The Ninth Doctor has a complex backstory. The first version was played by Rowan Atkinson on Steven Moffat's charity spoof The Curse of Fatal Death (and was actually rather good!). Previously on "Place", I've talked about the Richard E. Grant incarnation of Dr. Who, who was, briefly, the official ninth version on BBCi. Subsequently, he was supplanted in short order by Russell T. Davies' hugely successful tv revival.
Of course, we all know that Christopher Eccleston announced he was quitting around the broadcast of the second episode in 2005. That leaves us with a rather thin legacy: 13 episodes, six BBC books, an annual and The Ninth Doctor Collected Comics: a 100-page DWM reprint special, published in 2006 and which I just bought on ebay.
The majority of the stories are by tv writers: Gareth Roberts introduces Number Nine with an overlong Austin Powers pastiche, The Love Invasion; he also closes the Ninth Doctor's incumbency with A Groatsworth of Wit, a wittier and more complex first draft of his Shakespeare Code. There are two more Trad entries: the overtly cartoony Art Attack and Mr. Nobody. Dalek's Rob Shearman supplies a substantial and unsettling Martian horror story The Cruel Sea. In this nightmarish adventure, we witness an alternative Rose ageing through a life of drudgery and the surreal image of a blood-spattered bride emerging from a chrome tap.
The artwork on almost all the stories is by Mike Collins who wrote and pencilled the classy Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt series for DC in the very early 90s (I would still love to know more about the Justice League UK that Collins teased in the first issue editorial!).Collins struggles to capture Eccleston at first but it's a slick and glossy strip under his pen.
While I would, of course, give Eccleston kudos unreservedly for revitalising Dr. Who and making it a colossal hit, I have never completely bought him as the Doctor. The "damaged war veteran finally redeemed by the shopgirl" seemed informed by rather portentous philosophising and analysis. My experience of acting was that it's best to listen to the other people; that response is what makes it true. The painstaking psychological approach was tiresomely familiar from being around so many actors in the Nineties and Noughties: seventy per cent Method psychobabble and thirty per cent bullshit Machismo. After all, the rallying cry of my contemporaries who went to drama school was "No poofs in our year" (I was on tour with some of them after they graduated and they were wrong on that score.)
Ultimately, for me, the "chippy Northerner" was too radical a departure from the Gentleman Amateur model. I also feel Doctor Number Nine had to really work for the lightness of touch and exuberance of Doctor Number Eight (although Eccleston excelled at guilt and fury). The recent Big Finish release The Witch from the Well is the second story in this year's winter trilogy of Eighth Doctor Adventures; Paul McGann is a magnetic presence on this disc.
After The Silver Turk, however, I found this story convoluted and, while as dark as its predecessor in tone, it was often bleak and downbeat: think Hammer's Revenge of Frankenstein followed by Michael Reeves' Witchfinder General. There's too much of those "timey-wimey" shenanigans for my liking. I also felt the story was very reminscent of two BBC books, The Witch Hunters and, surprisingly, Spiral Scratch; and explored therein more effectively, for my money. However, there are strong performanaces from Serena Evans and Simon (Kinda) Rouse. Julie Cox as Mary Shelley is, again, a spirited companion but one separated from her Doctor a little too early in their travels, I felt. This story might have been more memorable as a Pure Historical; the villainous alien siblings seem more spiteful than malevolent- but it's quite well-written, just a little too "twisty-turny" for me.
Coming soon: Song for Ten; the Ghost of Xmas Presents; and The Bird Who Blitzed The Batman.
All images are presumed copyright of their respective owner and are used here for purposes of comment and nostalgia.
No comments:
Post a Comment