Doctor Who: 2006 season

Last year, when I watched the newly revived Doctor Who, starring Christopher Eccleston, I was quite impressed. It was easily the best Doctor Who ever done, preserving what was good from the old series – imagination as well as the basic humanism of the Doctor – with good acting and production values and more mature writing. It delved into issues that the older series ignored and it’s best was quite good indeed. Three episodes (four really; one’s a two-parter) are on this year’s Hugo ballot. I was therefore a bit upset when I heard that Eccleston was leaving after only one year. Nobody, I thought, could live up to him.

I’m happy to say that I was wrong. David Tennant is the best Doctor ever. He plays the character wit and energy, and provides a depth that even Eccleston didn’t reach. (Apparently, this is a role he has always wanted.) I’ve watched the first half of the new season (on DVDs purchased from Amazon UK; the third DVD is on the way), and I am quite impressed. In fact, the last two episodes I watched – School Reunion and The Girl in the Fireplace – are two of the very best episodes ever and will certainly be on my Hugo ballot next year.

In School Reunion, the Doctor find a UK school in which something strange is going on. By chance, the strange occurrences area also being investigated by an old companion of his, Sarah Jane Smith (who was my favorite companion from the older series). In the midst of all the action and adventure, the episode looks at what it’s like for the companions – who get to see the universe for a short while, but then are left behind. It opens Rose’s eyes to what will certainly happen to her at some point. But it also begins a look at the Doctor, who in the end is a lonely immortal (or near immortal, at least), doomed to go on as all those who cares for age and die.

This theme continues in The Girl in the Fireplace. The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey find a deserted space ship. Doors from the spaceship lead to the Palace of Versailles in the 1700s. The Doctor goes through one, emerges from a fireplace, and saves a young girl from a clock-work construct from the spaceship. It turns out that she is the girl who will grow up to be Madame De Pompadour, the mistress of the king. The Doctor returns, only to find that much time has passed. He returns several times, to interact with her at various times in her life, and she figures out who he is, again seeing the essential loneliness that lies beneath his frenetic exterior. It is a very moving episode – emotional and effecting, something that you normally don’t associate with Doctor Who.

I really hope that the new series can maintain this level of quality. I look forward to seeing more of David Tennant’s Doctor.