The Doctor is Back *Spoilers ensue*
Why is it, whenever something you really want to do is on a certain date, you have to work?
Why is it, whenever some potentially good opportunity comes up, someone schedules a party you simply have to go to on that date?
And why, sweet mother of Montgomery Scott why, whenever a brand spanking new season of Doctor Who airs on a Saturday night at 7 pm, you have to be put down to work all day, most of the night, and then go out to a party?!
There are quite simply some things in this universe I will never understand.
But hey, that’s what VCR’s are for!
You heard right.
Mark tomorrow night, geeks and gals.
Saturday 31st March 2007, Doctor Who returns to the United Kingdom’s British Broadcasting Corporation’s Premiere Channel aka BBC1.
To say I’m looking forward to this new series would be, perhaps, a tad understated. It’s not that Doctor Who is amazing science fiction, it’s not that it’s hard hitting drama with sci fi overtones (see: Battlestar Galactica)”¦ it’s just pure fun.
That’s what I want out of television now. To just sit back for an hour or two, and just let some harmless fun wash over me. For a few precious moments, recapture the time when I was a kid and a man skipping about the universe in a blue box seemed like a potential future for myself.
Ahh.
Gateway daps a handkerchief at his eyes.
Sorry. Where was I?
Oh yeah. Season 3.
What can I tease about this brand new season? There’s the new companion, Martha Jones, for starters.
Upon viewing the first trailer where Freema Agyeman had some dialogue, something didn’t feel quite right. It seemed to stilted, like she hadn’t probably relaxed into the part yet, and these were preview trailers featuring specially cut scenes between her and Doctor for the sheer purpose of advertising the new series.
The second one has bumped that up considerably by playing into a more playful side of her character which has struck a chord far more favourable within me. It seems like she’s going to be bouncing off our Doctor, perhaps far more teasingly than Rose ever did.
Thinking about it, it was more the Doctor playing with Rose than the other way around a lot of the time. Martha seems like she will be a far more emotionally set character. Given what the Doctor lost in Rose, this is perhaps exactly what he needs; someone capable of falling for him, but also capable of knowing that some things simply are not meant to be ““ or last.
I’m only going to approach the Doctor very gently here, because it’s difficult to get a sense on him. He’s lost Rose. We’ve seen how he reacted to that in “˜The Runaway Bride’, but we have absolutely no idea how much time has passed since the end of that Christmas special, and the start of the new series. I’m hoping that the answer is “˜some’. There’s also a small part of me that hopes the reason for the Doctor’s new look, blue suit and red converses, is partly because of the loss of Rose, a way of reflecting how he knows things change, but they also stay the same. He has to carry on, but he’s just going to do it with a slightly new style.
Am I reading too much into it? Possibly. But I’m having fun doing so.
As for how the rest of the season is shaping up, well, how about an episode list?
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1: Smith and Jones
2: The Shakespeare Code
3: Gridlock
4: Daleks in Manhattan (Part One)
5: Evolution of the Daleks (Part Two)
6: The Lazarus Experiment
7: 42
8: Human Nature (Part One)
9: The Family of Blood (Part Two)
10: Blink
11: Utopia
12: The Sound of Drums (Part One)
13: Last of the Time Lords (Part Two)
If you have any knowledge of what has apparently gone on to the Timelords, and the Doctor in particular, since the TV movie with Paul McGann, and the start of the series with Christopher Eccleston, then surely that last episode title has provoked a small smile. A feeling of satisfaction and triumph that maybe, just maybe, you were right.
Particular moments to look out for in this new series, pulled together through numerous sources:
“˜Smith and Jones’, the first episode, is of course a must watch. The whole thing. For something in particular though, how about the small link to explain how someone looking very much like Martha Jones appeared in “˜Army of Ghosts’.
“˜Gridlock’ ““ whatever else happens in this story, expect the final return of the Face of Boe.
“˜Daleks In Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks’ ““ well, it’s the Daleks. What could they be up to, I wonder?
“˜The Lazarus Experiment’ ““ apparently we should watch to see who the “˜mysterious paymaster’ of the titles’ namesake is.
“˜Human Nature/The Family of Blood’ ““ it’s an adaptation of one of the novels where the Doctor becomes, quite literally, human. Mind, body, and spirit. I’ve never read the novel myself, but it must be quite popular if they are adapting it for the television and throwing it out as even potentially C-canon. It will be most interesting to see how David Tennant handles being normal.
“˜Utopia’ ““ Jack. Is. Back.
“˜The Sound of Drums/Last of the Timelords’ ““ in the “˜Radiotimes’, a British magazine that lists what’s on tv, there is a preview of season 3 and at one point it ominously states, direct from Russell T Davies’ own mouth
“”¦ a trap across the whole of time and space begins to close.”
A trap? Across the whole of time and space? And this is episode where the mysterious Mr. Saxon appears? Mr. Saxon, of course, being the watchword for season 3 (not Gallifrey as I had hoped.)
You know, you could almost say, a trap across the whole of time and space, and if it worked, well, how brilliant. Nay, not brilliant. Inspired. Heck, why not, you know, possibly, maybe”¦ masterful?
Bring it on, Doc.