real genetic relation to Jenny.
.
That said, it’s time travel, so wibbley-wobbly-timey-whimey might make anything possible.
Unless, of course, as Peter suggested above, River is the Doctor…
Well, she knows his name. I figure it’s either him or his mother.
.
I keep wondering if the answer is in her name. I’ve tried various anagrams but haven’t really come up with anything.
.
PAD
I figure the Doctor would recognise himself in a later incarnation by whatever method Timelords use to recognise each other.
I also think bringing in a future Doctor could cause all sort of future continuity problems. Alex Kingston never going to be available when they get to that incarnation and so they have to have some sort of Timey Wimey method for why the Doctor didn’t turn into her.
Also there’s the diary, why would the Doctor need a diary to remember his /her past lifes, unless its all a fake which seems very odd as they have mentioned it so much.
Also some of the dialogue dosen’t make sense if River’s the Doctor, when she first see the 10th Doctor, she says she has never seen him so young. If shes him, or his mum, she must have seem him younger many times, so that becomes a lie, for no real reason.
Not long till we find out now. As it should be coming in the next series.
I figure the Doctor would recognise himself in a later incarnation by whatever method Timelords use to recognise each other.
.
I’m not sure what you base that on. In “Time Crash,” the Fifth Doctor, upon encountering the Tenth Doctor, assumed him to be a fan. In “The Next Doctor,” when the Doctor encounters the titular hero, he firmly believes him to be a future incarnation, and it is only subsequent events that lead him to realize his error. There doesn’t appear to be any mechanism in place for any manner of instant recognition.
.
PAD
.
And in The Five Doctor the 1st Doctor doesn’t recognise himself on the floor of the Tardis. I think ther’s a gag like that between the 2nd and 3rd Doctors in The Three Doctors as well but it’s been a really long time since I watched that one.
The means of timelord recognition appears to be the root of any incarnation’s limited psychic ability–developed to prevent the obvious problem when a timelord changes appearance.
It stands to reason that some safeguard is in place to prevent a past self from recognizing the future self, to prevent future knowledge from accidentally imparting.
There doesn’t appear to be any mechanism in place for any manner of instant recognition.
.
Sometimes Time Lords recognize each other for what they are, some times they do not. The Doctor has recognized future incarnations, and then he hasn’t.
.
I’d say it simply comes down to whatever the story needs, regardless of what’s been said/done in the past.
To prove the point of whether or not one Doctor always recognizes another…
In “The Five Doctors”, when the actor portraying the First approached the then current/Fifth Doctor Peter Davison, he didn’t recognize him at first. The Fifth introduced himself and then the First asked which regeneration was he? Davison’s Doctor responded “The Fourth”, to which the First Doctor replied, “So, there are five of me running around now.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWzt7cmWImY
“To days to come.”
“All my love to long ago.”
It’s claimed that as a child Peter Davison went through the British childhood ritual of hiding behind the sofa from the monsters when watching The Doctor — Patrick Troughton at the time. And then he grew up and got to be The Doctor.
Similarly, David Tennant did the same thing as a child, hiding behind his sofa, watching Peter Davison, then he grew up and got to be The Doctor.
This has got to be the only television show on Earth on which this could happen. What child watched David Tennant and will decide to become an actor and continue the cycle, I wonder?
Although I do miss the long coat. There was just something about the way it flapped when he ran that seemed really cool to me
IIRC, Joss Whedon said the reason they put Angel in a long coat is that it acts like a cape when you run and jump in it. It’s a cape without looking silly in the “real world”.
Personally, I think the casting of Eccleston was unnecessary. Davies should have brought back Paul McGann for a season (and given him a decent chance with the role, Big Finish adventures notwithstanding) and then continued with Tennant.
But what do I know? My favorite Doctor was Colin Baker.
While I do think McGann deserves more time in the role, your argument is shattered by your claim of Colin Baker as the best Doctor.
Ah ah ah. That wasn’t his claim. His claim was that Colin Baker was his FAVORITE Doctor. Something that subjective simply can’t be argued with.
