I can't sleep. It could be the five episodes of Doctor Who I just watched. I journeyed through The Rebel Flesh to Night Terrors. On one hand, it is inconceivable to me when I hear people say they stopped watching Doctor Who during Matt's era or that he isn't their favourite doctor and on the other hand I can see how some of these episodes may upset the purists.
The five episodes consist of two story arcs and a single story. The first two parter delves into humans versus clones and what happens when you have two "eleven" doctors. Although the flesh copies remind me of Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, I have always found the premise quite fascinating. I also love how you can re-watch The Almost People and see a different episode.
It will not be the first time we see Matt perform dual roles, but it may be perhaps the most entertaining. I can see a purist getting upset at the idea that the Doctor simply has to touch some milky white liquid and suddenly he can clone himself. If it were that simple, the Doctor could easily hop into his Tardis at the first sign of trouble and make as many copies of himself in order to defeat the monster of the week. I also don't think that is the point. The Almost People allows the viewers to see how well do we know the Doctor and his companions. If there was a doppelganger in existence, could we tell the difference between the two?
I recalled the twist at the end where he Doctor reveals he switched the shoes at the beginning of their escapades, but didn't remember Amy's false identity. I found it surprising that Matt's performance is flawless. There isn't a moment of inconsistency. Admittedly, I couldn't distinguish the two doctors during the first viewing and felt Amy's remorse at judging the two doctor's too quickly. The second viewing you can see the disappointment in The Doctor as he realizes the companions that have shared so much with him can't tell the difference and are relying on his word and shoes. You also see the sense of betrayal and anger as he realizes Amy has been keeping secrets from him this entire time and discovers she knew about his death.
It was interesting to see on the second time around the fine nuances in the performance that reveal it's the real doctor playing doppelganger and the doppelganger playing the real doctor. I might have to revisit the episodes again to see if Karen is equally illuminating in her performances.
I can also see why purists may not like A Good Man Goes To War and Let's Kill Hitler. Not only does the Doctor die again, but the writers have introduced partial time lords and tried explaining it all. I might have to delver further into the classics, but I don't recall The Doctor actually dying as many times (especially in one season) as poor Matt.
If anyone can remember the outrage of metacholirans in Star Wars, you might imagine how Whovians reacted to Time Lords being cooked in the Tardis as The Doctor so eloquently put it. We discover Amy and Rory conceived on their wedding night aboard the Tardis and that somehow influenced their baby's DNA by coating it with Time Lord DNA. This implies anyone, including The Doctor, can have sex on the Tardis and create new Time Lords. The whole concept of The Doctor being the last one would be easily remedied on the Tardis.
In the span of four episodes, we have seen two ways in growing more time lords. You can make flesh clones with milky liquid or create biological ones on the Tardis. In essence, you could have infinite amount of Time Lords in a relatively short period of time depending on what method you were using. That's not the only thing I think purists may get upset about.
If we push aside the definition of The Doctor for a moment, we would see it seems regeneration are not as unique as we thought as well. Somehow, unbeknownst to us, baby Melody has been stolen and given to young Amelia and Rory as Amelia's best friend, Mels. The three of them grow up as childhood friends until one day as adults, Mel bumps into her friends and The Doctor and hijacks them to Berlin 1938 where she regenerates into River Song. This is where things become a bit inconsistent.
The writers clearly try to draw parallels between The Doctor and River by them both working out their physicality, personalities and choosing clothes. Although Mel and River can recollect moments of their previous incarnation and past, River seems to have to recollection of her name or her part in history. The writers try explaining it with being brainwashed to kill The Doctor. Now if this was the case, we might ask why the little astronaut girl who regenerated in the alleyway didn't track down young Amelia and kill the Doctor during their first encounter. Why did she wait so long in adulthood to track The Doctor down? As River, why does she believe the Doctor so quickly in order to use up all her regeneration's to bring him back to life?
Let us not forget the awkwardness of discovering River is Amy and Rory's child in the first place. Alex is 24 years older than Karen and 19 years older than Arthur and Matt. This means the viewers must believe the youngest cast member is the mother of the oldest cast member and the two men are now playing the father and lover of the oldest one. If you are not an initial ageist like myself, there are other issues purists may get upset over.
Do we forget there are time travel police killing off people that commit tremendous crimes? If not, it does beg the question why they wouldn't have tried killing River while she is inside her prison. Again, I can see why purists may be upset about such matters.
So why do I find it so inconceivable people don't like Matt's era? If I can find fault within the series then surely those who were not smitten with Matt must do the same. That is where I find the issue so inconceivable. How do you not like Matt?
I find Night Terrors is a great example for what I am about to say. I think most of us can recall being a child and afraid of the dark. We can imagine what it must be like for a kid to be scared they might loose their apartment, because their parents can't make rent. We can imagine the fear of neglect and lack of love. What if we aren't good enough for our parents? Will they give us away? Now imagine you could send out your fears to the one person in the universe that could take it all away. He could teach you to battle your fears and combat those monsters in your room. He could make you laugh and bring out your courage and strength. With your help, he could save the day. Would this not be fantastic?
Although Matt's Doctor admits to previous transgressions and regrets in the past, there is something so optimistic and hopeful about his interpretation that I think he is not only a great role model for children but also for ourselves as adults. If I were to compare Chris, David and Matt to superheroes that we already know, I would say that Matt is Superman and Chris/David are Batman. In a world so very messed up, is it not better to have someone who is not filled with vengeance, hate, and whimsical priorities? Is it not better to have someone who always has your best interests at mind? Someone who promotes goodness, fairness, justice, peace, and above all love and hope?
It is true that we see Matt's doctor slip into his darker ways, but it is temporary and within reason. When his love ones are jeopardized, his punishment to the man who took them is to rename him Runaway for the rest of his life. If the idea of genocide comes into play at all, it is always with a hefty heart and much reasoning and pleading.
I'm not as sure this is making as much sense as I would like. As the night wears on, I find myself more and more unable to articulate exactly what i want to say. Perhaps I shall leave this for now and explain more further on.
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