Allon-sy!
Tonight’s the U.S. premiere of David Tennant’s last episode as the Tenth Doctor and the last episode under the helm of Russell T. Davies.
While the official relaunch of Doctor Who started with Mr. Ecceleston (and indeed, he still holds a soft spot in my tv-watching heart) it’s the Tennant-Davies combo that’s defined the latest iteration of the longest running science fiction show.
But what did that mean? Davies has been called the “gay Michael Bay”, but I’d like to put forward that’s giving Michael Bay too much credit in the “what did I just watch” category. Bay does ridiculous car chases, machine gun fights and the oft explosion (with robots of course). Davies writes all the planets in the universe being dragged to one location and evil human mechanical balls from the end of the universe attacking present day Earth under the just elected alien Prime Minister. Bay wishes he was Russell T. Davies. Nobody’s going to out do him.
Tennant’s Doctor is both manic, mean and sweet. Like all other Doctors humans are his favorite. It took about two thirds of his series’ for me to realize that he’s been written as a megalomaniac asshole, intentionally or nto. The last special, Waters of Mars wrote that literally; the uneasiness of how much power he holds as the last of the Time Lords ™ and shows he can’t wield it objectively. Who could?
Doctor Who’s reprise from the original run also moved BBC into the map of what I’m going to call the newly globalized (English language) world of television. It made a mark outside PBS reruns of the shows. Four years ago it was unthinkable that the Stateside premiere of an episode would be less than 24 hours after it’s broadcast on BBCone. Not because the technology wasn’t available, but because nobody cared. Instead the obvious demand created by torrenting allowed channels like Syfy and BBC America to use Who in a whole new way.
I’m looking forward to tonight’s conclusion. Davies has one last chance to redeem Ten. I can’t wait to see what happens, and isn’t that what TV is best for?