.
PAD
.
Speaking of Big Finish and Colin Baker…
.
It’s odd how he was one of my least favorite TV Doctors, but his performances in the Big Finish Doctor Who productions are some of my favorite ones. I really think his take on the Doctor was damaged by the poor stories of his era more than it was hurt by his actual performance.
I really think his take on the Doctor was damaged by the poor stories of his era more than it was hurt by his actual performance.
.
Pretty much. I believe Big Finish has taken surveys that have basically agreed with you, Jerry: that the 6th Doctor has been the best when it comes to the audios.
.
Oh, and I love Paul McGann’s Big Finish work. I would love to see him brought back to TV for a one off in the vein of the Two Doctors/Three Doctors/Five Doctors specials. He doesn’t look physically that different than he did back then and the hair was a wig so that isn’t an issue. It would be a real hoot if they brought in Charlie as his companion as well.
McGann has said he’s never been approached to reprise his role for the new series.
At least his incarnation of the Doctor has been accepted into continuity. I remember there was a hue and cry from some fans (who intensely disliked aspects of the TV movie) when McGann’s image was included in that journal along with the other Doctors.
.
PAD
.
I guess that’s where I could separate the two things and not have a cow over it. I thought the movie stunk on ice, but I thought that McGann did an excellent job working with what he was given and that he would have been a fantastic Doctor. Most of the Big Finish works have made me think he could have been one of the fan favorite Doctors had he been able to do something more with the character on TV that wasn’t put together by anyone who had a hand in that movie.
I, for one, was very happy that McGann was not forgotten. I really liked his performance, even if the Movie wasn’t the greatest of Who(I mean, Fox was involved).
Although the BBC will not confirm this since the Time War was an off camera event, McGann’s version of the Doctor is the one established as entering that disasterous event. Whether the Doctor regenerated into Eccleston’s version during or after the war’s climax (before “Rose”) has never been stated.
But I do agree with everyone that McGann deserved more screen time.
In Eccleston’s very first episode, he looks in a mirror and comments on how surprised he is at how big his new ears are. I took this to mean that he had just regenerated from the McGann Doctor at the series start. I remember Davies saying in an interview that they didn’t show the regeneration because it had confused too many new viewers of the previous TV movie.
They do leave us some mystery, and that can be a good thing. A show that loses it’s mystery can often lose it’s shine.
It is implied that the Time War caused him to regenerate. In Rose, you see a black and white photograph of Eccelston appearing to be in McGann’s costume.
Russel T. Davies stated that Eccelston is the official 9th Doctor. It’s a certainy that McGann’s doctor was involved in the Time War.
However, it’s unlikely we’d ever see the Time War televised. It would be too violent for a show for all ages, and the mystery behind its events leaves wanting more.
I’d love to see McGann in a multi-Doctor episode with Eccleston, Tenant and Smith, where they all know what he’s going to do to end the war and can’t tell him.
Here’s a fun thought: What if River Song is a fellow Gallifreyan, either a previous one (Romana, the Rani) or a new character? She knows how to fly a TARDIS, she’s clearly comfortable with adventure and the complexities of time travel, she apparently knows the Doctor’s real name (something he never told any companion, not even Rose), and she knows the ancient Gallifreyan language. As for the contention that the Doctor is the last of the Time Lords, that didn’t stop them from bringing the Master back. (Also, I suspect the DOCTOR WHO universe is a lot like D.C. when they Superman is the sole survivor of Kyypton — until they feel like bringing in other Kryptonians.)
It wouldn’t have surprised me if they’d revealed that the members of the High Council had all fled to distant points in space and time and used their respected Chameleon Arches to become human and hide, the way the Master did. Knowing what we know about the High Council, it’s something its members would have done.
.
That said, it’s good that Russell T. Davies didn’t go down that route. Let’s hope Steven Moffat doesn’t, either.
.
