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Russell T. Davies has dragged Doctor Who, the BBC's veteran time-travel show, into the 1990s. His confessed influences include early Buffy, but the revamped Who has always reminded me of some other 90s shows, including X-Files and, more and more, of Lois and Clark, with its focus on a male-female couple and their romantic/sexual tension or lack thereof. It's too bad Doctor Who remains about a decade behind the times, even as it keeps mining its own past. Spoilers for the season opener below the fold.
Russell T. Davies has dragged Doctor Who, the BBC's veteran time-travel show, into the 1990s. His confessed influences include early Buffy, but the revamped Who has always reminded me of some other 90s shows, including X-Files and, more and more, of Lois and Clark, with its focus on a male-female couple and their romantic/sexual tension or lack thereof. It's too bad Doctor Who remains about a decade behind the times, even as it keeps mining its own past. Spoilers for the season opener below the fold.The comparison between this weekend's season premieres of Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who does the latter no favors, unfortunately. BSG was all fresh, dark and conspiracy-minded, with lots of throat-cutting and screaming action. Who was at its absolute campiest, schlocky and backward-looking. It honestly felt kind of old-school compared with BSG.
As with the old Lois and Clark Superman series, the new Doctor Who tries to invert the traditional Doctor-companion relationship, putting the companion in the starring role. And as with Lois and Clark, the device feels a bit hollow, because the Doctor is still the one we're invested in, the person who saves the day.
The shocking twist this time around is that the companion, Donna, isn't in love with the Doctor. She pursues him and desperately needs him to fill an emptiness in her life — but it's a need for adventure, not love. It's not as much of a difference as I'd hoped, because her life is still totally worthless without the Doctor, as we're shown at great length. The only reason she's even investigating the evildoings of Adipose is because she hopes the Doctor will show up there too.
Whether you think this new spin on the Doctor-companion dynamic is enough to sustain a whole season may depend largely on how much you like the clip above, where the Doctor and Donna have a mimed reunion while they're both spying on the same barely-a-supervillain. My sympathies are entirely with Miss Foster, who wants to know if her evil scheme is interrupting their long ASL processing conversation. But to be fair, the plot of "Partners In Crime" is so thin, there's not that much for the Doctor and Donna to interrupt.
Speaking of being fair, I made a resolution last year, after I watched the end of season three — the bit where the Doctor suddenly returns to youth after being aged 900 years — and levitates — because everyone on Earth believes in him. That moment was simultaneously so amazing, and yet so awful, that it totally destroyed my critical faculties. I decided that you can't really judge Russell T.'s work based on any normal standards of good or bad. You just have to take it on its own terms.
But even if you judge "Partners In Crime" on its own terms, as a "jolly romp," it's just barely okay. It doesn't quite ever muster enough verve to be a real romp. And the jollity is a bit forced. A lot of the clever bits feel a bit rehashed, as if Russell T. is running through his greatest hits. Especially the relationship between Donna and her mom, who feels entirely like a stock character made up of pieces of Jackie and Martha's mother. And the main plot, with the fat people who make farting noises and then have babies burst out of them, is literally a rehash of the Slitheen. Except that this time it's not evil aliens pretending to be fat people, it's innocent fat people who give birth to evil aliens. And the alien babies are actually babies this time, instead of just looking baby-like.
I take comfort in the fact that the previous two season openers were also paper-thin: the one in the hospital with the cat-nuns, where the hospital gets sealed off and there's an evil secret. And the one in the hospital with the Judoon, where the hospital gets sealed off and there's an evil secret. Russell T. has a record of tossing out his fluffiest episode first, and then getting into the heavier stuff later. And indeed, everyone who's seen next week's Pompeii episode says it's miles better than the army-of-babies one, with Donna actually showing more emotional range.
Meanwhile, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the episode sets up some mysteries for the season's overall arc. The main one, of course, is the Rose-ghost whom Donna tells about the car keys in the rubbish bin. (Which, if I was Donna's mom, would be grounds for disowning her, by the way.) Then there's also the question of where Miss Foster got her own version of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, but there's a good chance we'll never find out. And then it's possible there's some significance to the fact that Donna and her grandfather Wilf both met the Doctor separately, a year apart. But it's probably just a coincidence. (And why wasn't Wilf at the wedding anyway?)
