Home
The standard answer I think most of the public would give for the appeal of Doctor Who to them, is that it's just a fun bit of escapism. And indeed RTD or Moffat would probably be the first to say that that's why their dodgy science and magic fairy dust "everybody lives" endings are in keeping with that spirit and intent to just keep it a bit of escapist fun in which for a good 45 minutes the audience can pretend the world's a magical, largely happy place where everyone gets their happy ending.
And the thing is, I don't think I begrudge that much on principle. I think most would agree that when we wanted Doctor Who back, we didn't want it to be along the lines of those really heavy crime dramas about the ugly horrors of the real world and the real monsters and predators lurking in society.
That kind of TV and cinema has its place but it's not really what Doctor Who was to us and not why we watched. It was always an escape from that. An escape that sometimes fumbled the juggle of being that kind of escapism and being a bit more visceral and gritty at the same time in order to draw us in. But the intent was almost always to be divorced enough from real-world grimness to be an untroubling watch that allowed us that escapism.
And yet there are times it does feel to me like New Who has gone beyond that intent of escapism and into the realms of being like a genuine cult that proscribes morality, the emotions we should feel, and how human society is supposed to work under the ideal progressive mindset. It's like the makers felt the show had to go that bit further than just escapism in order to secure and hold captive an audience. That it had to almost proselytize and evangelize itself for that, and that it's gone beyond the bounds of escapism, and more like some cultish high.
And the problem is, because we're all drawn to that escapism, especially if it feels like it takes place more or less in the Doctor Who universe (or a close approximation), that's why we've kept watching the show even when it was getting really rotten. But it's also why there's always been a bit of an unpleasant, numbing, emptying air to what we're watching.
And the thing is, I don't think I begrudge that much on principle. I think most would agree that when we wanted Doctor Who back, we didn't want it to be along the lines of those really heavy crime dramas about the ugly horrors of the real world and the real monsters and predators lurking in society.
That kind of TV and cinema has its place but it's not really what Doctor Who was to us and not why we watched. It was always an escape from that. An escape that sometimes fumbled the juggle of being that kind of escapism and being a bit more visceral and gritty at the same time in order to draw us in. But the intent was almost always to be divorced enough from real-world grimness to be an untroubling watch that allowed us that escapism.
And yet there are times it does feel to me like New Who has gone beyond that intent of escapism and into the realms of being like a genuine cult that proscribes morality, the emotions we should feel, and how human society is supposed to work under the ideal progressive mindset. It's like the makers felt the show had to go that bit further than just escapism in order to secure and hold captive an audience. That it had to almost proselytize and evangelize itself for that, and that it's gone beyond the bounds of escapism, and more like some cultish high.
And the problem is, because we're all drawn to that escapism, especially if it feels like it takes place more or less in the Doctor Who universe (or a close approximation), that's why we've kept watching the show even when it was getting really rotten. But it's also why there's always been a bit of an unpleasant, numbing, emptying air to what we're watching.
