GEEK VS GEEK
You
really can’t be British and ignore the cultural
phenomenon that is Doctor Who. One of my
earliest memories is hiding behind our horrendous orange
patterned sofa scared of the Daleks (in my parents’
defense, it was the 70’s). That memory is closely
followed by another of the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker)
turning into the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison), who was
really my Doctor. So, Classic Who
definitely has a place in my heart, was part of my
childhood and I wouldn’t change those memories for the
world. But I also vividly remember that Classic Who lost the plot, jumped the space shark and became more about the Doctor’s costume than a serious drama, albeit one aimed primarily at children. While I don’t deny that without the great concept, many years of existence, and cultural fondness for the Classic run, Reboot Who wouldn’t exist at all, Reboot Who is the reason why Doctor Who lives on and may yet get the chance to continue for many more years to come.
I’m not going to disparage Classic Who either for the dodgy effects, obviously men-in-costumes-aliens (although the Licorice Allsort monster kind of does deserve a mention), or the sometimes flaky set design. After all, Classic Who never had the benefit of today’s technological advances that Reboot Who enjoys -- and I’ll even concede that Reboot still does have all of the same, despite the better production quality. Let’s face it; there’s only so far CGI can go in making a space-flying police box look realistic.
Nor am I going to argue that the Doctors are better in the Reboot or the companions are better in the Reboot. All the Doctors have their followings as do all the companions, and frankly everybody is entitled to their favorite without getting into a ‘yours is so much better than mine’ debate.
That
said, let’s focus on why Reboot Who rules
and which reboot I mean. The TV movie of 1996 really
failed at rebooting the franchise and kind of falls into
the crack between Classic Who and Reboot
Who; betwixt and between as they say. Reboot
Who, for me, is the TV series which launched in
2005 with the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) to
the present day. It could also be argued that the TV
series has rebooted twice; once with its launch, and
again with the advent of the Eleventh Doctor (Matt
Smith)… but let’s not go there.The Last of the Time Lords
From the start, Reboot Who took a more serious tone than its Classic forefather. The new series had a darker edge as it focused on making the Doctor the last of the Time Lords. The Ninth Doctor was recovering from the loss of Gallifrey and his part in the end of the Time War -- as evidenced in the episode “Dalek” (27.06). The Doctor went from being a renegade, very clever Time Lord who stopped by and helped out in crisis situations to being the last of his kind. It made the Doctor a more tragic and vulnerable figure. The angst of being the last of his kind has made for great drama, particularly in the Master (Derek Jacobi/John Simms) storyline that ran through Season 29 with the Tenth Doctor (David Tennent) and culminated in the great three-part “Utopia/The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords” (29.11-13), the Tenth Doctor’s demise after preventing the return of the Time Lords (“The End of Time”) and even the Eleventh Doctor has had to deal with it in “The Beast Below” (31.02).
Reinventing the Monsters
If
the Doctor was given a more serious edge, so too were
the monsters that had, by the end of the Classic run,
become something of a running joke. Exhibit A: ‘How do
you outrun a Dalek?’ Answer: ‘Go up a flight of stairs!’
So, the monsters were given an overhaul. Old favorites
the Daleks got hovering ability allowing them to chase
people up the stairs -- but importantly continued their
galactic domination efforts including stealing entire
worlds. The Cybermen became all the more creepy for the
lobotomy of real people involved. The Master, as played
by John Simms, became a truly disturbed sociopath. But
there has also been the introduction of new threats such
as the Weeping Angels in the award winning episode
“Blink” (29.10), the Ood and more recently, the Silence.Adult Notes in a Family Show
In taking the show to a more serious place, Reboot Who has found that very fine line that Pixar movies excel at walking: namely, keeping an adult audience interested while retaining its mandate as a family-, and importantly, children-friendly show. The storylines have become much more complex and filled with depth. A good example of that is the outstanding “Vincent and the Doctor” (31.10) where the Eleventh Doctor meets Vincent Van Gogh (Tony Curran). Written by guest writer Richard Curtis (Blackadder, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually), it explored the art and work of Van Gogh and his mental illness.
Companionable Relationships
In
keeping with the adult notes, the relationships between
the Doctor and his companions have been explored, with
romance more overtly on the menu: from the Ninth
Doctor’s infamous kiss of life with Rose (Billie Piper)
in “The Parting of Ways” (27.13) to the whole
Rose-Doctor angst through Tenth’s tenure which included
a side-trip into Martha’s (Freema Agyeman) one-sided
Doctor crush and a best mate deal with Donna (Catherine
Tate), to the Eleventh’s Doctor’s friendship with Amy
(Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill), and his recent
locking of lips with the enigmatic River Song (Alex
Kingston), Reboot Who has discovered Romance in
a way the Classic series always eschewed.Having now read the counter-argument by my opponent in this debate, the very talented Seanan, I have to admit that she has a point if you buy into the premise that all the media, (the TV show, the audio plays, the novelizations), constitute one enduring timeline. But as the general audience tends to only follow the TV element, there is an obvious gap between Classic and Reboot: a very definite ending of one, and a very definite new beginning established by the other. Still, I am tempted by her point that Doctor Who simply regenerated.
But I maintain my case for Reboot Who. It will always owe much to the brilliant concept of the Doctor, the TARDIS and the love created by Classic Who but the classic form ultimately failed to be something that audiences wanted to watch. Reboot Who regenerated the franchise into a serious sci-fi show that is more popular than ever and shows no sign of stopping. Reboot Who is the reason why Doctor Who lives on.
--
Rachel Day
Visit our comment form!
HOME