But, yes, it was a jolly romp, and it was nice to see David Tennant jutting his chin and shouting, "Oh, yes!" again. And a still-impressive 8.4 million Brits tuned in. So even if you hope (like me) that we're reaching the tail end of the RTD era of Who, the phenomenon still seems to be going strong. And I'm pretty sure there are better episodes ahead. What did you think?
Comments
oh for christs sake get a grip, Dr Who, always has been a kids centric show, it will always be a Kids show.
Hence the dynamics aren't going to change, why change something that's clearly successful?
If you want dark, go look at Torchwood. Now do you get it?
I couldn't disagree more. I know I'm supposed to like BSG as an adult Sci Fi fan, but I just can't manage it. But why compare at all? Dr Who is a bright postitive show about all that's good in humanity, designed for a prime time UK family audience. BSG is totally the opposite and reaches an audience of a few thousand on a UK cable channel. (Although can I just ask why BSG is supposed to be the "mature" show when most of it's actors are so buff and required to removed their clothes or wear so much figure hugging stuff quite a lot of the time?)
Anyway, back to the series opener. As I said couldn't disagree more. It was smart, funny and slick. Fun for all the family, that's what RTD knows is important. He can do dark but not just yet. Meanwhile he teases those fans who hate hime. Catherine Tate too "shouty" in the Christmas special? RTD has her meeting with the Doctor in enforced silence. Alien monsters without guns or a plan to take over the world? That's mature and also going to drive those who can't stand his work nuts.
And still plenty of stuff to keep the more dedicated fan happy. Rose! Where are the Bees?!
Welcome back, Doc!
Agreed. Doctor Who is a kids / family show.. always has been.
I'm genuinely mystified by ppls need for it to be anything else. It's doing well (great infact) so why change it? other than 'Moron' Grade's shutting down of it's production, it's been around in much the same form for over 40 years!
Must be doing something right eh?
As to those comparing it to BSG. Compare many apples and oranges all day long? Totally different shows, meant do 2 totally different audiences.
it's like comparing football with baseball.
well a companion tracking down the Doctor is a break from how he usually gets companions. In the old shows they were eitehr people who were going nowhere and wouldn't be missed, or were basically kidnapped and then the Docotr would keep not going to the spot in space/time where the new companion should be (like Teegan with the Peter Davidson Doctor). a few just wandered into the Tardis and off they went. Reading back over this, I am struck about how similar the Doctor is to a serial killer. Especially with how many young, not too smart, female companions there have been. So Donna does make a refreshing change
Doctor Who would be immesurably better if it had coherence. Or plot. Or emotion I could get invested in. If it made sense, basically. As it is, the Doctor has good lines and his personality is great when he's not being serious (When he is being serious I want some group of Humans to show up and kick him off Earth until he stops sticking his nose into our business).
Why in gods name are we comparing BSG which is purely for adults... with a FAMILY SHOW like Dr Who.
Of course its campy, its made to be spooky and scary for kids, while still being family friendly.
Not all the Doctor's companions can be cute young girls. That gets kind of old. Plus, both Martha and Rose will be back later in the season. I'm looking forward to Jack and Mickey begin back, to even out the gender roles a bit. Though it'd be nice if The Doctor picked up a male companion that wasn't intermittent, either.
And yeah, Doctor Who ain't no BSG. And that's a good thing. I really dig both but couldn't handle that much relentless darkness on a Friday night.
Not dark enough? Don't forget it was broadcast at 6:20pm on Saturday - several aeons before the watershed...
I welcome Donna's lack of any romantic feelings for the Doctor. Maybe this will quiet the Rose and Martha shippers once and for all.
Then there's also the question of where Miss Foster got her own version of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver
Toshiko built it for her.
And yes, Doctor Who is a kids show...but why does it have to be a show for STUPID kids?
Yes, Donna's grandfather was in Who before - perhaps watching Dr Who Confidential would be useful for anyone reviewing the show.
You would have found out that the actor who played Donna's father was very ill and not able to be in the show and passed away, so they brought back Wilf
Eric
I liked the mime scene. I was laughing along guessing what they were saying, complete with english accents.
Its Dr Who so in my books cant be too bad. Just lucky that Davis doesnt write every single episode :P
It would be nice to see a few episodes with a new uber baddie. The Cybermen, the Master and Daleks are lovely but it would be nice to see a fresh recurring super threat to life on earth.
