Doctor Who was fortunate in that its latest season
(and, I believe, the forthcoming Christmas/New Year special as well) already
completed filming before everything shut down. With the way it films, its
production wasn’t halted in the middle with the season already starting to air,
and its team wasn’t left in limbo trying to figure out if they can bank on
being able to resume any time in the reasonable-ish future or attempting to
finagle a passable ending to the season out of what they already have. But of
course, given just how long Who takes
to shoot each season, its anyone’s guess when we’ll finally be able to see
series 13 (writers, if you get to work on it now, think how much time you’ll
have to perfect it!)
And
yet, Doctor Who keeps giving us
offerings from lockdown. It began with the periodic rewatch parties that fans
around the world have been partaking in online. Revisiting old favorites like
“Rose” or “The Doctor’s Wife” would be fun enough as is, especially with actors
and creators joining in on the live tweeting. But beginning with Steven Moffat
for a “Day of the Doctor” rewatch, these events have also been accompanied by
new content. Russell T. Davies wrote a couple prose bits in the vein of
excerpts from “lost” Doctor Who
novels, and we’ve seen other shorts from Moffat, Paul Cornell, Neil Gaiman, and
Peter Harness. Among others, we’ve gotten to see the (brief) return of Arthur
Darvill as Rory and Ingrid Oliver as the Osgoods (one of whom is in low-key
quarantine Thirteen cosplay! Love it!)
Jodie
Whittaker has also been filming short messages for Twitter as the Thirteenth
Doctor, videoing in to advise us on how to deal with isolation. My kneejerk
reaction to the first one was, “I love that she apparently just has a
Thirteenth Doctor costume at home,” although I guess that was specifically
given to her for appearances and whatnot. These are all very nice and genuine,
a heartfelt way to look out for kids who are maybe upset or confused about what
we’re all dealing with right now. I have to say, though, Thirteen bears up
under quarantine a lot better than some of her predecessors might? Remember
Eleven in “The Power of Three”? He went stir-crazy after half an hour!
Another
nice offering has been a number of short stories put out on the BBC’s website,
Thirteenth Doctor stories written by past and present show writers. We got our
chance to see what Thirteen as written by Moffat is like, and I’ve really
enjoyed a couple of more contemplative pieces. “Press Play” by Peter McTighe
finds the Doctor alone and dealing with memories, when she gets a beautiful
gift from the past (like Moffat’s story, this one gets a bit meta, and I love
it.) And the wonderful Paul Cornell, who wrote “Father’s Day” and “Human
Nature” / “The Family of Blood,” penned the lovely “The Shadow Passes.” It
features the Doctor and her companions getting stuck in a lockdown on an alien
planet for several weeks, allowing for some nice reflections on quarantine and
demonstrating a gorgeous understanding of who Thirteen is.
The
most affecting of this recent material, no surprise, is from RTD, the master of
tears himself. Titled “Farewell, Sarah Jane,” it’s an audio short story bidding
goodbye to Sarah Jane in a lovely tribute to the late Elisabeth Sladen. It
features video appearances from several classic-series companions and The Sarah Jane Adventures’ Daniel
Anthony, Tommy Knight, and Anjli Mohindra, along with some fun Easter eggs in
the narration. I grinned as soon as Katy Manning’s face appeared, reprising her
role as Jo Grant, and by the time we were left with the trio (grown up now) and
Mr. Smith, I was full-on crying.
I
really appreciate Who doing this. Not
only is it nice to have new stuff to watch when so many people are stuck at
home, but it also just feels like a fitting thing for Doctor Who to do. At its core, the show is very much about
connection, and all the hope and love that comes with that, and to have current
and former writers/cast members reaching out their hand to us at this time just
feels right.
If,
at some point, we get a Zoom chat featuring multiple Doctors, my soul will be
so happy. Just putting that out into the universe.
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