Paul McGann
(1959- )
The eighth Doctor's era
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Paul McGann(1959- ) |
The eighth Doctor's era |
"Jelly Baby, Officer?" by Emily Moniz 18/7/97
I haven't watched much of Doctor Who, and I will admit that. But I know what I like, as the saying goes. And I like Paul McGann's Doctor. He has the youth and venuerablity of Davison, the style of Pertwee, the humour of Tom Baker, and the silliness of Troughton. And to that mix, he adds his own disarming charm and stunning good looks. He is the Doctor in every sense. When he started jabbering away to Grace in the parking lot of the hospital, still barefoot and wearing a toe tag, I knew that this was a Doctor for me. He attacked the role with compassion, too. His face when he looked at the bodies of Grace and Chang-Lee said everything. Here was a man who could take the Doctor into the '90s with charm, humour and grace (no pun intended.)
It has been said many times that the Doctor you start out with will be your favourite. I started out with Davison, and I do love his portrayal of the Doctor. But when I saw McGann's handsome face appear on my screen and heard his voice, I knew that he was going to be the Doctor for me. And if Grace doesn't want to take a spin in the TARDIS with him, I'm more than willing to go!
A Review by Anastasia Matejka 10/10/97
I guess you could say I'm a latecomer to the world of Doctor Who, since Paul's Doctor was the first one I ever saw and therefore my favorite. I remember sitting there on May 14th in awe as the magical Time Lord from Gallifrey first entered my life. There has never been a character quite like the Doctor. He has everything I could possibly want in a sci-fi hero.
There comes a moment each time you see a new actor in the role of the Doctor where the magic takes hold and he suddenly truly becomes the Doctor in your eyes. For me, the moment at which McGann became the Doctor is the now infamous line where he's describing the briliance of a meteor storm one minute and suddenly comments on how comfortable his new shoes are the next. There is such an innocence in his manner and a child-like awe at the wonders of the universe despite his great age. McGann's Doctor shows this explorer spirit to the fullest.
The 8th Doctor also displays a youthful impatience as well as the ability to keep several different trains of thought going at the same time. He's also not beyond a good bout a flippancy when it's required. Paul's Doctor has a very romantic and action-oriented quality like Pertwee did. He's certainly got the good looks for it as well as the kind of smile that all actor's that played the Doctor have had, that roguish grin that can melt the hardest of hearts. Finally, he respects life and would risk his life even to save a baddie like the Master. Now that's heroism! Paul is the right guy to take the charcter of the Doctor into the 90's.
Let's just hope we haven't seen the last of him.
A Very Human Time Lord by Oliver Thornton Updated 11/5/98
I've always considered Tom Baker to be the best, indeed the defining, portrayal of the Doctor, and probably always will. However, Paul McGann's brief outing in the role for the TV movie has shown that he is capable of providing a character that at least is worthy of the comparison. The Eighth Doctor is definitely a closer, more humanly emotional person than his previous incarnations, who have tended to be strongly emotional, but in a more general or alien manner (a trait that, again, I think Tom Baker pulled off to perfection). On the other hand, Paul McGann does still reach out to that alien past of the Doctor, in the childlike approach to the Doctor's new-found romantic/personal side-- and indeed to a lot of his surroundings in the earlier parts of the movie. The energy that is essential to any portrayal of the Doctor is definitely in evidence throughout the movie, even when the newly regenerated Doctor is still struggling to restore his own memories.
Finally, Paul McGann's portrayal brings out an altogether more youthful side to the Doctor, not merely in his innocence of his new emotions and body, but also in the type and feel of the energy in the performance. By the end of the movie, you feel that this is a Doctor who has truly regenerated and recharged, not simply swapped a damaged body for a replacement one. The new Doctor, despite the Gothic settings in which we find him, makes a sharp change to the more brooding and dark Doctor he replaces. The script of the movie has much in common with many of the big effects movies in the cinemas-- the aim is more to look impressive than to have any real or constructive content to build characters, and so in creating this new niche in the Doctor's role has probably been a lot harder, and Paul McGann has in this sense been badly let down by the makers of the film. Ultimately, it would be a great disappointment not to see this new Doctor develop further over more than one season, let alone one story.
The Doctor in the books:
Of all the Doctors, the Eighth as portrayed in the BBC novels is by far the closest to being a tragic hero. Nothing ever seems to go right for him, and in only a couple of his adventures so far has there been a completely satisfactory conclusion.
This Doctor is a curious one, more human than his immediate predecessor, and less of a chess player than a dice player. While the basic elements of the Doctor are retained, this one seems to be tilted more towards "gambler" than "schemer". He is also a lot more prone to mistakes than any other Doctor, frequently seeming to miss or forget the vital link in a manner that is most unbecoming of most of his predecessors.
This eighth Doctor is a lighter character than before, but also in a sense weaker. While still having the uncanny ability to talk his way into the headman's office, he seems less able to sway those who don't know him. He is also more and more preoccupied with his past (indeed, of all the BBC Novels he's in, only five do not feature adversaries he's encountered before, and one of those five involves instead a companion from the Doctor's past). He has a warmer, more approachable personality but is vulnerable and needs the support of those around him almost as often as they need it of him. One gets the feeling that maybe this Doctor would be happier retiring and raising a family for a lifetime, and that he would return to travelling when he regenerated again.
The eighth Doctor is a very human hero who just happens to be an alien who can traverse time and space.
When Will He Meet Lethbridge-Stewart? by Daniel Coggins 12/6/98
I feel that the 8th Doctor would work well with the Brig. But anyway... the 8th Doctor is probably the most human of the 8. And even better, the BBC novelists have managed to create the mystery element that the 7th Doctor's writers wanted. For one, there is a high probability that he can actually influence the timestream directly and actually change time using his mind. In Alien Bodies it is implied (by his own madness!) that Sam was actually created by the Doctor's subconcious, expressly for the purpose of being his companion. The 'dark-haired Sam' mentioned frequently in that and Seeing I is Sam as she would have been without the Doctor's meddling. Also in Alien Bodies we learn that Time Lord ex-presidents (including the Doctor) have the power to influence bio-data. Could it be that Time Lord ex-presidents can change time as well, and if so, perhaps this is what the wicked Lady in Silver Nemesis meant by "the Doctor being more than a Time Lord"....
