So, like any British nerd, I have sat down on Saturday nights while growing up and start to jump up and down in my seat as the theme for Doctor Who filled my living room. And like many sources of huge fandom, I have had mixed feelings towards different seasons, episodes or even moments of this 50+ years strong Sci-Fi adventure. I won’t go into describing what this show entails because A: no one has that sort of time, even during lockdown. And B: There are probably only a handful of people who don’t know what it’s about.
What I did want to talk about is why this show has kept going for so long, and why its ever-changing cast is one of its best assets. Point one is that the Doctor and their companions are able to travel through time and space in that famous blue box. This in itself is one of the shows greatest assets, as whoever is lucky enough to pen an episode has unlimited possibility in setting and with the niftily written in excuse of the Tardis translating everything for anyone who has travelled in it or is near those who have; the show gets to look passed the “But why does everyone speak English?” Question that plagues the likes of Star Trek and Guardian’s of the Galaxy.
The biggest and most important asset of the show is the one and only Doctor themselves, a being from Galafrey who does not die, but instead regenerate into whoever is deemed just crazy enough to take up the mantel. Currently, we are in Whittaker’s run of the show, and she is brilliant. My personal favourite, like many is the great David Tennant, but though I have seasons I hate and seasons I love from every time lord. The dislike and moving towards hatred of any moment in the show has never been down to who plays the Doctor, one thing is for certain: the casting crew is on top form at the BBC for that sort of thing.
Instead, if there ever is a moment that I don’t enjoy it is entirely to do with the plot or the direction the characters are being taken in. Except one moment, where a furious rage in my heart develops at the sight of a damned leaf, some might understand what that is leading to but for those that don’t “Clara’s Leaf” has its own Wikipedia page. But that’s just the thing, with such freedom of writing and plot for the season there is so much that could go wrong as much as it can go right. As some may be mistaken in thinking the Doctor’s regenerations are a quirky way to keep the show going, and while it is, it is also the most intriguing ways for character development to be put on screen.
Not only does the Doctor swagger off with a new face and new clothes, but a whole different personality. And that’s the beauty of the show, there are seasons and seasons of this one person who has what must be the biggest multiple personality complexes in history of TV. As the Doctor is one person, they have lived through all these different lives and personalities that when there is a new Doctor to be introduced the show gets to think of how this new Doctor will be. Will they be angry and bitter, cocky and smug, or maybe just quiet and collected. And yet, the Doctor can be all of these moments and more. There can be countless reincarnations of this one character who has lived through so many lives that no one can tell how the next Doctor will react to it.
This is why the show is the perfect Writer’s playground, not only can the settings be whatever imagination can dream up but so can the main character. There is no limit to where the Doctor can go, who the Doctor can be, and who the companions would tag along for the adventures. It would be a dream to work on the show, while it would also be terrifying. It’s why there are more and more books being written to fill in even more stories of this time traveller. The only sad time is that a AAA game hasn’t been made yet, but since the Doctor is a non-violent character you’d have to point the sonic screwdriver at anything and everything. I hope the show goes for decades more, and I hope that I’ll one day meet those who have put their mark on the show already.
P.S. If you haven’t ever seen Doctor Who and don’t know where to start, I’d say to just start when any Doctor started, they will usually have a companion to help guide the viewer through the weird and wonderful.
The Nerdy Bartender 