Doctor Who a pleasure to watch
- Publication: Regina Leader-Post
- Date: 2007-06-18
- Author: Alex Strachan
- Page: B4
- Language: English
Doctor Who, Russell T. Davies's imaginative reinvention of the British cult TV sci-fl classic, returns fora third season with a tongue-ineheek dash of whimsy called 'Smith and Jones"
The title is a joke, which I won't spoil here. Suffice it to say that the punchline at the end may not be laugh out-loud funny exactly, but it's good for a smile —and not only for those viewers old enough to remember the 70's camp TV western Alias Smith and Jones.
No matter how big the new Doctor Who becomes in its home—country — and, with an average weekly audience of eight million viewers across the U.K., It's very big indeed —it's not about to take itself too seriously.
When Doctor Who fans last saw their hero, the timelord with a taste for natty clothes (David Tennant) was still recovering from the loss of his most recent companion. Rose (Billie Piper).
A new companion makes her debut tonight, Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), in a story about an elderly woman who sucks the blood out of hospital patients at the Royal London Hospital. One day, the entire hospital is transported— doctors, bloodied patients, bad food and all —to the moon, where it's invaded by aliens with giant rhino heads and boulder-sized space helmets. Say what you will about Doctor Who, it's rarely dull.
Davies, last year's winner of the British Academy of Film & Television's Dennis Potter Award—the organization's equivalent of a lifetime achievement award—created the original Queer As Folk. Silly sci-fi isn't usually his scene, in other words. Beneath its polished, shiny exterior, Doctor Who has some cutting things to say about diversity, friendship, tolerance and, in tonight's episode, the state of Britain's National Health Service.
It's that deft balance between lighthearted fun—the show isn't so scary that the whole family can't watch together—and buried social messages that makes Doctor Who such a pleasure.
Tennant and Agyeman are obviously having a blast play-acting their parts. The real wonder, though, is that it's a blast to watch. as well. Who knew?
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- APA 6th ed.: Strachan, Alex (2007-06-18). Doctor Who a pleasure to watch. Regina Leader-Post p. B4.
- MLA 7th ed.: Strachan, Alex. "Doctor Who a pleasure to watch." Regina Leader-Post [add city] 2007-06-18, B4. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Strachan, Alex. "Doctor Who a pleasure to watch." Regina Leader-Post, edition, sec., 2007-06-18
- Turabian: Strachan, Alex. "Doctor Who a pleasure to watch." Regina Leader-Post, 2007-06-18, section, B4 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Doctor Who a pleasure to watch | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_a_pleasure_to_watch | work=Regina Leader-Post | pages=B4 | date=2007-06-18 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=22 December 2024 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Doctor Who a pleasure to watch | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_Who_a_pleasure_to_watch | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=22 December 2024}}</ref>
