I want everyone to stop with the eye rolls. I mean it! Stop right now!
Good, that's better.
Even if you're adamantly against Doctor Who, and I feel there's a handful of those out there -- I should know, I used to be one of them -- I urge you to continue reading this. As someone who swapped sides from once hating it, to now loving it, there's a bit I can say on the matter. And what I'll be saying will be dropped into four Doctor Who posts -- one for each Doctor in the revival series -- rather than going season by season. That takes us from the 9th Doctor to the current 12th Doctor over the course of nine seasons to date. (Of course, there's John Hurt as Doctor 8.5... otherwise known as the War Doctor, but that will all comes in due time.) While the story can get somewhat convoluted at times (this is a show about space and time-travel after all), stick around... or not. I don't really care.
For those still with me, ONWARDS!
For those still with me, ONWARDS!
The Doctor.
Even if you've never seen the show, I'm sure most people are at least slightly familiar with the character. Hell, even community made a spoof on it...
However, if you live under a rock that's under an even bigger rock, here's a quick refresher. Doctor Who is about a space/time-traveling alien (from a race known as the Time Lords -- or Gallifreyans to be super nerdy) who goes by the title of Doctor... just Doctor. (As you can probably guess, there are several Who's on first?-type jokes thrown in from time-to-time where people ask, "Doctor! Doctor Who?!" with the Doctor winking at the camera -- smash cut to opening credits. It's a familiar trope. Anyways, the Doctor skips about all time and space going on adventures and typically has a human sidekick along for the ride usually known as a companion. Even though the companion is almost always a girl, there's nothing really kinky going on. Well... sometimes... Ah! I'm getting ahead of myself.
The first Doctor in the revival series is good old Christopher Eccleston. Sounds like some people may recognize him from The Leftovers. I remember him all in makeup as the main villain from the second Thor movie. Any... who! (Ha, get it?) Eccleston was responsible for bringing the Doctor back to life, but only stuck around for one season.
So the question is, how is this first rebooted season? Honestly, it's a little slow. And, for me, slow is a tough thing to get through. And weirdly enough the show looks like it's shot in 1998 despite it begin released in 2005. I know, we're not off to a great start, but there are a few episodes that stood out with decent writing. When you boil it down, though, I'm not crazy about this Doctor nor am I nuts for this season's companion, Rose--
--I'll talk more about Rose in a later entry as she spans something like three seasons before she's written off and is one of the most iconic companions to date (iconic to the point that my girlfriend adores her and even cosplayed as her once).
I consumed this season with the single determination to just complete to series. I remember starting into it on several occasions, but ended up skipping over to the later episodes out of sheer frustration. Frankly, this works. You don't lose much as most of the show's formula as the early seasons are mostly comprised of bottle episodes or very short story arcs. So, you don't have to worry too much about losing precious information from the events in previous episodes.
Despite this show acting as a campy Saturday afternoon sci-fi romp (which it definitely is for at least the first few seasons), it has the potential to be so much more. Within the later seasons it totally taps into this potential that makes for some really gripping stories and emotional character arcs. If you have the slightest interest in watching the show... skip to season 5. I'll talk more about that season in the appropriate post, but that's definitely a point in the series where the stories are great and the production value is finally on par with what a space and time-traveling adventure needs to feel alive.
A final note is the Doctor's departure. If you have no clue what this show is about, then you might be extremely curious to understand how the hell there can be so many doctors. Is it an army of medical professionals or what?
So, it's one dude. A lone Time Lord. And as a Time Lord, the Doctor possesses the ability to regenerate. Regeneration is basically the Doctor's ability to cheat death and a convenient way to keep a show plugging along with the same character despite using different actors.
This SPOILING video illustrates what I mean:
Even if you've never seen the show, I'm sure most people are at least slightly familiar with the character. Hell, even community made a spoof on it...
However, if you live under a rock that's under an even bigger rock, here's a quick refresher. Doctor Who is about a space/time-traveling alien (from a race known as the Time Lords -- or Gallifreyans to be super nerdy) who goes by the title of Doctor... just Doctor. (As you can probably guess, there are several Who's on first?-type jokes thrown in from time-to-time where people ask, "Doctor! Doctor Who?!" with the Doctor winking at the camera -- smash cut to opening credits. It's a familiar trope. Anyways, the Doctor skips about all time and space going on adventures and typically has a human sidekick along for the ride usually known as a companion. Even though the companion is almost always a girl, there's nothing really kinky going on. Well... sometimes... Ah! I'm getting ahead of myself.
The first Doctor in the revival series is good old Christopher Eccleston. Sounds like some people may recognize him from The Leftovers. I remember him all in makeup as the main villain from the second Thor movie. Any... who! (Ha, get it?) Eccleston was responsible for bringing the Doctor back to life, but only stuck around for one season.
So the question is, how is this first rebooted season? Honestly, it's a little slow. And, for me, slow is a tough thing to get through. And weirdly enough the show looks like it's shot in 1998 despite it begin released in 2005. I know, we're not off to a great start, but there are a few episodes that stood out with decent writing. When you boil it down, though, I'm not crazy about this Doctor nor am I nuts for this season's companion, Rose--
--I'll talk more about Rose in a later entry as she spans something like three seasons before she's written off and is one of the most iconic companions to date (iconic to the point that my girlfriend adores her and even cosplayed as her once).
I consumed this season with the single determination to just complete to series. I remember starting into it on several occasions, but ended up skipping over to the later episodes out of sheer frustration. Frankly, this works. You don't lose much as most of the show's formula as the early seasons are mostly comprised of bottle episodes or very short story arcs. So, you don't have to worry too much about losing precious information from the events in previous episodes.
Despite this show acting as a campy Saturday afternoon sci-fi romp (which it definitely is for at least the first few seasons), it has the potential to be so much more. Within the later seasons it totally taps into this potential that makes for some really gripping stories and emotional character arcs. If you have the slightest interest in watching the show... skip to season 5. I'll talk more about that season in the appropriate post, but that's definitely a point in the series where the stories are great and the production value is finally on par with what a space and time-traveling adventure needs to feel alive.
A final note is the Doctor's departure. If you have no clue what this show is about, then you might be extremely curious to understand how the hell there can be so many doctors. Is it an army of medical professionals or what?
So, it's one dude. A lone Time Lord. And as a Time Lord, the Doctor possesses the ability to regenerate. Regeneration is basically the Doctor's ability to cheat death and a convenient way to keep a show plugging along with the same character despite using different actors.
This SPOILING video illustrates what I mean:
You start with one doctor, then you tease in the next. This plot device serves as a great cliffhanger in between Doctors because these regenerations naturally occur at the end of seasons. So you get a little taste of the new one before the show goes on hiatus.
There's a lot more I could talk about, mostly the villains, but this season doesn't offer the great enemies viewers will come to meet later on. You do encounter some old-ass villains from seasons long past--
(e.g. Daleks and Cybermen)
--and they suck. I really wished the show would finally do away or evolve this shitty, outdated, one-dimensional villains once and for all, but I think they have some nostalgia value. Therefore, they're here from the long haul.
Eh... what are you going to do? I suffer the bad to reap the good.
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