Doctor Who: An Unpopular Opinion
Nov. 24th, 2013 04:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalI think I've got an ear infection, I can't sleep, and so this probably the worst time to be typing this, so forgive me ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jvowles and jblum. I'm just a grumpy unpleasable fan who doesn't know what he's talking about.
Anyway, it's the 50th anniversary of the launch of Doctor Who, the most epic and wonderful episode "The Day of the Doctor" has aired and...
...I don't care.
God help me, I've tried, I've been trying for years, but I just cannot get emotionally invested in New Who. Note, that I'm not a diehard hater, or a weird sentimentalist who thinks the One True Who absolutely must have wobbly sets, dodgy effects, rubber suits, and Loch Ness Monster hand puppets. It's just that it does not grab me like the old show did when I was a youngin'.
I don't think it's the show's fault. It's well made, well written, and well acted. But it's not the Who I'm comfortable with. Mostly because it's made the character of the Doctor the most important guy in the universe.
Note that I know perfectly well he is the most important guy in the universe because, hey, it's his name in the opening titles, and saving the galaxy is his job. It's about the Doctor and his adventures. It's just that somewhere along the way the universe became about the Doctor. He lands on a planet, even one he's never been to before, and there's an even chance he'll be recognized. He can drive back enemies by just suggesting they look him up in the library. He's been given the ridiculous title "The Oncoming Storm" by the Daleks, who previously just referred to him as THE DOCTOR! with spittle practically spewing from their speakers. Everyone knows his name, everyone expects him to work to save the day. And that's wrong.
In my head canon, the Doctor is Just A Guy. A very odd, smart guy, but a guy. He pops into a situation, and Columbo-like starts poking. Nobody there knows who he is. Nobody has a reason to trust him. He has to work to charm people, or just bamboozle them. The Evil this serial is defeated, and he scoots away in his magic box, onto the next adventure. He doesn't have a story arc, he doesn't have character development, and he doesn't need it. He's more of a plot device than an actual character, which is why much of the emotional stuff was handled by his Companions.
Romancing Rose? Wouldn't happen. Pandorica Boxes trapping him? Enemies would have know him enough to realize he's the source of their problems. The universe isn't about him. It has its own problems, it isn't expecting him to show up. One of the things, to me, that made him so intriguing is that he was normally able to stay emotionally outside the crisis of the week and take care of things, while everyone else is losing their biscuit. Which made episodes where he actually was deeply worried, like his fear in "Pyramids of Mars" and his conflicting emotions over destroying the Daleks in "Genesis of the Daleks" all the more of a punch. If that sort of thing happens every damned week, It Ain't Who to me.
Which is why I'm skipping getting excited over "The Day of the Doctor". I'll probably catch it with Jim eventually, and enjoy it because he enjoys it so much, but it isn't going to get me eagerly waiting to bittorrent the latest episodes. Instead I'll watch "Adventures in Time and Space" and try to remember what it was like to encounter the Doctor for the first time.
jvowles and jblum. I'm just a grumpy unpleasable fan who doesn't know what he's talking about.Anyway, it's the 50th anniversary of the launch of Doctor Who, the most epic and wonderful episode "The Day of the Doctor" has aired and...
...I don't care.
God help me, I've tried, I've been trying for years, but I just cannot get emotionally invested in New Who. Note, that I'm not a diehard hater, or a weird sentimentalist who thinks the One True Who absolutely must have wobbly sets, dodgy effects, rubber suits, and Loch Ness Monster hand puppets. It's just that it does not grab me like the old show did when I was a youngin'.
I don't think it's the show's fault. It's well made, well written, and well acted. But it's not the Who I'm comfortable with. Mostly because it's made the character of the Doctor the most important guy in the universe.
Note that I know perfectly well he is the most important guy in the universe because, hey, it's his name in the opening titles, and saving the galaxy is his job. It's about the Doctor and his adventures. It's just that somewhere along the way the universe became about the Doctor. He lands on a planet, even one he's never been to before, and there's an even chance he'll be recognized. He can drive back enemies by just suggesting they look him up in the library. He's been given the ridiculous title "The Oncoming Storm" by the Daleks, who previously just referred to him as THE DOCTOR! with spittle practically spewing from their speakers. Everyone knows his name, everyone expects him to work to save the day. And that's wrong.
In my head canon, the Doctor is Just A Guy. A very odd, smart guy, but a guy. He pops into a situation, and Columbo-like starts poking. Nobody there knows who he is. Nobody has a reason to trust him. He has to work to charm people, or just bamboozle them. The Evil this serial is defeated, and he scoots away in his magic box, onto the next adventure. He doesn't have a story arc, he doesn't have character development, and he doesn't need it. He's more of a plot device than an actual character, which is why much of the emotional stuff was handled by his Companions.
Romancing Rose? Wouldn't happen. Pandorica Boxes trapping him? Enemies would have know him enough to realize he's the source of their problems. The universe isn't about him. It has its own problems, it isn't expecting him to show up. One of the things, to me, that made him so intriguing is that he was normally able to stay emotionally outside the crisis of the week and take care of things, while everyone else is losing their biscuit. Which made episodes where he actually was deeply worried, like his fear in "Pyramids of Mars" and his conflicting emotions over destroying the Daleks in "Genesis of the Daleks" all the more of a punch. If that sort of thing happens every damned week, It Ain't Who to me.
Which is why I'm skipping getting excited over "The Day of the Doctor". I'll probably catch it with Jim eventually, and enjoy it because he enjoys it so much, but it isn't going to get me eagerly waiting to bittorrent the latest episodes. Instead I'll watch "Adventures in Time and Space" and try to remember what it was like to encounter the Doctor for the first time.
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no subject
Date: 2013-11-24 11:16 am (UTC)Vive la difference!
no subject
Date: 2013-11-24 12:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-24 11:35 pm (UTC)I agree that I liked the just shows up Doctor who would win by wits alone with no reputation to back him up better. However, the latest thing is to bring a bit more of that back. No details in case you want to see for yourself but about halfway through the current series they go back for less of the "greatest enemy of the (evil race)" stuff.
And even though the new bigger, louder Doctor is here to stay I must say that it has brought in the new fans just like the Hollywood style The Lord of the Rings. And that is a good thing even if what is being produced is not to my taste. I means that more of the old things are available where if it was just a dead series it would be quietly fading away. And if I ignore the big episodes it can be just like the old days. There are episodes like Blink, Midnight, Partners in Crime, The Doctor's Daughter, Vincent and the Doctor, The Lodger, the two shorts Time and Space, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, and Hide. I think I like about as much of new Who as old Who. About 20%.
Also, I am fairly sure that in certain places and times the Doctor was quite famous in old who. It just was not so constant.
no subject
Date: 2013-11-25 02:35 am (UTC)I don't even watch it. I know just enough Doctor stuff to appreciate some of the jokes and filks about it. Maybe when I retire and have more time, I'll go back and watch the whole thing.
The Redhead loves it. Glad it makes her happy. It isn't my thing now. We don't have arguments about it. Why would we?
no subject
Date: 2013-12-23 11:00 am (UTC)But you know what would make it even worse? If we were to spend some time with Capaldi continuing to be the loudest, most important, most revered creature in the universe... And then, over the course of too many episodes, he uses his colossal reputation to blah blah blah and it turns out he founded Gallifrey in the first place.