There’s
just something about Wilf. With Sylvia
around, Donna clearly needed some goodness in her life before she joined the
Doctor, and Wilf is just the ticket. The
character adds to the humor, warmth, and sense of wonder in series 4, and
although my feelings about “The End of Time” are mixed at best, I am glad that
Wilf got a shot in an adventure of his own (a few Wilf-related spoilers.)
We
don’t meet Wilf for the first time in “Partners in Crime.” He makes his initial appearance before that
in the Christmas special, in which he sells newspapers and shakes his fist at
the sky, warning all “them aliens” not to attack London a third Christmas in a
row. There’s nothing in that episode to
indicate he has any connection with Donna, but when “Partners in Crime” rolls
around and Donna goes “up the hill” to see her grandpa and his telescope,
there’s that little news vendor again.
That first scene with him and Donna is enough to make me love him,
because I want all the best for Donna and it’s clear that they have a lovely
relationship. As Sylvia pessimistically
critiques her daughter and father in equal measure, Donna and Wilf are both
dreamers in their own way, and Donna is even able to speak to him – albeit
obliquely – about her previous encounter with the Doctor. When Donna does find the Doctor again, I love that she has him fly the TARDIS
by Wilf’s star-gazing spot before taking off, letting him in on the fact that
she’s leaving as well as giving him a sight for the ages.
Like
the best “companion’s family” characters, Wilf worries for Donna’s safety, but
he ultimately knows that she shouldn’t trade the incredible adventure she’s
having for a more secure life. He stands
up for Donna when Sylvia finds out about the Doctor, and even as he frets over
her when things hit the fan, alien-wise, in London, he encourages her to get
out there and do what she can to help.
And Wilf doesn’t just talk the talk:
during the “stolen Earth” incident at the end of series 4, he takes to
the streets with a paintball gun, planning to shoot the Daleks in the eyestalks
and blind them (that is such a Doctor Who thing to do – I love it.)
Like I
said, my overall feelings about “The End of Time” aside, I love that Wilf gets
to be an actual companion. Like any
other companion, his reactions to the big alien goings-on range from
flabbergasted (calling the Vinvocci “cactus” people) to horrified (watching the
Master subsume the human race) to awed (looking down on the Earth from his
vantage point on the Vinvocci ship.)
Unfortunately, he doesn’t get too many big moments as a companion. His most hands-on scene is probably the one
where he uses the Vinvocci’s asteroid lasers to shoot the missiles the Master
launches at them, and before the actual companioning starts, he does an impressive
bit of sleuthing to track down the Doctor with the aid of the “Silver Cloak,”
his pensioner friends with their ears to the ground. Aside from that, his larger purpose as a
companion is to be someone the Doctor can have weighty conversations with. Not that this is always a good thing, since
Ten is rapidly approaching critical angst mass within the first fifteen minutes
of this story and throwing in a teary Wilf isn’t playing fair, so some of this
can be a bit much. Other scenes between
them, however, are really lovely. It’s
to see the Doctor relating to an old man as
an old man, and because Wilf has been connected to the Doctor through Donna but
has never traveled with the Doctor himself, he’s as just about the right level
of familiarity: close enough to be able
to get what’s going on with the Doctor, but still removed enough that he can
get real when he needs to.
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