I'd heard of Doctor Who. It sounded cool. I swear that for the longest time I thought the TARDIS was Tom Baker's crazy scarf. I'm not proud of that. Especially now that I will definitely consider myself a massive fan of the series. The mythology mixed with campiness has hooked me!
The 50th anniversary of Doctor Who coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination by a day. While many history buffs are recalling or reading about J.F.K's final day we are also anticipating the milestone of 50 years traveling in the TARDIS. What an odd combination. Yesterday it was all Kennedy and his times. Today is all about Daleks and space ships that hide in the guise of a British Police Box. Of course, this strange combination is coincidental. When Doctor Who first hit the air waves, the British had also just learned of Kennedy's death. It would be what The Doctor would call a "fixed moment in time".
Tonight's 75 minutes special, The Day of the Doctor is said to look to the future of the series. Last night the BBC aired a special that looked back on the origins of how this strange series came to be.
An Adventure in Time and Space is a biopic that aims to shed some light on the conception of the phenomenon that is Doctor Who. In the early 1960's , Sidney Newman, a Canadian television producer found himself a head honcho at the BBC. He had come up with several famous series, including The Avengers. The one with Emma Peele and John Steed, not Captain America and Thor. He tapped a young female employee named Verity Lambert to develop and produce a children's science fiction serial about a mysterious old man who travels through time and space. He wanted it to be called Doctor Who.
Not only was Verity one of the very first female television producers, but she was paired to work with Warris Hussein, an Indian born employee of the network. Both of them were groundbreakers in their fields. Verity's journey from in over her head to strong champion of her product reminded me so very much of Peggy Olson's journey in the Mad Men. Warris' contribution was no different. In a time when old white men where the lords of television, these two came in and stood up to the doubts to bring about a series that is nothing less than a lifestyle for many fans 50 years later. While I am sure much of the dramatization was contrived within the 90 minute program, it was clear that Verity's vision was secured in the face of strong opposition.
I mean, who would have thought a series about a crazy man in a blue box would capture the hearts of so many? I still have trouble explaining the premise to people who don't already know it. It sounds utterly crazy. It is. That is why it works.
We are also shown how the iconic monster the Dalek was considered a bust and almost scrapped by Sidney Newman until Verity Lampbert stood up and demanded that he give the story line a chance. Their design is quite silly, and I appreciated that a set hand made a crack about what appears to be a whisk on one side of their robotic arms. However, Daleks were very well received as creepy and wonderful. Even by those who doubted them. I have a hard time finding them scary, but the Doctor would not be the same without his mortal enemy.
Aside from Verity and Warris' journeys, we also learn about William Hartnell, the man who would play the first Doctor. British actor David Bradley (Harry Potter, Broadchuch, Game of Thrones) portrays Hartnell, a frustrated 50 year old actor who is constantly typecast as a harsh military man. When Verity and Warris approach him to work on what is essentially a children's show he is intrigued yet skeptical. What really draws him in is the idea that he will being playing an older man who comes off as grumpy at times but is also whimsical and nurturing. Bradley plays Hartnell with a complexity that squeezed my heart a few times.
We are given a view as to how being the Doctor brought Hartnell out of a darker place and allowed him to enjoy life as a hero to thousands of children. Sadly, his failing health made it difficult for him to work and when Warris and Verity departed, he also became difficult to work with.
We are given a view of a William Hartnell who never wanted to step down from the role. He wanted production to slow. He wanted to have less lines to remember. He didn't want to stop being the Doctor. In a way, his departure from the show is what makes it so great. Not because he was sinking it but because it gave us "regeneration", one of the most important reasons that we are still watching Doctor Who today.
Sure, many serials have changed an actor that played a character, but this time the change was not an insult to the intelligence of the viewers. The Doctor's story is still being written. Being a non-human time traveler he has the ability to heal himself when his body fails him. This comes by way of regeneration. The Doctor "dies" and is reborn anew with a new body and a personality altered based of his experiences.
The film ends with Hartnell's last day filming on set with Patrick Troughton, who would become the second Doctor. But while it was painful to see a man letting go of a role that gave him such a wonderful escape, it isn't Troughton that brings us full circle. We are given the shot of "Hartnell" looking to his left to see Matt Smith, our current Doctor looking back at him. The Doctor hasn't been elderly or crusty for years. In fact these days he has been more of a dashing heartthrob. Yet, the Doctor is still the Doctor and this series birthed by several underdogs lives on in the hearts and minds of each fan it has absorbed.
I am one of them.
Happy "Day of the Doctor"!