Oh please... Dr. Who may be a kids/family show, but that's no excuse for the tasteless crap RTD peddled to us as entertainment this weekend. Family and kids shows, flims, books, whatever can still be made with high standards and a smattering of intelligence. If you think that that episode was in any way quality entertainment you either have so much love for the franchise that you can't see its faults, or you just have incredibly poor taste and are easily entertained. This is starting to remind me of the Star Wars prequels and their hordes of delusional supporters. While there is nothing as hideous and embarrassing as Jar Jar Binks in new Who (though that one with Peter Kay in a frog suit came close), at it's worst it is just as lazy and came-obsessed. Instead of young Boba Fett, it's Kylie Minogue, but the shitty principal remains the same. The frustrating thing is that I know there will be at least 3 or 4 episodes this season that will blow my mind. Despite the abysmal episodes in new Who (and Partners in Crime has to rank among the worst), there are still enough people involved with this show to keep it from spinning off into the void. While I will always be grateful to RTD for reviving one of my favorite shows, it's time for him to hand off the reins to someone else, someone who will hopefully put an end to lazy, anti-sci fi writing and gratuitous c-list celebrity cameos.
The whole dichotomy between tragedy and comedy has been ongoing since the Greeks. I'm glad you've finally solved it.
Alert the masses everyone! Tragedy is the only valid form of drama!
Eh, anyone can build a sonic screwdriver. I think. I mean, Captain Jack had his own sonic blaster, and Romana had a very chic-looking sonic screwdriver of her own, so I figured it was something you could just build if you felt like manipulating things with sonic rays.
Which doesn't really make any sense, but that's its own can of worms ... ;)
Oh my. BSG was all dark and sparkly and ever so grown up. Apart from the massive, gaping fissures in logic that will require nothing short of divine intervention or a rented Star Trek device to plug. Once the mediocre cover of Hendrix covering Dylan in another frakking galaxy does its sinister work, why there's hardly anything to take away from the gritty reality. What next, Get Smart versus Law & Order?
@IntoAshes: THIS.
Doctor Who was always campy, but it was never _sloppy_. RTD is a sloppy storyteller. He hammers on the same tropes again and again, the day is always won with some deus ex machina.
Jesus-Doctor at the end of last season was an awful idea. It was charming when Sandy Duncan had us clap to keep Tinkerbell alive; it's just tacky now.
You can be cheesy and fun without being retarded. If anything, RTD tries too hard to be dramatic and self-important. While some writers can handle that (Moffat), some writers invent things like Guidalek (the Guido Dalek).
I know Dr. Who is a kids show but it doesn't always feel like a kids show. I think the best episodes are those that adults can enjoy along with the kids. This particular episode felt like it belonged in a saturday morning kids lineup and not primetime for the entire family.
I'm really not a fan of RTD so I never expected to love this ep, but it's still disappointing to see such crappy writing. nevertheless, I'm still excited for the rest of the season.
(And why wasn't Wilf at the wedding anyway?)
Because his character didn't exist at the time. The newsagent was reinvented as her grandfather because the actor playing her father passed away between the script read-through and the filming. (HINT TO EVERYONE: hug the people you love regularly!)
And add my voice to the "Please don't compare Who to BSG" chorus. I honestly tried to watch the BSG season premiere. Why on earth (pardon the pun) would I care about these self-centred, hateful people? The only thing that kept me awake was reaching for the remote to fast-forward through any scene involving Gaius whats-his-name.
I think I'm with the Doctor on this one in that I cam not sure how I feel about Donna being along for the ride.
I really liked her in the Christmas special a couple years ago because she was exactly the type of companion that the Doctor wouldn't normally be caught dead with. And she was so wrapped up in her own little world that everything going on around her barely even registered. The juxtaposition with the normal companions was delicious.
But as a regular companion? I'm not sure I see the chemistry there. Maybe she gets killed off to provide some angst for the Doctor. Break him again for the return of Rose. Tennant really is at his best as a broken man :)
Yeah sorry. I usually agree, but I'm kinda digging on the mime scene.
I like that Dr. Who can get dark, but that's not supposed to be the overall tone of the show.
And no love for Ms. Foster's Loony Tunes like realization that gravity was working again? Really? Not even a chortle?
@wassermelone: Apparently, io9 is being guest edited by the Oscars people today.
