Gravitational Pull

New Doctor Who is a throwback to greatest old Doctor Who

Posted on 24 June 2010

When the BBC revived Doctor Who, one of my TV staples growing up in the 70s, a few years ago I checked it out a couple of times. But I just didn’t click with the actors they’d chosen to play the Doctor, Christopher Eccleston for a year and David Tennant after that. Nothing against those two fine actors but the Doctor I’d always loved was Tom Baker. He brought to the role a certain wackiness and sense of humor that made the whole show such a campy yet watchable scifi classic.

Eccleston and Tennant, by contrast, were too serious, too bookish. If the doctor wasn’t having fun, what was the point of watching? In fact, I’ve been more intrigued by the spin-off aimed at younger kids, the Sarah Jane Adventures, starring the inimitable Elizabeth Sladen. She had played one of the Doctor’s companions back when Baker had the role.

So I’m happy to report that the latest actor to take up the role, Matt Smith, is a throw back to just the kind of brainy yet funny Time Lord I’ve been missing. It doesn’t hurt that his companion played by Karen Gillan is pretty funny, too, or that the plotlines seem to show some influence from the great novel (and mediocre movie) The Time Traveler’s Wife. The current season, which you can watch in the US on BBC America or download from iTunes, is about to run its course but I’m sure will be in repeats until, well, the end of time.