Everyone has their favourite actors who have played the Doctor and they all espouse the virtues of those doctors with every in breath and run down the others with every out breath. I hate it.
The thing is, they are all the doctor.Between the Writer and the actor they make up some facet of the doctor’s personality.
The very first Doctor I watched was Tom Baker (he is My Doctor), but, I enjoyed the insanity of Sylvester McCoy’s doctor. I love Christopher Ecclestone’s doctor because he felt so alive all the time; But I fell in true, fangirl love with David Tennant’s doctor because of the emotion he showed. I adore Matt Smith’s doctor because he feels like a big kid playing with grown up toys – the whole scene in the Widow and the wardrobe with the Lemonade Tap and the hammocks… perfect.
The companions are more about the writer than the character of the doctor – each one is chosen by the writer to show a particular characteristic in the doctor. And yet again I hate the loathing that some people spread upon the companions that they don’t like.
If you think about it, Rose brought out the Love in the doctor’s hearts, Amy brought him a family. Clara has given him a mystery. River gave him an equal, Donna was a best friend. Martha brought back his compassion… I bet if you went back through all the companions, each one would have something that shows something about the doctor… my personal favourite is Ace, but Clara is fast over taking her.
Every writer brings a different view of the doctor. If the show was a book, it would be like having each chapter written by a different person who is used to writing in a different Genre. So what if Stephen Moffat is worse than Russell T. Davies? Maybe Douglas Adams’ episodes are as good as Neil Gaimen’s or Terrance Dick’s were perfect?
Does it really matter? They brought their own suspense, joy, points of view… whatever to the character of the doctor. Each one ‘Made’ or ‘Destroyed’ the doctor according to the fans.
I’ve liked all the episodes in season 7b, so far – I suspend my writer’s brain and just enjoy. Yes there are plotholes, yes there are episodes that make me feel unsatisfied because I want to know more or it’s not quite long enough… I don’t care – I watch it to enjoy it and relax.
And that’s what it’s for!
It’s a light entertainment programme. It’s intended to entertain through the visual medium of TV. It’s not a narrative that is deliberately pointing out flaws in government or a science fiction show that is hyped up on hard science. It is in my opinion, a Science Fiction / Fantasy Slip stream story about a lonely man in a time travelling box who lands somewhere and fixes something to make the people’s lives there better.
Let it be what it is please!
Oh and if anyone is interested, I’m writing a Dr Who Fan Fiction story – I will be publishing it part by part on my other blog, The Serial Storyteller, feel free to read and tell me what you think!
The World of The Teigr Princess 