Doctor Who.
What is Doctor Who about?
For those of us who are fans of the show, it might seem pretty self-evident, but if you stop to think about it, that’s a harder question than it first appears to be. Take a step back and try to come up with a concise description of the show that you could use to explain it to someone who had never seen or heard of it before, one that captures the ethos of the show, not just a limited portion of it.
Let’s give it a try.
Doctor Who is a British science fiction (science fantasy?) television show(s?) (with countless attached books, comics, video games and audio plays?) following the adventures of an eccentric alien explorer known as “the Doctor” as he (or she) travels through time and space (when not trapped on Earth working for a military organization) with a series of companions who travel along with him (or her.)
Doesn’t really give us much of a feel for the show, does it? From that description I could picture anything from Flash Gordon to Quantum Leap (with British accents.) It doesn’t even bring in some of the more iconic elements of the show, for that matter. There’s no mention of the TARDIS, the Doctor’s general “brains over brawn and weapons” approach or even the show’s predilection for pitting its title character against monsters of various types. It doesn’t touch upon the notion that the early years sometimes had stories which featured pure trips into Earth’s history but that those have almost entirely fallen by the wayside. It doesn’t delve into the ever expanding and changing question of the Doctor’s origins or convey the sense of mystery the character itself evokes. It might (with some editing) be a somewhat accurate general description but it doesn’t really give us much of a feel for what the series is actually about or do justice to the sheer breadth of storytelling the series encompasses.
That’s hardly surprising though. At the time I’m writing this, Doctor Who has been around for over 58 years and, despite the wailings of some doomsayers, I suspect it’ll continue to be around for quite a while yet. There are currently almost 300 Doctor Who stories on television alone, to say nothing of the various stories in other media. Doctor Who is vast. More than that, its whole premise is built upon the idea of telling lots of different kinds of stories. Doctor Who’s formula is to play around with multiple formulas, never settling on just one, but constantly moving on to the next.
Because of all this, describing Doctor Who to someone unfamiliar with it can be quite difficult. It’s hard to convey a real sense of what the show is without just showing them a few stories. And, even then, the show has so much variety that it’s tough to convey the show’s general tone without showing them a whole lot of stories. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for sharing lots of Doctor Who with people, but it doesn’t change the fact that “What is Doctor Who about?” is a question that’s actually pretty hard to answer.
Perhaps we could explore the question by comparing it to other shows, particularly other science fiction shows, and try to define it by contrast.
What is Babylon 5 about?
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction show about the residents and crew of a space station built for the purposes of furthering interplanetary peace and the role they, and the station, play in the shape of galactic events.
What is The X-Files about?
The X-Files is an American science fiction show about FBI agents investigating the paranormal, with a frequent (but not exclusive) focus on the possibility of extraterrestrial life and a conspiracy to keep the existence of that life secret.
What is Blake’s 7 about?
Blake’s 7 is a British science fiction show about a group of rebels in control of a unique space ship, their attempts to overthrow an oppressive totalitarian regime, the cost (both physical and psychological) those attempts take on them and whether or not success in their endeavors is even possible.
What is The Prisoner about?
The Prisoner is a British (semi) science fiction show about an ex-British spy who is kidnapped and sent to a strange island community and his attempts to escape.
Hmmm.
Let’s look at that last one for a second. Anyone who’s seen The Prisoner, will know that short sentence doesn’t really adequately answer the question “What is The Prisoner about?” Sure, it describes the plot of the series, but it doesn’t convey what actually makes The Prisoner so enthralling. It doesn’t touch on the themes of the individual vs. society, of alienation, of the importance of the self and its integrity, of the crushing futility of trying to fight the entrenched system of power or of the need to continue that struggle even in the face of that futility, all of which pervade the series and give it its unique feel. In other words, it answers what The Prisoner is about but not what The Prisoner is about.
The same can be said, to one degree or another, about the other shows mentioned above as well.
Babylon 5 is arguably about the importance of decision-making in terms of its effect on both a micro- and macro-scale. And it’s about cool space battles.
The X-Files is about the need to find balance between intuition and rationality and whether seeking the truth is worth the toll it takes on us. It’s also about the bonds of friendship, trust, respect and love. And it’s about scary stuff in the dark.
