Thank goodness SLU’s cable package includes BBC America, because there is a new Doctor.
“Doctor Who,” the British science fiction television show, revolves around a character named the Doctor. He’s a time-and-space-traveling alien whose spaceship looks like an old-fashioned police call box (it’s bigger on the inside), and whose only weapon is a sonic screwdriver. Also, he can regenerate. This means that, whenever he is mortally wounded or about to die, his body undergoes a transformation and renews itself.
This is the key to “Doctor Who”’s long-running popularity. It’s no problem for a TV show to exist for 50 years (as Doctor Who has) when the main character can be recast every few seasons.
The eighth season of “Doctor Who” premiered on August 23, with its first episodes since Christmas 2013. This season is the first to star the 12th Doctor, played by Scottish actor Peter Capaldi.
There’s always excitement when a new Doctor takes to the screen, and there are a few reasons that this newest incarnation is particularly exciting.
Just a glance at the four men who have played the role of the Doctor since the show’s reboot in 2005 brings attention to Capaldi. The previous three actors have been Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith: all attractive men, each one younger than the next.
Bring on Capaldi, a man in his mid-fifties, immediately invites a comment on the difference in age. At 55, he ties the original Doctor, William Hartnell, for the oldest man to take the role. Compare this with Matt Smith, who was the youngest, at the age of 26.
This shift in age could reflect the show’s attempt to regain some of the maturity it was slowly losing in the last couple seasons. Recent plot developments have left viewers feeling that the show is relying on cool special effects and sci-fi gimmicks rather than good writing and emotional depth.
That may not have changed completely. The initial episode of season eight did, after all, include a dinosaur.
Capaldi has had two episodes so far to convince “Doctor Who” fans, both enthusiastic and jaded, that he can refresh the series and bring the show back to its emotionally complex roots.
His performance of the Doctor so far has been a bit harsh, although not without its humor. This 12th Doctor already has some blood on his hands, and he’s made it clear that he is not here to be a sappy love interest, or a silly time-traveling clown. He’s an angry, confused character with some major problems to sort through.
Of course, his harsh manner of speaking is also affected by his Scottish accent. (It’s worth noting that Tennant, also Scottish, had to put on a standard English accent for the show, whereas Capaldi is doing no such thing.)
Two episodes is not enough to judge a Doctor, or a season, and it will be interesting to see how Capaldi’s performance and viewers’ reactions to him alter the direction of the show.
“Doctor Who” shows on BBC America on Saturday evenings at 8 p.m. CST.