In Genocide we actually see the Doctor doing this, as he changes the way the magma fell and stops the TARDIS dying, in order to save Sam and Jo...
On a more human note, it's possible that the Doctor is a vegetarian, trying to avoid meat in Seeing I. It's possible he was influenced by Sam's strong vegetarianism... Also he seems to gain a fear of being locked up after the traumatic events in Seeing I. It may also stem from Genocide. It will be interesting to see how he gets on with the 'new' Sam, and for this reason I am looking forward to Placebo Effect, written by Gary Russell, author of the Mongrel Twosome, Scales of Injustice and Business Unusual -- it will be interesting to see how he treats the new Sam... and rumours that it contains the Irish Twins (from his aforementioned books) may well be true....
A Rant by A Different Dave (pseudonym) Updated 24/12/00
The inspiration of what is about to be inflicted upon you came in a flash. The result is, it might well be a little scatty. However, behind that scat, I believe, lies a fundamentally good point, and one I shall endeavour to build towards, so bear with me.
A while back, I wrote a review. It was on Revenge of the Cybermen. I wrote others too, but they're best ignored. In this review, I defended the story on the grounds that it encapsulated all that was fine about Doctor Who. The premise was that the enjoyment derived came from the adrenaline amateurishness - this sounds hard, but prod deep and it's softer. I hope this shall become clear.
I want, now, to take that premise, etherise it, and pin it to a table. When I say amateur, I don't intend to be demeaning towards those involved. I would rather take amateur as a different type of performance as opposed to a different level. I read elsewhere on here a description of Doctor Who actors as second rank as opposed to second rate (I think it was with reference to William Hartnell). This still sounds hierarchical, but I would suggest it shifts the onus from the actor to the material. They are not second rate by virtue of the abilities; they are second rank by virtue of their work. What their abilities might be, I would not like to say, but they are almost certainly irrelevant in the face of the material they must be applied to. This is not a dig at the writers, as I would like to attach second rank to them. And to the directors, the props managers, the set designers, and so on. The material is not anything any of these figures is responsible for, how could they be as the people in the roles keeps changing. The material is the series itself, and progressively so.
This makes the series as an object incredibly strong, intractable, if you are that way inclined (and, if you are, I'm praying for you). What this mysterious quality the series actually has then is, in fact, lack of time, lack of money, and a history too long by half, but I prefer 'mysterious quality'. I think what this encourages in all those who must tackle the series, the actors, writers, designers, and so on, is a certain improvisational quality - the whole thing is too strong, too big, to be tackled in a unified fashion, in a planned way, all at once - in the structured fashion in which drama must usually be created. What happens, and it must start at the script stage, is that the individual component of the moment of the great big continuing adventures of Doctor Who is made up as it goes along, pretty much by the skin of its teeth and all that. Follow the chain reaction all the way down to the studio, and what this leaves in the final product, is an unusual consciousness of the fact you are watching a television production. Immediately, you are seeing actors on the screen rather than characters portrayed by actors. Behind this, you are conscious as you watch of the whole clunking mechanics of the production. Think - an Ed Wood film, but done throughout by professionals.
I'm going to tangent here to explain what my actual flash was. I was sitting alone in my room, looking at myself in the mirror and periodically spitting at my reflection, comfortably in a state of thinking Colin Baker to be my favourite Doctor, when it suddenly occurred he wasn't. I realised that in fact Paul McGann, or rather, the Eighth Doctor was and I was surprised. I pondered. Colin, you see, was my first, and, as the old adage goes, in my eyes the best. It is an adage that makes sense. Think of sex - in fact, you probably are already thinking of sex, most people are, so just keep thinking of it. Sex has a similar old adage, in fact Doctor Who's old adage was probably originally derives as a smutty joke which no one laughed at but in stead all nodded, sagely drew thoughtfully upon their respective pipes, and then went 'yeah, yeah, how true, man.' Now, the point about your first having sex with another person is that that other person has not only introduced you to having sex with them, but also to the very thing of having sex. All subsequent lovers can only introduce you to having sex with them. The first therefore has a certain prominence due to commanding the very thing itself as well as some of the individual incidents that are subsets of that very thing. Your first Doctor Who, similarly, introduces you to the very thing of Doctor Who, as well as to his individual portrayal, and therefore should enjoy a similar prominence
Why might it be then that Paul McGann had so seized me? The analogy with sex continues. I am not trying to say that everyone's first f**k is their best. Similarly, it is not so important that Paul McGann was now my favourite, but that he had now become the image in my head. Now, with sex, it is not just the very thing that is important, but also the continuation. You want more sex. Therefore, your current lover(s) also enjoy prominence. I would like to suggest that in The Great Big Continuing Adventures of Doctor Who, the very thing is of no importance at all. Only the continuation matters. It is a series that turns us all into sluts. Because the very thing is the improvisational quality, the very act of struggling, stumbling on, of progress, it is the continuing nature that holds us. Everything within is of only transient interest. What actually sits there is like a cup of tea. Fresh, it is very pleasurable. However, after awhile the cup of tea is lukewarm, the energy has drifted out of the window. We consume the liquid, pour again the same beverage and it is yet more lukewarm.
