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The new Doctor Who Print
Written by Katharine   
Friday, 29 April 2005
Doctor WhoFirstly, for those who haven’t seen the show yet, I won’t be giving away any major plot spoilers, just talking about the show in general.

Doctor Who is the earliest television show I can recall watching – I didn’t do the classic “hide behind the couch” cliché, but I remember being scared about going to bed after seeing “Robot”, as I was worried about scary things coming up through the floor into my bedroom. And at one stage a couple of kids used to follow me around the primary school yard with their arms out yelling “exterminate!”. But these things didn’t scare me off, and I became a fan of the series, particularly of the Tom Baker era, with my favourite companions being Sarah-Jane Smith and Romana II. I even joined a fan club (although I was too shy to consider the concept of  actually going to any events), and I still have copies of their newsletter “Zerinza”. I particularly enjoyed reading the script extracts they printed of the early episodes, few of which still exist.
 
So, with that as my background, it’s only natural that I was wary of the new series, particularly as the telemovie wasn’t a great success. I wasn’t sure how they could capture the essence of Doctor Who in today’s society, as well as appeal to previous and new viewers alike (which is usually a recipe for disaster).

 I’ve now seen the first five episodes, and I am very, very impressed.
 
Casting is one of the most important factors, particularly that of the Doctor. Sure, we’re used to different actors in the role, but that makes people no less critical when it comes to assessing each new contribution. The first episode was very cleverly crafted in the way that it focussed on Rose, who becomes the new companion, leaving the Doctor rather enigmatic (which is what the Doctor should be anyway) and easing us into the idea of Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. It works from the perspective of those new to the show, who are introduced to him via Rose, and also long-term fans, who are likely to be a bit wary. In the next few episodes, we come to know this new Doctor a bit more, through Rose’s interactions with him as well as in the way he reacts to the events around him.  
 
Each new actor playing the role of the Doctor has a very difficult task – building on the work of the actors before him, as well as creating his own unique character. I can’t imagine a better job being done. This Doctor has all the important ingredients of the Doctor we know – curiosity, enjoyment of new situations, a childish glee, switching to complete seriousness when required – plus we get a glimpse of his “alienness”, which is an interesting and necessary direction to explore. There’s also been a few hints dropped about new story developments which relate to his background as a Time Lord, which I won’t give away here.

The character of Rose is about as English as you can get, which gets a bit annoying at times (eg the pronunciation of “with” as “wif”), but it certainly emphasises that this is specifically a UK Doctor Who! As a willing companion, rather than one who accidentally joins the Doctor (she has opportunities to leave if she wants, particularly as the TARDIS seems to be a bit more reliable these days), what we have is a young woman who shares the Doctor’s yearning for exploration and excitement, and who can cope with the whole concept of a universe outside her little London existence.
 
Billie Piper should certainly give up the singing career and stick with the acting, she has a natural ability to draw the viewer in so that you understand and experience the emotions she is going through. She’s the character the audience identifies with, not the Doctor, so a less skilled actor could have blown the chance of this new Doctor Who series working with the audience all together. It could have easily been a “cool” new series that looked good but you just didn’t connect with on an emotional level.
 
Of course the best actors can’t do much without a decent script, and the first few stories have very interesting, and are very different from each other. In addition, including elements of Rose’s home life within the story works surprisingly well, without turning it into a soap. It serves to contrast the inward-looking nature of the people around Rose with the life that she could lead with the Doctor. And also provides the opportunity for a few “fish out of water” laughs at the expense of the Doctor. 

ImageI love science fiction concepts, futuristic technology, weird ways of warping reality and so on, but what also grabs my interest is what these things mean to the people involved. We see this mostly through Rose (and to a lesser degree with the people around her, who don’t cope quite so well). We’re so used to reading and watching shows where concepts such as alien species and time travel are taken for granted, but Rose takes us back to that naïve point in time where we really contemplate what it would be like to be confronted with a person who’s from another planet, and step inside a box that’s bigger on the inside than the outside and travels through time and space. Then each time a new mind-expanding concept is introduced, we get to re-live it through Rose.

So, despite the many opportunities for Doctor Who in 2005 to fail - particularly with the more “knowing” and critical audience, the more expensive special effects, the difficulty in playing a Doctor who retains the essence of his character yet gives it something new -  the writers, producers and actors have managed to get it right at every single potential deal-breaking point, from the point of view of long-term fans and new viewers, and everyone in-between.

- Katharine Shade
 
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