In the long running British television series Doctor Who there is a running joke involving the title character‘s name. He is known simply as “The Doctor”. So, often, during introductions or when he’s referenced to someone who doesn’t know this, there is the inevitable question, “Doctor who?”.
I admit that before my girlfriend introduced me to the show I was under the impression that the character’s name was Doctor Who. Presumably, before he went to medical school he was Mr. John Who, or something. Does this mean that the title of the show itself is an in-joke? There’s a bit of exclusivity to it, after all. Knowing the truth lands you on the other side of the in-crowd. If this is the case, is the title actually a question? Wouldn’t it have to technically be Doctor Who? But its not, so I think the title is just trying to exist in that space of mystery. It doesn’t want an answer. Sort of like Doctor (…) or Doctor Blankety Blankerson. Doctor Who.
I watch the show sporadically, mainly because my girlfriend is pretty into it. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan, but I find something to love here and there. There is a scene in the second episode of the 2005 re-launch, The End of the World, that’s always stuck with me. The Doctor finds himself at a formal alien soiree without a gift for the host. Barely missing a beat he says, “I give you breath from my lungs” and then breaths heartily onto her. Its funny and smart and, when you think about it, kind of beautiful. Its that kind of whimsy that is the backbone of the series.
Generally, I love the concept of Doctor Who. A traveler who is the last of his kind goes from place to place, from time to time, gets into trouble and (like another time-traveling Doctor I once knew) puts right where once went wrong. Every now and then he dies and regenerates into a totally new person, with differing personality traits but the same basic nature.
However, the actual execution of this is where I get frustrated. I feel like so much more could be done with this series and it’s characters than actually is. Now, I’m just going to sidestep any problems I have with the way Doctor Who treats time travel. Needless to say it plays extremely fast and loose by my measure and the rules seem pretty hazy and ill-defined to me but maybe its just because I haven’t watched enough. So I’m going to move right along to The Doctor himself.
Ironically, one of the shows greatest strengths is also one of its weaknesses. The Doctor’s cocksure, playful, resourceful, funny, kinetic, slightly tragic character is a big part of what works and can be a real pleasure to watch. On the other hand, The Doctor is a nearly flawless character. Sure his companions sometimes get feed up with him, usually because he keeps them in the dark, but its played like he’s superior and all-knowing and they would be best off shutting up and letting him do his Time Lord thing. In the end, he’s almost always right and everyone admits how clever and awesome he is.
What’s really too bad is that sometimes the show brushes up against some really interesting, complex character based stuff and immediately sweeps those things back under the rug in time for the next alien threat or end of the world scenario. This seemed especially true during David Tennant’s run as the 10th Doctor. There were occasional glimpses of a seething anger he carried. Sometimes it appeared that at any second he could expose some Old Testament style wrath if the right button was pushed. True to form it never really goes anywhere.
There was an episode in the latest season called The Lodger in which Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor must pose as a human while trapped on Earth, separated from his companions. He secures himself residence in a flat and has to relate to his landlord and the other lodgers while passing himself off as human. That is until he has to contend with the upstairs tenant - an alien who keeps luring people upstairs to feast on. I mean, does every episode have to have a mystery surrounding an alien threat? Even The X-Files sometimes took time off from its formula. Remember when Scully got a tattoo and slept around? I just wanted to see how The Doctor would live as a human. Wouldn’t it have been cool if he was separated from everything for a couple months or years? Would he take up residence and settle in? I’d think his wanderlust would eventually express itself in a new way. Maybe he’d be a truck driver or a pilot. I think that’s more of an interesting story, but that’s just me.
I come up against another problem with the show sometimes by way of its female characters, most often in the form of The Doctor‘s feisty companions. Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble and Amy Pond and River Song. In the latest incarnations of Doctor Who these women have become nearly as iconic as the Doctor’s themhimselves. They have each been entertaining, bold women in their own rights and have many well drawn character traits that define them. However, occasionally I feel as though they, and other women on the show as well, are written with a cheap formula. Kick-ass + Emasculating = Strong Female Character. Its lazy writing and not worthy of characters who by all rights are supposed to be far more nuanced and complex than that.
There was a joke in last years finale, The Big Bang, when The Doctor, in the midst of jumping back and forth through time, pops back in on his companions wearing a brand new Fez.
“I wear a Fez now. Fez’s are cool.”
It makes me smile just thinking about it. And what’s the first thing River does when she sees that? She makes fun of it, prompting Amy to take it right off his head. In tandem, she throws it up in the air while River draws her pistol and blasts it out of the sky. You see the joke is, “No, Fez’s are stupid. We’re scoring one for the ladies here. If men didn’t have us women, oh my god, can you imagine?” Fuck you both. This is probably some of my own stuff coming up here considering some women having had bizarrely strong opinions about me and hats but seriously, you suck. Let the man have his Fez. After all, he's wearing the shit out of that thing.
I would have been happy to see it become part of his normal look. At the end, when the dust clears on the latest apocalypse The Doctor assesses himself and checks for his new lid before remembering what happened to it. He shrugs, “I can buy a fez.” I wish he would. Don’t listen to those shrews.
Based on the trailer for next season it looks like this is going to become a running joke. The premiere takes place in the American West and you see him in a cowboy hat. “I wear a Stetson now. Stetsons are cool.” And what does that bitch, River Song do?
Look, we’re not talking about ass-less chaps here. He’s wearing a hat. You can’t even let a grown man where a hat? Why are you so insecure? Who hurt you?
In contrast to my feelings about Doctor Who, is its spin-off series Torchwood. The concept focuses on a team of special operatives who work for a secret shadow organization representing earths first line of defense against extra-terrestrials. It sounds fairly derivative and not very unique, but its execution has consistently surprised me and surpassed its mother series. Its grown far past where it started, allowed itself to keep evolving, and has gone to some extremely fresh, complex and adult places.
Still, with Doctor Who its easy to find something to love. In the annual Christmas episode that aired just last month, A Christmas Carol, Amy and Rory are honeymooning on a space cruise when disaster strikes and they have to jump immediately out of their suite and into action. The first thing you notice is that Rory is wearing a Centurion uniform and Amy a police woman’s uniform. They were clearly in the middle of something that was minutes away from turning this space ship into a satellite of love. This is also actually a call back to previous episodes where Rory actually was a Centurion for a time and Amy was…a kiss-o-gram or stripper or something, but she was wearing that in the first episode, I think. Anyways, the point is that The Doctor’s companions know the secret to a good marriage.
I believe there is one of two things going on there. One is that Amy is simply turned on by a man in a suit of armor, while Rory has his own separate police woman fantasy. The other, and far more interesting to me, is that they stepped outside the box of the traditional role playing paradigm. Pioneers in the new frontier of anachronistic role playing, I tip my hat to them. Actually, for a pair of time travelers that probably makes a sort of sense. After all, in their world it actually is conceivable for a police woman to pull over an ancient Centurion. And maybe that Centurion is down on his luck and doesn’t have any money for the ticket. And maybe the police woman has grown tired of the soft, unsure touch of modern man…
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