Furthermore, as the cup of tea is lukewarm, it is too easily consumed. Similarly, rewatching episodes, they cannot help, except in cases of extreme forgetfulness, pass too easily to our stomachs without properly servicing our tongues. This uncovers a certain barrenness in the end product. However, there is more. An old episode, finally attained and viewed does not have the same appeal as something new. It is already incorporated. We do not have that same sense of being in the same boat as the television crew we observe. We do not have that same sense of watching them struggle to tackle the material while we ourselves await what they will come up with to survive. We already know they survived. Improvisation is not quite the same when it was done ages before and we already know it will be successful. Missing Adventures, then, do not fit either. There is no point in an improvisation where you can go back and fill in the nooks and crannies, and we are saying that the whole series is a big improvisation. This might also explain why the TV Movie was exciting but inexplicably hollow, and why the idea of a feature remains unenticing.
The Great Big Continuing Adventures of Doctor Who must be continuing, building up a universe in which they work, not through careful planning and design but because the latest writer has to think of something of sufficient excitement. Alien Bodies or Interference are not part of some masterplan, but perfect examples of an ingenious mind stuck in this desperate situation. It is too easy, when it comes to a feature, it's too easy to be good (though, it must be said the TV Movie failed to do that). Most importantly, a feature allows you to use the greatest dramatic device ever, closure, and this must always be against the rules of the Great Big Continuing Adventures of Doctor Who. Meanwhile, it's a bit of a waste of time if what you're closing isn't worth it. Better off continuing. Better off, in fact, making continuing the point, and letting everything else play second fiddle, and this is a situation the series forces. This is why only the latest instalment may be truly exciting, and this is why the present Doctor must always be your favourite and the one that lives in your mind.
Dave, the writer of this rant, would like to assume the pseudonym of a different Dave.
The first "audio" Doctor by Antony Tomlinson 12/5/03
Since Big Finish began their Doctor Who range, I have discovered that I prefer the audio medium to the visual. The audio dramas provide the listener with all the drama and character interaction of the TV show, whilst allowing for the freedom of imagination that makes the novels so enjoyable. As a result, Paul McGann - the first "audio" Doctor - has gained a special place within my affections (although it is unfortunate that we are denied the sight of the first genuinely good-looking actor to play the role).
It is true that Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy have each starred in about as many Doctor Who audio dramas as they have TV stories. However, these actors have both been building on three year careers in the role on television, while McGann's ten (thus far) audio appearances are preceded by only one on-screen appearance.
As a result, McGann has been lucky enough to be the first Doctor to have been able to develop his character in a series of stories whose direction is free from the dictates of the British public. Last time I bothered to watch UK television, it was clear that the general populace would rather watch soaps, gardening programs and celebrity quiz shows than anything as far from humdrum reality as Doctor Who (as so archly pointed out in Big Finish's The Ratings War). So it is a relief to me that Doctor Who is now being made by - and for - people who are actually enthusiastic about the possibilities of the series.
In talking about the Eighth Doctor, then, I am talking about the character developed by Paul McGann as he has played the role - that is, the Doctor of the TV Movie and the audio productions. For it is such ongoing interactions between actor, writer and director which provide the basis of the definitive character of "the Doctor". The Eighth Doctor novels in contrast - based as they have been on nothing more than McGann's brief 1996 appearance - should be seen as a parallel world - fine in their own right, but like the comic strips, separate from the ongoing drama that is Doctor Who.
What of the Eighth Doctor then? I believe that McGann is the best actor to have played the character in many years, arguably the best since Troughton. Unlike Pertwee or Tom Baker, who played caricatures of themselves, it is clear that the Eighth Doctor is the original creation of the man behind the role. McGann's considerable calibre as actor has also meant that his creation is utterly convincing in its realisation - something that cannot always be said of the occasionally forced and awkward performances of the Doctors in the 1980s.
Of course McGann did have some trouble getting to grips with the part. Moments of his performance in Storm Warning (after five years away from the role) are utterly baffling - when he declares that "I really must sort through these shelves properly, some century soon" in the first scene, he growls out the lines like a man gripped by cosmic despair, rather than someone contemplating a little spring cleaning. Nevertheless, it doesn't take long for McGann to warm up and return to the level of brilliance that he first demonstrated in the 1996 TV Movie. He has maintained this incredibly high standard ever since.
What is the Eighth Doctor like then? He is certainly the most self-confident Doctor for a good while. Often we hear him declare that "I am the Doctor!" as though this is enough to justify any of his actions (however questionable). It is as though, after having collapsed and died as his self-doubting Seventh incarnation, he has woken up, young and refreshed, with the thought: "what the hell am I worrying about. Obviously I'm the hero - no question about it. So let's get on with saving a few universes."
His main motivation is adventure. In fact he is almost dogmatic in his belief in that the whole point of life is to explore the unfamiliar - hence his lecture in Storm Warning: "...that's adventure - the thrill, and the fear, and the joy of stepping into the unknown. That's why we're here, and that's why we're alive!"
The combination of a love of adventure and a belief in his own abilities means that this Doctor is thus quite prepared to blunder into situations without any preparation. As he declares in The Chimes of Midnight "I've been too methodical recently... setting coordinates and things, actually deciding where we want to go. I've been getting far too safe and predictable these last few incarnations." This Doctor acts with little fear of the consequences - he will allow himself to be bundled into an ambulance, even though he could escape (in the TV Movie) and is quite happy to pretend to be a private eye, merely because he wants to "see what happens" (Invaders from Mars).
This fearlessness and adventurous spirit is transported to his general manner. He is unpredictable (in a nice way) - his conversation shifts rapidly from issues of colossal importance to enthusiastic observations about hats, shoes, plum pudding and bats. His impulsiveness also leads to bizarre actions. If, as in the TV Movie, he wants to kiss his companion, he will - without apology - just because he feels like it. If a policeman then gets in his way, he will do the first thing that comes to his head - which in this case is threatening to shoot himself unless the policeman lets him pass.
He is pure joy to watch and listen to because we have no idea where his impulses will take him next. But through it all, the one thing that survives is his rather goofy sense of humour.
