Davies's relaunch of the series, he put an even finer point on the Doctor's loneliness: The Doctor is now the only Time Lord left, having destroyed both his own people and their mortal enemies the Daleks in the Last Great Time War. Everybody has a favorite Doctor and a favorite companion, and everybody has suggestions for who the next Doctor should be and what kinds of adventures he-or she (it's really about time)-should have. The constantly changing actors playing the same character, along with a rotating cast of companions, is also unique in pop culture, and engenders an unrivaled level of fan passion and investment in the characters. It's this heart-wrenching blend of intimacy and distance, of possibility and inevitability that make the show so uniquely engaging. Desperately groping for a connection-for family. "I suppose, in the end, they break my heart," David Tennant's Tenth Doctor says. He's an alien who's always hanging around humans and deeply cares about them, but will always be distant because of his Otherness. The Doctor also is Torn Between Two Worlds. The Doctor almost always has at least one inexperienced time-traveler (usually human, usually a woman) aboard to ask him what planet they're on, what that button is for, why is that stuntman wrapped in green spray-painted bubble wrap, and how in the world am I supposed to pretend to be scared of him? Sometimes he's Peter Pan, sometimes he's James Bond, sometimes he's, as the Eleventh Doctor describes himself, "Space Gandalf."īut the true genius of the show is the constant presence of a viewer surrogate: the companion. With his ability to "regenerate" into different actors while remaining the same character-there have been 11 versions since the series started in 1963-the Doctor can be any kind of fantastical figure you want. The conceit of Doctor Who is one of incredible flexibility and power. So, why are some fans a bit apprehensive about where Doctor Who is headed? Like the show itself, it's all about the relationship between the Doctor and his companion. The hype for Saturday's mid-season premiere episode, "The Bells of Saint John," has been fevered, both on the Internet and in print. The 2012 Christmas special "The Snowmen" was just short of being the highest-rated program in BBC America's history (behind only the 2012 premiere). The pop-culture penetration of the show since its 2005 revival (the original run ended in 1989, and a 1996 TV-movie pilot flopped) is undeniable. And the Doctor himself? Well, when 1200 years old you reach, look as good, you will not. The ongoing saga of the Time Lord who uses his magic box, the TARDIS, to travel anywhen in time (though mostly to the years 1963-2013) and anywhere in space (though mostly to London) turns 50 years old this year. By any tangible measure, Doctor Who has never risen higher.
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