30 Days of Nu-Who - Day Thirty

[caz963]

Aaaaaand on to the final day - a few days later than anticipated, but better late than never, right?

I thought I needed the extra thinking time to work out an answer to this, which is -



- although to be honest, taking a few extra days didn't really help me to come up with anything particularly erudite or insightful.

So. Why do I love Doctor Who?

This is a meme about nu-Who, but it's impossible for me to answer that question without referring to "old" or Classic Who, because I think that part of my love for the new series stems from nostalgia. I loved DW as a kid and it was appointment telly for me on Saturday tea-times. I loved the Doctor, I loved the idea of time travel, I loved the stories (mostly!), his "assistants" as many of the companions were then called, and yeah, I guess I loved the monsters and the scares. Would I, as a forty-something mother of two young girls have set aside the time to watch the revamped Doctor Who at 6.30(ish) on Saturday evenings if I hadn't already been a fan? I'm not sure. At that time, my kids were two and five, and that time of night is feeding time at the zoo(!) so it was difficult enough to watch uninterrupted as it was.

But watch it I did, and I fell in love with DW all over again. Of course, I was initially apprehensive at hearing it was being brought back, because I didn't want it to be a pile of poo - and fortunately, it wasn't! More money had been spent on it for starters - gone were the wobbly sets of old - but there he was, the Doctor, whizzing about in his beautifully re-styled TARDIS, doing what he does with his trusty companion at his side.

So that said, why do I love it?

The hero is a superhero without a superpower. He can't leap tall buildings in a single bound and isn't faster than a speeding bullet. Okay, so he's got two hearts and a binary cardiovascular system, but that doesn't give him x-ray vision or super hearing! He can be killed - even though he's got that neat trick he does when he's about to pop his clogs - he's fallible and he makes mistakes. Big ones, sometimes. He relies on his wits, his knowledge and his amazing intellect to get him out of sticky situations. He eschews violence and thinks that books are the best weapons in the world. (A man after my own heart!)

He has the most amazing faith in life and the universe, despite all the crap it's thrown at him in recent years. Ten especially was still able to find wonder in the smallest things, and all the "nu" Doctors have shown the same love and regard for humans as the earlier incarnations. He cares about the 'little people', thinks there's no such thing as an 'ordinary human' and has 'never met anyone unimportant'. He knows it's probably a bad idea, but he gets attached to his companions anyway, despite the fact that he knows that someday they'll break his hearts - and I like to think that's because, deep down, he really believes that 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. He believes that the ordinary can be made extraordinary and in nu-Who especially, always encourages those who travel with him to do and be more than they ever thought they could before.

It's that of optimism in the face of all odds that's kept the show going for 47 years, and which keeps me watching. And with nu-Who, there's that added layer of angst and drama that I admit has really been the icing on the cake for me. I said somewhere recently (in one of these posts probably) that kids are drawn in by the action and the monsters, whereas adults are of course going to find different things that keep them interested. For me, it was the emotional connection I was able to make with the characters (some more than others!) - and the way the Doctor was presented as a truly tragic hero. I know that's not everyone's cup of tea, but it certainly worked for me! And while I won't deny that RTD emphasised the moral ambuguity of the show, it's always been there and I think it's an vital part of the concept. After all, if you can travel through time and there's the potential that you could change whatever events you liked - or didn't like - it's important to show that there are consequences to such actions, that there's a price to be paid.

*Sniff. Poor Ten.*

There's a speech of Ten's that I always think of as a metaphor for DW as a whole. In The Unicorn and the Wasp, he tells Donna:

Nobody knows how they're going to be remembered... All we can do is hope for the best... it's what keeps me travelling.

(I've not got the actual quote in front of me, but that's the gist of it!)

And I always think that that's a perfect description of what's happened to the show. It started out as a little show for children and young adults that wasn't expected to last beyond a few years. Nobody knew how it was going to be received, but they hoped for the best - and it exceeded expectations. And now, despite its having been killed off in the eighties, it's back and we're still loving it and talking about it.

The Doctor's still hoping for the best, and he's still travelling.

Long may it continue.

The List

Day 1 - Favourite Incarnation of the Doctor
Day 2 - Favourite Companion
Day 3 - Favourite Villain/Monster/Alien/Baddie of the Week
Day 4 - Favourite Character
Day 5 - Favourite Guest Star
Day 6 - Least Favourite Character
Day 7 - Favourite Episode
Day 8 - Favourite Series
Day 9 - Least Favourite Episode
Day 10 - Favourite Scene/Moment
Day 11 - Scene/Moment that makes you cry
Day 12 - Scene/Moment that makes you giggle
Day 13 - Favourite Era visited by The Doctor & Co.
Day 14 - Fave Doctor Moment
Day 15 - Fave Rose Moment
Day 16 - Fave Martha Moment
Day 17 - Fave Donna Moment
Day 18 - Fave Amy Moment
Day 19 - Favorite Ship
Day 20 - Prettiest Scene
Day 21 - Favourite Location
Day 22 - Something Silly
Day 23 - Something Epic
Day 24 - Favourite Accessory of the Doctor's
Day 25 - Favourite Tardis Team
Day 26 - Scene/Moment that made you go 'awww'
Day 27 - Scene/Moment that made you go 'argh'
Day 28 - Favourite Series Arc
Day 29 - Favourite Music/Song
Day 30 - Why Do YOU Love Doctor Who

Comments

[kilodalton]

The Doctor's still hoping for the best, and he's still travelling.

Long may it continue.

Here here!!

I want to do a Nu Who meme too (while I'm still on vacay and thus have time lol) ... mind if I use some of your prompts? =)

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Oh, please feel free. I nicked the whole thing from sue_denimme who got it from someone else... so it's been doing the rounds.

You've reminded me to add the list of prompts to this post - ta!