That said, the Eighth Doctor is not a flawless character. For one, the fact that he is so self-confident means that he often appears very patronising when speaking to anyone less bright or adventurous than he is himself. Grace is ranted at in condescending tones for her lack of faith in childhood dreams and in The Chimes of Midnight, the Doctor talks down to the servants, despite his affirmation that their lives are every bit as important as his own.
Another consequence of his self-confident spontaneity is that this Doctor can often create more problems than he solves. Sometimes this is amusing - he has great belief in his ability to mimic the language of a Chandleresque private eye in Invaders from Mars and ends up hilariously gibbering "what's the Rumpus? Are you cracking foxy with me, or is you in trouble with the bricks?" to everybody's bafflement.
Often, however, things get more serious. For a start, the Eighth Doctor manages to end up with a dead companion (Grace) in his first story! True, he revives her, but only at the expense of the plot. Then, in Seasons of Fear, his rather reckless goading of Sebastian Grayle helps create the very crisis that the Doctor set out to avoid in the first place. Finally, as we discover in Neverland, he almost manages to disrupt the entire web of time with his impulsive decision to rescue Charlie from the R-101 disaster.
Perhaps the most disturbing instance of this Doctor's blunderings, however, occurs in Embrace the Darkness. In this story, he undertakes a drastic plan which almost leads to the total extermination of the benign Cimmerian people. This is dreadful in itself, but more chilling perhaps is the Doctor's reaction - he decides to go and apologise. This action may seem noble in itself, but it also suggests that this Doctor is more concerned about maintaining his appearance as a hero than actually achieving any great good.
As Charlie points out, "...you're feeling guilty about making a mistake and think you can make yourself feel better by making a grand, noble gesture... you're hoping that the Cimmerians are going to punish you, aren't you... and how will that help the rest of us?" For once we feel a little uncomfortable travelling with this rather self-indulgent Doctor. What hypocrisy lurks beneath this Time Lord's irresistible charms?
Of course we do not know how the character will develop - anything is possible. At present there is both the multi-Doctor Zagreus and the BBC's on-line remake of Shada to look forward to. So until then, I'll say "long live the Eighth Doctor" - the Doctor's sounding healthier than he has for a very long time.
My love story... by Joe Ford 6/4/04
My favourite Doctor bar one (and can anyone guess who that is????), this is one incarnation who was pretty much shaped by fans who decided it was about time they created a regeneration that THEY would like to see. Okay so Philip Segal was responsible for his inception but Stephen Cole, Justin Richards and Gary Russell are the real stars, the ones who took this intriguing incarnation into new media and worked at fleshing out what we saw in the TV movie. As such I think I it is only fair to split this review into four and look at four very different peoples personal take on the eighth Doctor.
Philip Segal: The TV movie
Let's get it out in the open straight away, we were all blown away by Paul McGann's energetic performance as the Doctor in the TV movie, nobody was quite sure what to expect from one of the McGann brothers but it's safe to say we weren't expecting something THIS good. It is half good characterisation and half good interpretation but one thing was for sure... the Doctor was back and he was better than ever. After McCoy's inconsistent and abused seventh Doctor it was such a relief to find ourselves journeying with such a reckless dandy, a skipping, shouting, grinning eccentric who had a touch of romance in his soul.
There are far too many moments in the TV movie that expose the Doctor at his best and McGann takes to the spotlight extremely well, quiet at first but getting more confident throughout before climaxing in a dramatic showdown with the Master where he proves above all else he still has teeth. I love the scenes in the park with Grace where he reveals his disturbingly unpredictable nature, okay so the info dump about Gallifrey, the Master, etc was too much but McGann's exclamation that "These shoes... they fit perfectly yes!" and his joyous recollections of a warm Gallifreyan night are gorgeous. Even better (and wonderful at slapping the fans in the face) he grabs Grace in frenzy of excitement and smacks her on the lips with a kiss. It is dazzlingly directed to shock you and surrounds you with a haze of romance. I loved it.
But he proves to be a man of action too, jumping on a motorbike and whizzing through a traffic jam, smashing a fire alarm and using a hose to scale a building, tackling the Master as the evil bastard attacks him with a staff... this frilly, long haired hippy in the velvet coat looks totally at home getting his hands dirty.
Some of the quirks, jelly babies, sonic screwdriver, smacking the console are old hat but their presence is quite reassuring, no matter how revamped the show is this is still the quintessential 'British' Doctor we are all used to.
BBC Books: The Nuala Buffini/Stephen Cole era (The Eight Doctors-The Ancestor Cell)
This is my least favourite of the four chiefly because the writers were trying to get a handle on a character that was well defined but not fleshed out in the TV movie and they had to start from scratch getting inside his head and seeing what makes him tick. Sometimes they were successful in bringing forward the bubbly, effervescent personality that we saw on screen (Kate Orman and Jon Blum's Vampire Science suggest there is magic and fantasy about the character, Paul Magrs' The Scarlet Empress offers up a Doctor with a lust for life, Justin Richards' Demontage contains a cheeky Doctor with a mischievous gambling side...) but all too often he would be sidelined from the main action so the writers didn't have to deal with this blank canvas of a character (go read Dreamstone Moon, The Face-Eater, Interference...).
My major criticism against the fifth Doctor was that he was so utterly ineffectual in so many of his stories and the same thing could be said about this pre-amnesiac eighth Doctor. The writers were attempting something totally different from the scheming and plotting seventh Doctor who seemed to have every story worked out before he even landed... with this in mind they attempted the eighth Doctor into a more fallible character, one who makes mistakes and sometimes doesn't win. All very good in theory but when every writer attempts this the Doctor in question does seem to be a bit useless. Things go wrong in Vampire Science, Genocide, Longest Day, Revolution Man, Interference, The Blue Angel... it is just a trail of failed attempts to help people.
