The
new Doctor Who, accompanied by much hype and speculation turned out to be
okay. There had been derision that the Doctor would be played by a
proper actor (Christopher Ecclestone) who might actually take the role seriously
and Billie Piper would be unable to string two words together without seeming
like a total numbskull. As it happened both of them have done a sterling job,
particularly Ecclestone who manages a lightness of touch delivered with all the
rectitude and gravitas of an archbishop having accidentally taken his first tab
of acid.
The impressive task this show has set itself is to please two
very different audiences. One adult audience who remembers with nostalgia hiding
behind the sofa staring at a really fake plastic spider crawl up John Pertwee's
back and an audience who are children today who expect more from their special
effects and are generally talked down to by many television shows. Surprisingly
it seems to have done both - whilst also satisfying the slightly less important
group of die hard Dr Who fanatics who should just get a life (sorry).
But the backlash has begun. News reports are coming in thick and
fast that Dr Who is too scary for kids (for example
here) but frankly if Dr Who doesn't at least try to put the willies up you
what on Earth is it trying to do? The producers should be commended for doing
the unthinkable in the modern era, trying to give kids a fright, and the show
certainly has moments of real bite, but the tension is always surrounded by a
disarming sense of fun - a perfect balance for the show in my view, and
thank the lord for those who think even kids stuff can be used to stretch you a
little.
Okay, I'm going to say a couple more positive things and then
something a little more critical - if you're not ready to hear anything bad
about the show may I suggest this link to "Who
Space" as an alternative.
Billie Piper. I thought she'd be rubbish, and, I'll admit that I
was looking for her to be rubbish. Jeez Louise it's true - I'm a curmudgeon.
However, she's really good - and luckily for her she has been given a far more
positive and courageous role than she might have been. Each episode has seen her
be the right to the Doctor's wrong at least once, if not more so. Excellent.
The production values are high enough to satisfy today's jaded
palette without going into the territory of so many of today's sci-fi shows and
overwhelm any redeeming value with wham bamm what's the point of this man
gimmickry. Which again shows that a lot of thought and time has gone into making
sure this works - because if it hadn't that would have been that I think, no
more chances for our lovable quack (what is he a doctor of anyway?)
Okay, in the context of these positive remarks I want to say
there is a problem with the plots on the first three shows in that they are
totally derivative. The first show was a rip off of an old Pertwee Who, the
second a mirror of the Hitch hiker's 'Restaurant at the end of the universe' and
the third - whilst being gently twisted into a neo-ghost story which was nice
was the second time in three shows that evil aliens had wanted to take the
Earth's resources killing mankind in the process. And incidentally both times
the Doctor tried his best to be nice to the aliens and Billy Piper was
suspicious - caution that was proved right on both occasions. I like the fact
that the Doctor doesn't hate all interstellar immigrants but I wouldn't mind his
open mindedness being proved right occasionally - perhaps this will come later
in the series?
We'd better hurry up and use all our fossil fuels before we catch
the eye of any more greedy monsters.
Having said that I still think the show has proved the doubters
wrong and satisfied those that had wished it well. They've updated the old
format so in our more earthy and cosmopolitan age we have replaced the upper
class patriarch with a working class adventurer and the female roles are more
suitable for today's tastes. There is a touch of darkness and sadness in the
show that I'm sure is going to have been fully developed by the end of the
series, and perhaps this is connected to the fact that Ecclestone is going to
drop the show after this one series. This is understandable from his point of
view but where this leaves the show after he's set such a high standard it's
difficult to tell - perhaps like the royal family, when this one goes let them
be the last.
