Doctor Who, anyone?

Posted on December 5, 2018 (Subscribe to Blog)

I've been binge-watching Doctor Who lately. Whether you're a fan or not, you can't deny its imagination! I've been a fan since I was kid, but the earliest episode I remember was the start of Tom Baker's run in December 1974. I was five years old at the time. I have vivid memories of many of those Tom Baker serials, including this terrifying giant robot:

Doctor Who's ROBOT from the Tom Baker years

Hmm. Well, maybe not so terrifying anymore. Very slightly comical, in fact. Now, I could go on about those old days -- the first meeting with Davros, the terrifying Hand of Fear, the even more terrifying Krynoid plant monsters that hatch from pods (pre-dating the Alien movies) -- but I'll just say quickly that "classic" Doctor Who ran from 1963 until its sad demise in 1989. It returned in 1996 as a TV movie, then died again.

Then, in 2005, it burst back onto the screens with Christopher Eccleston and a far healthier BBC Budget. I've seen every episode of Doctor Who ever, but this was the first time I'd seen it living up to its potential on modern screens. Let's face it -- after Star Wars in 1977, the BBC budget just didn't work anymore.

After thirteen male actors in the role, now the Doctor is a WOMAN! And she's great!

All the Doctors

Even though I've watched every episode there ever was, I wanted to go back and binge-watch all these "modern" stories since 2005 so I could remind myself of the good, the bad and the ugly.

I could probably pick three excellent episodes from each season so far, and three utterly awful ones, with the rest simply being fun. I never much cared for the Eccleston Doctor, and even less so now. He's just goofy-looking with those over-the-top smiles. And he doesn't really do anything. He spends a lot of time explaining what's happening and then stands back while others deal with it.

His companion Rose, on the other hand, is awesome, stealing the show pretty much all the way through. David Tennant is awesome too, and in the second season the Doctor finally gets to share the limelight with her. And then Rose leaves at the end of the second season, leaving us with Martha Jones in the third season, who's just... meh.

But let's not forget Donna Noble, played by the fabulous Catherine Tate. She shows up in the Christmas Special at the start of the second season. It was hard to watch her at first because, well, she's the comic genius of The Catherine Tate Show... but she really makes an impact in that Christmas episode. No wonder she returns later in the series!

But I'm not there yet. I'm currently halfway through the third season and have just watched a Dalek become the first Human-Dalek. Yes, well, okay. Look, I'm a huge fan of the show, but that doesn't mean I can't see how silly it can be. The word "naff" springs to mind quite frequently. But the show as a whole is way too much fun not to watch, and there are some really GREAT episodes along with the "okay" and "meh" ones.

A quick rundown so far:

Season One Favorites in Order

The Empty Child -- Atmospheric war-time story with creepy hospital patients "wearing" gas masks. Lots to enjoy in this first part of a story. And Captain Jack makes his first appearance! (The Doctor doesn't do much.)
Dalek -- The first Dalek story since the old days, and the BBC finally had the budget to show us everything a Dalek could be. All the classic questions were answered, like "What's the plunger for?" and "What are all the spots for?" and "What if you approach a Dalek from behind?" and "How does a Dalek get up the stairs?" It was brilliant. In fact, pretty much all the solitary Dalek stories to date have been great, whereas stories with millions of the buggers are usually just meh.
The Unquiet Dead -- A great Charles Dickens story with an awesome ghostly presence. The old woman stalking toward the camera with her face lit up in a ghostly blue is still a scene to remember.

An honorable mention to Bad Wolf, which started out a bit meh in the Big Brother house but soon became a really breathless episode where Rose apparently dies twice!

But on the downside for Season One, there's the Slitheen. And the less said about them, the better. OMG. (Covers face not in fright but in shame.)

The Slitheen

Let's move on.

