Doctor Who

 During the Christmas period last year I was at home with L, while A and H were in India. Once L used to go to sleep, it was too late to speak to anyone in India, so I used to spend a lot of time youtubing.

Around that period, BBC was pushing the upcoming next season of Doctor Who. There had been a lot of talk of the new Doctor in 2018 when Jodie Whittaker took over and now the next season was due to begin. Now, Doctor Who, for those of you who are not aware, has been on British TV since 1963 (split into a classic era from 1963 to 1989 and a revival era from 2005 onwards with a 16 year hiatus from 1989 to 2005). It has spawned a number of spinoffs including comic books, films, novels, audio dramas, and other television series. There have been over 800 episodes, which puts it in the Guinness Book for the highest number of episodes of a science-fiction programme.

To give some context – it follows the adventure of a Gallifreyan (that’s an alien planet) time traveller called the Doctor who for some reason, not entirely clear to me, has a soft spot for the Earth. The Doctor travels through time and space and generally travels with someone from the Earth, called a companion. Gallifreyans are called Timelords for this ability to be able to travel through time and space and alter it. A key part of the story is that Timelords can regenerate 12 times- which means that if they are about to die or have some serious physical problems, they can change their body. This was a plot device created by the writers in the early 60s when they needed to change the actor playing the Doctor. And it has enabled the programme to carry on for more than 50 years.  But somehow it had never interested me and all the push the BBC was doing also made no difference to me.

One of the things I often watch on Youtube is late night TV show hosts – with Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah being regulars. And perhaps because BBC was advertising Doctor Who so much, Youtube threw up a late 2018 episode of Stephen Colbert interviewing Jodie Whittaker, just before her first series was going live. Which I saw. And I must say that I really liked her in the interview. So, finally I felt that perhaps I should watch it and see what the fuss is about. Series 12 was about to release in a few days but given the hype over the change of the Doctor in series 11, I thought it made sense to first see Season 11 if possible. And while it wasn’t there on Youtube, it was all available on BBC iplayer.

So, after putting L to sleep, I started watching season 11. And I absolutely loved the programme. It was brilliant! Having watched Season 11, season 12 was now ready to broadcast…but only once a week. But iplayer had all the seasons of the revived era (going back to 2005), so I went back to 2005 and started going through the entire series, while also watching Season 12, as it threw up new episodes. It was quite interesting to watch and compare the earlier doctors with the current one. And at the end of it all, I am a confirmed Dr Who fan (though I wouldn’t call myself a Whovian -much like how I am a Star Trek fan but wouldn’t consider myself a Trekkie. Or I am a big Harry Potter fan but wouldn’t consider myself a Potterhead).

It’s difficult to say what exactly I like about it – it’s just very nice. The science fiction piece obviously allows them to make up all sort of things but there is an innate humanity to it, which is awesome – generally, the better episodes are in my opinion, the ones where they go back in history to different points in time. But that is not to say there are not great episodes set in the future or in other worlds. It’s just very well made.

One of the interesting things about the programme is how well the Doctors fit into the role. When I was watching Chris Ecclestone, he was the Doctor. Just made perfect sense. When David Tennant took over, it was a bit disappointing and indeed sad to see Ecclestone go. But within a couple of episodes, Tennant was the Doctor as if he had always been the Doctor. Seeing him go again filled one with trepidation. But by the end of Matt Smith’s very first episode, he was the Doctor (his lines in that episode “who da man” and “basically, run!” are absolute classics in my view). Peter Capaldi was a very different kind of doctor- took a little time to get used to him but then again, he delivers “Heaven Sent”, which is arguably the finest Doctor Who episode of the revival era – the phrase “tour de force” is well deserved in this context. And Jodie Whittaker has now made the role her own – I feel she has had weaker scripts than most of her predecessors got but within that she has still created her own niche- she is the Doctor, just as much as any of her predecessors were.

So, who’s been the best Doctor of them all? It’s one of those questions which you know is unfair but one which you ask anyway. While it is a close thing, and everyone will have their own view on this, I have no real hesitation in choosing Matt Smith. He had that flair, that insouciance which was so reassuring. None of the other doctors could really have said “who da man” in that manner and got away with it. Matt Smith rocks in this role. Having not seen The Crown, I have not seen Matt Smith anywhere else (unlike say Capaldi and Tennant whom I have seen in a number of other roles) so he’s always the Doctor to me.

