Spacehamster’s Blog

Well, the second season of Doctor Who has ended, and what a season-ender it was too. What’s interesting has been seeing the reaction from hardcore fans to the newly revived series. While the mainstream public loves Doctor Who more and more (the ratings for this season were higher than last), it’s very clear from reading Outpost Gallifrey Forums that the new series has completely alienated its hardcore fan base.

By hardcore fan, I mean the kind that buy every single Big Finish Audio CD, no matter how bad the quality might be. Or obsess over the smallest plot hole, and are quite happy to give an episode 0/5 if what was on screen didn’t line up with exactly what was inside their heads. That’s the problem with taking an “obscure” cult series like Doctor Who, and successfully bringing back into the public zeitgeist. You run a very real risk of alienating the “True Believers” and “The Gatekeepers”.

You only have to look at the overwhelmingly negative reviews on Behind the Sofa to see that’s the case. The website isn’t a Doctor Who blog anymore - it’s an anti-Who blog which exists only to bash the new series. Isn’t it amazing what a difference two years makes? I have no problem with constructive criticism - Shaun Lyon’s book “Back to the Vortex” is a great example of this. But when the creator of the website says he’s sick and tired of Doctor Who and prefers to watch “more adult fare” like Battlestar Galactica, then why continue blogging Who in the first place?

I’ve been a fan of this series since I was 12 years old, but I haven’t (and won’t) allow it to take over my life to such an obsessive extent. I have a fulfilling professional career and a happy personal life - I’m buggered if I’m giving up all that just to religiously follow a single TV show. I still love watching both classic and new series, and I’ll still quite happily discuss ‘Trial of a Time Lord’ and ‘Time and the Rani’ - even if it’s only to commiserate what awful stories they were.

As for the second series - it’s taken a while for me to really get into it. Rose and the Doctor’s excessively cloying lovey-dovey behaviour is easily forgiven after watching the last episode. And David Tennant has very definitely claimed the role of the Doctor as his very own. Of the new episodes, ‘New Earth’ hasn’t held up all that well. ‘Rise of the Cybermen’ was a bit too slow moving for me, and ‘Love and Monsters’ wasn’t my cup of tea. And ‘Fear Her’ was the first average new Who episode I can recall. Apart from that, there have been some outstanding episodes this season - ‘School Reunion’, ‘The Girl In the Fireplace’, ‘The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit’ and ‘Army of Ghosts/Doomsday’ have all been standouts. And ‘The Idiots Lantern’ is definitely one I’ll come to like more over time. All in all, this season has been an outstanding success.

I look forward to Torchwood in October, and the third season starting next year. But just who exactly is Catherine Tate? And just how big is the new Torchwood sets? Time will tell!