Category Archives: Doctor Who

New Doctor Who Ups the Stakes

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My ongoing obsession with the BBC classic series Doctor Who continues.

Doctor WhoLast week the 11th season of the (new) Doctor Who began. This season features three big changes: a new Doctor, played by Jodie Whittaker, a new head writer, Chris Chibnall, and three new companions.

Having seen the first episode, I can’t wait to see how the new season develops with Whittaker in the title role. Whenever an actor assumes the role he (and now she) brings a fresh take on the Doctor. Usually it takes a few episodes before they find their footing. Chris Eccleston’s loopiness sparked right away. David Tennant and Matt Smith both brought a boyishness to the role that took a little time to grow on me. I never ever warmed up to Peter Capaldi’s overly dour take on the Doctor.

Whittaker was thoroughly charming. There were some rough parts to the season opener–she’s overly giddy at times–but she has a warm confidence that telegraphs a strong future.

There’s one other change that’s more subtle but I think more important. The Doctor’s companions often serve as an audience stand-in. The companion, usually female, is full of wonder and amazement and learns and grows as she travels the universe with the Doctor, surviving one harrowing adventure after another. Danger is at every turn, but no companion in the new Who era has ever truly died.

Rose was exiled to an alternate earth (still alive).

Martha became a Torchwood soldier (still alive, I think).

Poor Donna Noble survived, though only because she had her memories of her adventures erased.

Amy Pond and Rory both survived, though they were banished to the past.

Clara Oswald, well, she died. But then the Doctor did his timey-wimey stuff and snatched her away just before the moment of her death. I didn’t get it either but I loved Clara so I was happy.

And then there’s Bill Potts. Turned into a Cyberman. That’s death, right? No. Another timey-wimey thing where she becomes an immortal puddle or something.

With each companion the danger and risk is heightened, but true consequences are denied.

Not so in this season’s first episode. We were presented with a cast of four potential companions: police officer Yasmin, determined bike rider Ryan, his grandmother Grace, and Grace’s husband Graham. While fighting the big bad tooth-faced monster with a name that sounded like Tim Shaw, one of those four potentials dies.

Like, really dies. Buried and all.

Not only that, it was the FIFTH human death shown in just this one episode.

Doctor Who is nominally a children’s show. Yes, characters die, but less often than you’d think. And never, until now, a (near) companion.

Does this mean that any of the three remaining companions could die this season?

Hopefully, and not because I want to see them die, but because I want to see stakes that matter.

 

 

 

Goodbye, Clara Oswald

by in Amy Pond, Clara Oswald, Doctor Who, Donna Noble, Jenna Coleman, Martha Jones, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Rose Tyler, Steven Moffat, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

FINALLY! A sign-off for a Doctor Who companion that was both fully satisfying and organic.

Doctor_Who_Logo_without_BBC

While the return of Doctor Who to television a decade ago has been an overwhelming success, turning the BBC sci-fi show into a worldwide phenomenon, it’s had its share of problems in terms of storytelling. One of those problems is its reliance on convoluted plotting, red herrings, and Maguffins. They abound. I’ve learned to look past them.

Another problem is structural, and nearly impossible to overcome. It’s rooted in the very premise of doctor Who: a time-traveling alien with the capability to regenerate (and live an extremely long life) is accompanied by a naive Earthling (usually young, female, and pretty) as they streak across time and space in search of adventures. During these adventures, the companion has her mind expanded to the vastness of space and time, while the Doctor learns about compassion and humanity.

But the power imbalance can get distracting, and it rarely ends well for the companion.

ROSE–Rose Tyler ended up exiled in a parallel universe

–Martha Jones ditched the Doctor when she realized her love would never be returned

–Donna Noble had her memories of her time with the Doctor erased in order to save her life

–Amy Pond (and her husband Rory) were trapped in early 20th century America

But then came Clara Oswald (played by Jenna Coleman), the impossible girl, who ended up doing the impossible.

CLARA 1When Clara first appeared I didn’t know what to make of her. She was part of an EXTREMELY convoluted plot line that had her being split into a ton of different Claras and seeded throughout his timeline to save him from disaster at key moments. Uh, okay.

So, she was basically a plot device, not her own character. during that storyline I never got a clear picture of Clara as a unique person. Compare her to Rose Tyler, a working-class shop girl who confounded the prejudices against her, or Martha Jones, a smart and dedicated physician. Donna Noble was a tenacious smart-ass who grew spectacularly during her brief stint as companion. And Amy Pond constantly struggled with her childhood attachment and abandonment issues that revolved around the Doctor.

But Clara? Not much going on there after that initial storyline ran its course. Once the “recovered” Clara returned, we were left with a character who was just sort of there. She was cheery and a little sassy, and thank God she didn’t have a crush on the Doctor. But that was pretty much it.

CLARA 2

I was content to just enjoy the ride. Jenna Coleman is a good actor and she’s great to look at. Plus, when Matt Smith’s tenure as the Doctor ended, Peter Capaldi brought a prickly edge to the time-traveling alien that translated to his relationship with Clara. At least that was entertaining.

But, after this season’s three part ending, I realize how much of Clara’s development I’ve missed. In hindsight it’s obvious just who Clara was (who she’s always been), and how her character has developed in the most subtle of ways.

CLARA

It turns out Clara wasn’t a cipher. She was someone who was becoming the Doctor’s equal. And she did this through her own initiative and force of will.

The hints were there all along. Clara would pretend to be the Doctor, or she would remind the Doctor of what course to take. She was a quick learner, and she never assumed herself to be anything other than his equal. She was not lovestruck nor awestruck. She was no-nonsense. She was clever.

