Holiday traditions are cherished by millions of people. When the calendar
gets down to the last page of the year, certain events provide a define degree
of comfort and familiarity. While traditions usually are associated with
families there is one that as has been embraced by people usually referred as
nerds or geeks, the Doctor Who Christmas Special. For the last few years the BBC
has wound up the year with an episode highly anticipated by the legion of ‘Whovians’.
This is the story that is considered the extremely crucial to a story that has
been unfolding for over half a century. The showrunner and network take
elaborate precautions to prevent details leaking out to the curious fans but
inevitably, spoilers get out which heightens the furor of the fans, to the
delight of the producers. During this story substantial changes are introduced
including new companions and, thanks to the unique details of the show’s
premise, a new actor assuming the lauded mantle of ‘The Doctor’. Originally.
There was a limit imposed of only twelve regenerations, back in the early
sixties, a dozen major cast changes appeared more than enough. No one could
imagine the show would run five decades. Some diehard fans resisted but, to
quote another science fiction staple, resistance was futile. Circumstance were
arranged for another twelve regenerations were added expanding the potential for
many more years of traveling through time and space. On Christmas nigh of 2017,
‘Twice Upon a Time’ was broadcast and the longest running series of the genre
was about to change forever with a significant sociological impact.
There were several reasons that made this Christmas episode especially
interesting for the fan community was the appearance of veteran actor, David
Bradley, as the First Doctor originally portrayed by the beloved William
Hartnell. Mr. Bradley has achieved the rare accomplishment of reaching cult
status in several of popular culture’s most influential movies and television
series. He played one of the most loathsome killers in the brutal world of ‘Game
of Thrones’, Walder Frey. In the incredible fantasy juggernaut, ‘The Harry
Potter Saga’, he embodied the squib caretaker curmudgeon, Argus Filch. Recently,
he was in the principle cast of Guillermo del Toro’s vampire apocalypse
television series, ‘The Strain’ as concentration camp survivor, Abraham Setrakia.
This resume demonstrates his incredibly eclectic range affording him the
expertise to understand characters as different as a grumpy groundskeeper
surrounded by talented young people to a merciless feudal lord turning a joyous
gathering in to a massacre. To properly represent not just an actor, the statue
of Mr. Hartnell, but also a century old Timelord exploring the vastness of
spacetime. This is not the first time Mr. Bradley as stepped into the persona of
the First Doctor. He previously portrayed original First Doctor actor William
Hartnell in the 2013 docudrama ‘An Adventure in Space and Time’, in honor of the
character’s Golden anniversary. The story introduced the First Doctor to his
twelfth incarnation (Peter Capaldi). At the beginning of the episode Doctor-1 is
completing his first serialized adventure, ‘The Tenth Planet, the first time the
act or regeneration was introduced as a critical aspect of the still expanding
mythos of the series. One of the many seemingly impossible elements of the
character interaction is, although the first Doctor looks elderly, substantially
older than the twelfth incarnation, Mr. Bradley portrays the younger self of the
character.
Besides ending the tenure of Mr. Capaldi this Christmas special marks the
final story produced under the auspices of showrunner, Steven Moffat. Mr.
Moffat’s seven-year reign helming the series generated some degree of
controversy among the hard-core members of the fan base. That same group was
greatly anticipating this new chapter of the series not just because of the
unprecedented casting decision for the thirteenth regeneration but because Chris
Chibnall is assuming the leadership position, Mr. Chibnall most recently ran the
Netflix series, Broadchurch, which stared the eleventh Doctor’s David Tennant.
He has been entangled with the Doctor Who family through writing and directing
several episodes of the series and as the show runner of ‘Law & Order: UK’. That
export of the longest running crime show that featured the talents of former
Doctor’s companion, Freema Agyeman and the actor that brought the fifth doctor
to life, Peter Davison. Many are anticipating how this extremely imaginative
storyteller is going to take such a treasured part of popular culture into its
future.
Originally, Doctor Who was intended as an educational show primarily for
children. During the original portion of its run, several tropes and fundamental
characteristics of the Doctor where markedly different from what is currently
considered as canon. Among the most famous included the Doctor as a human being
rather than an alien, a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey. Much of this was
retconned, altering the basic construction of the series. This made it feasible
to interject such decidedly not child friendly themes as ceremonially bound
oligarchies, genocide, PTSS and survival guilt. The concept of juxtaposing
Doctors representing both ends of the spectrum from children’s programming to
mature, [psychologically taut science fiction, is especially central here
consider the major paradigm shift presented in this episode. The process of
series maturation has been integral to the continuing integrity of the series.
In keeping with one of the elemental tenants of science fiction, the arcs
created by the changes through out time have ensured the freshness of the
production during the many decades of its run. This helps explain why the series
both continues to delight loyal, long time aficionados while attracting new
generations of ardent fans,
Mr. Bradley dies bare a striking resemblance to Mr. Hartnell upon donning the
signature wool hat and fashionable cape, he re-embodies the persona crafted so
long ago by a talented veteran film and television. A considerable point of
continuing fascination is the necessity of reconciling the fact that these two
actors from different generations and vastly different approaches to the
stylistic choices and methodologies are portraying the same character. After
all, within the context of the underlying story there is some 1,500 years of
living between the two regenerations. What comes across so well is hoe Mr.
Bradley and Mr. Capaldi were able to discover common ground to their individual
interpretations of The Doctor making such a comparison feasible and eminently
enjoyable. One point of commonality uncovered is something that has always
intrigued me about stories culminating in a regeneration cycle, the noted
reticence displayed by The Doctor in submitting to the inevitable change.
Several of the Doctors, at the moment their hands begin to discharge bright
light, have been heard to exclaim sentiments such as "I’m not ready". For a
Time, Lord such transmogrifications are a nature part of life. This does give
the impression each specific variation of the individual becomes attached to
their current personality. The underlying moral fiber remains the same, The
Doctor is motivated by the unselfish need to help others, defend the weak,
oppose bullies and protect innocence. The variation in the specific details, the
expression of these traits changes with each regeneration but that person
remains The Doctor. Has the Doctor’s wife, River Song (Alex Kingston) has often
mused, she loves the inner person, not the shell it currently inhabits. I would
greatly enjoy a meeting between this thirteenth Doctor and Professor Song but
that does seem to be exceedingly unlikely. Then again, this is a story
concerning travels through billion of years of time so most anything could
happen. The purpose of the Christmas Special is to whet the interest of the fans
for the upcoming season. No matter what your feeling about these unconventional
changes, it must be agreed, that goal was handily achieved.