Wait… is Doctor Who
good again?
Well I certainly think it seems to be heading back in the right direction based on the 2016 Christmas Special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio. This episode was a fun romp with moments
of creepiness and emotional drama that would not have felt out of place in the
David Tennant era of the show. I could write a lot about where Doctor Who has gone wrong recently, what I’d like to see happen and
why I even liked it in the first place but for the purpose of this blog post
I’m not going to dwell on that.
When I first heard that Doctor
Who was doing superheroes I was very worried that it would come across as
bitter. After all, in recent years Marvel
and DC have just become bigger
and bigger as Doctor Who has
struggled to retain its fan base. But The
Return of Doctor Mysterio wasn’t bitter, it knew the tropes of the genre
and it had fun with them but not in a way that seemed resentful or insulting to
superhero fans. Also does anyone else think it was intentional that The Ghost’s
alter ego was called Grant given the Flash is played by Grant Gustin and both
The Flash and The Ghost have super speed and have a quiff?
The monsters – Harmony Shoal - might not be new classics but
they served the story well. This whole story had the feel of trying to evoke
the spirit of noughties Doctor Who
and let’s be honest the Harmony Shoal were very reminiscent of the Slitheen. But
is it a bad thing to have a monster that’s like a monster from a fan favourite
era of the show when you’re trying to relaunch?
To me it’s often felt like Peter Capaldi has never been
allowed to reach his full potential as the Doctor. Sure he’s got to do dramatic
stuff but a lot of the scripts have required him to be overly grumpy in a not
very Doctorish way. In The Return of
Doctor Mysterio he was allowed a sense of humour, there were moments that
genuinely made me and my family laugh whilst we were watching. Capaldi always
comes across in interviews as an incredibly warm hearted and kind person and
that’s a very Doctorish trait but one he’s never really been allowed to express
too much in the role. However I felt like The
Return of Doctor Mysterio finally allowed us to see that, it remained us
that yes the Doctor does love humans and that’s why he saves the Earth so many
times.
So is Doctor Who
good again? I think that yes it possibly is. I think it feels like the show is
returning tonally to the run of mostly amazing episodes from 2005 – 2013. I am
tentatively excited and if the trailer at the end of the episode is anything to
go by then we should be in for another good season of Doctor Who in 2017!
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