Why Doctor Who is Epic (A Letter To Dan Bergstein)

Why Doctor Who is Epic (A Letter To Dan Bergstein)

Hey Dan,
Let me start by saying I’m a big fan of yours. I love Blogging Twilight. It displays a literary analysis genius that the world has been missing for a long time. I blame this lack of genius for the existence of books like Twilight.

Anyways, I’m writing to you, regarding your recent post about Doctor Who. (This one: http://community.sparknotes.com/index.php/2010/11/10/confession-i-dont-like-doctor-who/)

Three months ago, I agreed with you. Christopher Eccleston SUCKS (which I still believe), the show has no point and the human companionship is kind of stupid.

However, I have four very persistent, very obsessed-with-Doctor-Who friends who basically tied me down and glued my eyes open until I finished watching season 2. While that may be a slight exaggeration, their threats felt very real at the time.
The point is, I too suffered willingly through the first (translated: terrible) season of the new show and wanted to shoot myself every time Christopher Eccelston’s weirdly shaped face and untraceable accented voice filled the screen. I understand and know your pain.

But here’s the deal: sometimes, you have to suffer before you succeed.
Christopher Eccleston delivers just the right amount of no-depth-to-the-character and unintelligible sentences to make you hate it the first time through. But once you get to David Tennant, words cannot describe the love that grows inside of you. David Tennant flies the TARDIS straight into your heart. It’s a beautiful bond that forms. You laugh, you cry and you cheer for this man.

Don’t believe me yet? The man got to play The Doctor for 3 seasons, longer than any other person in the history of the show *I think*. Fans and critics adore him, and so will you or your money back! (Just kidding; I won’t actually send you any money.) So now, allow me to fire carefully aimed, readied and plasma filled shots of reasoning into your argument:

1. The show has no point.
Solid reasoning if you’ve only seen the first season. Chris just seems to fly around like a mad man to see what aliens he can run into. Granted, that part doesn’t get much better with time. The Doctor always seems to be floating aimlessly, but it’s not because he’s bored; it’s because he has nowhere else to go. I can’t give too much away without spoiling it, but just know that The Doctor’s character begins to take shape with David Tennant, and we eventually learn that he is a deeper character than we first thought.

2. The companion doesn’t make sense.
Once again, I blame this on Eccleston. His portrayal of the role makes it seem like he’s just dragging Rose along to brag about how cool he is. However, we might have to blame some of his suckage on a somewhat hidden plot point. The time periods between the two shows (the 1950’s version to the 2000’s) seems to represent a real time period in which The Doctor has been wandering around by himself, lonely and bored. So when a fairly attractive blonde throws herself at him and drools over his spaceship, he (and every other male life-form in existence) milks the situation for all it’s worth, hamming it up and making himself seem cool, so that she then will think he’s even more awesome than she already does. Also, if he didn’t explain it to someone, the viewers would be totally lost. Come season two, though, Rose seems to grow a brain of her own and begins to help David Tennant more often than she asks questions. She even ends up saving the day a few times and you learn to love her as well.

3. The time travel doesn’t make sense
In my opinion, this is actually one of the things that makes Doctor Who great. Too many sci-fi shows get caught up in the fundamentals and science of everything and spend all their time explaining why jettisoning the time warp cannon will effectively save the day. SHUT UP AND GET RID OF THE FREAKING CANNON!
That’s why I like Doctor Who. It’s simply an accepted fact that his blue box can go through time and space and he flies it without any windows (that’s the part that confuses me). Because this is an accepted rule, each episode can focus on kicking alien butt.
*sidenote: I’m sure the technology of the TARDIS is explained somewhere, whether it be from the 1950’s or nerds in their moms basement who post on wiki all day. However, I don’t feel like dedicating much time to figuring it out and just roll with it.*

4. The episodes are all the same
Let’s keep in mind that Doctor Who is a BBC show, the same company that gave the USA PBS and educational programming. I think some of the episodes are meant to be “historically accurate” and “educational” that they then spice up with a dash of goop alien. However, the rest are simply The Doctor exploring the world. He knows a lot but he even says he doesn’t know everything. The show is simply The Doctor, soaking in all that he can. It’s probable that not every place he stops has aliens running around, but who wants to watch him strolling through the construction site of Big Ben or smoking with Lewis Carrol? No one (well, the thing with Lewis Carrol might be entertaining). The point is, each episode feels the same because each episode is him stumbling upon aliens that he must defeat before history unravels. And once he gets off earth in the later seasons, it mixes up a bit.

5. I wouldn’t be able to catch up
I thought the same thing, but I got hooked and watched 4 seasons in one summer (every season is on Netflix and on their instant streaming. It’s kind of awesome). Doctor Who isn’t about being in the forefront of knowledge, watching every new episode the night it’s on so you can participate in chat rooms the next day. Doctor Who is very much about enjoying the ride as much as The Doctor does. So don’t focus on getting caught up. Watch at your own pace and enjoy the journey.

My conclusion won’t be long. I doubt Dan will ever read this. But if he ever does, I encourage him to just give it one more chance, like I did and see if you don’t fall in love with the show when David Tennant is flying the big, blue box.

Sincerely,
Spencer Stephens