I knew of Doctor Who when I was growing up, but never watched it. My husband, who is nine years younger than me, watched Doctor Who when he was a kid, and was quite excited at news of the reboot. Also the original Bond fan, my husband is the one who converted me to Doctor Who, as well.
And I was glad he did. I very much enjoyed the first season of the reboot. In another bit of linkage with Bond, credit for this goes to the dry English wit that infuses many of the scripts and is so different from the kind of humor I am accustomed to in North American TV series. Christopher Eccleston was an excellent introduction (for me) to the Doctor. I also liked his companion, Rose, and felt her humanness was the perfect contrast to his comically manic, sometimes darkly inscrutable alien.
When Eccleston regenerated into Tennant Doc, initially I was rather underwhelmed by David Tennant’s performance. But he grew into the role, grew on me and became one of my favorites. At the time I was OK with turning the Doctor and Rose into a romantic relationship, but on subsequent viewings, at least for me it didn’t age well. So in hindsight it feels like a mistake, but I doubt that the viewing numbers would have reflected that.
One of the reasons I came to like Donna so much, as a companion, is that unlike Rose and Martha, she was a true friend with no romantic interest in the Doctor. I thought that was very well written and portrayed. Robbing Donna of her memories with the Doctor upset me so much that I’ve never quite forgiven Russell T. Davies for it. I understand he may have resolved this in the most recent specials, but I refuse to subscribe to Disney+, so I’ll have to wait for the DVDs to make their way to my library before I watch them.
Because I enjoyed Tennant Doc so much, I didn’t start watching Smith Doc until after his first full season, I think. Later on, I caught up and found myself enjoying him just as much. One of my favorite Matt Smith episodes was “Asylum of the Daleks” (which introduced us to a future companion, though one with a different name). It was interesting to have a married couple as the Doctor’s companions. Amy and Rory added a new emotional wrinkle to the Doctor’s experience. It wasn’t really a triangle, and yet sometimes felt as if it was. Steven Moffat walked that line very carefully.
“The Angels Take Manhattan” was one of the most emotionally draining Doctor Who episodes I’ve ever watched. So much so that I really didn’t feel like committing to a new companion. And I’m not sure that Moffat really knew what to do with Clara in the beginning. The “impossible girl” was a neat idea, with three different incarnations of Clara, but the character didn’t quite work for me until “The Day of the Doctor” 50th anniversary special.
I so enjoyed Smith Doc that I wasn’t really ready to let go of him, but I liked Clara enough that I was willing to make the transition to Capaldi Doc. At first I was a bit underwhelmed, but Peter Capaldi’s portrayal really grew on me. One of my favorite episodes is his “Heaven Sent” tour de force, so much so that I was somewhat underwhelmed by the “Hell Bent” followup (though I later came to appreciate it just as much).
After Clara, Bill entered the picture as the Doctor’s companion, and as good as many of those episodes are, this is where I began to feel that maybe Doctor Who had run its course. There are only so many new threats that can be introduced, and so many ways in which a Dalek can be incorporated into a story without feeling like, “Oh no, not another Dalek episode!”
Because Moffat had been at the helm for so long, I was apprehensive about Chris Chibnall following him. And, sadly, my expectations were met. I felt that Jodie Whittaker was greatly under-served by her scripts. Who knows what might have been if Moffat, who wrote Missy, the female Master, so well had been the showrunner. But, understandably, he was exhausted by this time and ready to move on, so it was not to be.
The only Whittaker Doc episode that stands out, to me, is “Eve of the Daleks” which I felt rekindled the old Doctor Who wit and charm, if only for one episode. But at least there’s that. It has that quirky whimsy combined with a real sense of the Doctor and those around her being threatened (yes, by Daleks … but with humor), so it works for me.
“The Timeless Children” arc was, for me, a huge mistake. Not just in rewriting Doctor Who canon, but doing it so clumsily. Having the Master do the big reveal in an overwrought, tedious slog of exposition sapped the story of whatever dramatic impact it might have had. It’s not the first time in Doctor Who that established canon has been revised. But the person who takes that on must handle it with care, and do it convincingly. That didn’t happen here.
Earlier I mentioned that I refuse to subscribe to Disney+. So there’s no hope of me seeing the new series until the DVDs arrive at the library. It’s a bit like the new Bond. I may or may not be willing to follow along, given how much I enjoyed Craig’s Bond. I don’t want to be disappointed. But I may give it a try, just to see if the old magic is still there.