@t3knomanser: Never sloppy? Excuse me? I've sat through some atrocious early Who and I've got to say that extending to 4 episodes what should have been a 3 episode arc by having long, interminable chase sequences through the same freaking quarry is sloppy. Now, don't get me wrong, I hate the farting and the blue light effects, and what not just as much as the next person. But for everyone who thinks that RTD is ruining Who, I'd just like to point out that it had just as many faults in its previous incarnation.
To the original post, I don't believe that the sonic screwdriver/pen/blaster is anything more than a token for "not from this world." To my knowledge it is not a specifically Gallifreyan bit of technology. Also, while not overjoyed at the premise, i did find it interesting that the baby Adiposians looked like Pokemon characters ('cause we all know they're evil ;-). And, as I think RTD pointed out in the Confidential, Miss Foster wasn't really the big bad in this episode, the real Big Bad was the offscreen Adiposian Royal Family or whatever their name was.
Also, is no one going to mention the hideous, embarrassing end to the episode when Donna and the Doctor open the door to the TARDIS and wave out to Bernard fucking Cribbins??!! Oh, and because he is looking at them through a telescope, you get the old-timey telescope circle around the picture. Up next, an episode where the monster is RTD gleefully masturbating over his own ideas, shot through a glory hole, complete with an old-timey glory hole circle around the picture. Somehow, he still finds room for a Russel Brand cameo, who has a delightful turn as an intergalactic junkie rent boy. Radio Times cover to follow...
I watched the show with my family this weekend, and we had a great time. My son was screaming "That's Rose" from the moment you saw the back of her head. Agreed the main story was a little strained, but Rose was there, and that gives us something for the coming season.
Wilf was wearing a red cap with a military looking pin. I wonder if that is a UNIT cap. (From Cap'n Jack asking Martha for a red Unit Cap for Ianto.)
Well I have to say I find myself in both camps at the same time, I really enjoyed the new ep, but completely agree with some of the faults people are pointing out about RTD's writing skills.
I disagree that the campiness is anything other than an inherent part of the series, it's not present in every episode (thank god - I couldn't cope with it if it was) but every once in a while (and season openers are an ideal place for it) I like a nice bit of campiness. The problem is, that when people write a camp episode they forget it still has to hang together just as much as any of the darker episodes and treat the plot as though its as frivolous as the idea. It only takes a little more effort to put in the background to make the episode really work.
Mind you, a lot of the comments here are just "I don't like humour - I want serious sci-fi" in which case you might want to either switch series or wait for a review of each episode to see if it'll be a silly one and then not watch. Dr Who is often silly - watch "Robot", or "The Romans" if you don't believe me.
I have to say that I'm pretty disappointed in this review. I think it is pretty obvious that romantic comedy isn't something the author enjoys, much less respects. I thought that, on the whole, the episode played well in that light. The pieces of a screwball comedy were all there, from the opening near-misses of Donna and the Doctor, the bits of serious dialogue sandwiched between action scenes, the involvement of a not-so-innocent bystander, and the punishment of the main antagonist at the end.
I think that the current incarnation of Doctor Who stacks up rather favorably against its predecessors. It has been silly, serious, good, cheesy, romantic, and clinical in its time. Some things I could live without (fart jokes) and some are overlooked out of affection (sets that are falling apart), but I don't think either has tainted the overall appeal of the show. Trying to compare it to a show like Battlestar Gallactica or Lois and Clark without paying proper attention to the radically different ways in which those shows are written and presented does a disservice to all three.
Instead of comparing Doctor Who to regular scifi and blaming its faults on being a children's program, why not compare Doctor Who to regular children's programming? (and blame its faults on being scifi)
As far as children's programming goes, Doctor Who is lightyears beyond anything American television has to offer for this age group. What's the last primetime, hour-long, family-friendly American show that anyone watched regularly?
Like Harry Potter, Doctor Who is so much better than most other offerings for children that it transcends its target demographic - and inspires the haters to expect something different from a show that is, fundamentally, a pro-social lesson on the value of creativity, exploration, adventure, improvisation, and the absolute rockingness of the human race.
