For the longest time I have been a huge fan of Doctor Who. The stories of an alien travelling through time and space with human companions having adventures has been an integral part of both my childhood and my current viewing habits.
Since the show revived in 2005 I have been watching it religiously and there has not bee a single thing about it that I?ve managed to find fault it.
However, recently there have been a few elements coming to the foreground of the series that has actually got me thinking about an important question:
?Is the Doctor really a good guy??
Now my first instinct was to rise and defend him on this count. He?s the protagonist. He?s saved humankind and the Earth many times over, all without ever taking thanks for it. Hell, he even saved the whole universe a couple of times.
But then the darker parts of his nature began to swell in my mind. He may have done some laudable things in the show, but he?s also done some very questionable stuff too.
Please be warned that this will contain spoilers. Those who have not watched the series but wish to, please look away.
The recent episode ?A good man goes to war? shows the latest set of bad guys going to incredible lengths to create a weapon specifically designed to bring the Doctor down. As River Song puts it:
?You make them so afraid. When you began all those years ago, going out amongst the stars, did you ever think you would become this? The man who could turn an army around at the mention of his name? Doctor? The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. If you carry on as you have, what might that word come to mean??
Now many die-hard fans of the Doctor, like myself will be quick to defend his reputation at this point. After all, the Doctor is on the side of good. But let?s remember, good is a point of view. It?s entirely subjective. In wars, both sides will always think that they are good and that their enemies are evil.
And River Song is right. His reputation is enough to scare people. The things he?s done since the series began would make anyone frightened of him, including myself. He?s wiped out entire races of aliens, including his own people, the Time Lords. Races said to be the most powerful in the universe he has destroyed or brought to the brink of extinction.
His dark reputation has been used on a number of occasions when Steven Moffat has been at the wheel. In Matt Smith?s introduction in ?The eleventh hour? it was used to scare away a fleet of aliens who?d come to capture an escaped prisoner. But when they find out who it is whose been trying to capture him as well, they turn tail and run. And at the end of that season, when all the Doctors enemies gathered to bring him down, he staved them all off by reminding them of who there were up against. Now of course you can argue that in that episode it was all an act by his enemies. But the fact that the Doctor fell into that trap mean that he himself would expect them to run from him. He knows what he?s done and he knows that it would be enough to make others cower from him.
It really does paint a clear picture of the interpretation of his character that Steven Moffat has regarding the Doctor. When Russell T Davis had the reigns of the series, the Doctor was portrayed as an old man in a young man?s body, filled with the guilt over his actions and crippled by loneliness over being the last of his kind.
But whenever Steven Moffat has written for the character, especially since becoming director in 2010, this interpretation has changed to be a far darker and more intimidating character. A man who has had such a profound impact on the universe and the people within it that his name, his reputation and the legends that have sprung up about him, are enough to make him seem like the devil in some people?s eyes. So clear is this that even the people he gathers as allies are intimidated and scared by him on a number of occasions.
Take for example Moffat?s two-part episode ?Human nature/The family of blood?. At the end of those episodes the Doctor allows his enemies to live but at a terrible cost. We see in that moment of the episode just how dark and terrifying this guy can get. He let them live, yes. But in doing so he?s made their lives a living hell. Forcibly making them live forever in different and terrifying ways that would probably make any of us prefer death.
Hell, even in Davis? first season finale, we see the Doctor actively trying to kill his enemies by wiping out the population of Earth as well. Now of course he argues his position and it seemed reasonable at the time given the available options, but still the fact that such a notion would even come to mind for him is a spine-chilling thought.
Now of course the Doctor himself is well aware of his power and his ability and, as show in the show, would never let go for a moment. However, we have seen times when this has not been the case. In ?The waters of Mars?, one of David Tennant?s final episodes as the Doctor, we see him actively trying to re-write history to save people?s lives. Now this may sound like a good thing but as we see by the end, doing so reveals a side to the Doctor that we rarely see. Arrogance. A belief in his abilities so great that he feels invincible. And it terrified me.
?Is there nothing you can?t do??
?Not anymore.?
So in conclusion, yes he fights for what we believe to be good. He?s saved many people?s lives. He?s saved the whole universe on a number of occasions at the risk to his own life. But despite this there is a dark side to this character that few others could have. A side to him that makes this ?protagonist? walk a very fine line. A line that I hope very much he never crosses.
