Are darkness and menace the way to save Doctor Who?
Doctor Who is not the show it once was. The show has often been accused of being too “woke” and “too politically correct”. In truth, of course, Doctor Who has always had diversity and inclusion in it. The main difference between 2005 and now, however, is that fans of serious sci-fi have been left wanting more. One reason for this is that a sense of darkness, tension, and malice have been thrown to the wind.
Seemingly gone are the days where the Weeping Angels would terrify you in abandoned houses or labyrinths. So too the days when a single Dalek could slaughter 200 soldiers and half a million would bring ‘Armageddon’ to the Earth. Or, when simple things such as scarecrows, shadows and water could invoke horror and nightmares and when even the Doctor’s actions could be called into question when he delivered a harsher than usual reckoning to the monstrous antagonists. All that with a powerful musical score that sold, and even sometimes stole, the scene.
This trend began in the dying days of Steven Moffatt’s tenure as showrunner, with a few notable exceptions. The trend seemed to solidify in Chris Chibnall’s time as showrunner. Under Chibnall many fans gave up on the show, as all sense of it being serious science-fiction, of any palpable tension and darkness were chucked in the bin. Hallmarks of what had made the show great, gone.
But then something strange happened. His episodes began to reverse this trend and return somewhat to the quality the show had had before. In his death throes as showrunner, a new trend emerged which showed a potential return to Doctor Who’s golden age. Tense fighting scenes came back and the darkness of the antagonists was more fully leaned into. The Daleks went from the easily defeated cameos they had become to the worst nightmare in the universe again, the Master reclaimed their title as an unhinged psychopath, and UNIT and the Cybermen locked horns in scenes akin to the Battle of Canary Wharf, which saw a three-way-war between Cybermen, Daleks, and humanity.
So, what happened? The darkness, the menace, and the malice. The appearance of the Sontaran’s in Series 13’s Flux story arc saw the brutal warrior race return as the narrow-minded barbarians adored in 2008. Gone was their appearance as a clumsy and dim-witted Victorian-age butler. The Master became a merciless savage again, similarly to how they were portrayed in 2007, as opposed to the redemption arc they took in 2017, when they tried to turn good. Seeing the Weeping Angels in pure horror mode in an isolated village setting, and the Daleks fighting each other to the death over racial purity helped to raise the stakes tenfold, something the show had sorely missed.
This was why I was somewhat disappointed with Russell T Davies’s work on the 60th Anniversary. Davies was the architect of Doctor Who in 2005, bringing a newfound terror and darkness but also a down to earth realism to the show, coupled with more modern, everyday situations that were expertly written into the plot. Yet the plots of the specials were resolved too quickly, jumping from a quick introduction to the big event, before spending too long on the happy ending. Worse still, they failed to fully lean into the potential each antagonist had. This trend continued into his first full series as returning showrunner.
To remedy this, there are plenty of extremely powerful villains who could make a return to Doctor Who. First and foremost: the Toymaker. This immortal and omnipotent being is best known for luring sentient beings into his realm and challenging them to games. Upon their loss, he turns them into toys whilst keeping them alive and conscious. The Weeping Angels could also make a comeback. These ultra-fast, blink-and-miss-them creatures exist as statues only for as long as they’re observed. If they get you, at best they’ll displace you in time and at worst they’ll snap your neck. These are two powerful antagonists who raise the stakes powerfully and give the show an element of horror. Used properly, they are the perfect villains for sci-fi and exactly what the show needs to put Doctor Who back on its former thrilling path. Given their limited use compared to the Daleks and the Cybermen, they are perfect for keeping the stories fresh as well.
There are many aspects to what made the golden age of Doctor Who so great but the darkness, tension and malice of the antagonists was number one. The show needs to properly utilise all its sci-fi potential; space battles, evil entities and merciless maniacs. Without these elements, the show falters and fails. We’ve seen this already. But the potential is there. We’ve seen the show turn this around before, we’ve seen the writers get it right. The show is simply not using the abilities it has. My favourite show is still in there but to bring it out, Russell T Davies needs to dial up the darkness, turn up the tension and max out the menace. Leave us fans of sci-fi gasping for breath and wanting more.
Words by James Jobson