For the last few weeks, I've spent my off-hours consuming the four seasons of the new Doctor Who series (2005-2008). I became obsessed.
As a kid, I would often catch ancient episodes of Doctor Who on PBS. My memory of them is hazy: a succession of running through hallways; a galaxy of blinking lights and buttons; a parade of different people all swirling around different doctors. I liked the curly-haired and long-scarfed Doctor of Tom Baker the best, for no discernible reason. I never really knew who the enemies were, but I understood the concept: the Doctor regenerates into new bodies instead of dying, his nemesis is the Master, the Doctor travels in a TARDIS/time machine/police box, and there are a bunch of supporting characters as well. I liked the old series but wasn't very well versed in it.
After getting Netflix, I became aware of the Instant-Watch option for several TV shows. Doctor Who was one of them. On a whim, I started watching and that was it. I couldn't stop.
The imagination, the humor, and the darkness are what get me. The ethical dilemmas and the twisting continuities keep me around. In 2005, Christopher Eccleston played the Doctor, and his emotional fire was exhilarating. I hadn't expected such life to be breathed into the character. When he changed into David Tennant, I thought I'd be disappointed... but he just got better.
Doctor Who has been on for such a long time, and the writers really try to use everything in the universe of the show. Which is why watching Doctor Who on your computer is so important and interesting. When the Dalek showed up, I could look up "Dalek" on Wikipedia and see their whole history. I didn't look down the page enough to ruin anything (although really, since the whole show is about paradoxes and time travel, does it matter that I know future events?). The only better way to view Doctor Who would be if they hyperlinked the image of each character on the screen, so I could just click on Rose Tyler and go here, the Master and go here, and so on. (I'll take .5% of the profits on that innovation, thanks.)
But the show is formulaic. Random people die just so the Doctor stays alive. Or somebody else does the dirty work while the Doctor sticks to his nonviolence routine. I'd have loved it if the simple, boxed-in, Twilight-Zone-esque drama of the Midnight episode had been resolved more cleverly than it was (watch it and you'll see what I mean; the whole buildup was so intense, and it really had me twisted in knots, but then it ended so abruptly).
All the same, it is worth watching, 2005 on. (On the other hand, I can't say I'm all that interested in Torchwood, the Doctor Who spinoff. It feels a bit like ST:TNG's Voyager--a noncompelling lead character mired in mildly-interesting plotlines.)
2 comments:
Yay--a new (new) Who-watcher :)
Agreed that some of the episodes are formulaic but I think it's important to remember that DW is part of BBC's "3G programming" (grandmums to grandkids, 3 generations) and broadcast early (7pm, I think?) so has to follow certain conventions, a quick and simple resolution to storylines being one of them. It started out (and still is, in many senses) as a kids' show.
Torchwood (which is pretty crappy but perfect to watch with a bunch of mates so you can make fun of its storylines/characters) is the show targeted to grown-ups (which is translated in the show as lots of interspecies "relations", not much plot :))
If Torchwood is "Doctor Who for adults," I don't want to graduate to that demographic.
I think DW is perfect for 3G, something for everyone. With that in mind, I can't complain as much, which is what the blogger in me is somehow trained to do.
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