1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000 Hi, I'm Chip Sudderth and welcome to episode 480 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:05,920 of the Two-minute Time Lord podcast, 3 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:08,850 concentrated commentary on the world of Doctor 4 00:00:08,850 --> 00:00:13,600 Who, newly returned to Disney+. 5 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:23,770 Doctor Who is not science fiction. Now maybe it 6 00:00:23,770 --> 00:00:25,840 started out that way. Maybe in 7 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,890 1963 it used a science fiction framework to tell 8 00:00:28,890 --> 00:00:32,160 historical stories and teach science facts. Maybe 9 00:00:32,160 --> 00:00:35,360 Hammer Horror was layered onto science fiction. 10 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,400 Maybe Bidmeadian technobabble brought science 11 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,300 fiction back to the foreground in the 80s. Now 12 00:00:41,300 --> 00:00:43,760 you had demons and you had vampires and maybe 13 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,700 the Doctor was Merlin himself, but it always came 14 00:00:46,700 --> 00:00:50,960 back to science fiction. But this is the year of 15 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,870 our Lord 2024 and Russell T Davies is here to 16 00:00:54,870 --> 00:00:58,260 tell you that Doctor Who is absolutely not 17 00:00:58,260 --> 00:00:58,960 science 18 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:02,020 fiction. I'm going to take some time in a few 19 00:01:02,020 --> 00:01:05,280 days to give each individual episode that premiered 20 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:05,440 on 21 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,590 Friday its own due, and truth be told, there's a 22 00:01:08,590 --> 00:01:12,080 lot to unpack and consider. For those of us of 23 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:16,300 a certain age, those of us with certain hang-ups, 24 00:01:16,300 --> 00:01:19,520 those of us who get nervous about karaoke and are 25 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:22,310 too embarrassed to hit the dance floor, the first 26 00:01:22,310 --> 00:01:24,960 two episodes of Doctor Who Series One can be 27 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:28,850 off-putting. It's so big, so campy, so metafictional, 28 00:01:28,850 --> 00:01:31,600 and why in the hell are these characters breaking 29 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:35,250 the fourth wall? But I think that's the point. 30 00:01:35,250 --> 00:01:38,480 You see, in addition to the clear creative 31 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:41,470 irrepressibility of RTD, and I mean come on he'll 32 00:01:41,470 --> 00:01:44,400 tell you he has an ego too, there's another 33 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:44,800 reason 34 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:48,230 that he pulled out all the stops (music reference!) 35 00:01:48,230 --> 00:01:50,880 in "Space Babies" and "The Devil's Chord."" 36 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:54,990 I think it's because he had to. There's a Disney 37 00:01:54,990 --> 00:01:57,680 connection here, and oh boy have my thoughts 38 00:01:57,680 --> 00:01:57,920 about 39 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:00,700 Disney changed in the last couple of months. More 40 00:02:00,700 --> 00:02:03,120 to come on that as well. Doctor Who is being 41 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:06,770 reintroduced after having gone commercially fallow 42 00:02:06,770 --> 00:02:09,920 in recent years, its buzz having decreased as we 43 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:12,690 got further away from David Tennant and Matt 44 00:02:12,690 --> 00:02:15,920 Smith. Doctor Who still had its eccentricities, 45 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:18,560 think about Santa Claus, actual superheroes, and 46 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:21,360 dancing Rasputins, but folks could be forgiven 47 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,130 for thinking that Doctor Who is, at its core, 48 00:02:24,130 --> 00:02:27,120 basic science fiction, time-traveling Star Trek 49 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:30,560 with a low budget. And that is a trap, because 50 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,920 even with Disney money, Doctor Who will never be 51 00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:38,150 a TV show like Star Trek Discovery or Obi-Wan Kenobi, 52 00:02:38,150 --> 00:02:41,360 and if Disney+ viewers new to Doctor Who 53 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:44,650 go into it not expecting an ALL-AGES show 54 00:02:44,650 --> 00:02:48,380 touching on MULTIPLE genres with a history of 55 00:02:48,380 --> 00:02:49,040 SILLINESS, 56 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:53,140 then eventually they may get disappointed, or 57 00:02:53,140 --> 00:02:55,600 even feel betrayed when they realize that the 58 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,130 show they're watching is not the show they're 59 00:02:59,130 --> 00:03:02,080 seeing. So between "Space Babies," and come on you 60 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:04,390 really need to make a drinking game for whenever 61 00:03:04,390 --> 00:03:06,800 the Doctor says "space babies," sorry where was I? 62 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:10,230 Between literal space babies, fart-propelled 63 00:03:10,230 --> 00:03:14,080 spaceships, snot monsters, homicidal music gods, 64 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:17,620 unambiguous political commentary, and an honest-to-god 65 00:03:17,620 --> 00:03:18,960 closing dance number, 66 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:24,180 RTD has done viewers a favor. He's established, 67 00:03:24,180 --> 00:03:26,320 even more so than in the goblin-filled "The Church 68 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:30,380 on Ruby Road", that his Doctor Who is not safe 69 00:03:30,380 --> 00:03:34,320 television. It's avant-garde for a younger 70 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:38,050 audience. Metaphors come alive. Identities become 71 00:03:38,050 --> 00:03:40,800 fluid. Characters talk and wink at you. 72 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:45,560 And nothing follows hard science fictional rules. 73 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:47,360 (Not that the show ever really did.) 74 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:50,600 Over the next two podcasts, we'll talk more about 75 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,160 whether these individual stories actually held up. 76 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,640 They deserve more processing time. But this is 77 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:03,360 absolutely the most gutsy, unapologetic way to 78 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,170 start a series that I could have imagined. It's 79 00:04:07,170 --> 00:04:10,400 here. It's Doctor Who. Get used to it. 80 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:16,120 Thanks for listening to the Two-minute Time Lord 81 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,120 podcast. I have more episodes 82 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:25,530 from years ago up to the present at twominutetimelord.com. 83 00:04:25,530 --> 00:04:26,720 You can find me on 84 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:31,100 Mastodon at ThatChipGuy at Zeppelin.Flights. And 85 00:04:31,100 --> 00:04:34,400 I'm on BlueSky. Just look for ThatChipFellow. 86 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:41,360 Thanks. Talk to you in a couple of days.