It’s perhaps impossible to think of another time when the BBC’s sci-fi drama Doctor Who has undergone such a golden era of quality as it is witnessing now.
Ever since the series’ return back in 2005, the show has gone from strength to strength, with three brilliant actors taking up the mantle as the titular Time Lord, a host of stunning female companions to complement them, and countless fantastic CGI set pieces. Indeed, one might wonder if there could ever come a time when Who isn’t on air.
And yet, look beneath the surface and it is easy to see trouble brewing for the rebooted version of Who. Last year, Steven Moffat teased that he would not be bringing back the Daleks in series 6, a statement which led to mass uproar among some fan factions and media outcry of the famous adversaries having been “axed” from the show. Sure enough, though, Moffat later lamented in an episode commentary for season finale “The Wedding of River Song” that he had been “lying through his teeth” – as a restrained Dalek appeared on screen in the episode’s opening, he asked “How could we possibly do a series of Doctor Who without the Daleks?”
Herein lies a fundamental dilemma that has plagued the programme’s producers since its very inception. Doctor Who’s appeal to its adult fan base lies in its innovation, its spontaneity, and overall, its investigation into real-life issues through the use of vast science-fiction elements. However, despite its strength and size, this ever-analytical and ever-critical demographic of the overall fandom surrounding the show is by no means its main source of popularity and income.
Indeed, the latter of these two proportional elements that maintains the show’s positive status in the eyes of the BBC is vital – it’s the kids who buy the action figures, the annuals, the video games, the concert tickets and so many more examples of merchandise that are the proverbial epicentre of Who’s well-being. Much as the Moff and his predecessors have tried to deny it, Doctor Who HAS to rely on nostalgia for the past to a fair extent so that its younger audiences can identify with the baddies they’ve already met before and generate the interest the programme requires to stay on air.
For this reason, we’ve seen “Dalek,” “The Parting of the Ways,” “Doomsday,” “Evolution of the Daleks,” “The Stolen Earth,” “Victory of the Daleks” and countless other episodes of the “modern era” of Who feature its most infamous villains. Yet again, we’ll see these colourful pepper pots crop up in the series 7 opener “Asylum of the Daleks” this autumn. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve loved these iconic villains in every guise they’ve taken (yes, even the new Power Ranger models), and I’m sure to do so in the future, but the more and more a reliance upon reusing the Daleks is built, the more predictable and thus less effective they become as antagonists.
Would it not be preferable to leave this race of tyrannical beings alone for an entire season or two, with the odd reference to them here and there allowing the writers to build up anticipation for their return at some point in the not-too-distant future?
You need only look at the success of new villains like the Clockwork Droids, the Weeping Angels, the Vashta Nerada, the Silence and even the Slitheen (okay, maybe not the Slitheen) to see that Doctor Who doesn’t have to rely on its past in order to create great, often masterful television. Yes, it’s great to play on nostalgia from time to time, if only to reassess how far the programme has progressed in terms of its representation and narrative, but producers tread a thin line between reminiscing blissfully on the past and outright relying on it for marketing kicks.
Some of you might argue that Doctor Who has no signs of slowing down in terms of popularity, and I’m not here to contest that. What I do want to note, though, is that the show has been cancelled before, and in these financially challenging times, I worry the BBC would do it again.
Do we really want to run the risk of this catastrophic, wibbly-wobbly fracture in time and space opening once again by reusing the Daleks constantly every season rather than building upon the show’s infrastructure with new enemies and new storylines? I don’t think any of us fans could bear waking up to find news of Doctor Who having been axed for a second time. The only way to stop that happening is to leave the Daleks behind long enough for the programme to stand on its feet without them.
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