Doctor Who Resistance is Useless

As Doctor Who nears it’s 45th Anniversary (man… I still remember the 20th!), I’ve been reviewing a lot of my old tapes and have been reminded at how incredibly diverse it is.

From the sophisticated Doctor Who classics of William Hartnell to the wild and wacky adventures of Jon Pertwee, it’s easy to lose sight of what makes the program so appealing and immortal.

This is made all the more complicated by the fact that the Doctor Who Classic Series has been followed in 2005 by a brand new re-vision of the Doctor Who program by Russel T Davies and crew. In the new series, many of the ideas and tropes have been cast aside to embrace the pop-culture element in much the same way that teenagers struggle to be hip and accepted by his/her peers.

Tom Baker quoted Tennyson and Patrick Troughton claims to have studied medicine in Scotland under Dr. Lister in 1885… nowadays the Doctor uses the TARDIS to attend Ian Drury and The Blockheads concerts and reads Harry Potter while the Master takes control of London only to share his iTunes playlist with his ’subject’ every morning.

It’s a phase like any other in the Doctor Who’s vast history that will more likely than not end when a new producer takes over in the Fifth Season as the program will no doubt enter yet another stage of its progression.

The Doctor Who series has gone through many vastly different progressions since its creation in 1963 by Sydney Newman and Verity Lambert. At first an educational family program, the series changed into a Hammer Horror affair in the early 70’s, high comedy in the late 70’s and ‘hard science fiction’ in the 80’s.

Each new production team built a new foundation almost from the ground up as it took over the reigns of the program. Since no other program on TV can do this, it has become part of the charm of the series.

When Jon Pertwee’s dashing gentleman working alongside the military left, the Harpo Marx clown Tom Baker sauntered in. The most successful actor to take on the role, Tom Baker’s seven year era was the most wildly varied in the entire history of the series. In one story he would be make a noble one man stand against an ancient evil on Mars while in another he would lure a guard away from a flying car with sweets. Tom Baker’s unique personality and charm was the corner stone of the program’s integrity.

Even the later eras of The Classic Doctor Who Series, so often overlooked by fans and critics alike have their own evolution. The Andrew Cartmell/John Nathan Turner reign of the program remains perhaps the most ambitious (and uneven) of Doctor Who’s eras. From the comedic and light-hearted Delta and The Bannermen to the deeply serious and haunting Ghost Light, the program changed in leaps that were far too broad for the casual audience to keep up with… which is a shame.

While it can be argued that the audience wasn’t the only party unable to make the transition (a comedic entertainer such as McCoy was seen as out of his depth in attempting the darker tones of his last season), it is refreshing that even with 25 years’ of Doctor Who’s legacy, they were still willing to re-invent the show.

It is at these key moments that the program is most interesting… and in danger of losing its audience.

The fun-loving and impervious to harm David Tennant has so quickly risen to the demands of the most difficult role in British television that he signed the most expensive three year contract given out by the BBC… a contract that expires in 2008. When David leaves the part, there will be many who may tune out, swearing that he was the only reason they watched in the first place.

Many Doctor Who fans waited with heartfelt hope for 16 years for the opening credits of ‘Rose’ to roll across the screen in 2005. Since that time, Doctor Who has enjoyed a remarkable revival similar in success to that of the new Battlestar Galactica program on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Doctor Who has enjoyed strong viewing figures and DVDs of the classic series have been selling out since the new program debuted in 2005. With the production team rumored to be moving on to greener pastures, the future of the series hangs in the balance.

No matter who your favorite Doctor is, what your favorite story is or which signature tune still gives you butterflies when you hear it, it cannot be denied that the key to Doctor Who’s success is its variety.

So I invite you to watch this documentary I watched as a wee teenager in 1992 and revel in the many different facets of the most innovative TV program in science fiction history.

Doctor Who Resistance is Useless part 1

Doctor Who Resistance is Useless part 2

Doctor Who Resistance is Useless part 3

Doctor Who Resistance is Useless part 4