Doctor Who is back. And boy, was Doctor Who BACK.
Firstly a disclaimer: I’m not pretending this is a nuance, balanced review. I’ll write something about the specials when they’re all over. But given I’ve spent two months promoting a book on RTD being asked ‘and what about the specials’, I figured I’d better have something to say.
Firstly, big ‘Dad is back in Charge’ energy from RTD and big ‘DILF is in the Tardis’ energy from DT. And we love to see it.
Secondly, Doctor Who was just very….Doctor Who. Some big bad guys to chase, explosions, weird aliens (cute aliens), and dad jokes from the Doctor. It was just very, very Doctor Who.
Let’s start with those aliens. The Meep. I don’t care if The Meep is evil I still want a The Meep plushie. But also, isn’t that just great sci-fi, the cute fluffy thing is the Big Bad of the episode. The cute fluffy thing has claws and teeth and is plotting your demise. Meanwhile, the big bugs are the good guys, trying to stop the Meep’s evil plan? And the Doctor of course, figures it out. Brilliant.
Is it the most intricate of plots? No. Does the payoff come quite simply and seamlessly? Yes. But again, this is Doctor Who on a Saturday night in a one-off special. It doesn’t need to be that complicated. The reason we love Doctor Who (I think) is the reliability; there will be a monster, and the Doctor will defeat the monster. I love complex, clever sci-fi and complex clever TV. But sometimes that’s not what you need. Sometimes, you need a bad guy getting defeated by the good guys with some explosions and jokes. Actually, pulling that off well is harder than it looks.
But this was RTD and the team Who were at their best with all that. The pacing of the adventure- after the exposition preamble of the Doctor and Donna- was beautifully done. It never lagged, it left room for character development and humour but not so much it only became about that. We were running from aliens, having a space trial in a car park, resolving the big things, and then boom cup of coffee in the Tardis. How very Saturday night.
And look, I make no apologies that Tennant/Ten is ‘my’ Doctor, so obviously, I was THRILLED to have him back (fully evolved into his true DILF form….ok I’ll stop thirsting over the Doctor…for now). But also, he’s just….bloody good at it, isn’t he? But also, Fourteen is different from Ten in ways we’ll keep seeing. But they are lighter, less bogged down by the baggage of the Time War and Rose and all the other things. Yes, they have been Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen in the interim, with all that comes with that (and all that Fifteen will carry too). But right now Fourteen is a lighter, more relaxed Doctor and while I’m sure darkness is coming (it always does right?) for now it’s a good old-fashioned Doctor Who romp. Is Fourteen maybe the true essence of Ten, the true essence of Tennant that was always meant to be? Or is it just David Tennant having a bloody good time a decade and a half later? Either way it works.
And of course there’s the big question, the thing that has had portions of the internet up in arms the idea that Doctor Who has….gone woke.
I know I know, hold the presses, sci-fi show is ‘woke’. Sci-Fi show posits better way of being for humans as is…true to its genre. Sci-Fi show is progressive compared to other shows. All of this is BREAKING NEWS.
Ok sarcasm aside, and genre that is traditionally used to show progression aside, was it really totally shocking news that Russell T Davies chose to include LGBTQ+ inclusion in his episode? No of course not. And in all honesty Rusty knew what he was doing; he came out strong with the thing he knew would immediately send the wrong sort of fans running and also frankly to set out his stall for this era of Who. That’s actually a bit clever. He could have come back quietly of course, with a little bit of queer inclusion…but RTD has never been known for doing anything quietly or subtly has he? And good for him.
Because Russell crash landed that Tardis and said, ‘Trans people are beautiful and to be loved and respected. Oh and by the way they can save the universe how wonderful’ Russell stood up and said, this version of Who loves trans folks and if you’re not up for that get out of my Tardis. And at a time when Trans folks are the most targeted of the whole LGBTQ+ community, Russell made a stand by saying ‘not in our universe’.
Was the episode and even the representation perfect? Probably not, I’ve seen folks comment that the onus shouldn’t have been on the trans character to correct pronouns, as it puts the labour on the trans person. I also agree that the idea of being a mother being the thing that makes a woman powerful/able to save the day is…a little uncomfortable (but others will read that as lovely, so who am I to put my personal ick onto it). But overall, I think…praise the positive and applaud the steps forward. I often talk about the problem being not that one show/writer isn’t answering all aspects of representation but that there isn’t enough representation. We can’t, therefore, blame RTD for not representing all Trans/Queer experiences in one episode of his alien show, but we can demand more representation while praising Russell (with constructive criticism) for the representation he has delivered.
Also, this is episode one of many under his tenure, patience everyone and I think, for once in the Whoniverse will be queerly rewarded. We are fifteen years from his original tenure. Things were very different in 2004 when he first took charge, and he did well then with inclusion comparatively. If coming out strong in the first episode is a benchmark, I think we’re going to see an unapologetically Queer Agenda (as the Daily Mail would have it) in the Whoniverse from now on.
But meanwhile, can we celebrate this moment? The moment when we saw a trans actor playing a central role in Doctor Who (huge applause for Yasmin Finney for a wonderful performance as Rose Noble too). Right off the bat we see a Trans teen just living their life, having a normal family life with their mum. Then we say a mum fiercely defend her against the transphobic comments of other teens (and you KNOW Donna Noble would fight you). Then we see a grandma just doing her best and a mum appreciating that. It’s not made into a parent's struggle; it’s a pair of adults both wanting to do right by their grandchild and also managing to do that. Sylvia, not known for her warmth and affection, calls Rose beautiful (and she is) and just wants to make sure she’s doing okay, but she doesn’t put that on Rose either. She checks in with Donna. What’s clear in that short scene is that Rose’s family loves her unconditionally and supports her against what the outside world also throws at her. She’s also shown to be a normal teenager- getting nagged about the bins and having a mum who is over-interested in her hobbies. It’s charming and lovely in how normal it all is.
That would have been enough; RTD could have stopped with, ‘yes we will include trans characters at the heart of stories and they will be happy thank you very much,’ and that is so powerful and lovely. But he sees an opportunity to ‘level up’ and ask, ‘what if, in the face of all this hate, the Trans character was the answer, to saving her mum?’ well, wouldn’t that be great? To not only say Trans people are here and accepted but also to say they are powerful and brilliant- more brilliant in fact, than the cis people of the story. Oh, that’s clever and brilliant (yes I’ve morphed into Ten at this point)...and a huge statement to the bigots out there.
To which I say, even if it wasn’t the most eloquently executed metaphor or story (it’s Doctor Who, it’s not meant to be subtle) it was bloody beautiful.
Russell T Davies stood up and said ‘Trans people are beautiful and part of the Whoniverse’ in his first episode and I for one, stand up and applaud that. If that’s where we’re starting from too in the queer Whoniverse…then fire up the Tardis and let’s go because it’s going to be one heck of a queer ride.
If you’d like my thoughts on Russell T Davies and queer storytelling, I wrote a book about that…(get it here)
I was also on Radio 4 recently in this documentary talking about all things Queer Who. (Listen here)
Blooming lovely 😍