Doctor Who – 50th Anniversary.

Graham Clements — Sun, 24 Nov 2013 04:44:00 +0000

I could
not let the 50^th anniversary of Doctor Who go by without writing a
blog post about the greatest science fiction show of all time. I grew up
watching the original series and I remember watching Partrick Troughton, who
was the second doctor. I had nightmares about an episode where that Doctor was investigating
a dark room full of giant toadstools. My mother must have forced me to eat
mushrooms that day.

I watched
the original series right to its end. When I was staying in a residential
college (Menzies College) at Latrobe University a group of us used to gather together
to watch it.

My favourite
episodes usually involved the Daleks. Two of the more memorable stories were Death to the Daleks, where Jon Pertwee had to navigate a deadly maze to
destroy an energy sapping beacon, and Genesis of the Daleks, where Tom
Baker battled Davros, the evil creator of the Daleks.

My
enthusiasm for the show survived the wishy-washy Peter Davison years. I even watched
the Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy years, enjoying the weirdness of episodes
like The
Happiness Patrol, set on a planet where unhappiness was very much
frowned upon. Anyone listening to jazz risked being execution in a tube flooded
with marshmallow.

When
Doctor Who returned I tuned in out of a sense of duty. And I was blown away. I
loved the way the show had grown up, and took itself more seriously. There was
less whimsy, more suspenseful drama. The plots were more complex and so was the
doctor. The special effects had become really special and the Daleks could go
up stairs.

My Doctor Who Favourites.

Favourite companions – You can’t go past the curious Sarah
Jane Smith in the old series. Even though she had a nasty habit of tripping
over at the wrong time, she was so cute that any 15 year-old male would dream
of saving her. In the new series, Rose beats all those who followed.
Intelligent with an emotional strength, Rose supported the doctor, unlike later
companions who tried to take over the storyline.

Favourite villians – The Daleks. Those soulless cyborgs
never failed to exterminate any of my other thoughts as I became engrossed in
their efforts to take over the universe. The Dalek episodes have always been special,
right up to last season’s best episode, Asylum of the Daleks.

Creepiest episodes – The Satan Pit, where David
Tennant and Rose are trapped in a spacecraft above a planet containing the grave
of Satan. And The Empty Child, where a soulless child with a gas mask moulded
into his face searches for his mother.

Favourite doctor – Tom Baker, with Jon Pertwee a close
second, in the original shows. Baker’s fun was the perfect counter to Pertwee’s
seriousness. Christopher Eccleston for the new series: if he said run, I would
be sprinting. He played it straight and added a gravity to the doctor that
turned the show into something that adults could watch without thinking they
should be watching a show for adults.

I am
looking forward to watching Doctor Who for many more years, especially now Matt
Smith is being retired. I hope a new doctor will prompt a return to the more
suspenseful writing of the first four years of the rebooted show.

Doctor Who – Graham Clements

Doctor Who – 50th Anniversary.

My Doctor Who Favourites.