Doctor Who
Like last year, it may be a bit unfair to include a show I saw this past year on DVD as opposed to when it originally aired, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t include Doctor Who in my Top Ten again. Like the first season I watched last year, Seasons Two through Four got increasingly impressive as they progressed.
Season Two opened where Season One left off: Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor died and was regenerated in a new body (the body of actor David Tennant, the tenth Doctor in the long-lived show’s history)—all to the dismay of human companion Rose Tyler (played by Billie Piper). Because not only does a regeneration change the physical appearance of The Doctor, but there are also some behavioral changes as well.
In this case, The Doctor is a bit more emotional than the previous incarnation. Where Eccelston’s (Ninth) Doctor was more detached from the characters he saved or fought, Tennant’s (Tenth) Doctor takes things more personally. It’s hard not to turn away when he has that look in his eye that tells his opponents he’s not playing. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing; it’s actually a good reminder that this character we’re watching and rooting for is not human.
And that’s where Rose comes in. She is a constant source of humanity for the show; the character we can most identify with. She also becomes a love interest for The Doctor, and that was interesting to see. All season they got closer and closer until the end of Rose’s journey, which, just itself, made this entire show worthy of earning a Top Ten spot—I don’t know if I’ve ever been as heartbroken as I was at the end of Season Two. The final scene between Tennant and Piper was beautifully acted by them and emotionally draining for me. I can’t think of a more heart-rending ending to their journey.
Season Three begins with The Doctor getting a new companion thrust upon him; one who isn’t willing to put up with all of the danger that follows him. In a very interesting change of events, Donna Noble, the “Runaway Bride”, declines the invitation to travel with him after their first adventure. She finds him too dangerous and too scary—and she tells him such. And after losing his people—and Rose—The Doctor can’t disagree. So he continues, alone.
Until the next adventure, where The Doctor runs into the beautiful and brilliant Martha Jones, and she falls hard for him. But he can’t see her as anything more than a sidekick. Martha is somewhat stronger than Rose (Rose travelled as a way to escape her ordinary life, and Martha travelled more out of responsibility), and she can see the help she can give while working with him. And, she also hoped he’d finally notice her.
Season Three continued full-steam ahead, and there are some really wonderful episodes contained in the back half of it. Mid-way through the season, The Doctor had to hide from some enemies and became human with no recollection of his true self. He built a life and found a mate (all while under the eye of Martha, who was the only one who knew that “John Smith” was much more than a professor)—and then The Doctor came calling. But the newly human John Smith did not want to give up his life to become The Doctor again. Tennant had a number of really wonderful scenes as he struggles with the fact that John Smith must die in order to save the others at the school he works at. And we also got a very sad look at The Doctor’s life when Smith demands Martha answer why The Doctor even needs her. She replies with, “Because you’re lonely,” and Smith immediately responds with, “And you want that for me?” Of course, The Doctor returns—but there is much sadness that comes when we get to see what John Smith’s life could have been like had he been able to live it out. And The Doctor took out his frustration on the villains by giving them each a horrific punishment that further reminds us that he can act on emotions as much as any human.
After that episode, it moves right into the next adventure, “Blink”, which is one of the best hours of television I’ve seen in a while-- and, oddly, The Doctor and Martha are little more than presences in it as just-introduced Sally is the focal character. They need to get Sally to do certain things—but have to do it from the 1960s, where they’re trapped. It was a very unusual and disturbing episode.
Finally, the season ends with the return of The Doctor’s opposite: The Master. The Master takes control of the world, diminishes The Doctor into helplessness, tortures Captain Jack—and completely underestimates Martha, who proves her worth as a hero in a way very few people would have.
And just like the end of Season Two broke my heart, the end of Season Three did as well as The Doctor and Martha go their separate ways. It was especially troubling for me as I became a big fan of not only Martha, but of the actress who played her (the absolutely beautiful Freema Agreyma).
Finally, Season Four begins with Donna Noble searching for The Doctor. She realized she wants more from life than the dreary temp jobs she had before and after she met him. By some coincidence (or is it?), she and The Doctor reunite, and they go off on adventures together. Like Martha and Rose were different from each other, so, too, is Donna, who may not be all that bright—or brave—but brings her own brand of “anchoring” to The Doctor. She is very compassionate and also is not willing to blindly follow The Doctor like Rose and Martha were. Not only does that make the dynamic between the two different—it also really helps the viewers get into the mind of The Doctor because Donna constantly questions him—and he has to respond, giving us a view into his past and his rationales.
And while Donna may not be as typically heroic as previous companions, she proves herself time and again in their adventures; with high points being in an alternate universe she was in where she— and only she— can save The Doctor. And we can’t discount the role she played in the season finale.
The end of Season Four is a monster epic which brings back many previously seen characters—and is a great capper to Tennant’s run as The Doctor (he starred in a few made-for-TV movies between Season 4 and Matt Smith’s run beginning Season 5, but this was supposed to be the big finale). And, like the seasons before, The Doctor loses his current companion; this time in an interesting—and very tragic—way.
And, finally, the final episodes of Tennant’s run were extra-length specials with different companions, all culminating in the “End of Time” movie event (co-starring the absolutely wonderful Bernard Cribbins), where The Doctor knows he’s going to die, and fights it with every fiber of his being. But, no matter how many twists and turns he had, the prophesies were true; his “song” comes to an end—and it was excruciating, even if the show gave Tennant a very respectful send-off.
Tennant’s tenure ended one of the greatest runs of television episodes I’ve ever seen, so I was a bit worried about what would come next. But the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith, hit his first episode out of the park. So while I’m not caught up with the new Doctor, I knew this franchise is in good hands when Smith’s Doctor basically told an alien invasion force that it had better leave before he kicks their asses after showing them a fantastic mini-history of this long-lived franchise.
No comments:
Post a Comment