Plus amongst the D-list writers there were some terrible attempts to inject some comedy into the character as though that would substitute a personality and he comes across as quite buffoon in Michael Collier, Gary Russell and Simon Bucher Jones' books.
And the torture for this poor guy never ends. Kate Orman is justly renound for her painful mistreatment of the Doctor and her abuse of the Eighth Doctor must have cemented that opinion in place. When she isn't putting him through moral dilemmas with vampires or locking him up for three years in a prison where everybody is NICE, she has him make some tough decision when it comes to companion Sam. Lawrence Miles has him rotting in cell scrawling on the floor with his own blood, Steve Cole has him stripped nude and forced into a conflict that destroys millions of people (Jim Mortimore does the same!) I don't know what it is about this guy that makes people want to hurt him but the outlook is grim indeed.
It doesn't help that the books themselves were hugely variable in quality, the majority being stiflingly banal with only the occasional glimmer of hope so it is right that the characterisation would suffer and I am perhaps too harsh, there were some glittering moments throughout Steve Cole's time (his scenes with the android in Frontier Worlds, his reaction to the introduction of the Krotons in Alien Bodies, flying on the back of a dragon in The Shadows of Avalon...) but on the whole this was a missed opportunity and both editors realised it was time for a clean slate and a fresher, more compelling Doctor to step in.
The Justin Richards era: The Burning - present
Never before had such an audacious step been made to alter our perceptions of the Doctor. Even when the seventh Doctor returned for season 25 in his broodier, darker skin the production team did not have the guts to 'regenerate' the character without regenerating him. Everybody knows the story, the Steve Cole era was littered with hints that an 'Enemy' was going to go to war with Gallifrey and when it finally occurred the Time Lords were in no fit state to put up resistance, rather than surrender his homeworld to the Enemy he destroyed it. Loved and loathed in equal measures, this decision set about a miraculous change for the eighth Doctor, he is whisked away to Earth, amnesiac and alone, for one hundred years to cope with the death of his home.
And so the fun begins. Although not at first. Justin Richards steps in and offers up his interpretation of the eighth Doctor, a darker, less predictable sort who is not above killing if the situation deems it. It is taking the Doctor right back to his roots, suddenly we are in pre William Hartnell/first Doctor territory where we no very little about this mysterious man, what he is capable of and how far he will go to get a result. It was such a slap in the face after the Steve Cole clown to have a man burning with brilliant anger, righting wrongs because he feels it is necessary rather than because he is 'the Doctor', who is unsure whether to pursue romance and is desperate to return to the stars, the home he knows he belongs to.
The six books that comprise the Earth arc paint a rather melancholic, poignant character of the eighth Doctor and it suits him very well. With moments straight out of Colin Baker's sixth Doctor era (he refuses to save Nepath, allowing him to slip under a sea of lava, he engineers a death in The Turing Test just so he can escape the Earth) he is again an unpredictable character and one it is fun to read about, never knowing quite which way he is going to jump next.
The Earth arc also links the Doctor to the planet in a very personal way, not even the exiled third Doctor had this much of an intimate relationship with the Earth, the eighth Doctor around for all of the important events of the twentieth century. He is totally at home on Earth, subsequent years he proves his love for the planet with an amazing array of adventures on the planet.
His confidence gradually returning he is rewarded with the TARDIS and two companions in the shape of Anji and Fitz and there is a period of stability for the eighth Doctor. Given his imprisonment of Earth we see a man with desperation to visit alien worlds, to get into scrapes and japes and enjoy what the universe has to offer.
However the darkness that seeded during his rest remains and some wonderful 'shock' moments crop up during his adventures. He throws a childish tantrum at Karl in Year of Intelligent Tigers, gets involved in a violent rooftop train fight in Eater of Wasps, verbally abuses Fitz in Camera Obscura, sacrifices a life to escape the void in Reckless Engineering and brilliantly kicks the shit out of Basalt in Timeless just because he was a complete bastard. These outbursts have a habit of upsetting the fans who believe it goes against the fabric of the character and his pacifist ideals but I think they are terrific, a true indication that things have changed, that the universe is nasty and that the Doctor can fight back in more ways than one.
But this brutality is mirrored with a true sense of humanity; his relationship with Anji especially reveals how empathic he has become. They have a gorgeous love/hate thing going on, their morals clashing despite their feelings for each other. He just holds her when she breaks down in Earthworld, sings to her at the end of Eater of Wasps, verbally berates her in Hope and The Domino Effect. When he tells her to shut up in Timeless as she tries to push some answers about the destruction of Gallifrey she knows better than to argue with him. Over time they learn to respect and understand each other and the Doctor's sadness when she finally decides it is time to say goodbye is palpable, a sure sign of how much he relies on his friends in this crazy, amnesiac world of his.
And yet he is a realist too and is fully aware that the lives of his friends are inconsequential compared to the safety of the universe. It is quite a shock to the system when Fitz and Anji (and us) realise their value in such high-risk adventures.
In all honesty the Doctor dominates the series now, just like he should have done from the beginning of the BBC books range. He is incredibly engaging, especially with hints and whispers about his trouble past being whispered in his ear during his more riveting of adventures (City of the Dead, Camera Obscura). He has a good sense of humour (torturing a guy by pulling out his few remaining hairs, one at a time...) and fights on and on no matter how bad things get.
I love this eighth Doctor.
Gary Russell: Storm Warning - present
Hmm, this is a harder one to judge because this is the most schizophrenic of the eighth Doctor(s). Certainly Paul McGann was a great catch and actually hearing him play the Doctor again is an absolute joy. His silky voice proves great for audio and the production team have satisfied us all by slipping him into more traditional style Doctor Who stories that bring out his colours (Storm Warning, Embrace the Darkness, The Creed of Kromon).
