This Saturday Doctor Who returns from its extended hiatus and fans couldn’t be more eager to see what adventures are on the way. We’re all craving a specific brand of Who but there are a few things that most of us are hoping to see this coming season. Read on and see if your desires are the same as ours.
‘Doctor Who?’
Building since the end of season 6 “the question hiding in plain sight” has yet to really be determined. One immediately assumes that the Doctor’s real name is what we’re going to be rewarded with as some point this year. But things are rarely as they appear to be and any true Whovian knows that it can’t be that simple. Not to mention, naming the Doctor almost seems laughable at this point. Could you imagine calling him Bob or Henry?!? Plus, the Doctor has been wiped from every database across the universe, even from the Daleks themselves. If that isn’t tied into the whole ‘Doctor Who?’ question, then major disappointment indeed.
Smaller Stories
Don’t take this one the wrong way because we love big stories. Epic is fun and exciting and brilliant! But not every episode of Doctor Who needs to have dinosaurs-in-space or cyborg-gunslingers to make it really enjoyable. Sometimes it seems as though the show is trying to outdo itself and make each plot larger and more fantastical than the last. Doctor Who is special in that it can tell just about any kind of story one could think up. So the writers should take advantage of that and give kids something straight from their imaginations. However big or impossible it might be. Though it’s important to remember that bigger isn’t always better and sometimes all you need is fish fingers and custard.
Clara Oswin Oswald
There is no denying that all of us are really going to miss Amy and Rory and power of three but Clara Oswin Oswald sure has peaked our interest. Things are always exciting when a new companion comes aboard the Tardis. It gives us a fresh perspective and means that we get a chance to relearn who the Doctor is and what this ‘mad man with a box’ is all about. Notably, the most intriguing companion to date, Clara promises to bring a lot to the table this season. Plus she may be giving Rory a run for his money in the dying department. It seems as though every time she departs, she’s popping up again. How exactly one girl, the same girl presumably, can exist at different points in time is beyond us. It’s even beyond the Doctor. Which, let’s face it. Is exactly what we love about it!
Timey Wimey Treats
One of the things Moffat has really excelled at is taking advantage of the time traveling aspect of Doctor Who. There’s something magical about the reveal of hidden elements in a show; knowing that an idea has been in the works since its conception is so rewarding. Especially since fans spend so much time pouring in their own ideas and theories into the show. When people started noticing Jacket! Doctor back in The Time of Angels, they began theorizing about who that Doctor actually might be. If he was just some sort of continuity error, or if he was intentionally placed there for a specific plot point. Needless to say, it was quite fun when the speculation paid off and all secrets were revealed. Interestingly, Moffat may already have some of those seeds planted for this year. If you’ve seen “The Bells of Saint John Prequel” you might know what we’re referring to. Give it a close watch and see if anything springs to mind.
Quirky-Ness
What would Doctor Who be without a strange, weird, mad, bonkers Doctor at the controls of the Tardis? It would not be the show we’ve all come to love. When the Doctor is in his element, bossing people about, eating strange combinations of foods, installing lemonade taps into the kitchen, that’s when we all feel a little happier about the world. Escaping to a show where it’s ok to be a kid again and allow yourself to just be silly. There are times when this strange alien man does such a good job at pretending he’s human, when he loves and cries and connects to our silly race, that we can fool ourselves into thinking that he is one of us. But none of that holds any weight unless you really know just how different he is. So bring on the weird and give us what we’ve come to love.
Nostalgia
A show that has been on for 50 years is bound to have a lot of baggage. But on Doctor Who they embrace their history and make it something to celebrate. We all look forward to references to the past. Whether it’s something from ancient Who cannon or just a call back to something said in a couple episodes prior, a show that literally spans the entirety of the universe thrives on those grounding elements. With the anniversary episode being the most hyped episode of Doctor Who EVER, you can’t help but start to look back and crave the elements of the past. From old companions, to monsters, to previous Doctor’s – any call back to past seasons will be lovingly appreciated.