Season Two Favorites in Order

The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit -- Yes, I know it's two episodes, but it's two parts of one story, and it's fantastic. Solid, serious sci-fi, and the Satan beast is better than most I've ever seen on TV. It's like, "Wait, is this really Doctor Who I'm watching?" The Ood were a bit naff, but I forgive them.
The Girl in the Fireplace -- Some clever ideas here. I like that the Doctor, who arrives on a spaceship in the 51st century, steps through a strange fireplace and meets a little girl in her bedroom in the 18th century, then returns a few moments later to find that same girl is all grown up into Madame de Pompadour. This episode was apparently inspired by Audrey Niffenegger's excellent novel The Time-Traveler's Wife. It also reminds me of Amy Pond's first episode later in the show.
Tooth & Claw -- A surprisingly decent werewolf story, and set in Queen Victoria days at a creepy mansion. Rose continually asks the queen if she's amused -- or more to the point, not amused.

The awesome Beast from The Satan Pit

I find it amazing that this season has a two-part Cyberman story and a two-part Cyberman/Dalek story! For me, that's too much. Anytime they do massive armies of Cybermen and Daleks with the destruction of the planet at stake... it's just always a bit boring to me. I like the much smaller personal stories. The Doctor doesn't always have to save the entire universe from destruction.

Doctor Who -- Cybermen vs. Daleks

As I said, I'm currently halfway through Season Three and will continue this somewhat shallow analysis later -- if you're interested.

I'll finish for now by saying that Doctor Who has always inspired me. Forget how naff things can be sometimes. This is a Timelord who travels around in a blue box! When I started my Sleep Writer series, I always wanted something that could take our heroes anywhere, possibly across time and other dimensions as well. Liam, Ant, and Madison can literally step from Earth onto the surface of another planet millions of light years away. Or they can remain on Earth and deal with alien incursions or other weird stuff. It's just flexible and fun!

I have Sleep Writer Book 5 mapped out. More on that in another post...

Comment by SIMON on Thursday, December 6, 2018...

Couldn't agree with you more, Keith. On every point. You probably know - but in case you don't - you can now buy Tom Baker's first series on disc as a single box set (it includes some lovely extras, including a wonderful interview with the great man himself) - first time an entire series of classic Who has been made available as a single box set.

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Thursday, December 6, 2018...

Ah, good old Tom! It was brilliant when he showed up in The Day of the Doctor. :-)

Comment by NIGEL on Thursday, December 6, 2018...

Great comments, Keith, completely agree with you. Chatting to Simon earlier, we both see Jodie Whittaker as simply a regenerated Doctor. Completely unphased by her gender. Some of the plots don't bear too much scrutiny, but I have loved this series.

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Thursday, December 6, 2018...

Me too! Yes, at first, all that initial talk of a female Doctor made me a bit doubtful, but about three seconds after Jodie pulled her hood back, I thought, "Okay, I'm willing to give this a try." And I think she's great. I like how she's now faced with a new threat — that of male chauvinism. She's the Doctor and normally commands the room, but King James wasn't having any of it. She's "just" a woman indeed! It's an interesting twist though.

I read somewhere that we have yet to see her get really angry, and that's true. Will she get fired up like her past incarnations?

As for her companions... I don't mind having three of them, but if we had to drop one, I think it should definitely be Ryan. He's kind of mopey and a bit pointless. Graham reminds me a little bit of Roy Castle from the Peter Cushing Dalek movies. He's the best of the three, I think. Yaz is fine. But you're right, we need some better writing if only to showcase them all properly. Mostly they're just window dressing, and you can almost hear them thinking, "Okay, what can I do to look useful? Maybe I'll go and see how that poor victim is doing..." It's like kids pretending to look busy so they don't get roped into doing chores. I swear in the last episode, the Doctor ordered TWO of them to go and lock the door.

I really like the new anamorphic lens and moody soundtrack. It all got a bit too dramatic and in-your-face in recent times, and it was hard to hear what anyone was saying. Even now, the sound is weird — voices can be really loud one minute, and then the music and explosions cut in and their voices fade to the background. But maybe it's just a poor-quality broadcast. I'm watching the old episodes on Amazon, and the sound is fantastic.

Show/hide all posts