The one shining facet of the eighth Doctor on audio is his willingness to experience, admit and share love. His companion Charley is a sweet little thing and the Doctor has gotten closer to her than perhaps any other companion, leading to their ultimately destructive relationship when we realise their very friendship could destroy the universe. It is impossible not to like this bubbly eighth Doctor and his agonising choice to kill Charley or sacrifice the universe in Neverland is a top dramatic moment for the character. His admission that he loves her is breath taking, taking that step close than any other Doctor ever has, the eighth Doctor's naturally romantic soul ideal for this sort of attachment.
The eighth Doctor audios are once again variable in quality so it depends on the writer on whether he makes much of an impact. The best writers (Alan Barnes, Paul Magrs, Rob Shearman) capture him as a fun loving, eager to explore busybody who pokes his nose in just because he CAN. McGann excels at expressing the awe and wonder of his adventures; you are swept off your feet by his sheer enthusiasm. He also has quite a dry sense of humour, occasionally patronising towards Charley and excellent at confronting the baddies with righteous anger (Chimes of Midnight, Neverland).
In the hands of Gary Russell however (oops, sorry I meant in the hands of lesser writers) this is a character that just flops. His attempts to shoehorn McGann (and the 8th Doctor) into the Zagreus character was an embarrassing mistake, once again sidelining the main character and (gasp) boring us all to death with his monologues. Equally so Nicholas Briggs writes a sombre eighth Doctor that seems at odds with where they are trying to take the character.
Still rather compelling but not as consistent or as engaging as the novel eighth Doctor.
My my what a schizophrenic guy... it seems whatever way you look the eighth Doctor is behaving in a rather different way to the last. What makes this Doctor such a delight is his ability to be moulded into just about anything you want, that blank slate from the TV movie could be taken in million different ways and thanks to the hard work of many writers, he has.
It was the eighth Doctor that got me back into reading big time. He reminded me that there are always enemies to fight, that I should always get involved when it is needed and that is sometimes necessary to fight fire with fire. His adventure will probably draw to a close over the next year and I will be sad to see him, never before has a Doctor offered so many tantilising possibilities, been taken on so many adventures and kept me so thoroughly gripped by his ongoing adventures.
He is the only Doctor I am totally and utterly in love with. I am so jealous of Fitz.
A Review by David Rosenthal 30/5/06
Well Paul McGann was the shortest Doctor of them all. Only appearing in the Fox/Universal TV Movie. He was the most human of them all. He regenerates in the morgue and yells out "Who Am I?" He has amnesia and meets Grace Holloway, the doctor who tried to operate on him, who also quits. She finds out about him and he begins to remember, he talks about Puchini the great classical composer.
He says he is half-human on his mother's side and he remembers Gallifrey. The movie was quite controversial with the kiss with the Doctor and Grace but I accept it. They like each other a lot maybe even love each other. Him and Eric Roberts, as the Master, have a great fight at the end.
Overall I can say he was a great Doctor. Too bad Paul you only got to to do one story.
The shoes fit by Thomas Cookson 28/5/08
This review will focus squarely on stories that Paul McGann has starred in. No books or comic strips, just the TV Movie and audios.
I'd rather Doctor Who hadn't been brought back. With both the 1996 TV Movie and the current New Series, whenever Doctor Who has been revived for television it has always come back wrong somehow.
I think Doctor Who did very well for itself whilst off air. The audios and novels reached high levels of quality. In some ways Doctor Who's TV axing was so good for its overall quality that I think it should have happened ten years sooner. The 80's DWM comic strips were largely outdoing the TV stories in quality. Which figures, since they were virtually both fan fiction. The Final Genesis strip was a far better, more accessible and heartfelt Silurian story than Warriors of the Deep. Big Finish used the Master and Davros far more interestingly than the 80's TV stories did. Season 17 could segue perfectly into the comic strip medium, just like Season 26 did into the New Adventures.
It's as if after the 80's, Doctor Who turned into vulgar, sensationalist, desperate and depressingly superficial and modernist television. As if Doctor Who would compulsively play up to the camera in an embarrasing, contemptuous way, whenever filming commenced. Conversely, when it wasn't under the camera, it knew and trusted its audience and gave them intelligent, imaginative and mature stories.
80's Doctor Who was a chore to watch, weighted down with its own past, and had the depressing sense of something endless and sometimes it even seemed to have gone incontinent and senile with old age (The Twin Dilemma, Time and the Rani). Now it's become that embarrasing show desperately trying to be hip and down with the kids. Inevitably, any series folds in on itself after long enough, but much of it just seems thoughtless. I think it'd be better to remember Doctor Who as it once was.
But revived it was, back in 1996, and Paul McGann made his debut as the new Doctor in his only official story (though some fans still challenge its canonity). I believe that whilst the TV Movie is somewhat vacuous and overblown and runs out of life halfway through, it is nowhere near as bad as the fans make out.
I think fans certainly can be very intolerant. We'll buy anything with the name Doctor Who, and we're always willing to embrace an episode's intentions. We'll even say that The Twin Dilemma was a brave and bold reinterpretation of the Doctor, as opposed to, say, a vile shock tactic of mind bogglingly stupid judgement.
But we can be hostile when we feel that a great pretender has come onto our turf. I may have grown to despite Rose as a companion but I was initially disgusted that some fans on IMDB wouldn't give her a chance from the beginning. Complaining obtusely about the 'dumb slapper' companion, her emotions and accent. One arrogant fan even declaring that having a 'hot' companion was a betrayal.
And I think we've been more than vicious enough to the TV Movie. It's not the best Doctor Who story, and it is largely apocryphal, but it's far, far from the worst. Besides, the TV Movie pretty much saved Doctor Who. It re-ignited public fondness for the show's golden age and wiped the slate clean from memories of the Kandyman and the Myrka.
It's a better potential contender for Doctor Who's revival, than, say, Encounter at Farpoint was for Star Trek. There really is no justice. But I actually don't mind the TV Movie being a one-off. In some ways, it seemed to be more about giving Doctor Who a proper send off than a continuation. It vanquishes the Master once and for all, says goodbye to the seventh Doctor and restores the Doctor to a state of anomie again, though seemingly with his old demons finally banished. So, in many ways, I'm glad it was made and, oddly enough, even I don't wish I could erase it from existence.
