This month saw the return of Doctor Who, the new generation now into its seventh season and so far it is an interesting one. Although the majority of the stories have had a bit of a goofy angle, under all of the poppy color and humorous quips lies a real emotional arc and I cannot wait to see where it leads. With the future of Doctor Who in mind I would like to share with you my wish list, my dreams for the continuing years of the show. These are things I have wanted for quite some time, and if even a few of them happen I would be a very happy Whovian.
- Male Companion: Okay, so I know that one of the reasons the show is so successful with younger audiences is because we always get a hot new female companion who adds a splash of sexual tension to the show but please can we stop? I enjoyed the Donna years because we didn’t have that “will they? won’t they?” Moonlighting problem, it was more of a buddy show, but can we take it a step further? Give us a male companion again, it worked in the old days of the Doctor, and it worked with Captain Jack and even Mickey and Rory, but there was always the woman who took the lead. If they are stuck on the idea of sexual tension and a hot new companion, fine, but give it some more complexity and make them a man! My dream would be to have someone like Russel Tovey return and join him.
- Female Doctor: I love Matt Smith, I hope he sticks around for a while, but we all know that we don’t get to keep our Doctor forever, the heartbreak is bound to happen at some point, so why not take a leap and change genders. There is no reason the show couldn’t work with a female doctor, and honestly I see no reason why they haven’t done it before. This isn’t a feminism thing but just a fun new way to breathe life into the series, imagine the complexity of a female Doctor trying to deal with all of those years being male. Don’t sex her up, don’t make her into a slut, she will still be the Doctor, I believe the character could transcend gender, and race for that matter. My dream, which will never happen, is to have someone like Helen Mirren take on the role.
- Elderly Doctor: When Doctor Who began way back in 1963 the character of the Doctor was played by the magnificent William Hartnell who gave us a Doctor that actually scared us a little. I can see where the show is going, as each year the Doctor gets progressively younger looking while getting older, but I would love to see them go back to an old crotchety Doctor. Again, I know that there would be major issues with this, mostly with keeping the younger viewers but if it worked before why not again? My dream would be to have Anthony Hopkins play the Doctor.
- Some Questions Answered: I get it, the show lives on suspense and the unanswered but can we please have some concrete facts about the Doctor, I promise we won’t run away. Sure, last season we got the big answer about River Song, how she was so important back in David Tennant’s days, but it really told us nothing of the Doctor’s past. What is his name? What exactly happened in the Dalek war? There is so much to explore and I am starting to feel a little cheated by the ever-growing string of unanswered questions. My dream would be to know the Doctor’s real name.
- Get Off Of Earth: Again, I get it, to gain the audience needed to reboot the show we needed to spend a great deal of time on Earth, but can we stop now please? We get maybe a couple of episodes a season that involve other worlds, and often we don’t even get to see them, we are stuck in a spaceship or some other craft. I appreciate that the show has fun twisting up history, making historical events revolve around the Doctor in some way, but I would also like to explore the other. Can we see other species that aren’t humanoid? Other planets that aren’t like our own? I have felt this way from the start, when the show came back with Eccleston, I just got sick of seeing everything revolve around the companion on Earth. I am not saying I haven’t enjoyed those episodes, because often they are brilliant, but let’s step outside and feel the air of another planet please. My dream would be to visit a planet that is hostile in every way, so that the humans cannot survive the atmosphere, just something terrifying and preferably red. No reason why.
- More Historical Figures: Okay, I know, in the last one I said no more Earth, well we can do that and this too! Some of my favorite episodes, some of the most emotionally charged and well written ones, have revolved around a historical figure of some kind. If we could get more episodes like “Vincent and the Doctor” I would be a very happy Whovian. For the longest time I have had one specific person in mind who I really wanted to Doctor to meet, and they could really take it to a dark place. I want to see him with Edgar Allen Poe. I know we don’t get to deal with a lot of American figures on the show, but if they are going to pick one American author to interact with Poe would be my top choice. I love when I get to use my history degree while watching the show, dig into my brain and try to remember all of the important events that the Doctor is messing around with and how they may affect the future of the show. When we got to see the burning of Pompei it was just a great concept, not one of my favorite episodes sure, but the idea that he was instrumental in that horrible tragic event added something to the show. My dream would be to have an episode revolve around Edgar Allen Poe’s stories, a nice dark horror episode.
- More, more more: Just don’t stop making well written episodes, don’t stop making them at all. Keep it going. Keep bringing in writers like Gaiman and Whithouse, new talent who can add more to the show and give it a new breath of life. Bring in more special guest actors who are a wink to the audience. Just more please