Although it would be interesting (and very ironic) if the Doctor encounters members of the High Council who’d fled like the Master did, “tries” them for desertion (or some such thing) and then either exiles them somewhere (separately, of course), like he had been exiled to Earth in his third incarnation. And maybe used the Chameleon Arch on them again, but taken away their pocket watches, so they’d remain human. Something like that (which, if done right, could have the undertones of tragedy and/or regret on the Doctor’s part) would really be the only effective way to reveal that other Timelords are still out there at this point.
.
As to the Timothy Dalton Rassilon and his cronies, it’s not clear whether they constituted the High Council, per se, or, say, the Gallifreyian equivalent of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. For that matter, was Dalton the original Rassilon, brought back somehow, or someone with the same name?
.
Rick
I think a War Council.
As for Rassilon, Yes, I believe it was truly him. The Time Lords brought back the Master who is insane. The Time War was a fight for their very existance; of course they would restore Rassilon.
I never bought into the idea that the Doctor was the last Time Lord. Didn’t make sense. In one of the later Bolo stories the omniscient narrator comments that, once a species has had interstellar travel for a while, it becomes VERY difficult to exterminate them. Makes sense. Well, then, consider that the Time Lord had not only interstellar travel, but time travel as well and … they’re going to be wiped out? Not bloody likely.
Which is why I think there may be some others hidden away. Possibly fallen through the cracks or reality(but not THAT crack), into other realities that are now closed off.
They kind of covered this in the books for the 8th Doctor.
Essentially Galifrey was wiped from time (destroyed for all intents and purposes)
The Doctor was protected from this because he was the one that did it
Every nerd has his blind spot. In my case, it’d Doctor Who. Never watched an episode, the only things I know about it are secondhand. It doesn’t help that I live in a country that probably has never imported many British shows.
.
But we have the first season of TORCHWOOD on DVD. Is it any good? Can you watch it without knowing anything about Doctor Who.
For the most part yes. Torchwood was introduced in DW, as was Capt. Jack Harkness, but except for one episode in season one there isn’t too much that you need to know from it. Quick info is that Jack is from the future (and Bisexual) and that Torchwood investigates alien and other strange things, and the larger main base was recently destroyed.
I wasn’t overly fond of the first season of Torchwood. The second was better. But it’s the third “season”, the mini-series Children of Earth, that’s top of the line science fiction.
Actually, Jack is omnisexual – he will have fun with anyone and anything.
I developed a huge man-crush on the Captain Jack character, first in DW and then in TW. I think he is both the quintessential action hero (his jaw, his pose and the WWII army coat…) and a whole new, different thing. There are moments where he is greater than life.
Thanks. I think I’ll buy it. Except that I have also a thousand other series that I want to buy.
A bisexual male hero? That is certainly very different (and daring, for a TV show).
All my own humble opinion of course:
Torchwood season one – dreadfull
Torchwood seacon two – painfull
torchwood season three – brilliant.
I have no idea how they turned it around so successfully, but turned it around they did.
Now that Neil Gaiman has written an episode when will Mr. David get his chance? And what would it be about?
Probably when hëll freezes over. For starters, I’m not British.
.
PAD
I figure if any “writer” in the sense of creating printed material has shown they could handle a Dr Who script it would be you Peter. The Star Trek stuff alone should make you a shoo-in.
I was very much in the “Only Brits should write Doctor Who” camp until I read John Ostrander’s excellent one-shot comic from a few years back w/ Doctor 10 and Donna. Autotopia, I think it’s called.
Writing for the TV series would be tough, with Moffatt writing nearly half the eps each season. I think they should have at least one “known” writer each season.
On the subject of who River Song is, remember her words in the final episode when she faces the stone Dalek.
“I’m River Song – check your records.”
The reaction of the Dalek to that, as well as other little hints (The fact she knows his name, the way she looks at him, and other hints) lead sme to think that The Doctor and The Master are not the only two Time Lords that escaped – there is one other who both hated and loved him.
I think, as has been speculated elsewhere, she is actually The Rani returned.
And let us not forget what may be the all time *best* Dr. Who line, ever, when River Song comments about why the TARDIS makes the noise it does when dematerializing/rematerializing. Inspired doesn’t half cover it.
