Sunday 20 December 2015

Our Christmas Invasion

Doctor Who is about to get its 11th Christmas Special in a row, which I understand is a record. The first, in 2005, seemed like an astonishing achievement, whereas now it's almost taken for granted.

Why, then, is the Doctor so apparently suited to Christmas, even though the connection was only made once in the show's first 26 years? 

Maybe it's because Christmas is a time for "Peace on Earth" - except that the Doctor brings precious little of that! He may have made powerful statements against war (eg in The Zygon Inversion), but it's hard to equate John Lennon's "War is over if you want it" or Jesus' various teachings with Xmas quotes like "no second chances, I'm that kind of person".

No, the Doctor's not Jesus, Unless you're watching Last of the Time Lords, which wasn't even a Christmas special. Is he, then, Santa? It's certainly been suggested over the years – the red bicycle comment – but really, they're not that similar. The Doctor doesn't turn up, leave presents, eat food and then go. It's just not even remotely like his MO.

I think the key might be in comments made by various Doctors over the years but particularly the third and fourth. There is no point in being grown up, we are told, unless you can be childish sometimes. The Doctor is serious about what he does, but not necessarily about the way in which he does it.

This is the time of year when we decorate our houses with tinsel and flashy lights and baubles. We encourage our children to sing songs about reindeers with red noses and tell them to anticipate a fat man climbing down the chimney with presents. It is, surely, the most childish, or maybe child-like, time of year. As Andy Williams nearly sang. The time of Band Aid, sure, but also Lily the Pink. Carols from King's, but also Mr Blobby.

The doctor may spend Christmas sending off the likes of the Sycorax and the Master and the Great Intelligence, but he also does it in a fun way. These 10 episodes have seen him battle Christmas trees and flying sharks; team up with Kylie Minogue and Nick Frost; despatch baddies with a satsuma and gain acces to their lair by impersonating Sherlock Holmes. Where else would we find Jessica Martin voicing the Queen waving at a flying Titanic or June Whitfield pinching the Doctor's bum?

Russell T Davies was adamant that Who's Christmas Specials should be Christmassy, so served up deadly Santas, trees, baubles, stars abd angels  before visiting the heartland of Victorian England. Remove the setting, though, and The Next Doctor is light on Christmas stuff. The End of Time  really has to crowbar it in  - and arguably not very well. A new approach was needed, but it was perhaps surprising that Steven Moffat chose to amp up the Christmas content by about 400%. Homicidal snowman? Check. More Victoriana? Check. People singing Christmas carols and dancing to Christmas number ones? Check.

For his first one, Moffat outrageously stole not only the plot but the title of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Could he get any Christmassier? The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe may not present a traditional Christmas story, but it might be the most Christmassy Christmas special of all. What about that extended sequence when Matt Smith shows the children around the house he's created? Then they go to a world where Christmas trees grow complete with baubles. This all led up to the 2013 Christmas special, in which he consigns the Doctor's final official incarnation to his grave… In a town called Christmas. Then, the next year – Santa.

The children's own programme which adults adore has implicitly and explicitly sold itself as an advocate for childishness and childlikeness since Troughton first clowned around. No wonder it suits this time of year so well.

Saturday 3 October 2015

#thebigannouncement

This week, there was a big announcement in the world of Doctor Who. We know it was a big announcement because we were warned about it for several hours in advance and everyone immediately started using the hashtag #bigannouncement. What could it be? The BBC claimed it was big news, bigger than anyone was guessing. What on earth could it be?

It was never going to be missing episodes. I don't believe that that is how that particular piece of news would be handled. In 2013, when nine episodes were returned to us, we all knew about it for most of 10th October. We'd known for some time that something was coming back – and the titles themselves were revealed many hours in advance of the midnight iTunes release. Ah, what a time that was to be alive.

So no, I never thought that the big announcement had anything to do with missing episodes. However, it seems that many other people did.

In fact, the announcement was that the BBC are making a new spinoff series set at Coal Hill School, called Class. 

REALLY? OMG!

Because I thought that was really terribly exciting. I've missed Torchwood (which could be very good) and the Sarah Jane Adventures (which was fantastic). It's bound to be at least good, but with talented novelist Patrick Ness at the helm, it will probably be outstanding. 

This, however, was not the main reaction I saw clogging up social media. Fans (nearly used quote marks there) were outraged. Largely, it seems, because the announcement wasn't the one they wanted. Apparently, finding The Space Pirates would be great but making whole new stories is less so.

Others objected to the way in which it was announced. Apparently, this is too much hype for something as minor as an entirely new TV show.

I really feel like people are looking for things to be negative about. If the rumours about Who being largely off air in 2016 are true, then ok, be cross about that. But bashing the new spinoff before the damn thing's even been made? Not cool.

Some tweets I saw:

"Maybe moffatt will include the defunct members of one direction to guest appear... i despair."

I assume this means that the tweeter feels that aiming the show at a young audience is beneath Who's dignity. EXCUSE ME? It may be screened across the watershed this week, but Doctor Who was conceived as a children's programme. Remember?

"only one thing will really attract me to this and that's if a certain school governor makes an appearance"

Yes, of course. Never mind the quality of the scripts - just make sure the nonagenarian William Russell totters down the lane for a cameo. That's what Doctor Who is all about. A guaranteed ratings winner.

"#TheBigAnnouncement would have been much cooler if it had been, "Phillip Hinchcliffe has agreed to become the new #DoctorWho producer.""

Facepalm. Yes of course - even better to hand over the whole show to a septuagenarian who hasn't worked in 15 years.

"Class, ripoff of Buffy/Dark Season/Sarah Jane Adventures. So much for #DoctorWho #thebigannouncement Moffat, please bugger off now."

It hasn't been made yet! How do you know what it will rip off? Did you dismiss SJA because it would rip Buffy off?

Ready for the best one?

"I think I'm excited about this. #thebigannouncement  "
"I'm sad for you. #thebigannouncement 
#thehugedisappointment"

Slow hand clap. You can't even let other people enjoy the moment.

Poor Patrick Ness. He doesn't know what's going to hit him.