Eight is
the reason I can never hate the TV movie.
Even though goodness knows it’s no prize, without it, he wouldn’t
exist. And for that, I’ll always have an
appreciation for it. Do I wish he
could’ve had a better televised adventure?
Of course. I have yet to get too far
into his novels or audiobooks, though I’ve read his comics from both the old Doctor Who Magazine days and the newer
ones from Titan. But for me, even with
the TV movie’s questionable quality, it’s still the best place to get my Eighth
Doctor fix.
To be
fair, things do start off a little shaky, what with the whole morgue-freezer
regeneration, the intercuts with Frankenstein,
and the cheesy “Who am I?!?” But once he
gets going, Eight is nothing but delightful.
He’s such an exuberant, wholehearted presence – watching him, you really
do get the sense that he keeps one of his hearts in each pocket so he can
regularly take them out and show them to whoever he meets, whether they ask or
not. I’ve described him before as
romantic, and while that is partly due to the nature of his dynamic with Grace,
I don’t mean it just like that. I mean
in the way his MO seems to be to sweep people up, like he’s living this magic
life and anyone who comes into contact with him for a few moments can touch it;
that’s the vibe he gives off. Granted,
virtually all Doctors exude that air of wonder and adventure trailing after
them, but Eight is the only one who feels like he probably walks around
accompanied by a full orchestral soundtrack to highlight the beauty of life
seen through his eyes.
It comes
through in big and small moments alike.
Whether he’s delighted by a coincidence (realizing Grace is the same doctor
who operated on him as Seven,) joyous in universe-saving victory (defeating the
movie’s Big Bad,) or just ecstatic at how well Grace’s ex-boyfriend’s shoes fit
him (don’t ask – just watch how happy he is and try not to grin like a fool,)
his lust for life is infectious. He’s a
bit of a romantic hero and the tiniest hint of a swashbuckler, but he’s also
the same kooky, easily-distracted genius Whovians know and love, and I’d wager
he was unlike any leading man who’d ever appeared on FOX before when the TV
movie was released in 1996. From
reminiscing about the famous painters he’s met to creating a distraction using
jelly babies, he’s every inch the Doctors who came before him even as his brief
tenure marks the beginning of something new for the series (there would have
never been the Doctor and Rose, not in the way we saw them, without the Doctor
and Grace.)
Also, I
have to credit the TV movie for what is possibly one of the single most Doctory
actions of all time. When the Doctor and
Grace are desperately trying to get somewhere and find their way blocked by an
inconvenient police officer, the Doctor, after using the aforementioned jelly
babies as a bit of misdirection, swipes the officer’s gun and then takes himself hostage, threatening to
shoot himself if the officer doesn’t let them pass. In recent years, there have been all sorts of
grand statements about how the Doctor doesn’t carry guns and always tries to
avoid violence, but I don’t know if that philosophy has ever been illustrated
as succinctly as it is in that moment.
Eight, when forcing someone’s hand, threatens violence only against
himself, depending on the officer’s professional and moral obligation to
protect others from harm. It’s a
gorgeous little scene, and every time I see it, I’m a bit startled all over
again by just how well it encapsulates so much about the Doctor.
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