Whilst
about ten million of the viewers that tuned in on Christmas Day
will no doubt have been somewhat taken aback by David Morrissey’s
character not turning out to be the titular next Doctor, I can
hardly claim the same. A little cheated perhaps, and a little disappointed
even more so, but not surprised in the least.
And it’s
a shame because I wanted to be wrong. As strewn with obstacles as
introducing a new Doctor during his predecessor’s reign would have been,
it would certainly have been a bold and an utterly enthralling move. Just
look at what Lance Parkin did with his novel Cold Fusion, for
instance, in which the newly-regenerated fifth Doctor encounters (and is
duped by!) one of his future incarnations. It may have been written with
the benefit of fifteen years
or so
hindsight, as opposed to during the actual production of the television
series, but even so one cannot deny what an interesting perspective it
(and stories like it) offer.
“You’re
the next Doctor. Or the next but one. A future Doctor anyway.”
All the
same, even to us hardened sceptics, the ‘mystery’ of The Next
Doctor was enough not only to fuel months of frantic internet speculation
but also to carry the first half hour or so of the episode itself without
need for so much as a bang or a flash. Russell T Davies’ script for this
episode relies entirely on Davids Tennant and Morrissey being able to
ensnare the viewers with little more than the sheer gravity of their
performances, and boy do they justify that faith.
“Something was taken, and something was lost.”
In my
preview of this episode, I spoke of how, in the pre-title sequence,
Morrissey comes across as “a parody of a Doctor”.
However, having now seen the episode in full, I am firmly
of the view (as
is just about everybody that saw The Next Doctor, I’ve
found) that Morrissey would
actually make a magnificent Doctor, should the opportunity present itself.
With the exception of the brilliant opening set piece featuring the Cybershade and the rope, the first quarter of the episode is carried
almost completely by Morrissey’s gravitas. He embodies the qualities of so
many Doctors, ranging from Tennant - whose catchphrases he steals -
to the
likes of the grandiloquent Colin Baker and the swaggering Christopher
Eccleston. At times, he is so very ‘Doctorish’ that he convinces even the
most cynical of viewers that he is indeed a future Doctor.
“Do you
ever wonder what you’re escaping from?
…’cos I
think I’ve worked it out now. How you became the Doctor.”
Nevertheless,
where Morrissey really shines is in the gradual resurgence of Jackson
Lake, the traumatised individual who believes himself to be the
Doctor. It will have been evident
to many
viewers as soon as the Doctor took Jackson’s heartbeat that this man was
not the Doctor – Tennant’s face said it all. And from that point in the
special in particular, Morrissey was able to peel back the layers of fear
and despair that had caused his character to take refuge in a fugue state
and re-invent himself as the courageous and daring Doctor. But of course,
it was not entirely attributable to trauma…
“The
Cybermen’s database. Everything you could want to know about the Doctor.”
I love
the conceit that, when the Cybermen killed Jackson’s wife and stole away
his young son, Jackson just so happened to be holding one of their info-stamps
which in turn just so happened to contain everything that you could ever want
to know about their mortal enemy. As a storytelling device, it
explains quite plausibly why Jackson adopted the last of the Time Lord’s persona and
ethics, and from a fan’s point of view, it offers a fleeting but nonetheless poignant glimpse of the ten Doctors, in glorious monochrome,
together on television for the first time. What a Christmas present!
I also
love how Davies uses the fob watch in his story. The way that the drama
is built up around it on the back of Human Nature et al, only for it all
to fall utterly flat, is wonderfully amusing in itself, but then to have
the whole mystery of The Next Doctor unravelled in the most lo-tech of
fashions on top of this – “oh look, the watch had your name on it all
along!”
– is an absolute masterstroke, particularly for an episode set
in the 19th century!
It also
has to be said that the Cybermen work incredibly well in this era. The
men of steel’s
presence during the Industrial Revolution is beautifully fitting, and
encapsulated perfectly by the immortal image of the CyberKing striding
across old London Town on Christmas night. The design of the CyberKing is
a real triumph in this respect - it is not merely a giant Cyber-man; it is
something that has clearly been crafted using the technology of the age,
beautifully clockwork. Of course it all falls apart plot-wise if you start
looking at the hows and whys, but who needs hows and whys when you have an
iconic image like that? Finally something to rival the Stay Puft
Marshmallow Man…
The
Cybershades also add an extra dimension to the episode. They are
reminiscent of the Cybermats of old, only crafted as they are from the
brains of dogs and cats they are much larger, and much more unsettling. I
actually think that they are more fearsome than even the Cybermen – they are
much more agile, for one thing; and they also give the impression of being
rather feral. I don’t know how the Cybermen went about converting them
all though;
after
the episode had aired, I tried to coax my cat into a Cyberman
voice changer, but she was having none of it.
“Yet
another man to assert himself against me in the night.”
Mercy
Hartigan I liked too, although her motivation was not fleshed out well
enough for my liking (had it been, I doubt The Next Doctor would have
gone out at 6pm! 1am, perhaps…)
I was
especially impressed with how she out-did the Cybermen - there are only so
many times that a human agent can be betrayed and subsequently converted before
it gets a bit trite, and so to have her assert her will and her
passion over them is a lovely twist, and one which Dervla Kirwan clearly
relished getting her teeth into. It was also a nice touch making
Hartigan
the
matron of the workhouse – what better way to get her over as a baddie with
the
children in the audience then to have her put a gaggle of scruffy urchins
to work in her workhouse on Christmas Day?
Further,
I
love how director Andy Goddard has shot Hartigan in certain scenes – the
grave-yard sequence, for example, stands out as a particularly wonderful
piece of cinematography; the vivid red of
Hartigan’s
dress contrasted against the driven white of the snow, the mute black of
the mourners, and the matt grey of the Cybermen. Very Schindler’s List.
Rosita,
conversely, I was less than impressed with. There is nothing at all wrong
with Velile Tshabalala’s performance – in fact she acquits herself well –
but at no point does Rosita
appear
to be more than a cipher. Fair dues, she gets to wield an axe; slap
Miss Hartigan; and, of course, do a fair bit of babysitting, but at the
end of the day she is just there because Morrissey’s character has to have
a companion to make him seem more Doctorish in the early going. Now young,
greedy Jed, on the other hand...
The
biggest let down for me though was the lack of a Christmas song! I mean,
come on! Song For Ten, Love Don’t Roam, The Stowaway… The Doctor
Who Christmas number
was
well on its way to becoming a tradition until this year scuppered
it.
“You’ve
got a… balloon?”
Still,
it’s hard to moan when you have a finale that sees the Doctor face a
giant CyberKing armed with nothing more than a few jazzed-
up USB sticks
and a primitive hot air balloon (sorry, “tethered aerial release,
developed in style”). Only in Doctor Who…
And so
whilst The Next Doctor is not without flaws, its festive Victorian
setting and slow, character-driven pace really set it apart
from Christmases past. It’s not the best episode
of Doctor Who in the
world by any means, and I sincerely doubt that it will stand up to many
repeat viewings now that the mystery is gone, but even so it is certainly
a story that people will be talking
about for many years to come, myself included.
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