Dr. Who and British Science Fiction

The BBC-Wales series, Dr. Who, may be the most successful revivalist effort in the history of science fiction. That may not be true financially (what, in what universe, can compete with Star Trek?), but it is surely true in artistic terms. The original series, which ran from 1963 to 1989, was a lot of fun. I will always fondly remember Tom Baker's Doctor. But it was largely an adolescent business, with ridiculously low production values. The new series, was a little better in presentation, though it continued some of the babes in wonderland costumes and sets from the old one. But the new series excelled in writing and acting.

Christopher Eccleston was the first Doctor in the 2005 revival. He was very good, and I missed him when he dematerialized. But David Tennant was simply masterful, and we will not see his like again. I remember one scene where he was trying to peacefully reconcile the British Government with one more gaggle of Alien Invaders. Giving a Captain Kirk like speech, he sudden stops in the middle of his rhetoric and says: "no, wait a minute, that was the Lion King." That was good.

I just finished watching one of Tennant's last performances as The Doctor. "Planet of the Dead" was rocking good sci fi, and had all the charms of the reborn series. But I couldn't help comparing it to the Torchwood miniseries that I recently posted on. In the past I usually judged Torchwood to be good, but at best a diminished spin-off of the Dr. Who franchise. But Children of Earth blew away anything achieved on Dr. Who.

The Doctor is a great invention. He gives us a very appealing character, unlimited by time, space, or mortality. His compassion and forgiveness are preternaturally large, if not quite unbounded. But most of all, he has the charm of competence. No matter what is going on, he always figures out what to do about it. In the recent show, he tells his ally, a beautiful, aristocratic jewel thief, that "the worse it gets, the more I love it." Well, if you have all the time in the universe at your disposal, what else will get your TARDIS moving?

Another Doctor is coming. We can only hope. I note that BBC Wales is based in the city of Cardiff.

Comments

[Doctor Who Fan]

"I will always fondly remember Tom Baker's Doctor. But it was largely an adolescent business, with ridiculously low production values. The new series, was a little better in presentation, though it continued some of the babes in wonderland costumes and sets from the old one. But the new series excelled in writing and acting. "

You might want to rent an episode or two of the classic series. You'll find it too has excellent writing and acting (with some admitted exceptions, but not even Doctor Who is perfect).

I would especially recommend "The City of Death", which may be the best Doctor Who story ever. Co-written by Douglas Adams (Hitchhikers Guide author), the story was shot on location in Paris and features one of the best ever Doctor-companion pairings: the fourth Doctor and Romana II.

Fun story, great dialogue, and some of my personal all-time favorite scenes from the old or the new series. Oh, and if you're a Monty Python fan, you'll find a John Cleese cameo in episode 4.

I'd also suggest "The Ark in Space", "The Sontaran Experiment" and "Genesis of the Daleks" (which all form a story arc and should be watched in that order)... And far too many others for me to list here.

/die-hard Doctor Who fan since 1978

[Daniel]

Nice thoughts. Just a quick note for you: TARDIS is an acronym (Tima And Relative Dimensions In Space) and thus is capitalised.

[Sharon E. Dreyer]

Dr. Who is undoubtedly one the notable science fiction series so far. The BBC has an equally excellent show entitled, Primeval. In addition, Torchwood is becoming a series with a great following. Enjoy all three series and am amazed by their quality. Thanks BBC and thank you for a great article!

Check out my first and recently released novel, Long Journey to Rneadal. This exciting story is a romantic action adventure in space.

[Erik]

KB:

I'm a scifi fan but I have never really gotten Dr. Who. For the skeptical, can you give me a good pitch?

Erik

PS By the way, the CBS show Jericho is marvelous. Have you seen that? Excellent post-apocalyptic serial.

[KB]

Dr. Who Fan: My comments on the original show are based on rather stale memories. I don't think I have seen an episode in twenty years or more. I do remember it as being generally fun, but I never took it seriously. I take the contemporary series seriously.

Erik: to add a little to what I say above, I like the idea of time travel. I think its paradoxes are great ways of exploring the human heart. My favorite episode was "The Girl in the Fireplace". Dr. Who finds and abandoned spaceship with a time space portal to the bedroom of Madame De Pompadour, a famous courtesan and lover of Louis XV. But everytime he pops through the hole, decades have passed. This has heart-wrenching consequences. I have seen it several times, and every time I cry. Really. That's the best case I can make.

[Erik]

KB:

To get all scifi geek on you is it better than the TOS City of the Edge of Forever?

Also, is it best to start watching Dr. Who from the beginning or can you jump right in?

Erik

PS IMHO, Somewhere in Time is an excellent time travel tale. Matheson wrote the novel, I think, and Reeve and Seymour are great.

[Matthew]

Hasn't anyone watched the newest revision of Battlestar Galactica? An all around amazing series. Don't let it's previous incarnation turn you off; the newest version tackles some complicated issues involving human nature.

[CAL]

I had to laugh at the description of the old Doctor Who. It had terribly low production values with special effects in the '80s/90s that we worse than Star Trek of the '60s. The only thing it had going for it was clever writing and some hot chicks in leather. Ah Leela, I miss her still.

Personally, I think Face of Evil and Robots of Death are two of the best episodes and they were back to back when Leela was introduced with the 4th Doctor.