But I will say that Paul McGann didn't really make an impression with me. Many hailed him as the best thing about the film, whilst Mad Larry has argued that he was too generic, that the idea of the definitive Doctor is not something that the character should be about. He should be something new and unpredictable in the way that Eccleston was. My personal opinion was that Paul McGann seemed to be wetter than Peter Davison. He was too nice, he wasn't given a chance to be brave, confrontational or heroic. And that always bugged me. But as it's their mandate to give almost every lost oppurtunity a second chance, Big Finish gave him another shot at being the Doctor.
You've gotta love Big Finish. They always give misfired Doctors a second chance. They've shown what Peter Davison would be like with a more matured gravitas and authority, and if he wasn't being neutered at every opportunity. How Colin Baker would be if he was a more mellow and polite Doctor (and if we didn't have to look at that bloody coat). They were a great avenue for giving past Doctors a second shot, and for making use of neglected concepts.
What frustrates me most about TV Doctor Who, is that whilst it has gone through some serious phases of redundancy (Arc of Infinity, Warriors of the Deep, Attack of the Cybermen, most 80's Master stories) and desperate publicity stunts (The Twin Dilemma, Time-Flight), it has completely neglected the stories that should have been told. It's only been since Big Finish came along that we've finally learned about the origins of the Master and the Cybermen and witnessed the intergalactic Dalek wars that the TV series never showed.
But I think that Big Finish could have been more than simply niche. I've always entertained the thought of Big Finish having the money and resources to do TV, and being responsible for a different revival of Doctor Who. In fact, I think that the best revival of Doctor Who would have been a spin-off. Something that was Doctor Who except in name.
It might have been better to use a new concept. To have the new series set in the same Whoniverse of familiar old monsters but to be seen through a new hero character, or maybe an old returning character. Preferably someone who's modern and and can do all the violent and sexy things that the Doctor can't. Let Survival and the TV Movie be the last word and closure on the Doctor, Gallifrey and the Master. And, of course, such a new reboot concept would be a way in for new viewers who aren't up on the backstory or would rather treat Doctor Who as a separate entity.
I'd always have loved to see Dalek Empire as a TV series, since I think it could have crossover appeal. It has all the right qualities. A new cast of characters with enough grit and feistiness for teenagers to fall in love with. It's wonderfully self contained and able to stand alone, just like City of Death. You wouldn't need to have seen any Doctor Who before in order to get it or to know the origins of the Daleks, because they are presented as a technological inevitability that exists in every parrallel universe, brought about by human ambition for power and control, represented by both Susan Mendes and the Mentor. We don't need Davros.
Unfortunately, after two seasons it would outstay its welcome, turning inwards, becoming niche, endless and pointless. It would only work as a miniseries or a movie series, not as something long term, as the audios' turn into redundancy prove. Besides it'd stretch the budget.
But had Big Finish made their Bernice Summerfield audio series as a TV series, that would have been workable and probably popular, with the right mix of coolness, cleverness, vitalness and longevity and maybe there might have been room for a Dalek Empire miniseries spinoff (maybe reworking The Genocide Machine as a Benny adventure).
But Big Finish is always thought of as niche, and in many ways it is promoted as a niche. As something for the underground audience of collectionist consumers who don't mind forking out for every story or following ever-unconclusive spin-offs. I mean, I will say that their Gallifrey series is very much niche. Their fifth, sixth and seventh Doctor releases are very niche too. But stuff like Bernice Summerfield, Dalek Empire, Sarah Jane Smith, Cyberman all has the capability to stand alone and the potential to be a non-fan's easy way in.
And, to get back on topic, I think the Paul McGann series is the one Doctor Who range that could cross over. I mean, it figures really, since, with the other Doctors, Big Finish are writing sporadic add-ons and inserts into already established eras (even whilst knocking spots off those eras). But with Paul McGann they have something ongoing that they have started on from scratch, and I'll definitely say that it does the impossible, or at least the staggeringly unlikely. It makes Doctor Who look brand new again, even though it comes at the end of the show's long history.
It's what the Davison era could have been. Davison was an energetic, passionate young Doctor just like McGann, so he should have brought about pacy stories and proactive heroics that appeal to all ages; sadly, we got the opposite, lethargy and impotence. It'd be better if Davison's first story, Castrovalva, really had killed off the Master for good, since that seems to be the winning flavour of the McGann audios, as they follow from the last battle in the TV Movie that finally vanquished the old show's demons.
Storm Warning nicely sets up how Doctor Who's adventure isn't just cosmic, but psychological too, as evil creatures like Daleks mirror our own base urges and ids. Even continuity-heavy stories like Neverland and Terror Firma seem to feel like fresh and new approaches to old lore. To me, they work because they go the whole hog in building a whole world based on their mythology, so everything works to a single metaphor. Terror Firma is an environment based on Davros' madness and memories, in a confusing, paranoid landscape where history repeats itself and stormy skies represent his chaotic mind. And so it builds a simple premise for why Davros does what he does. He built the Daleks for the psychological reassurance of a monolithic, ordered universe to try and mirror his attempts to bring order to the chaos of his mind. A bit like The Face of Evil.
Neverland is a wonderfully condensed piece of Gallifreyan lore. Taking the legacy of Rassilon (Deadly Assassin, Five Doctors), predictions of a corrupt future Gallifrey (Trial of a Time Lord), questioning issues of causality in removing the Daleks from existence (Genesis of the Daleks) and weaving them together in a story about the subversion of structure and dimension. Basically, it's a story that always delivers moments of delight in each scene, that carves everything out in exquisite, arresting shape, and draws you in to its strange Lewis-Carrol-style narrative maze like a descending spiral, both foreboding and intriguing. And the final cliffhanger is brilliant. That single slap is a real stinger, and far more shocking and jolting than anything in The Twin Dilemma, because it concerns characters that we actually care about and because it really is unexpected.
