After over a year of having no regular series and only specials, Doctor Who has finally returned. There's been so much anticipation, hype, speculation and even a bit of concern building up to this moment among the fan base of the longest running SciFi series in television history, far more so then there would be for a regular season. Everything is new; new doctor, new companion, new TARDIS, new show runner, new tone for the series, even a new Sonic Screwdriver! So what's the verdict? Change can be both a very good thing, or a very bad thing, and the fans have certainly reflected concerns over all these changes over the past year during the series break. Has Steven Moffat lived up to the challenge? Or is the show now a load of nonsensical tripe? Let's find out.
First off, there's a reason that a show like Doctor Who can survive as long as it has. There's a reason that it's always been a cultural phenomenon. Many SciFi shows fall victim to finding a formula that works initially, then sticking with that formula until it wears into a rut that the show can't get out of. Scripts become recycled and characters get boring because they get predictable. Stargate Atlantis is probably one of the best examples of this type failure. The series started out great and showed great promise of breaking away from the storyline of the previous series, but then fell victim to said recycled plot lines and stale characters who were ripped off from Star Wars to begin with. Essentially, the show never changed. It even started to become a poor rehash of the show it was a spinoff of of. Therefore it died a slow, lingering and arduously BORING death.
Doctor Who has never had that problem. Sure the show has had plenty of ups and downs over the years, the biggest being of course its cancellation in 1989, but the cancellation had little to do with a lack of change (or it could be argued that the show made some of the wrong changes), and the series continued in audio and on film until its television revival in 2005. Now it's more popular then it ever has been before and doesn't show signs of slowing. Why has Doctor Who succeeded where other shows have failed? Because the show DOES change and because it's never afraid to take risks. Sometimes these changes end up turning out badly, but overall, they are the REASON for Doctor Who's success. As long as Doctor Who can change, Doctor Who can be the greatest SciFi series ever conceived. And in my opinion, The 11th Hour and the changes that Steven Moffat has brought to the series are no exception.
So, as fans have been wondering since it was announced 27 year old Matt Smith would play the Doctor, is he too young an actor to fill the part? Absolutely not. Yes, I shared the same trepidation as many other fans when I heard how young the actor to portray the new Doctor would be, but any fears or concerns about his inability to fit into the Doctors' big shoes were instantly blown away the moment he started dipping fish sticks into custard for a midnight snack. Matt Smith has an energy and vitality to him that no actor, not even David Tennant, has been able to bring to the show before. Yet at the same time, he has a certain air of wisdom and experience about him that makes him feel far older then 27. Wisdom and whimsy have always been a part of the Doctors' character, but Matt takes it to new levels in this, his debut episode. He's engaging, wondrous, fun, smart and incredibly eccentric, all of the things the Doctor should be. A minor criticism of his character would be that initially he seems a bit like David Tennants' Doctor, but this could certainly be attributed to his just having regenerated from that Doctor and could be interpreted as one of the many subtle changes that are part of the regeneration process. As the episode progresses the 11th Doctor continually finds his footing and by the end, with the donning of his bow-tie and tweed suit, seems to have firmly established his identity as the new Doctor.
Amy (Amelia) Pond ("like a name in a fairy-tale"), the Doctors' new companion, has definitely had the most unique companion introduction to date. Her initially meeting the Doctor as a little girl has a profound effect on her throughout her life, and when the Doctor meets her again in her late teens, we're shown that she's been fantasizing about "the man with the box" as she's grown up, a fantasy that she's shared with the other people living in the town to the point where even they recognize the Doctor (not recognizing him so much as "The Doctor" but more "Amy's Doctor) in spite of the fact he's just regenerated; a great twist for a post-regeneration story that results in an amusingly initially baffled Doctor. While the acting ability of little the girl who plays young Amy at first is a bit wavy, she ends up being quite charming and establishes good continuity with the older version of Amy, who's headstrong, quick-thinking, and a lot of fun. One of the most interesting aspects of Amy's character is her having to cope with the Doctors' absence in her life as she's grown up; she's tried to suppress her childish fantasies by choosing to become someone who gives "kissograms," a person who delivers a message with a kiss, thereby retaining some of her innocence (as she isn't nearly as much of and adult entertainer as a stripper) while at the same time struggling to find her place in a grown-up world. This subtle handing of Amy's development as a character is another example of Steven Moffats' brilliant writing ability.
A character rarely talked about in all of the hype building up to the new series is that of Amy's boyfriend, Rory Williams. Rory initially was a cause for concern for me, as I feared we had on our hands another "Mickey-like" character, a character who pines and bends over backward for the companion character in spite of her running off with The Doctor, in same the way that Mickey obsessed over Rose. Rory, however, seems far more competent as a character than Mickey; he does his fair share of helping the Doctor in the beginning and also seems to be a much more established part of Amy's life, seeing as she's going to marry (I would assume) him until the moment the Doctor returns and offers to take her with him. Of course she makes sure that The Doctor can bring her back right to the time before she left, presumably because in spite of her fascination with The Doctor she still wants to marry Rory, giving the viewer the impression that she is a far more grounded character than Rose. This is however partial speculation and we'll have to see how the relationship between Rory and Amy plays out over the course of the story in spite of The Doctors' influence.
As for the tone of the new series and the first episode itself, fans will understand what I mean say when I say it's all very "Moffat." The tone is darker and the monsters and themes more mature and frightening, but not to the point where it degrades from the whimsy and enjoyability of the series. In fact, it adds to it. Though the first story isn't flawless, it follows past themes of Moffats' writing with the making of simple, everyday things into terrifying ones (this time its' a crack in the wall actually being a crack to another dimension where a giant eyeball stares from the other side) and is overall quite good and enjoyable. Of course a "mediocre" story by Moffat standards is light years better then any other current show-writers' best episodes, but this one is far better than mediocre to begin with. This episode, and the series return as a whole, has been nothing but flipping fantastic.
Doctor Who at long last has returned, and its return has been far better then I could have hoped.
Amy - "It's just...there's a whole world in here just like you said. It's all true. I thought, well I was starting to think that you were just a madman with a box."
Doctor - "Amy Pond, there's something you'd better understand about me because it's important and one day, your life may depend on it. I am definitely a mad man with a box!"
Doctor Who and all related characters, terms and media are owned by the BBC. All rights reserved.D
No comments:
Post a Comment