I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. The start of the year hadn't turned out quite as I had planned and therefore all the things I had hoped to have done became a struggle. However I still managed to put out content and that was better than what I usually do which is when I'm overwhelmed abandon the blog completely...
Anyway, I've been working with my ADHD with Jamie's help rather than against it and now I am in a position to introduce TV Tuesday which will be the new home for my TV Show reviews now that I have managed to structure in my literary corner of the internet on Thursdays and Cinema Saturday. This organisation and structure makes my mind happy as I can pre-write everything or force myself to meet a deadline depending on the day.
I've also been watching a lot of TV lately as more of a comfort thing so hence the old shows now cropping up on my feed. Oldies but goldies so who minds really.
With that in mind, we're going back to my childhood which revolved around the Doctor Who reboot. This was an enforced (by me) staple of Saturday nights way back when, and it's a shared love between myself and Jamie. So when we need something easy to watch we chuck on a Doctor Who and all is right with the world.
I also wanted to try and visit some of the filming locations for my favourite shows during this year and have them crop up between blogs, so watch this space, perhaps my fellow Whovians may see a familiar location across one of my three blogs in the near future!
Back to it then. 2005 is when Doctor Who was brought back by the BBC to delight a new audience and face some scarier monsters and topics. At the helm was Christopher Eccleston who delivered the role perfectly, and despite only staying on for 13 episodes, this man set the bar for the future of the Whoniverse.
Right from episode one we had explosions, lots of running, a budding love triangle, and a flurry of homemade monsters which set the tone for DW. I personally think that is where the newer show has lost its magic, there is no 'you too can make this using common things found within the home' element. Sometimes the daftness was half the fun, it was the emotional storylines which we found gripping and then the sets and monsters were there to lighten the load. Doctor Who used to teach us morals and how to accept things, now it pushed societal issues onto us which isn't okay.
Anyway I don't want to get too PC on DW I want to praise the show. Eccleston brought to the Doctor a fearful seriousness. He played Nine as a man who had run from his past and while acting the confident hero, was very much the wounded soldier. He hid from being a Time-Lord until it suited him, and he faced danger in a way that was human so that he could mask as one. It isn't until Rose starts to bring him out of his self-inflicted torment that we start to see the Doctor embrace life again. He develops a sense of humour, he can be silly, he becomes fair. At the start of this series we very much see the Doctor following an out of sight rule book. Fix the problem by any means, no emotions attached, it's all a façade. He meets Rose and suddenly he cares for people and species again. Through her outlook on life he sees things with new eyes and she gives him an aspect of humanity. She damages his ego to the point he becomes a believable hero, instead of something unattainable.
Eccleston plays this range of emotion with literally all he has. He is cocky, he is hurt, ultimately he is in love with Rose Tyler. This is how the New-Who was born and why Nine was so important. It was more than farting green aliens, Captain Jack, and London. It seemed real to us yet nostalgic for things we didn't know of. It brought wonder and adventure onto our screens. It all just seemed cool even if it was daft. Not to mention the fact it has always been quite camp anyway. Without the main characters going quite so hard, DW would have been nothing more than something that looked like it was made in someone's garden shed. It's the people that made it, everything else was irrelevant. You have to have a cast that works.
So onto Billie Piper. Aside from Donna Noble, there is not a companion that I have wanted to be more, or related to more, than Rose Tyler. She's kind, she's opinionated, she's the balance. You've got this impossible man doing insane things with two hearts and unattainable expectations. Then you have this 19 year old girl plucked from a shop in London seeing amazing things but having reactions to them that every single one of us would have. Rose Tyler is our window into something more. She embodies the normal person seeking a better life and that is why we love her. Ultimately, that is why it hurts so much when we have to let her go next series, but we won't talk about that now.
Oh to be 19 and have your boyfriend fight over your affections with a spaceman.
Back to the point though. If we look at the very first episode with Living Plastic and an introduction to the Doctor that we as the British will never forget ('Run'), this was peak BBC and also peak Doctor Who. Mannequins have given me the goosies ever since that episode aired. What an amazing idea for bad guys? Killer dummies coming to life. It was ground breaking and I loved it.
This series of DW is my go too comfort show when I am sad or overwhelmed. While Ten will always be my Doctor and I adore his adventures, Nine is familiar footing purely for the fact it is slightly less emotionally charged. The difference between series 1 and 2 is the latter is massively building up to a great loss which will forever change us and the show, whereas series one is light and breezy and while still quite serious and meaningful, it is also a bit of nostalgic fun.
Come on, farts in 9 Downing Street, a bitchy trampoline in outer space, Simon Pegg taking orders from a big zit, and the friggen Anne-droid. This was opportunistic masterpieces. Doctor Who took up and coming actors and talented set designers and made it work. It took imagination from both the creators and the audience and this group effort made one of the most successful TV shows of the late noughties. It defined a whole generation, it skyrocketed careers. I can proudly say that I am a child of the Whoniverse and I stand proud with the second revival. I have some amazing ideas on just how we can save Doctor Who now as well, but I need job security for that to come out haha.
Overall then, before this becomes a love letter to Doctor Who, I'm giving series one of the revival a 9/10. I can't score higher because it wasn't perfect, that is my nostalgia speaking. It's cheesy, arts & crafts, nonsense, but it was ours and that is why I'm giving it a 9. Quintessentially British, Doctor Who defined modern culture at the time and so despite my rose coloured glasses, a 9 is what it shall stay. It was funny, it taught us a lesson, it was interesting and original, and fun. They're rehashing the same things right now which ruins it a bit. This era of Doctor Who spawned our wild imaginations, it gels with my ADHD really well too. My generation are products of SUPERWHOLOCK and I am okay with that.
I made friends thanks to Doctor Who, I got my boyfriend of 2 years thanks to Doctor Who. I became an adventurer thanks to Doctor Who. I am forever thankful to the show, but I think it needs to go on ice for a bit.
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