Sunday, May 1, 2011

Ten Things I Have Learned From Watching Dr. Who (up through Season 3)

1. Female sidekicks get progressively hotter/cooler in proportion to the Doctor’s Awesome factor (Rose Tyler = Lois Lane; Donna Noble = Hermione Granger; Martha Jones = Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale).

2. Although it is insinuated that sidekicks can be acquired anywhere (The Girl in the Fireplace, The Family of Blood), the only permanent ones come from the 20th/21st centuries (Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Sarah Jane).

3. The Doctor may have great fun saving the universe while we are watching, but behind the scenes he has great fun just hanging out (Rose mentions heading to medieval Japan and traveling to Raxacoricofallapatorius, and the two are seen several times having great fun throughout the abominable Love and Monsters).

4. The American accent will continue in use until at least the 51st century, while the British accent will endure until the end of Time.

5. Although pacifism will triumph in the end, many innocent lives will be sacrificed in the process. This is best shown in the two-part Human Nature and Family of Blood where there are at least seven deaths and one heartbreak all because the Doctor decided to be kind and outrun the miss-guided and miss-understood aliens rather than kill them when he had the chance to do so in the opening credits. On a similar note, Torchwood may be kick-awesome, but they are bad people for using force to defend earth.

6. Russell T. Davies thinks he is writing Dr. Who by focusing on goofy scifi (Love and Monsters, World War Three, Doomsday), but Steven Moffat brings out the real world with his creepy mysteries (The Empty Child, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink).

7. The Doctor is the only cool Time Lord (which might be an unfair observation, since The Master is the only other one I’ve seen).

8. The Time Lords and the Guardians of the Universe share common cultural roots, judging from their art and architecture.

9. Americans are both arrogant and (sometimes) religious.

10. The Fourth Wall can be broken. Not only does the Doctor address the audience at the end of Blink, but we also share in the adventure by saving Sally Sparrow and her mates on multiple occasions by "seeing" the Weeping Angels when she has her back to them (several times they are seen reaching out or peeking from windows even when she does not notice, yet because we are watching, they cannot move).