The new Doctor Who series has impressed me. I think it achieves everything the original wanted to be and more. But it acknowledges respectfully that it owes a great deal to what came before it.
Growing up, I would occasionally catch an episode of Doctor Who featuring Tom Baker or John Pertwee on PBS. But when I really tried to get into it, Peter Davison had taken over the role and I saw a majority of his run when it initially ran on PBS. And despite Doctor Who being one of those things I liked as a kid and pretty much loathe as an adult, something stoked the fires tonight.
On YouTube, I just watched the 7-minute Doctor Who special where the current (10th) Doctor meets Peter Davison, the fifth Doctor.
The special opens quickly with a time catastrophe starting and in the control room of the TARDIS, Peter Davison shows up. After solving the problem, David Tennant delivers a beautifully written monologue, a fan letter of sorts, to Peter Davison. Nearing the end, Tennant says, “‘Cuz you know what Doctor? You were my Doctor.” And I realized that even if adult-CT doesn’t like Doctor Who, somewhere inside was kid-CT screaming, “Yes! He’s my Doctor, too!”
The solution to the problem was real convenient, but I didn't mind. That's the drawback of the special only being seven minutes long. There are flaws, but they really aren't dwelling on the plot in this special.
And I'd rather see Peter Davison stuffed into his old outfit than I would Tom Baker stuffed into his.
The former Doctor I want to see return is Paul McGann. It was his doctor that allegedly fought in the big time war. It would be interesting to see him turn up and allow us to get a little insight into the "lost Doctor."
As a big fan of Doctor Who, let me say the new series is quite fantastic, a thousand times better than the serialized episodes of the previous/original series.
This new special left me feeling cold, though. I just didn't like seeing the fifth Doctor stuffed into his old costume. And of course the solution to the problem was far too clever.
Going back reading through some old posts, I saw that I ended my Star Trek: The Next Generation tribute post by saying "Happy anniversary Star Trek: The Next Generation. You were my Star Trek."
Interesting. I wonder if the writers of Doctor Who read this blog…
I've thought about Netflixing the new Dr. Who. Fifty million Time Lord fans can't be wrong, right?
I remember when I was about 14, my mom was getting extremely cheap presents for one of my cousins (I have something like 75 first cousins on my mom's side). And she had this Dr. Who activity book. And I tried to explain why my hayseed cousin from Evansville would not be into this, because I was a massive nerd and even I wasn't into this.
I think Doctor Who did for television in the UK (and to some degree television all over) what the old serials in the 30s did for movies.
I'm not going to try to convince you to like it. I can't sit and watch any of the old shows myself. But there is something to be said for the attempt to tell a story despite budgetary limitations. Kind of like how Pandora's Box was so great.
The Eccleston episodes were pretty solid. I've only had a chance to see a couple of the Tennant episodes, but I may try to rectify that in the next couple months.
Neither young nor adult Jeeg get Dr. Who. The latest incarnation, at least the ones I have seen with Christpher Eccleston, were much more enjoyable than the multi-hour snorefests from the 70s and 80s. You know, the episodes where the first 90 minutes would consist mainly of plodding exposition and shots of our protagonists appearing puzzled or dismayed and would eventually culminate with some nameless extras shooting hair dryers at Daleks while Tom Baker or Peter Davison saved the day with a logic puzzle or some such thing.
Do I need to give David Tennant a shot or is Dr. Who just never going to trip my trigger?