HAS The DOCTOR HAD HIS DAY?

Copyright BBC TV

So - the much trumpeted The DAY Of The DOCTORS - any good, or the usual pile of old pants that STEVEN MOFFAT has delivered since he took charge of the programme?  Some nice bits - especially at the end, where WILLIAM HARTNELL's Doctor stood behind and above the line of other incarnations - but overall, it failed to deliver.

It's interesting that Moffat, who wrote some of the better scripts when RUSSELL T. DAVIES was the main man, has been unable to attain his former heights since he's been at the helm.  The trouble is (in my opinion) that - as the ultimate example of a Doctor Who fan-boy geek himself, his self-indulgent revelling in his own vision of what the programme is about - while doubtless leaving other geeks in convulsions of ecstasy at the pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and non-coherent nonsense presented on-screen - tends to leave more sensible, level-headed viewers feeling alienated (apt word, considering the topic) by the lack of clear, linear storytelling presented in an intriguing and compelling way.

As I've said before, the impression given is that he starts from an idea of what he imagines will be an 'in your face' series of images - and then tries to weave a story through them in order to tie them all together in some way - rather than have an idea for a story first and then work out the best way to tell it.  I could well be wrong of course, but there has to be some explanation as to why a more mainstream audience remains unimpressed by his efforts, while viewers who love the show don't have any pals who aren't Doctor Who fans and have never had a girlfriend.

JOHN HURT gave a stellar performance of how the Doctor should be portrayed, while the smug comedy double-act of MATT SMITH and DAVID TENNANT reminded me of why I'm glad to be seeing the back of Smith.  This was meant to be drama, remember, but at no time was there any real sense of menace or danger; instead we were subjected to Moffat's limited repertoire of cliched, by-the-numbers, well-worn nods in the vague direction of something slightly resembling (but not too much) suspense.  Yawn.  And, nice as it was to see TOM BAKER subsidising his pension, his cameo appearance made absolutely no damn sense.

A wasted opportunity in my view, and the fact that Moffat reportedly wrote extra-tough, convoluted dialogue for PETER CAPALDI's audition doesn't bode well for those who'd hoped to have seen the end of confusing, illogical stories where the Doctor breathlessly explains what's been happening and how he's going to solve it in a panting paragraph of dreary and un- convincing exposition before pressing a button on his sonic screwdriver in the last five minutes and making everything right again.

Personally, I'd rather see DAVID BRADLEY given the chance to revive Hartnell's Doctor in a series of 'untold tales' TV specials - now that would be worth watching.  Who's with me?  (Pun intended.)

Agree or disagree, folks?  The comments section is open for business - don't disappoint me!

FIFTY YEARS Of DOCTOR WHO - WITH FIRST-EVER COMIC STRIP...

Dr. Who copyright BBC TV.  Daleks copyright BBC TV and the Estate of Terry Nation

Doctor Who & the Daleks, Morecambe & Wise, Abbot & Costello, and, er... Fish & Chips... are name pairs that somehow seem to belong together.  Don't ask me why - they just do. Never was that more true than in the good Doctor's case, as - if it hadn't been for the sensation created by the metal-cased mutants - Doctor Who's popularity probably wouldn't have survived for anywhere near as long as it has.

And I was there when it all started.  I sometimes think that the '60s were the best-ever years in which a child could grow up.  Just think of all the Gerry Anderson and Hanna-Barbera programmes that kids were privy to back then, to say nothing of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Mission Impossible, Batman and Star Trek.  Were we lucky or what?  And then there were the comics, chief amongst them TV Century 21, which, along with strips based on the afore-mentioned (and recently departed) Mr. Anderson's puppet programmes, also featured the dreaded and deadly despotic demons known as The Daleks!

The Daleks were everywhere; on mugs, badges, games, jigsaws, toys, models - you name the merchandise and the Scions of Skaro had lent their name and shape to it.  Apparently, Christmas of 1964 was christened 'Dalek Christmas', so popular was the Louis Marx 'tricky action' (bump 'n' go) Dalek, as well as every other kind of plaything in which the mutated Kaleds' appellation and image could be cast. 

The Doctor, along with his two grandchildren John and Gillian, appeared every week in TV Comic, published by Polystyle Publications.  The grandkids (exclusive to the comic in place of Susan) had disappeared into limbo by the time the Doc had moved over to another comic in the Polystyle stable, Countdown (later to be retitled TV Action), in adventures aimed at slightly older readers than its predecessor.  However, eventually the Time Lord and his first periodical were reunited (when TV Action fell victim to declining sales) and remained firm friends until Dez Skinn lured the Guardian from Gallifrey over to Marvel U.K. with the promise of his very own weekly publication.

I had occasionally read the Doctor's adventures in TV Comic around 1964-'65, but - truth to tell - they were nothing special and failed to exploit the 'unlimited budget' uniquely available to the comic strip medium.  After all, whatever fantastic premise the writer can dream up can potentially be portrayed as realistically as anything the artist is capable of drawing, so the sky's the limit.  Not in TV Comic's case, alas, but the full-colour Daleks strip on the back cover of TV Century 21 was something else entirely.  Here, the incredible came to life, and the 104 episodes which ran for the first two years of the comic's span are still fondly remembered today by readers who devoured them at the time.

And, as I said, I was one of them.  I still remember making my way to school some mornings as a mere six-year old boy, oblivious to everything around me as I lost myself in the photogravure pages that depicted the exploits of the metal-clad mutants bent on universal domination of all sentient life-forms.  I'm not sure why, but I don't think I ever regarded the Daleks as the bad guys in these tales; I always took their side and wanted them to win.  If I should ever find myself up in court someday, accused of some anti-social act, I'll be sure to blame the insidious influence of the good Doctor's diabolical adversaries for corrupting me.  (I knew that Fredric Wertham's theories would come in handy some day.)

You can imagine my delight when, years later (as a professional lettering artist), I was invited to work on a few strips for Doctor Who Magazine, the first issue of which (in its weekly incarnation) I had purchased back in October of 1979.  As it happened, one of the strips I lettered was published in an issue which also featured a full-colour reprint of a TV21 Daleks page, and it gave me a strange-but-welcome sense of reconnection to my childhood.  By some odd quirk of fate, my name was appearing in a magazine which had pierced the veil of time and space and plucked a page from my past - a page that I particularly recalled reading on one of my trips to school nearly 27 years before.  For a moment I was a kid again, wishing my life away until the next exciting chapter in the mysterious, white-haired stranger's Saturday evening adventures on BBC TV.

And that brings me to the Doctor himself.  Doctor Who?  Yes, that's right.  Sure, it's an old 'joke', but it illustrates an important aspect of the character.  The Doctor was originally an enigma; a mysterious stranger who nobody knew anything about.  Who was he?  Where did he come from?  Was he good, bad, or simply amoral?  No one was quite sure, and I have to be honest and say that I thought the Doctor was all the more interesting for this approach.

Anyway, as the 50th anniversary of the Doctor's '60s debut on television and in comics is celebrated, long may he reign - and may the dastardly (but loveable) Daleks never be far behind him.

  

******

As an added bonus, here's part one of the very first Doctor Who comic strip, featuring William Hartnell, ever published.  Originally presented in black and white in TV Comic #674, dated November 14th 1964, and reprinted in colour in Doctor Who Classic Comics #2, dated January 6th 1993.  The art is by Neville Main.  Enjoy!