Blake’s 7 is about idealism vs. pragmatism, emotion vs. logic, and whether one is better than the other. (It may well be one of the few such examinations to eschew mawkishness entirely and come down largely in favor of pragmatism/logic too.) And it’s about great one-liners.
So “What is ____ about?” is clearly a question that stretches beyond just plot. Perhaps that’s a better way to approach “What is Doctor Who about?” then, abandoning attempts to encompass its massive, sprawling plot and focus on its themes.
But that’s pretty tough too. As mentioned, Doctor Who has been going a long time and, in that time, the themes it explores have been many. Are there really universal themes that encompass the entirety of Doctor Who? Most of the other shows I described above play with several themes and they’re all far shorter series than Doctor Who.
Maybe we need to compare it to another series that’s been going on a long time. Doctor Who is my favorite science fiction series of all time. Star Trek is my second favorite. True, I like some iterations of Star Trek better than others, but it’s always a fictional universe I find interesting to visit. It is also quite different from Doctor Who, so perhaps exploring the contrasts between them might help us to define one by defining the other.
Star Trek is actually several shows, a franchise. Break Star Trek up into those component shows and you get several actual plots, be they the voyages of the various ships called Enterprise, the goings on aboard the station Deep Space Nine, the attempts of the starship Voyager to get home or even the travails of the non-senior staff of the starship Cerritos. Within each show, you also get overarching themes. Exploration, responsibility, individuality, politics, empathy and essential humanity are themes that come up in several of the shows to varying degrees.
But, if we boil things down, what themes does Star Trek really rest on?
I’d put forth that Star Trek, in virtually every iteration, puts forth the idea that communication and understanding is the route to a better world. When Star Trek presents successes, it’s through communicating with others and understanding their point of view. When Star Trek presents a failure, it’s a failure to do those things.
That’s why the Borg, arguably the most frightening adversaries in Star Trek, are so dangerous. Their abilities are beyond understanding and they have no interest in communication. (And yet, when the show finally starts to soften the Borg, it is done via those methods.)
Star Trek even approaches pure physical conflict in this fashion. The classic starship battle at the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is resolved when Kirk and Spock recognize and understand Khan’s approach to tactics and Khan loses because he doesn’t expand his understanding beyond his limited two-dimensional experience.
So, yes, I’d say there are themes which encompass all of Star Trek, specifically the virtues of communication and understanding. But are there such themes for all of Doctor Who?
Certainly, communication and understanding play a role in Doctor Who’s narrative. The Doctor’s primary method of confrontation is verbal, rather than physical, and the key to the adversary’s defeat in Doctor Who often hinges upon understanding a crucial bit of information.
However, communication in Doctor Who is often more limited than it is in Star Trek. Whereas the various representatives of Starfleet tend to approach communication with honesty and openness, the Doctor and, to a lesser extent, his companions are considerably less forthcoming. When they travel to a time and place, their desire is generally to experience as much as they can about their destination, but it’s not a two-way street. They want to learn, but they don’t want to share, at least not on a significant level. When the Doctor brings Martha to see Shakespeare, they want to hear as much as they can about Shakespeare’s life but they don’t want Shakespeare to learn too much about their lives in return. Indeed, the fact that he figures a fair amount of it out on his own surprises them.
This limitation on communication extends to interactions between the Doctor and the companions as well. The Doctor will bring companions along and to show them the sights of the universe but the Doctor is not willing to share most details about his/her own life or background. It’s very rare for a companion to have the slightest idea how to pilot the TARDIS and it’s pretty common for a companion not to learn about regeneration until an instance of it is upon them. And, of course, the Doctor shares his/her name with virtually no one.
So I think it’s fair to say communication isn’t the overriding theme for Doctor Who that it is for Star Trek. What about understanding? As I mentioned above, understanding the situation is often the key to, or at least the first step toward, the resolution of many Doctor Who plots.
However, this takes a different form than it does for Star Trek. In Star Trek, understanding is usually the key to alleviating tensions, to recognizing that the people you thought were really dangerous just have a different perspective and understanding that perspective can lead to you getting along with them. Star Trek is about understanding being the key to ending conflict.