It is easier to choose the best Doctor because the base character is the same – you are really choosing who gives the best vibes on the screen. The situation is slightly more complicated when it comes to the companions. There is obviously the one you like the most, the one who gels the best with the Doctor, etc. But more fundamentally, who is the best companion as a character, and that is a slightly different question.

If you consider for a moment, the slightly longer term companions the Doctor has had, are largely people who are, how shall I put it…not the most well rounded or successful. Rose is a shop assistant who has no real idea what she wants from life. Donna is in a relationship with a HR manager who is really working for the Empress of the Racnoss – not the most successful relationship. Amelia is working as a kissogram with no clear idea of what her relationship with Rory is like (at the point) – though in her case certainly part of her problems in life are due to the Doctor just vanishing and leaving her hanging for 12 years. It is not very clear to me what Bill is doing – she works in the kitchen at the university, doesn’t she? It’s only Clara and Martha who seem to have some sense of self-esteem and a decent life independent of the Doctor. And based on the stories, Martha is clearly the more accomplished – not professionally as such – one is a doctor (I am not sure if she is a doctor or still a student), the other a teacher- different type of accomplishments which are difficult to compare. But as a companion, Martha certainly achieves more – she takes on the mantle of fighting the Master and succeeds on her own- than any other companion. And she is perhaps the only companion, who leaves the Doctor completely on her own terms, and then builds a successful life after that. She is clearly the most accomplished of the Doctor’s companions.

But as a character on TV to whom you react, she is not that positive- partly because she is so soppily in love with the Doctor. In my opinion, companions who got romantically involved (from their side) with the Doctor did not work as well as those who were just along for the ride. Clara is an interesting case – she obviously is in love with Danny but what is her relationship with the Doctor. I think she is in love with him as well but it is not clear that even she understands it.  

But personally, I felt Amy Pond was the best of the companions. Donna and Clara were also good but there is something in the relationship between the Doctor and Amy which works very well-  they are mates who bounce off each other well and who care for each other deeply. That might partly have something to do with Matt Smith as the doctor but my vote goes to Amy Pond as the best companion.

But there are 2 other people who travel with the Doctor, who are perhaps not defined as companions but are very important in the scheme of things –and they are among the most intriguing characters in the entire canon.

First, River Song, who is just brilliant – her one showing with David Tennant is fine but her time with Matt Smith is electric. Here is a companion who is clearly in love with the Doctor but is not soppy about it at all. She gives him hell all the time – it’s clear that she can manage the Doctor better than anyone else can. She goads him, makes fun of him but she cares for him all the same. The opposing timelines is a bit difficult to get one’s head around but given she is also a time traveller, I am not sure it makes much sense. It would be great to see her interact with Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor but I am not sure how that would work out.

And then there is Missy! (As an aside, given Missy, I don’t understand all the hullabaloo over the Doctor being a woman when Jodie Whittaker took over - it seems quite absurd given that the precedent had already been set by Missy.) What can one say about Missy? Having seen the entire revival series of Doctor Who over the last 3 or 4 months, at the end of it all the character who stands out the most is Missy (though River does run her close).  I don’t have enough knowledge of the background of the Master to be able to get a good understanding of the Master. John Sims as Master was fine – a bit OTT at times. And Derek Jacobi did not even know he was the Master, so does not really count. But Michelle Gomez, who plays Missy, was just the perfect amount of “cool”. And of course, her evolution as a character was tremendous -Sacha Dhawan actually seems a bit of a backward step. 

Unfortunately, I don’t fully understand the historical relationship between the Doctor and the Master, so it is not clear to me how much of the evolution is sensible or not. E.g when Missy tells the Doctor that she wants the Doctor to know that they are not really different – why is she doing that – what is the motivation behind that? Why is Missy the way she is? The fact that, in spite of that fundamental question remaining seemingly unanswered, Missy is such a compelling character is a testament both to the writing and to Michelle Gomez. But nonetheless, her character and her relationship with the Doctor could have been better fleshed out.

