After years of saying no, I’ve finally given in to the guilty pleasure that is the British Broadcasting Company’s hit television series “Doctor Who.” And it has been glorious.
Has this magnificent cinema distracted me from writing my dissertation? Sure! Has it taken away from precious time when I should be sleeping? You bet! Have these late-night Netflix binge sessions caused me to sleep late into the next day and reduce productivity? Absolutely. However, I can’t recommend the series enough.
The series is led by an idiosyncratic madman and genius, the Doctor, with his blue phone booth, which cloaks his ultra high tech time-and-spaceship. In this ship, the Doctor, his traveling friends and viewers seek adventures across the expansive universe and through all of history. The Doctor and his traveling friends can meet Shakespeare one morning and witness the destruction of a planet a trillion years in the future that same evening. (Before you jump in, just give up your belief in time as a linear function and consider it to be a ball of “wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.”)
In case you’re not willing to take my word, here are the top three reasons you should give “Doctor Who” a try too:
1. With action, drama and romance, there is something for everyone. The viewing of just one trailer will evidence that there is plenty of science-fiction, planet-exploding action jam-packed into each episode. However, there is also an abundance of on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense as well as sincere, genuine relationship-driven drama. If you’d like to jump into the franchise with suspense, start with “Blink” from season three, and if you’d like to get a taste of the beautiful relationships that drive so much of the show’s success, start with “Amy’s Choice” from season five.
2. If you don’t like the Doctor, it’s OK; the lead actor changes every few seasons. As the last of the Time Lords, an alien race from the planet of Gallifrey, the Doctor, who is some 900 years old, has the ability to regenerate into a new body many times. This regeneration conveniently takes place every few seasons. (Always at the end of the season too!) So, if Christopher Eccleston isn’t your cup of tea, no worries. David Tennant, starting in season two, and Matt Smith, starting in season five, bring the Doctor to life with brilliant quirks, snarky humor and a new handsome facade. (My first and favorite is Matt Smith. His acting and personality shine in “Vincent and the Doctor” from season five.)
3. It is beautiful television. Even the early seasons deliver breathtaking scenes of the past, future and alien. From ancient civilizations, far away planets, nearly unimaginable spaceships, detailed foreign cultures and the futuristic “New New York,” “Doctor Who” is a visual masterpiece that offers its audience an ocular treat. These breathtaking scenes support the Doctor’s struggle between saving humanity as an intergalactic Dark Knight and the viewers’ struggle to see humanity as an equal player with other species in our world and worlds beyond our solar system. Wrapped in delightful special effects and excellent costuming and makeup, “Doctor Who” delivers a post-human love letter to its viewers. And can’t we all benefit from a bit of subversive, radical decentering of humanity? I think so, I think so.
So, do yourself a favor with the extra time you have on your hands now that college football has wrapped up for the season. Log onto Netflix, and jump into the world of “Doctor Who.”
Michelle Fuentes is a Ph.D. student studying political theory. Her column runs weekly on Tuesdays.
