The Doctor Returns

(David Tennant and Billie Piper as the Doctor and Rose.)

Doctor Who? Precisely.


David Tennant plays the latest incarnation of the Doctor, #10. He replaces Christopher Eccleston, who was the ninth doctor but opted to play the role for only one season. The Doctor is a Time Lord from the planet of Gallifrey; the Time Lords developed time-travelling technology and are human in appearance, but their anatomy and physiology are quite different (2 hearts, ability to 'regenerate' and to 'mind-meld,' and so on). The Time Lords have been accused of arrogance because of their refusal to share their superior technology and because they tended to stay aloof from interstellar affairs, getting involved only when the threat to the galaxy was serious. (Or perhaps it was more out of self-interest than altruism?) The Doctor is a tourist and more of an benevolent activist (or meddler, depending on your point of view), seeing himself as a defender of justice and a protector of the weak; he has a certain fondness especially for Earthlings.

The Doctor travels in the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space). The TARDIS has a chameleon circuit which enables it to be disguised as various objects to match its surroundings. For a long time the circuit was broken, so it was stuck looking like a police box. Even when the circuit was repaired, the Doctor chose to retain the appearance of a police box since he had grown used to it.





The new Doctor has taken to the habit of putting on glasses. Does it make him look more intelligent or sexier? You tell me.


This season, the Doctor met one of his past companions, Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elizabeth Sladen. The episode "School Reunion" reflects the series new concern for dramatic reality, looking at questions of the Doctor's loneliness, his relationship with his companions, and the effects the companion's travelling have on their relationships back on Earth. (This new focus on the Doctor's emotional life is possibly one reason for the latest twist in the Who mythology--the death of the rest of the Time Lords in their final war with the daleks, who were supposed to have been killed off, but a small remnant survived to menace Earth in the last two episodes of the first season. Certainly the scriptwriters can draw upon this to create drama. I don't know what Who fans make of this, but I do hope the Time Lords can somehow be brought back to life. Fans are certainly waiting for the return of the Doctor's fellow Time Lord and archnemesis, the Master, who was supposedly imprisoned in the TARDIS in the Fox movie.)

Pics from "School Reunion":






Since separating from the Doctor, Sarah Jane has been waiting for him to return, putting her emotional life "on hold" and never quite getting over him. Was there a romantic undercurrent to their relationship? The old Who was more 'innocent,' especially since it was originally a children's show. The Doctor could leap across great expanses of time and space with attractive young females, but we never suspected anything more than friendship. In the new Who, romantic developments are more likely, and she hints as much at the end of the episode. Her feelings certainly go beyond what one finds in a platonic friendship, and one sees that Rose, the Doctor's current companion, has developed feelings as well.

Elizabeth Sladen "was quite a looker" in the 70s--


She is still attractive now...

At the end of "School Reunion" we see Sarah Jane walking home with K-9; a lonely old maid with her dog. (And note the clothes she is wearing--blue jeans, leather jacket, the sort of blurring of distinctions in dress based on age that is typical of our narcissistic age which is so enamored of youth.) Unintentional social commentary? Or deliberate? Sarah Jane proclaims feminist ideals (though not of a radical variety); on the other hand, she is still a woman, but she could never find a man who could measure up to the Doctor.

Now, it is true that Susan, one of the first companions (that we know of), called the Doctor "grandfather," but as far as I know it has never been confirmed that the Doctor actually had children (or a wife). Perhaps he adopted an orphan Earth child while he was exiled on Earth, or something of the sort.

As it is explained in the "Doctor Who Confidential" attached to this episode, the Doctor "has always had trouble saying good-bye." While he can regenerate and live a very long time, his companions are mortal, aging and eventually dying, and this unpleasant fact is something he would rather avoid facing.

As for the moral import of the series, the Doctor tends to rely on his intellect and cunning to get out of trouble or to solve whatever problem is facing the society he visits, but he is not as much of a pacifist as, say, MacGyver. Religion is treated as a cultural phenomenon in Doctor Who; it's not really addressed by the Doctor and is usually treated as nothing more than superstition needed by those without science. There are no gods in the show, though there are villains who pretend to be gods. Science and technology reign supreme (it is science fiction after all), but they have not replaced a moral sense, which the Doctor possesses, even if one disagrees with his principles. The Doctor evidently blames himself for the destruction of the Time Lords; it is not clear what exactly happened. Doctor #9 he saw himself as a coward, when he decided he could not destroy the Earth in order to save the universe from the daleks. Doctor #10 is a bit less merciful.

Rarely does the series deal with serious moral questions, so it does not have that strong of a PC feel to it, not like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for example. (Though last season it did introduce the character of Captain Jack, who was a bisexual and undoubtedly open to having sex with members of alien species. But the Doctor explained that this was the next stage of human evolution, and just the way humans are... it's not clear to me who is responsible for creating the character, some scriptwriter or Russell T. Davies, but undoubtedly Russell T. Davies had final approval.)

For the Lady Downstairs, pictures of the ninth Doctor:




The Sci-Fi Channel is currently playing episodes from Christopher Eccleston's season. No news yet as to whether it will acquire new episodes. (Or if it would consider broadcasting the previous seasons.) This week: the return of the Cybermen!

The BBC website. Maybe I'll write more later about Doctor Who, especially the episode "The Girl in the Fireplace."