Since the show revived in 2005 I have been watching it religiously and there has not bee a single thing about it that I?ve managed to find fault it.
However, recently there have been a few elements coming to the foreground of the series that has actually got me thinking about an important question:
?Is the Doctor really a good guy??
Now my first instinct was to rise and defend him on this count. He?s the protagonist. He?s saved humankind and the Earth many times over, all without ever taking thanks for it. Hell, he even saved the whole universe a couple of times.
But then the darker parts of his nature began to swell in my mind. He may have done some laudable things in the show, but he?s also done some very questionable stuff too.
Please be warned that this will contain spoilers. Those who have not watched the series but wish to, please look away.
The recent episode ?A good man goes to war? shows the latest set of bad guys going to incredible lengths to create a weapon specifically designed to bring the Doctor down. As River Song puts it:
?You make them so afraid. When you began all those years ago, going out amongst the stars, did you ever think you would become this? The man who could turn an army around at the mention of his name? Doctor? The word for healer and wise man throughout the universe. We get that word from you, you know. If you carry on as you have, what might that word come to mean??
Now many die-hard fans of the Doctor, like myself will be quick to defend his reputation at this point. After all, the Doctor is on the side of good. But let?s remember, good is a point of view. It?s entirely subjective. In wars, both sides will always think that they are good and that their enemies are evil.
And River Song is right. His reputation is enough to scare people. The things he?s done since the series began would make anyone frightened of him, including myself. He?s wiped out entire races of aliens, including his own people, the Time Lords. Races said to be the most powerful in the universe he has destroyed or brought to the brink of extinction.
His dark reputation has been used on a number of occasions when Steven Moffat has been at the wheel. In Matt Smith?s introduction in ?The eleventh hour? it was used to scare away a fleet of aliens who?d come to capture an escaped prisoner. But when they find out who it is whose been trying to capture him as well, they turn tail and run. And at the end of that season, when all the Doctors enemies gathered to bring him down, he staved them all off by reminding them of who there were up against. Now of course you can argue that in that episode it was all an act by his enemies. But the fact that the Doctor fell into that trap mean that he himself would expect them to run from him. He knows what he?s done and he knows that it would be enough to make others cower from him.
It really does paint a clear picture of the interpretation of his character that Steven Moffat has regarding the Doctor. When Russell T Davis had the reigns of the series, the Doctor was portrayed as an old man in a young man?s body, filled with the guilt over his actions and crippled by loneliness over being the last of his kind.
But whenever Steven Moffat has written for the character, especially since becoming director in 2010, this interpretation has changed to be a far darker and more intimidating character. A man who has had such a profound impact on the universe and the people within it that his name, his reputation and the legends that have sprung up about him, are enough to make him seem like the devil in some people?s eyes. So clear is this that even the people he gathers as allies are intimidated and scared by him on a number of occasions.
Take for example Moffat?s two-part episode ?Human nature/The family of blood?. At the end of those episodes the Doctor allows his enemies to live but at a terrible cost. We see in that moment of the episode just how dark and terrifying this guy can get. He let them live, yes. But in doing so he?s made their lives a living hell. Forcibly making them live forever in different and terrifying ways that would probably make any of us prefer death.
Hell, even in Davis? first season finale, we see the Doctor actively trying to kill his enemies by wiping out the population of Earth as well. Now of course he argues his position and it seemed reasonable at the time given the available options, but still the fact that such a notion would even come to mind for him is a spine-chilling thought.
Now of course the Doctor himself is well aware of his power and his ability and, as show in the show, would never let go for a moment. However, we have seen times when this has not been the case. In ?The waters of Mars?, one of David Tennant?s final episodes as the Doctor, we see him actively trying to re-write history to save people?s lives. Now this may sound like a good thing but as we see by the end, doing so reveals a side to the Doctor that we rarely see. Arrogance. A belief in his abilities so great that he feels invincible. And it terrified me.
?Is there nothing you can?t do??
?Not anymore.?
So in conclusion, yes he fights for what we believe to be good. He?s saved many people?s lives. He?s saved the whole universe on a number of occasions at the risk to his own life. But despite this there is a dark side to this character that few others could have. A side to him that makes this ?protagonist? walk a very fine line. A line that I hope very much he never crosses.