In the first episode of the season-ending three-parter, everyone assumed (myself included) that she was maybe too clever. Maybe she was deluded in her assumptions that she knew as much as the Doctor, when her brilliant scheme to save her friend ended up getting herself killed. The Doctor is always teetering on oblivion. He always defies the odds. Clara succumbed to them.

And so she was dead. That in itself would have been a fitting end to Clara. It would have been a dark lesson in hubris. That Clara embraced her death made it even more moving. And at that point, she would have joined the other companions who paid a steep price for the thrill of being at the Doctor’s side.

But, this being Doctor Who, that’s not how her story ended.

clara capaldi

When the Doctor pulled Clara from her time stream in the moment before death I was shocked. It seemed impossible, almost like cheating. But it worked.

If there’s one thing that Doctor Who does well it’s characterization. Doctor Who is a man outrunning tragedy. He has awesome powers and a will to do good, but he’s burdened by churning loss. He loves humans most of all, but humans have too short a life span. He gets close to people, he loses them. With Clara, he was determined to save her, and he did.

But Clara, when she’s pulled form her time stream, isn’t happy with him. She chose her fate and the Doctor unchose it for her. Her speech admonishing the Doctor was one of the most moving parts of her whole storyline.

When the Doctor hatched yet another plan to save her, he stole a spare TARDIS and took a device that would wipe her memory of the Doctor (similar to what happened to Donna Noble) in order to hide and protect her. But Clara caught wind and attempted to reprogram the device to wipe the Doctor’s memory of Clara instead. In another great monologue, Clara told the Doctor that her memories were hers, and it was not his right to wipe hers away, even if it might keep her safe. Neither Clara nor the Doctor were sure whose memory the device would erase, but they both agreed to chance it. In the end, it was the Doctor who ended up forgetting just who Clara Oswald had been.

Clara, on the other hand, had a TARDIS at her disposal, and the woman who always considered herself to be the Doctor’s equal, was now essentially immortal, and she had all of time and space at her disposal.

Wow. In the end, Clara Oswald was every bit the impossible girl.

Clara

 

 

Doctor Who: the companion takes charge

by in Amy Pond, Clara Oswald, Doctor Who, Donna Noble, Jenna Coleman, Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Martha Jones, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Rose Tyler, Steven Moffat and tagged | Leave a comment

Doctor Who. the brilliant, long-running British sci-fi classic, is a vexing show when it comes to one element: the companions.

Basically, the companions of the time-traveling alien are stand-ins for the audience. The companion 1) allows the Doctor to explain, in exposition form, whatever is going on, and 2) serves to humanize the Doctor. And the companion is typically female.

There’s a well-worn cinematic trope called the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. This is a character who is bright, bubbly and friendly, there to help the male protagonist achieve some measure of enlightenment. She has little if any inner life. She’s there simply to be the protagonist’s foil. Think Audrey Hepburn’s character in Breakfast at Tiffanys, or Natalie Portman in Garden State.

Doctor Who is ripe for Manic Pixie Dream Girls. The Doctor is a lost soul, a mournful (white) man searching for meaning and purpose in life. You would think Doctor Who would be bursting with Manic Pixie Dream Girls. But this show has mostly avoided falling into that trap. Let’s run down the companions (in the new Doctor Who era) and why they haven’t reached Manic Pixie Dream Girl status:

Rose Tyler was plucky and not afraid to hold her tongue. But she was too poor, uneducated and unrefined to be a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

Rose

Martha Jones was closer to being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl in that she was in love with the Doctor from the get-go. But she’s black (which doesn’t fit the archetype made by/for white guys) and way too educated (a doctor).

Martha

Donna Noble was my favorite companion, but she was nowhere close to being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. She was too old, too physically imposing, and too rude. In short, she was too much her own person.

Donna

Amy Pond comes closest to being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl compared to the previous three. But Amy had a well-documented childhood that was messed up by the Doctor’s brief appearance and then disappearance. As a result, Amy 1) had a past. Manic Pixie Dream Girls barely exist as characters in their own right. And, 2) her past left her pretty messed up. Manic Pixie Dream Girls are supposed to be blank slates. Amy was definitely not blank (even if it was due to the meddling of our hero).

Amy Pond

And then there’s Clara Oswald.

If anyone was built to be a Manic Pixie Dream girl, it was Clara (played by Jenna Coleman), the pretty, brown-haired, pretty, perky, sarcastic schoolteacher. She was introduced under a veil of mystery (as two different characters centuries apart). She was known as the Impossible Girl; Clara Oswald helped save the Doctor by fragmenting herself across his multiple time streams. Her sole purpose was to save the Doctor, literally. You cannot get more Manic Pixie Dream Girl than that. She fit the definition. Hell, the definition could have been written about her.

Clara

But then something strange happened.

The incarnation of the Doctor that she saved (Matt Smith) died. And when the new one (played by Matt SmithPeter Capaldi) came along, she was strangely cold to him. Kind of weird for someone who had seen several versions of the Doctor. But she hasn’t just been cold: she has often battled him for control. That is NOT a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

So what happened?

I read a news snippet where Doctor Who head writer Steven Moffat explained that Clara Oswald does not see herself as a supporting character in the Doctor’s story. Clara Oswald sees herself as the protagonist, every bit as smart and wise and worthy as the Doctor. In fact, HE is the supporting character in HER story (Hence the brilliant Clara Who opening in one episode).

Peter Capaldi

This is a great inversion of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype. I don’t know if I completely buy it for one reason: with his control of the time-traveling machine the TARDIS, the Doctor is the one who dictates the agenda; he controls the storyline. But even if the Doctor truly holds power, Clara does not acknowledge this. Clara Oswald is a supporting character who refuses to support. Not just that, she demands support (which may be why she was so angry when her Manic Pixie Dream Boy shed his pretty face).

If this is true (which I am leaning toward), then we should all be asking who Clara’s next companion will be.