Saturday 30 April 2011

The Doctor

Is it just me, or is Doctor Who the best thing the BBC has ever made? When other shows are stuck in pubs and living rooms the Doctor is flying around time and space. The new season opener has all the insanity of its best episodes. Possessed astronaut suits, a crazy orphanage, aliens in suits. Sometimes it's like they throw a pile of ideas into a box and pick a few out at random. It's full of foreshadowing, symbolism, and parallel timelines that don't entirely make sense, but that's the brilliance of it. You've just got to go with it. It's unrestrained. If anything it's trying to appeal more and more to the hardcore fans. So much so that even I don't really follow all of it. Here the Doctor is killed in the first ten minutes, before a past (or present) version of him turns up to help, with a woman from his future who knows his past, and a man who used to be a robot Roman but came back to life in a new timeline.
But it can also be simple. This new season has introduced the show's scariest monsters. They're not old robots, they're freaky aliens who look they've escaped from a melted Edvard Munch painting. Standing and staring like all the best aliens do. And because they're one of Moffat's creations, they're based on a clever idea instead of big lasers. Look away and you forget them, resulting in all sorts of new ways to go mad. This is a show that keeps getting better, and nerdier, and more imaginative. If it was brand new, if it wasn't already a fifty-year old institution, would something this good be allowed to exist?

12 comments:

  1. Missed it, again! Going to watch both episodes on BBC iPlayer now.

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  2. The iPlayer, the second best thing the BBC has ever done.

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  3. Totally agree, The Silents's are possibly the best big bads the show has created. The show is made to look even better when its sandwiched between gawd awful dross like Don't Scare The Hare and So You Think You Can Dance.

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  4. I've seen the end of that Hare show, but I just assumed it was some sort of hallucination. Something to do with a man walking around with a mechanical hare?

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  5. Trying to understand and sort through this web of timelines is like pouring a pint of beer in a half pint glass. Even if I do figure it out, I will never, ever, be able to put the entire thing into words for the benefit of someone else.

    Next up, pirates. Yo ho ho!

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  6. Thinking too hard about the River Song thing makes me head hurt, and they like to make it worse with clever little phrases - 'every day I know him more and more and he knows me less and less.' Nobody knows what it means but it's good.

    I think if you did work out the whole thing perfectly you'd never be able to put anything at all into words ever again.

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  7. Doctor Who is without question the best thing the BBC ever done. Just look at the uproar that ensued when they annouced its cancelation years ago. Not many programmes get that sort of reaction.
    I've been a watcher since the early 70's when Jon Pertwee was THe Doctor and loved it ever since. Am eagerly awaiting the new series as I think Matt Smith is the best Doctor for some time and Karen Gillan is just scumptuous!!

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  8. I've not seen any of the old stuff, but I still knew all about it when it started again. I'm not sure how, but I wasn't confused by all this blue box stuff. Maybe it's wired into everyone.

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  9. I completely agree that Doctor Who is the best show ever, closely followed by the new BBC version of Sherlock Holmes. But, David Tenant will always be my favorite doctor and Billy Piper my favorite traveling companion. Ahhh, to travel the stars with Billy Piper by your side... Could life be any better? =D

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  10. I've thought about it, and I have no idea who my favourite Doctor is. Hmmm...

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  11. I have heard good things about this, but it just does not seem like something I would enjoy. But great review, very well written and nice blog. Thanks for the follow! And come back and see me :)

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  12. The idea of monsters you can't remember is linked to the idea of spooky things youcan't quite see, which I believe initiated the fist season of Matt Smith's doctor - reminiscent of Lord Dunsany's "Green Tea", a perfect story for you, I think.

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