23 November marks the anniversary of the first broadcast of the BBC's Doctor Who, possibly the most thoroughly enjoyable television programme I have ever encountered.
Yes! You heard me.
I defy any person now living to name a superior.
It ran for twenty-six jolly old science-fictional-fantasy-ish-oid seasons, so it has something for just about everyone. Strange new worlds, interpersonal dynamics, coming-of-age angst, false gods, camp, silliness, men with beards, cuteness, intelligence, kiddie appeal, women in leather (if you're into that kind of thing), Nazis, John Cleese, a musical number set in the Old West, bad American accents, pacifism, mystery, enchantment, whimsy, anti-Thatcherite pro-gay allegory, just about the best villains ever, tea, Sylvester McCoy...
...And a good solid dose of reassurance. That's the best part, I think. Evil is beaten, again and again, by good-natured anti-establishment bohemians who abhor guns and the taking of life and are always kind to small animals, children, and the oppressed. It portrays an intrinsically moral universe in which truth, justice, equality, and tea come out on top. And every single sapient being in the universe has a British accent.
This year marks the fortieth anniversary of Doctor Who.
In honour of this, the BBC decided to do sod-all.
Except...
BBCi did commission this sort of cartoon thing, to webcast. They seem quite excited about it. Richard E. Grant is doing the voice of the Doctor; the firm that did Dangermouse is supplying the animation; Sir Derek Jacobi has a little bitty role as the Master. A chap called Paul Cornell, who wrote some very well-received Doctor Who novels for Virgin Publishing in the mid-Nineties, scripted it.
Being an incurable geek, I decided to watch the two parts available so far.
Unfortunately, it's a bit crap.
Sad, really.
There's this aggressively bad new version of the theme music...And the animation isn't really all that animated. Richard E. Grant seems to deliver all his lines through a mouth full of contempt; he's really abrasive to listen to. And the Doctor is drawn to be noticably ugly, for some reason. And the pacing's terrible. Being a mere webcast, after all, it is not all that lengthy. Everything's all squished together; there's no build-up, no time for any sense of mystery to develop, no time for real characterisation...
Just sort of...crap.
Oh well.
Let us all cross our fingers and hope very, very earnestly that the real honest-to-God live-action really really real television series will be good again when it comes back in 2005.
UPDATE (27 November): So I listened to the third part today. Still not very good, unfortunately. Richard E. Grant's delivery is still dreadful. Whimsical Doctory lines come out sounding horribly unconvincing. The bit with the Master was fun, though. Rather than face slow, painful, ultimate death, the Master chose to bung his mind in a robot body and become the Doctor's house-boy. I think they get up to wacky shenanigans.
Posted by aloysius at November 24, 2003 12:07 AM | TrackBack |