A bit late, I know, as
it was 2 weeks ago, but worthy of a post. Despite my advanced years, I didn’t see
Dr Who in my teenage years when it first came to air. I really only became a
fan with the resurrection or second coming in 2005, when Russell T Davies
rebooted it with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. But, personally, I liked
David Tennant and then Matt Smith’s renditions and it was a pleasure to see
them together in the 50th Anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, alongside John Hurt, who was an
inspirational casting choice. One should also mention Steven Moffat, who, as
chief writer, deserves credit for making the show a monumental success. Writers
rarely get the credit they deserve.
I recently re-watched
episodes involving David Tennant and Matt Smith, and I particularly liked the
narrative involving Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman, who, as far as I
know, is the first non-white ‘companion’. Arguably, as significant as Halle
Berry’s appearance as a ‘Bond girl’. My favourite episode was the ‘Weeping
Angels’ because it was so cleverly structured from a time-travel perspective.
I saw the 50th
Anniversary Special in a cinema in 3D (good 3D as opposed to bad 3D) and I’ve
since watched it again on ABC’s iview (expires today). It was also great to see
Billie Piper recreate her role as Rose Tyler or Bad Wolf, albeit in a subtly
different guise. It was one of many clever elements in this special. At its
heart it contains a moral dilemma – a la John Stuart Mill – which was mirrored
in one of the subplots. The interaction between John Hurt’s Doctor and Billie
Piper’s sentient AI conscience is one of the highlights of the entire story,
which was reinforced when I watched it for the second time. I know that some
people had trouble following the time jumps and plot machinations, but that
wasn’t an issue for me. To create a doomsday device to end all doomsday devices
and give it a sentient conscience is a stroke of narrative genius. At 1hr 16
mins it’s not quite movie-length, yet it shows that length is not a criterion
for quality. I found it witty, clever and highly entertaining, both in story
context and execution; suitably engaging for a 50th Anniversary
celebration.
Postscript: I should
confess that the Daleks had an influence on ELVENE, which is readily spotted by
any fan of popular Sci-Fi culture.
