For the uninitiated, Doctor Who is a British television program(me) about a time-travelling fellow from the planet Gallifrey. If he has an actual name, it has never been revealed. “Who” is not his surname either. If addressed, he is simply called “Doctor” or “The Doctor” — no exceptions. He is centuries old. His time machine (called a TARDIS) is designed to blend seamlessly into the environment of any destination, but due to a busted circuit (and the BBC’s limited effects budget) it looks always like a vintage police box with a light on top. Due to an ingenious plot device, folks from the planet Gallifrey (or perhaps only those designated as timelords) can regenerate upon demise. When they die, they change. They return to life with a new body and a new personally, keeping only the memories they previously had. Since the show first aired, ten different actors have portrayed The Doctor.*
I wasn’t around when the series began in ’63, but I’ve been a loyal Who fan since the early 80s. Our local Georgia Public Television affiliate played imported British sci-fi late on Saturday nights. The episodes I watched religiously were at least a year out of step from the BBC and often moreso. When the “current” Who wasn’t available, they would play earlier seasons. Weekend nights became a crash course in seasons seven through twenty-one of “original recipe” Doctor Who. That’s about fifteen years worth of great pseudo-scientific/paradoxical plots, brilliant script-writing, rather good acting … and special effects of negligible quality.
“So why do people get so worked up over The Doctor being in love?”
I think that was the question. It or something like it came up during a chat I had with Alyssa about the more recent seasons of Doctor Who. While the 2005 relaunch is technically the show’s 27th season, it is much easier on the brain to just reset the seasonal odometer to one. So I’m caught up on Season One, but I’ve not found the time to tackle Season Two. I have the first two episodes of Season Three sitting on my iPod, but thanks to Alyssa’s advice, I will hold off and wait. Why? Something about not being able to appreciate The Doctor’s life since Rose’s departure, she said. Fine. Rose joined The Doctor at the start of Season One, but left at some point during Season Two. Based on everything I know of the series, this only makes sense. The Doctor has always had companions that come and go, leaving him the only constant in the equation.
But back to the question …
It isn’t so much a matter of character or canon, but the degree to which an audience will accept a certain notion. If a character is established in a particular way, then there are categories of relationship that will run against the existing grain. But where The Doctor is concerned, the concept of regeneration never quite allows the character to settle into one kind of mold. While one Doctor might’ve behaved in a certain way, another Doctor needn’t. And yet … what about love?
1. The First Doctor. William Hartnell. Only 55 when he originated the role in 1963, his Doctor looked much, much older. With practically Colonial white hair and an occasional monocle, he wasn’t Father Time so much as Grandfather Time. Basically, he appears as a citizen so senior that romance no longer much of a concern. His first companion was a young woman named Susan Foreman who called The Doctor her “grandfather,” though there is some doubt as to whether the two were related at all. Seeing as the series was developed as Saturday morning children’s entertainment, Susan was meant to be the connecting link, the young person for the kids to identify with as they hid behind their couches during the scary parts.
Love? Not with your grandfather, no. That’s just wrong, kids. London hadn’t even begun to swing, but even when it did, it just wouldn’t do for the elderly host/star of a pseudo-educational kid’s show to take a shine to a cohort.
2. The Second Doctor. Patrick Troughton. The next actor to take on the Doctor was younger by fifteen years. And this time, the Timelord wasn’t so much of a senior citizen as a kind of … well … would “imp” be entirely unfair? With an appearance more akin to Moe Howard than his predecessor’s Benjamin Franklin, Troughton’s rendition wore silly hats and played the recorder. Once, he dressed in women’s clothing. Odd as he was, he maintained a scrappy, rebellious streak that would carry on through most of his subsequent versions. His companions included a human calculator named Zoe and a kilted Highlander named Jamie.
Love? Not with your wierd Uncle Moe, no. Troughton took over in 1966, and while some have claimed to notice a couple of interesting moments of subtle innuendo here and there, his Doctor was still played as older and wiser and just too busy for dating.
3. The Third Doctor. Jon Pertwee. Okay, now here we go! A new decade needs a new Doctor, so Pertwee steps in. He’s tall. He’s athletic. He’s wearing a white tuxedo shirt, black ribbon tie and a velvet smoking jacket. Pertwee was the swinging-est of all the Doctors, even going so far as to eschue the whole time-travelling TARDIS almost all together. Instead, his Doctor drove a zippy, yellow roadster called Bessie. With Sarah Jane Smith as his newest companion and an entire division of the British Army at his disposal, the Third Doctor was like an intergalactic James Bond. But did I mention the head full of thick, white hair? In spite of all the modernization, this Doctor’s apparent age had more in common with the First than the Second.
Love? Probably not so much, really. While I’m sure that a diligent Google search could find a mountain of Sarah Jane / Third Doctor fanfiction, 1970 just wasn’t going to accept any kind of May-December romance in a kid’s show.
Three down, seven more to go.
Will the Doctor ever find love? Will his fans accept it when he does? Come back in a few days and we’ll talk more about the Doctor’s slow shift into romantic availability.
(Original images can be found on either the amazing Doctor Who Image Archive or somewhere on the BBC website.)
* – Peter Cushing (of Grand Moff Tarkin fame) starred in a series of Doctor Who vs. Dalek movies in the 60s, but these have never been considered part of the official Who canon. Not sure why.
[tags]“Doctor Who”[/tags]
