We're Falling Through Space E-Book

J. David Reed

• Herausgeber: 404 Ink
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Inklings
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 97

Beschreibung

It's one of modern history's most beloved sci-fi creations and while the Doctor is revered world-round, what about their companions, friends and acquaintances along the way? For all the time travel and extravagant alien worlds, Doctor Who is often at its best when it looks to you, the average viewer, and how the lives and values of us human beings are actually spectacular.The cup of tea or coffee we make in the morning, the relationships we carry and lose in life, the routines we love and hate, the vinegar-soaked chippies we have at night – they might look mundane against the spectacle of the Doctor but what if it's us, the humans, who are the fantastical ones?In We're Falling Through Space, J. David Reed investigates how Doctor Who uses its larger-than-life lens to consider how the mundane is a lot more special than we might realise. As one of the Doctors put it, 'Do you know, in nine hundred years of time and space, I've never met anyone who wasn't important before.'

Leseprobe

We’re Falling Through Space

Published by 404 Ink Limited

www.404Ink.com

@404Ink

All rights reserved © J. David Reed, 2023.

The right of J. David Reed to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without first obtaining the written permission of the rights owner, except for the use of brief quotations in reviews.

Please note: Some references include URLs which may change or be unavailable after publication of this book. All references within endnotes were accessible and accurate as of March 2023 but may experience link rot from there on in.

Editing: Laura Jones & Heather McDaid

Typesetting: Laura Jones

Cover design: Luke Bird

Co-founders and publishers of 404 Ink:

Heather McDaid & Laura Jones

Print ISBN: 978-1-912489-76-3

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-912489-77-0

We’re Falling Through Space

Doctor Who and Celebrating the Mundane

J. David Reed

Contents

Spoilers

Introduction: The Past

Chapter 1: Time

Interlude 1: and

Chapter 2: Relative

Chapter 3: Dimensions

Interlude 2: in

Chapter 4: Space

References

Acknowledgements

About the Author

About the Inklings series

Pronouns Usage

When referring to a male-presenting Doctor, he/him pronouns are used.

When referring to a female-presenting Doctor, she/her pronouns are used.

When referring to the Doctor in a wider sense, they/them pronouns are used.

Spoilers

Please note there are multiple spoilers throughout We’re Falling Through Space for the entirety of the Doctor Who franchise. Specific episodes that are discussed in order of appearance:

Introduction: The Past

Season 1, Episode 1         Rose

Season 5, Episode 13       The Big Bang

Chapter 1: Time

Season 1, Episode 1         Rose

Season 1, Episode 2         The End of The World

Season 1, Episode 8         Father’s Day

Season 6, Episode 13       The Wedding of River Song

Season 4, Episode 4         The Fires of Pompeii

Season 4, Special             The Waters of Mars

Season 5, Episode 1         The Eleventh Hour

Season 6, Episode 11       The God Complex

Season 6, Special              The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe

Season 7, Episode 1           Asylum of the Daleks

Season 7, Episode 4          The Power of Three

Season 7, Episode 5          The Angels Take Manhattan

Season 5, Episode 10        Vincent and the Doctor

Interlude 1: and

Season 2, Special               The Runaway Bride

Season 3, Episode 1           Smith and Jones

Season 3, Episode 3           Gridlock

Season 3, Episode 2           The Shakespeare Code

Season 3, Episode 8           Human Nature

Season 3, Episode 9           The Family of Blood

Season 3, Episode 12         The Sound of Drums

Season 3, Episode 13         The Last of the Time Lords

Season 12, Episode 8         The Haunting of Villa Diodati

Season 6, Episode 13         The Wedding of River Song

Chapter 2: Relative

Season 4, Episode 6            The Doctor’s Daughter

Season 6, Episode 5            The Rebel Flesh

Season 6, Episode 6            The Almost People

Season 6, Episode 1            The Day of the Moon

Season 6, Episode 2            The Impossible Astronaut

Season 6, Episode 7            A Good Man Goes to War

Season 10, Episode 1          The Pilot

Season 2, Episode 3            School Reunion

Season 1, Episode 4            Aliens of London

Season 1, Episode 5            World War Three

Season 2, Episode 10          Love and Monsters

Season 4, Parts 1 & 2         The End of Time

Chapter 3: Dimensions

Season 2, Episode 5           Rise of the Cybermen

Season 2, Episode 6           The Age of Steel

Season 6, Episode 4           The Doctor’s Wife

Season 11, Episode 1         The Woman Who Fell to Earth

Season 11, Episode 9          It Takes You Away

Season 3, Episode 8            Human Nature

Season 3, Episode 9            The Family of Blood

Season 4, Episode 11          Turn Left

Season 5, Special                A Christmas Carol

Interlude 2: in

Season 3, Episode 2           School Reunion

Season 1, Episode 12         Bad Wolf

Season 1, Episode 13         The Parting of the Ways

Season 5, Episode 2           The Beast Below

Season 8, Episode 2           Into the Dalek

Season 9, Episode 3           Under the Lake

Season 9, Episode 4             Before the Flood

Season 4, Episode 10           Midnight

Chapter 4: Space

Season 7, Special                 The Day of the Doctor

Season 13, Special               The Power of the Doctor

Season 1, Episode 1             Rose

Season 21, Classic Who       Resurrection of the Daleks

Season 26, Classic Who       Survival

Season 6, Episode 4              The Doctor’s Wife

Conclusion: The Future

Season 5, Special                  A Christmas Carol

Season 13, Special                The Power of the Doctor

Season 7, Special                  The Day of the Doctor

Season 7, Episode 4              The Power of Three

Introduction: The Past

‘You can fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go… anywhere.’

– The Ninth Doctor.

