Exterminate... the bad vibes
A blog about fan service
I’m a Doctor Who fan.
Stay with me, this will make sense.
Here’s the thing with Doctor Who. The franchise has been hard to love over the past few years. After a great run where it burst into the mainstream and captured the hearts of a great deal of people that you don’t necessarily associate with Sci-Fi, it was slowly losing its grip on people.
I won’t bore you with my analysis of why that was happening — other than to say that the question of whether it was realistic that a female actor was playing a 2,000 year old shapeshifting alien with two hearts and a really fancy screwdriver didn’t really play a role in my discontent with the direction of the series.
No, the writing had become predictable and heavy handed and the whimsical fun that makes the franchise such a delight (and distinguishes it from the other two Sci-fi franchises it is compared with) had been ignored or forgotten.
In total, that made watching Doctor Who more of a chore than something I looked forward to. A certain loyalty to the franchise was all that was keeping me returning week after week.
Here’s the thing though. I am P U M P E D about Series 14 of Doctor Who, which airs this November. The reason for my excitement?
David freakin’ Tennant is back! No 10, baby!! AND Catherine Tate! They are going to resolve the way that Donna was written out. This news literally made me squeal when it was announced. No, literally. [He really did. -Ed]
By dipping back to the glory years of the franchise, Doctor Who is giving fans hope that it can find some of the old magic. Now, we aren’t dumb. We know there is a risk in this nostalgia play. The actors are older and recapturing the magic is not guaranteed. This could fall flat.
However, most fans will be forgiving if it does because even if it’s bad it’s still going to be kind of good to see these old faces return. Yeah, it’s fan service. So?
Sometimes fans deserve a little service. Sometimes fan service is exactly what is needed, even. It can kill the toxicity around a franchise and give it a chance to start fresh again soon after in a more forward looking way.
With the return of Tennant and Tate, we know it will be a short run. A palate cleanser that will let us enjoy ourselves when watching again. It will allow us to shake of the frustration of the last few years and embrace whatever new direction they choose to go after.
It’s going to be great. I’m already getting emotional thinking about the scene when Donna gets her memory back and I’m especially excited to learn what kind of handwaving nonsense they use to allow her to do that.
Handwaving nonsense is what Doctor Who is all about!
IS IT NOVEMBER YET????
Anyway, Sebastian Giovinco is training at the TFC training ground. Do with that information what you will.
Oh, also, the real reason to be excited by the new/old direction of Doctor Who is that Russell T. Davies, the person who took the franchise to its highest heights, is back as showrunner after several years away. You should also do what you will* with that information.