Doctor Who doesn’t quite embrace that philosophy. There are certainly individual stories where it’s true, where the Doctor comes to understand what the antagonists want and helps them to get it in a less adversarial way. But, if you look hard at it, that’s the exception rather than the rule. No, in general, Doctor Who takes the somewhat colder route of a presenting a world in which understanding the motivations and worldview of a group that frightens you might actually make them more frightening, not less. Learning how Daleks think doesn’t alleviate the fear in their potential victims. If anything, it makes them more terrifying. Finding out the origins of Cybermen and how easy it would be to become like them turns a simple fear of death into an arguably more primal fear of being altered. Finding out that Sontarans don’t regard you as important but rather as just a minor, inconsequential detail in their war with someone else doesn’t exactly put you in a better position to negotiate with them. Finding out there’s really something akin to the Devil or that there’s a guy with a bird on his head that is the literal embodiment of evil and chaos doesn’t lend itself to a less fearful view of the universe. Doctor Who’s universe is a scary place and when you learn more about it, it’s just as scary. There’s a reason kids hide behind the sofa while watching it.
But, in that scariness, I think we also do find a theme. A fair amount of Doctor Who is about fear. Jokes can be made about how often the companions scream in Doctor Who but perhaps the key element to be noted is that there’s virtually always something for them to scream at. Doctor Who is full of monsters and danger and death. It presents a “universe of terrors.” More than that, those terrors can’t simply be ignored. To quote the Doctor “Some corners of the universe have bred the most terrible things, things that act against everything we believe in. They must be fought.” To travel with the Doctor, as a companion or as an audience member, one is signing on to experience the terrors of the universe.
So why do it?
Well, obviously some people don’t. I love Doctor Who (and I’m guessing you do too if you’ve read this far) but I certainly know people who either don’t like the show at all or only enjoy it in passing. Those people might ask why someone would effectively sign themselves up to be frightened.
It’s an interesting question to pose to myself, in fact, as I don’t tend to go out of my way to seek out “frightening” media otherwise. I have to be in a very specific mood to seek out horror movies and the only other show I gravitate to that has horror themes is The X-Files. Even then, I like The X-Files in spite of those themes, not because of them, tending to appreciate it more for other elements it presents.
So why do I gravitate to Doctor Who? Or, at least, why don’t I similarly gravitate toward other “frightening” media?
I think the answer lies in the fact that, while Doctor Who presents a frightening universe, that’s not the only side of the universe we see. The Doctor might take you to other worlds full of dangers and scares, but they’re still other worlds. Daleks are frightening, but they also have a cool, futuristic city like something off the cover of an old sci fi magazine. Mars might be full of Ice Warriors and Osiran death traps, but you’re still seeing Mars. Doctor Who gives us Aztec temples, the Great Fire of Rome, the Fall of Troy, the lost city of Atlantis (multiple times!), the wonder of the Cyber Tombs of Telos, the majesty and power of the Time Lords alongside their duplicity and treachery, civilizations from before man existed, hollow planets that can travel across space, the origins of life on Earth, the beginning of the universe and its end, the demise of the dinosaurs, Edwardian sailing ships in space, the possible fates of humanity, objects and beings capable of affecting things on a universal scale.
Doctor Who lets us meet Marco Polo, Robespierre, Nero, Richard the Lionheart, Achilles, Catherine de’ Medici, Wyatt Earp, George Stevenson, Charles Dickens, Queen Victoria, William Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, Winston Churchill, Vincent Van Gogh, Richard Nixon, Queen Elizabeth the First, Robin Hood, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. Further, it creates it own celebrities, building a world full of celebrated names in its present and future as well as its past. To a hardcore Doctor Who fan, the name Lethbridge-Stewart is as important as that of Napoleon and the name Davros is as synonymous with fascist legions as that of Hitler.
Doctor Who’s world is a frightening one, but it is also a wonderous one. It’s an endless fount of amazing and exciting people, places and events. It’s World War V but it’s also a banana grove growing from the remains of a weapons factory. It’s the gruesome fate of Bill Potts, followed by her transcendence to another plane of existence via the love of another. It’s the recognition that you can’t see the beauty of the universe without seeing its ugly side too, that you can’t have the Doctor without the monsters…but also that the Doctor is worth the monsters, that the spectacular things the universe has to offer are worth the dangerous price of admission to see them.
That, I think, is what Doctor Who is about.
Doctor Who is about fear and wonder.
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