Episode 1, Series 1

(Rose)

It’s March 26th, 2005, and I am nine years old. The house is buzzing with the hubbub of an almost-party. We’re hosting family friends from down south, but things have started to calm down after a day of catching up, snacking and, for the adults, drinking. Outside, it’s getting darker, and we’re full of picky bits from dinner as we settle down in front of the foot-deep CRT TV for a night of the BBC’s best.

I don’t remember if we’d planned to watch it, if I was excited, or if I even knew what it was. I have since learned that my parents had, at best, a passing knowledge of Doctor Who from their own childhoods. They knew of the time-and-space travelling man known as ‘the Doctor’, that there was a spaceship called the TARDIS that looked like a ’60s police box, that the Doctor was an alien of the ‘Time Lord’ species, and that his greatest enemy was the Daleks. They definitely knew that it was camp sci-fi fun for the whole family.

They also knew it was something my down-south friends and I would enjoy being distracted by while they continued the day-drinking into evening. Little did they know I was being introduced to a passionate obsession that would carry me through my life for decades.

As the BBC logo faded away, we saw our first images. First, the vast edges of our solar system, space, and a promise of where we were going. Panning across blurry lands, we’re bearing down on planet Earth, zooming in on the UK, London, a block of flats. We’re in the bedroom of Rose Tyler, an average nineteen-year-old human, awaking groggily to an alarm. We’ve swooped in from the depths space to land somewhere familiar – a morning before work.

I didn’t realise it at the time but these first few shots that focus on a recognisable human as opposed to our eponymous hero, this revival of Doctor Who (known as Nu Who) articulated a philosophy to me: No matter how enormous the universe may be, we care about the beings who exist here. It’s as though the show itself was saying, Yes, yes there is space and sci-fi to explore, of course, but first, let’s pay attention to how this nineteen-year-old wakes up every morning. That’s far more interesting.

Growing up with Doctor Who, I feel I know the show quite intimately though my own experience will not be the same as a fellow fan, nor a more casual viewer. Either way, so we’re all on the same page before diving into my interpretations of the show’s celebration of the mundane, let’s cover some of the basics of Doctor Who history.

Originally broadcast in November 1963, Doctor Who is a British sci-fi adventure following the adventures of ‘the Doctor’ and his rotating cast of companions who join him on perilous adventures across time and space. The Doctor is a Time Lord, an alien from a planet named Gallifrey. When the time comes, instead of dying, a Time Lord is able to regenerate, meaning their physical appearance, age, and personality changes. In terms of the show’s production, this means a change of actor from series to series.

In his trusty time-hopping ship, the TARDIS (an acronym for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space) the Doctor and his companions journey in both the past and present with outcomes both educational and fantastical. They encounter famous villains like the Daleks and the Cybermen, as well as fellow Time Lord, the Master.

The original Doctor Who ran from 1963 to 1989 before it was cancelled by the then-new Head of Series at the BBC. An attempted relaunch in 1996 consisted of a half-American produced film starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor failed to produce anything further. The current era, NuWho, relaunched in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, is where I’ll be focusing, through the subsequent Doctors and their stories that have bolstered the show’s international presence to previously unprecedented levels.

Like most good quality sci-fi, Doctor Who’s appeal exists in its ability to go anywhere, tell stories about anything to an almost infinitesimal degree. From ancient Rome to the end of the universe, Doctor Who has done it, though these spectacles are often mirrored with a crucial focus on the human every day, the mundane lives of mundane people from all over the world are so often the beating heart of the show. Like any TV show that has existed over decades, it must adapt to its evolving audience to stay fresh and reflective of the world it’s in. Doctor Who’s original creators and writers figured this out early in its tenure and has been able to survive, more or less, from the ’60s to the 2020s. The secret? Regeneration. Despite the masses of alternative entertainment and decades of history, re-inventing itself every few years offers regular jumping-on points for new fans and for new staff on the show. It mutates, changes the roster of characters without issue, revamps classic monster designs, explores new adventures in new places, hires fresh talent behind the camera.

In 2010, along with the departure of David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor, Russell T. Davies stepped down as showrunner, replaced by Steven Moffat, who then departed years later with the regeneration of Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor into Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth, when the role transferred to Chris Chibnal, who leaves alongside Whittaker as the series approached the 60th anniversary, ready for the next era. Every regeneration, in front of and behind the camera, invites fans to discover ‘their’ Doctor, to fall in love with the show anew.

Audiences don’t just understand this cycle, most look forward to it. Doctor Who takes advantage of its frequent reinvention, with Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor being the first female, and Ncuti Gatwa’s casting as the first Black Doctor – aside from Jo Martin’s ‘Fugitive Doctor’, the first Black woman to play the Time Lord in a version set somewhere in the past, erased from the Doctor’s memory. The show grows to reflect the progressive sensibilities expected by the majority of modern audiences, and the diversity of the world, the universe, around us. Of course, there unfortunately exists a vocal minority who mourn the loss of white, male Doctors, even though you’d think twelve in a row was a pretty good run and a progressive, inclusive change would be welcome, but no fandom is perfect and Doctor Who’s audience is no exception.

Just as no fandom is perfect, neither are the humans in Doctor Who, which is why, time and time again, beneath the global presence and the intergalactic spectacle of the show itself, Doctor Who always brings its focus back to the people of Earth and takes joy in looking at the wonder of everyday life in all its beauty and mundanity.

Once you’ve stepped through those deep-blue TARDIS doors there is no going back, so a couple of disclaimers before we cross the threshold. This isn’t a ‘history of’, or a ‘I like Doctor Who because…’ polemic. In fact, I should probably be honest with you and say that in all truthfulness, despite what this book’s subtitle says, Doctor Who doesn’t really celebrate the mundane exactly