But then the character stories and relationships are anyway so complicated in Doctor Who that it would make Bold and the Beautiful proud. Just as an example consider the scene where River Song shoots the Doctor. Just think of it in black and white – The Doctor is shot by his wife, while looking on from a distance are

·       his best friend (who also happens to be his mother-in-law), pregnant with his to-be wife;

·       his best friend’s boyfriend/husband (who also happens to be his father-in-law); and

·       his to-be wife (who by the way, is shooting her husband at the same time, while also having been the best friend of her mother and father, while all three were growing up).

I know that last sentence makes almost no sense but it is also all correct and makes perfect sense while watching it. And before any further comments can be made -  even though I have just seen only an odd episode of Bold and Beautiful, I can unhesitatingly say that Doctor Who is wholly and vastly superior to it.

But that is one of the issues about Doctor Who, which is both a positive and a negative- the time travel. It is of course, the basic premise of the story. But it also allows for all sorts of convolutions, which are not always internally consistent. E.g. when Rose and the Doctor travel back to see her father, the Doctor continually warns her about the fact that the Doctor and Rose (from another journey) should not see them – also that Rose should not touch herself (e.g. as the baby) because that could cause all sorts of problems – people meeting (and specifically being in physical contact with) themselves is held out to be this absolute disaster. However, the Doctor keeps running across himself all the time. And that never seems to be a problem.  

Still, it all works!

Or, has till now. But, what next for the Doctor. Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor has taken a lot of flak. A lot of it appears to be somewhat sexist. But I do think it is fair to say that the last two series of Doctor Who have been among the weakest. And that has primarily been because of the writing. First, the quality of the stories in the last two seasons has just not been as good as the past. There have been some good stories – like Kerblam (clearly inspired by Amazon) and the Haunting of the Villa Diodati – but overall the quality has been lacklustre. Further, the companions are clearly the weakest till now. Even Wilfred and Nardole, with limited outings, are better than them. Graham is ok but Ryan and Yas are just so poorly fleshed out, especially Ryan (doesn’t help that he can’t act too well, either). I sincerely hope that these two were not put in just for “diversity” reasons but it does appear that the authors seem to have decided “we need to have a black person and an Asian, and one of them needs to be a woman”, and then spent time on developing the one white male character, Graham. Such diversity is of no use, indeed it is counter-productive.

But the bigger criticism has been the “playing with the canon”, especially the reveal with the Timeless Child. Now, I am not a Whovian, so the playing with the canon is not such a big issue with me but I can understand why it is an issue for many people. However, series 12 has ended with a number of unresolved issues so one hopes that these will all be managed somehow in series 13. In the past, Doctors have often had overarching themes such as Rose Tyler and the Bad Wolf or Clara Oswald and the impossible girl. Nothing seems to have been built into Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor as yet but perhaps it is there and we haven’t seen it yet. For now, I am still willing to give the authors the benefit of the doubt and let them have the next season before passing final judgement on Jodie Whittaker.

But they do need to change the companions fast. These 3 have already lasted 2 full seasons – Amy and Clara might have done more episodes but these three are getting there quickly. So, a change is needed soon. I have never understood why the companions tend to come from modern day Britain and a contemporary time period. I get the reason to do it as a TV serial being made in a certain time and place. But if one programme can transcend it, it is Doctor Who. It would be great to have a companion from a clearly different time period- even a famous historical person- and geography. I had initially thought at one point that Agatha Christie would be a great companion – using her unexplained disappearance for 10 days as the period she travels with the Doctor, and possibly have stories which allow her to get some material for her later books. But of course that went out of the window, once there was a story where the Doctor and Donna go back in time to see her. But I am sure there can be other famous people who can be used for this, such as Jimmy Hoffa. I leave this as an exercise for the Doctor Who production team.

Either way, whatever happens going forward, there is more than enough of the Doctor for this to remain another one of the enduring TV classics. If you haven’t seen this as yet, it’s worth it. And for the Netflix generation – well seasons 1 to 10 are on Netflix (at least in the UK). And as for me…I am already having withdrawal symptoms - I need to quickly figure out how to get my hands on the 63-89 episodes!