‘Doctor Who’: ‘I’m The Doctor And I Save People’
A new series of Doctor Who is set to materialize on our screens on September 19 with a slick new look, and, if the trailer’s any indication, the same dark, broody feel. There’s a lot to look forward to with some big names joining this series, including Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams, and more new monsters than ever, according to the BBC.
The Doctor has indeed taken a dark turn since the end of series 7, with some fans confused and discontented by the seemingly callous, rude, and abusive interpretation of the much-loved character by Scottish superstar Peter Capaldi. It’s not hard to see why some might have been disoriented by the change. Capaldi’s Doctor couldn’t possibly be more different from the cuddly eccentric brought to our screens by the much-loved Matt Smith. The new Doctor proved himself to be cold, abstracted from humanity, and, superficially at least, completely heartless.
But here’s the thing: the Doctor has never once in his more than 50-year history ever claimed to be a nice person. The Doctor may be a hero, a virtuous man and a kind and life-affirming, diversity-loving character, but there’s a lot more to the character than feckless optimism and hipster style. The Doctor is a being with a universe of time in his head and a brain that works faster and bigger than all the other people in the room put together. It makes sense that he’s not going to understand our little quirks and have very little patience for our arbitrary sentimentality. Capaldi’s Doctor is true to the idea of who the Doctor is at heart: an outsider, a loner, and a malcontent. We get a real sense of a character who is surrounded by idiots, working feverishly to help people who paradoxically get in his way by being constantly 10 steps behind him mentally. Capaldi’s Doctor captures this perfectly.
And it’s not just Capaldi’s idea. The new Doctor is, in actual fact, a much, much older Doctor. Peter Capaldi has famously been a Doctor Who fan since his teens, charmingly embarrassed by the cheerleading letter he wrote to the Doctor Who team when he was 15-years-old. Capaldi’s Doctor channels the very early days of the show, when greats like William Hartnell were helping to nut out the core aspects of the concept. So now, at the height of its popularity, we have a show that is returning to its roots, to the enormous, almost Messianic message of morality and decency that lies at its very heart.
Series 9 promises to deliver on the true heart of who Doctor Who, at bottom, really is. As The Doctor says in the new series trailer, “I’m the Doctor and I save people.”
[Image via BBC One]
