Doctor Who

I recently made a post on my blog called Love and Monsters. I asked for comments on the most recent episode of Doctor Who which was, oddly enough, entitled Love and Monsters.

Like a fool, I didn't give my own opinion. I'm here to put that right, and to answer a few points made in the comments section of that original post.

I felt very let down by Love and Monsters. Unusually, the episode was spun through the eyes, not of the Doctor or his assistant, but a character they come into contact with. I had no idea this was about to happen and felt cheated by it.

The Doctor and Rose hardly featured in the story at all. They must have had a dozen lines each, tops.

One of the reasons I like Doctor Who is I love to see something of a geeky man with a strange screwdriver flit about the galaxy in a 1950s police box. It is unique. Where else in the sci-fi genre would one find something similar?

It does not pander to the demands of wee boys trapped in the bodies of grown men: there's not a blood thirsty killing, a shoot-out or car chase in every episode. It is its own beast.

The Doctor does have the ability to be over geeky and flood the viewer's mind with science. Having an assistant (usually human) works as a vehicle to allow The Doctor to simplify things. We, the viewer, see events through the assistants eyes.

When Doctor Who was brought back to life last year and I heard Billie Piper was going to play his assistant, I nearly freaked! I couldn't believe it. A failed pop-star... It was going to be awful! But you know what, I was so wrong. Billie really worked out fine. She's no Dame Judy Dench, but she does make for a fabulous assistant, and a much better actress than I thought she'd be. But now she's leaving the show. I'm as sad as you like.

The show's been brought bang up to date... The special effects are fabulous, stairs are no longer a problem for the Daleks and the monsters are believeable, largely thanks to CGI! I was genuinely scared during The Satan Pit. Were you, dear reader?

If you loved Doctor Who as a child, you'll love it for ever. That's why there are so many thirty, forty and fifty year olds watching what is essentially a children's TV show in 2006. Children are fascinated by fantasy. Just think back to when you were a child or watch one playing now. Their minds are alive with every kind of limitless possibility... Real events influence children: the space shuttle taking off, for example. Think like a child... The space shuttle blasts off into outer space. Where's it going? Where will a space shuttle go one hundred years from now? How different will things be one hundred years from now? Will we all be cybermen? Will we live on the moon? Will we be able to look back at now, 2006, through time windows? Will we live forever?

All these posibilities are explored in the most fabulous stories ever told. Anything is possible and everything is amazing. That's Doctor Who. Imagination is everything. Bring yours to life. Watch Doctor Who.