I was quite the happy camper last week when one of my all-time favorite TV shows returned to the airwaves: Doctor Who. For those of you not familiar with the show, it’s a british sci-fi series that originally aired from 1968-1989 and was relaunched with a modern spin in 2005. It is the world’s longest running sci-fi television series. The show’s main character is The Doctor who is a Time-Lord (an alien race). He has a time machine known as the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space) that is disguised as an old british Police Box. The show chronicles his adventures with various human companions as they travel through time and space. What makes the show particularly unique, is that the Doctor, instead of dying, can regenerate himself into a new form (read: body) so the actor that plays him can easily be changed if need be, which is part of the reason why the show has been on TV for so long. Last season ended with the 10th iteration of the Doctor, played by David Tennant, starting to regenerate. His replacement as the 11th Doctor is Matt Smith, the youngest person to step into the role thus far.
Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor
I was particularly excited for the 5th season to start since having a new actor for the Doctor meant that the show would most likely take a whole new direction. So needless to say I was quite impatient waiting for the new episode to become available to US viewers last Saturday. When I finally was able to sit and watch the show, however, I was a bundle of mixed feelings. The writers certainly did not disappoint in creating an exciting first episode for Matt Smith to get his feet wet, but I must say I was less than pleased with the show’s new image. For one, they changed the theme song. The general tune is the same but the remix makes it sound like some really cheesy old mystery series music got into a fight with some experimental new age “noise” music and no one really won. I was also initially devastated by the fact that they changed the show’s logo from the shield-like image to this more typographic one, but it has grown on me in the last week or so.
The series also made two huge changes: they redesigned the interior of the TARDIS and redesigned the Doctor’s iconic Sonic Screwdriver. I can deal with the change to the TARDIS since they kept it all fun an eccentric, but I’m having issues with the sonic screwdriver. For one, it’s GREEN. I don’t like that it’s green; it should be blue. A lot of people I’ve talked to seem to like all the changes because they feel that they were needed after David Tennant’s incredibly popular run as the Doctor. While I agree that changes were necessary, I don’t see why the sonic screwdriver need to to fall under this category. I know it’s not the same screwdriver that’s been used since the first Doctor, but I still had a pretty strong attachment to it (I even have my own replica of it).
Fortunately most of the changes to the show I can forgive since Matt Smith is absolutely amazing as the new Doctor. As a huge fan of David Tennant’s portrayal I was hesitant to put my faith in Smith, especially since he was such a young fellow, but he really stepped up to the plate and hit a home-run on this one. I’m not ready to say that he’s the best, but I can safely attest to the fact that he really did deserve the role. His energy is addicting; I get excited just listening to him rant. I love that he took some elements that Tennant brought to the role but really made them his own. Without giving too much plot away (since I really think you need to watch this show), he really shined in this last episode (no. 204 “The Beast Below”) when we got to see some of the Doctor’s anger come out. Tennant’s portrayal was much moodier in terms of sadness, grief, etc, so maybe in this 11th reincarnation the Doctor has decided to repress some of that and we’re getting to see a new, angrier side. Whatever the case may be, I am excited to see where this new season and this new Doctor takes us. It’s going to be one heck of a ride.