“The real reason, the big reason that Doctor Who is still with us, is because of every single viewer who ever turned on to watch this show – at any age, at any time in its history and in their history – and who took it into their heart, because Doctor Who belongs to all of us. Everyone made Doctor Who.”
– Peter Capaldi
We don’t believe in Santa Claus because he’s real. He’s real because we believe in him.
There’s that kind of power in our fantasies, our fairy tales, our heroes. They don’t have to exist in our world. And it might be far better that they don’t. Reality can be a mess sometimes, maybe most times. And it’s a comfort to know that there’s something outside of it. Something better. Something impossible and incredible and great.
And so we create these heroes and vest our faith in them. Like Santa Claus.
Like the Doctor.
“Clara, be my pal. Tell me… am I a good man?”
“I… don’t know.”
“Neither do I.”– from “Into the Dalek,” by Phil Ford and Steven Moffat
They were the central questions of Series 8 of Doctor Who. What kind of man is this new Doctor? Is he a hero? Does he still care? Is he even capable of caring anymore?
It’s to the show’s credit that it dared to ask those questions, to explore the darker sides of life with, and as, the last Time Lord. Asking those questions gave us stories like “Listen” and “Flatline.”
And it’s to the show’s credit that in the end, it found a way to answer them.
Since I’ve committed to life as a Doctor Who blogger, I’ve often surprised myself with the connections I’ve made. Not so much within the show itself – it’s easy to find traces of a past story or a past Doctor in the current series. It’s Doctor Who – there’s always going to be at least a piece of its past in its present.
No, the surprise comes from the connections I find outside of the series, the things an episode reminds me of as I’m watching it. Last week’s episode is a perfect example. I didn’t go into “Flatline” looking for a Bourne Identity parallel, but once I found it, it just made perfect sense to explore that.
With all that in mind, you really have to wonder about the kind of mind that goes from Doctor Who to Talking Heads…
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One of the many assets of Doug Liman’s The Bourne Identity (spoilers ahead) is Clive Owen’s character, called the Professor. Like Jason Bourne, the Professor’s one of the Treadstone program’s assassins, a laconic piece of work who says nary a syllable until he finally catches up with his quarry. And once Bourne has gunned him down, he uses his dying words to reflect on the terrible bond they share:
Look at us. Look at what they make you give.
Bourne himself will repeat those words in The Bourne Ultimatum. It’s a commentary on the way Treadstone has leached the good from them both, in the name of a supposed higher purpose.
And after seeing the latest Doctor Who, the road from the Professor to the Doctor might not be as far as you’d think. Or hope.
One of the many things that’s made Series 8 of Doctor Who so different from past seasons is the nature of the arc that informs the stories. In past years (especially since Steven Moffat became showrunner), those arcs were plot-driven, grounded in twists and turns and reveals of mixed justification and mixed success.
But this season, the arc is almost entirely character-driven. It’s about relationships. It’s about Clara’s relationship with the Doctor. In a way I’m not sure the show has really attempted before, Doctor Who is exploring what it means to travel with the Doctor. And it’s exploring that relationship from both sides.
And so, it’s not altogether surprising that the last two episodes have effectively changed the status to “It’s Complicated.”
But it’s still great viewing.
When it comes to Doctor Who, sometimes silliness is a bug, and sometimes it’s a feature.
It’s important to keep that in mind when you’re talking about this week’s episode. “Robot of Sherwood” is a mostly ridiculous story, but it’s so by design. On its surface, it’s little more than an excuse to have fun with the tropes of both Robin Hood and the Doctor.
And I pretty much loved it.
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“There will be plenty of time to wax rhapsodic about Peter Capaldi and his Doctor in the coming weeks, but I think it’s safe to say that he’s dazzling right out of the gate; also forceful, aggressive, and dangerous… This new Doctor runs such a gamut of emotional states and attitudes throughout the course of the 80 minutes, it isn’t so much confusing, as it is a sight to behold. You genuinely never know what he’s going to do next.”
– Ross Ruediger
Except for Ross, you’d have been hard-pressed to find anyone more excited than me at the thought of Peter Capaldi taking on the most iconic role in sci-fi as Doctor Who. Capaldi’s that rare kind of actor who can elevate a scene, or an entire film, just by his mere presence (consider his previous signature role in The Thick of It, or his brief but powerful turn in World War Z). To have an actor of his brilliance as The Doctor was just better than I could hope for.
Somehow, in his first full appearance, he managed to exceed even those high expectations, with a performance at once familiar and new, at once comforting and daring. And in three incredible scenes, he became the Doctor in ways I’d never expected.
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50 years ago today, two teachers got a little too curious about one of their students, and decided to follow her home…
…thereby setting in motion a chain of events that would change the history of the universe.
Or at least the history of science fiction.
“Hello, Doctor…” Continue reading
Lee Hurtado, Writer 