I just had an idea. Could River be the physical incarnation of time? Sort of making the Doctor married to time itself? Because rivers and songs flow like time, and time is often not what you think it is, and it’ll go on no matter what?
.
Although, my initial theory about River being Amy from some future time also still(in my head) works. River, Pond…get it?
.
Or is it just that I finally realized something that everyone else has known forever? Brain damage is fun that way.
Or maybe she’s the TARDIS itself in human form. That could be interesting.
.
PAD
Here’s another theory: River Song is a regenerated Susan Foreman. It would explain how she knows his name (she’s family).
Do you think Moffat actually knew who River Song was when he created her or is he making it up as he goes along?
My guess is the latter, but if he’s smart, he’d never admit to it.
.
PAD
Personally, as much as I love River, I would love to see the return of Michelle Ryan… But then again, I just love seeing Michelle Ryan.
River is an enigma… I actually prefer her to stay as an enigma. I like them. Plus I like the sound of the word.
TAC
Human-form Tardis? I think that was done in one of the Novels. However, I don’t think so. She wouldn’t have needed the Vortex manipulator or the Doctor to rescue her from the Byzantine’s Airlock.
Its possible.
She would not be the first sentient tardis
I love this concept. remember how she admonished the Doctor for his riding the brakes upon landing, in addition to instictively knowing how to fly the TARDIS?
I don’t think Moffat has decided who or what River Song is — and I think he *would* admit to it. In one of the commentaries on a DOCTOR WHO episode, he said something like, “When the Doctor is able to open the doors of the TARDIS just by pointing at it, does that mean it’s part of my plan for the series that I’ve had mapped out since I was ten? No, it’s just good storytelling.” I think DOCTOR WHO, more than just about any other series, leaves itself open to contradicting its own history (“Last of the Time Lords” my áršë!) and own set rules (compare the new series’ Sonic Screwdriver to the original). There have been a lot of hints that River will be the Doctor’s wife — but there’s plenty of wiggle room to change that if they’re so inclined.
While were comparing Matt Smith to younger Doctor, I think he also looks like a younger Jon Pertwee. BTW if you’d like a glimpse of a pre-Who Smith, take a look at the deleted scenes on the IN BRUGES DVD.
Boy was my brain out to lunch when I typed that. I could forgive myself for omitting the apostrophe, typos happen, but I meant “previous Doctors” not “younger Doctor”.
In a sense they are younger Doctors, but I get your meaning
I never got the chance to watch the ’63-’89 Who. But I’d heard a lot about it. So, when CBC started airing the ’05 series (they were co-producing Who for a few years) I eagerly started watching.
I really liked both Eccleston and Tennant. I was wondering how Matt Smith would do. The starting bit with the young Amy (man, Gillan’s cousin aced that) showed a lot of potential. But the kicker for me was near the end, with the whole “Leaving is good. Never coming back is better.” And especially “Hello. I’m the Doctor. Basically… run.”
The vast majority of the 1963-1989 run that still exits (a lot of episodes from the 1960s were erased to re-use the tapes) are now available on DVD. If you don’t want to buy them, you might want to try renting from a video store, NetFlix, your local library, whichever.
.
“Basically…run” is a great scene.
.
PAD, as to your theory that River Song may be the Doctor’s mother, Steven Moffat disputed that in his commentary track for “Time of Angels”, pointing out that she’s a bit too flirty with him for it to be that relationship.
.
For that same reason, I think we can eliminate Susan.
.
I said Cameca’s the last person anyone would expect. The other last person anyone would expect would be Dodo Chaplet, who traveled with the first Doctor, and just up and left in the middle of the “The War Machines.” The Doctor frees her from the influence of Wotan in episode 2, and she’s sent away to recuperate. That’s the last we see of her. In episode 4, the Doctor receives word that she’s decided to stay. Almost as if, at the last moment, someone said, “wait a minute. We haven’t explained why Dodo’s not back.”
.
Of course Moffat may decide to be really sneaky and make River a wholly new character and not someone we knew before.
.
Rick