@Shinju: I completely agree re: humor in Doctor Who. The obvious difference between something like the Romans or the Macra Terror (two of my favorite stories) and Partners In Crime and the other RTD campy comedy vehicles is that the former are funny and the latter aren't. My beef isn't that Doctor Who is becoming something it hasn't been before (apart from the glut of gratuitous celebrity cameos and the pandering kitchen sink sub-plots, some of which actually pay off), my beef is that it is often so poorly done. As I said before, if someone finds Partners In Crime incredibly entertaining and funny, then they probably have incredibly poor taste in entertainment and are easily entertained.
@Jenn2D2: Actually, it's funny... I was just saying yesterday that I love screwball romantic comedies. Bringing Up Baby is one of my faves. But this wasn't a romantic comedy (no romance, for one thing) and it wasn't all that screwball either.
@IntoAshes: "if someone finds Partners In Crime incredibly entertaining and funny, then they probably have incredibly poor taste in entertainment and are easily entertained."
your opinion of course. we lesser mortals are of course sorry to bother you.
@IntoAshes: Yes, exactly! I think people are missing the part of my review where I say I'm going to take it on its own terms, as a jolly romp, and not expect it to be anything else. And it's still terrible. If you judge this episode the way RTD wants us to judge it, as a fun bit of fluffy comedy, then it's still pretty awful. None of the humor is actually funny.
@flexiverse: Dr. Who has always been aimed at kids, but it's often managed to be quite complex and dark as well. Some (but not all, I'll admit) of the Hinchcliffe stories in the 70s stack up against any "adult" scifi show you can point to. And actually if you watch the show's very first season, before Hartnell starts playing his character as a jolly old elf, it's actually quite dark a lot of the time.
@t3knomanser: Actually, original Doctor Who was often quite sloppy, as people have pointed out... And so far nothing RTD has done has made me clutch my head quite as much as Delta And The Bannermen.
@Charlie Jane Anders: except your trying to compare totally different shows. Could you avoid that in the future? it really does no good.
@IntoAshes: I think you'd have to survey a bunch of ten-year-olds to get the proper answer...
(Whatever anyone says, Doctor Who is aimed at children. I'm just amazed that they can still fit some impressively grown-up plots in every so often.)
We all should stop comparing Dr. Who to BSG.
Let's compare it to Flash Gordon instead.
*groans* Did IntoAshes just fling the Deus Ex Machina allegation against RTD again? What is this Outpost Gallifrey?
I think's frustrating about this review is it misses the joy of what Dr Who can do. The horizon is wide open and anything is possible. Embrace it! Enjoy the ride! Screwball comedy this week? Fantastic! And if you didn't like it then next week it's the eternal problem of the time traveller... can you save people from a disaster you know is about to engulf them? As Donna says of the people of Pompeii "They're history? Well so was I to you. Why save us and not them?"
I'm fond of Star Trek but do feel the technobabble while making a self contained universe can limit a show. Luckily I seem to enjoy pretty much everything Doctor Who tries to do (even Love and Monsters) but to those who complain about the tone or the funny monsters one week and demanding every ep should be like their favourite stories... well you're kinda missing the point of the show.
@CargoCult: Incorrect. Doctor Who is billed as family entertainment, which is very different from children's television. Sarah Jane Adventures is kids tv, and it succeeds wildly on those terms. Doctor Who is meant to appeal to both kids and adults, something that can be done with intelligence and craft, despite what RTD seems to believe.
@KhaiJB: Don't attack me because you have bad taste. There, is that what you are looking for? You have incredibly poor standards when it comes to entertainment. Isn't there an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos on PAX that you should be watching? A Dane Cook cd you should be listening to? Now I've attacked you personally, so you can properly act like a victim. Happy?
@lovelight: Actually, that was one cirticism I didn't level at this one. I think you will find it was t3knomanser. I've gotten so used to RTD's pat, nonsensical conclusions that they don't even register with me anymore. Also, I think you are missing the point of these criticisms. It's not that there is screwball comedy, it's that the screwball comedy is so poorly executed.
A major problem I have with most RTD episodes is that his villains tend to make themselves widely noticeable to the greater London area if not the world. Every week I wonder how people recovered so quickly from Master's world-wide dystopia, or the cybermen attacks or the destruction of parliament.
@burlives: Actually, the Master's world-wide dystopia was undone, so that it never happened. Time rolled backwards, etc. So nobody remembers it. And to be fair, RTD acknowledges that people have to have noticed all these alien ships whizzing overhead, unlike the original series which pretended that everybody had no long-term memory