Actually, I've come to realise why that is, when I watched The Edge of Destruction, which is the closest precedent for The Twin Dilemma's violent conflict between the leads brought on by madness. But the difference is obvious to me. The Edge of Destruction is a dignified, well-built-up piece of character drama that doesn't exploit its subjects and certainly doesn't turn the show into a neurotic, deranged mess. The main reason is that it deals with real, well -defined and well-motivated characters rather than ciphers. Whereas Peri is just a sex object, and like nearly all sexual objectification of women, it has a desensitising effect upon violence against said woman; perhaps there wasn't much outcry over the Doctor choking Peri because the objectification made it look harmless, as if the Doctor was only wrapping his hands round a Barbie doll.
Audio is in so many ways a relief, where it can really convey intimacy without being exploitative or pornographic. I must say that Charley is a wonderful companion, a wonderful, charming and likeable character, very well drawn and fleshed out in a way that predates Rose. She also has a family as background characters but they aren't overused. To sum up why Charley works for me, I feel I need point no further than to Terror Firma. When she clumsily tries to talk Samson out of commiting suicide and reaches for cliches, it is such an authentic, believable piece of scripting. Her breaking down into tears over the Doctor's lapse of faith is beautiful. Even in the dull, lethargic Sword of Orion she's a complete delight. I'd actually been goosed by someone's rather territorial, sleazy, bisexual ex-boyfriend at the time, so when I heard Charley punching out the lecherous Garazone marketeer for manhandling her, I was really cheering. I'm probably in the minority here, but I think it's a shame that Charley will be leaving soon.
But, of course, her replacement Lucie Miller, is a lot of fun, and played with such spunk by Sheridan Smith. In many ways, Lucie wins by being a welcome near parody of the bratty Rose. C'rizz brought a fascinating angle to the series (though I've yet to see the payoff). The final scene in Terror Firma, where he talks to the dead, is both poignant and chilling. It offers hope of an afterlife for a Whoniverse steeped in death, and even the redemption of a dead Dalek's soul.
Like I said, some of the McGann audios play really well on the darker Doctor. Terror Firma is gripping in its portrayal of how hell hath no fury like a Doctor scorned, and hearing the Doctor eventually get his own back is a real punch-the-air moment. And in The Natural History of Fear, Paul McGann gets to play the villain, and clearly enjoys every minute of it. The Natural History of Fear isn't an amazing story, though it is uniquely done as a story that can only be told in audio. Its 1984 society might be derivative, and yet there's something soothingly existential and vast about it and it always cheers me up.
But Blood of the Daleks is one of my favourites in the classic moral ambiguity department. It is quite derivative in some ways, and is too reliant on Awakening-style coincidence. Klint's burden of leadership of an angry populace is touchingly reminiscent of the sympathetic Governor of Varos, the alternative Daleks and their female creator harks to Dalek Empire II (as does the technological inevitability angle), and even borrows Neverland's acid rain scene. But when the last Daleks are killing each other whilst the Doctor vainly asks them if any of this sickens them, it's like one of Remembrance's real missed oppurtunities.
The Daleks declare the Doctor a terrorist and he doesn't prove them wrong. Hearing the Daleks talk of ethnic cleansing really stings and feels uncomfortably like watching Hotwel Rwanda; the Doctor helping the Daleks to commit their genocide is even more unsettling. We only had the Doctor's word that these new Daleks were just as bad. Yet their emotional nature and their arms-open response to the original Daleks suggested that they were perhaps benevolent, and only started killing when they were provoked. Perhaps the Doctor was prejudiced and wrong, but wasn't going to take the risk of letting them live. But he describes Dalek existence as 'a perpetual nightmare', as if destroying Daleks is somehow a justified 'mercy killing'. So even now I find much to still read into with the Doctor and his contradictions.
Big Finish is aimed at a different audience to New Who.
All too often when it comes to the flaws of 80's or modern Doctor Who, people use the show's precedents as a defence. 'Watch Season 8 before criticising the 80's for overusing the Master'. 'Don't blame The Twin Dilemma for making the Doctor homicidal and unlikeable, he was like that in Hartnell's first story when he nearly killed that caveman'. Though surely that was a character trait that remained unrevisited for a bloody good reason!
Likewise, RTD seems to feel that the old show doesn't need to apologise for anything. Maybe he doesn't want to raise the standards bar too high, and deliberately orchestrated plot holes and cop out endings because old Doctor Who often suffered them too (Moonbase, Pyramids of Mars, Armageddon Factor, Ultimate Foe). He gave us a taste of Season 24's grotesque high camp with Love & Monsters, and gave us the sickening preachiness of Last of the Time Lords to perhaps soften the blow of Warriors of the Deep and Battlefield.
Big Finish however, always strives to improve on the show.
Maybe Russell wanted new viewers to accept the old series for its faults, and not be fixated on high standards that would make them less forgiving. Perhaps it's worked, because young viewers are getting into the old series, and buying classic series DVDs with their own pocket money. Judging from YouTube feedback, they even seem to be embracing the 80's stories we'd written off as travesties.
About Time 6 (my favourite edition) points out that Russell can't bear to be seen as a fanboy, and that anoraknophobia neuroses means that he'll desperately try to keep New Who within the trashy mainstream. Perhaps exercising bitterness about the show's status as a laughable, nerdish freak anomaly during the 80's era of hellish conformity and snobbery. As if trying to make up for lost time and make the show more 80's, the Doctor and companion behave like John Hughes' anti-intellectual, elitist brat pack and the scripts seem so cartoonish, cheesy, slapstick and 80's.
By contrast, the McGann range has moved on. It's what 21st Century Who should be.