So, now that he's had some time to settle into the role, it's worth discussing what the initial impressions of the Fifth Doctor are like. He's a lot less eccentric than his predecessor, which comes as a breath of fresh air, and helps to distinguish him in the role. He's also a lot calmer, taking various revelations in the plot in his stride, approaching them logically and without too much anger. Take, for instance, when he discovers that Adric has been missing for the entire serial, by virtue of being captured by the Master. He finds Nyssa and Tegan squabbling over this fact, and although he is still somewhat distressed by this news, he takes it calmly and attempts to be the voice of reason between the two, making the character more likeable and setting himself apart from Baker's Doctor, who would have been slightly more liable to emotion upon the discovery of the capture of one of his companions.
Another element that we can see in Davison's Doctor is in how energetic he is. He spends much of the last part of this story on his feet, running about from place to place. Even in conversations, he's still moving, rummaging his hands through his trouser pockets as he talks with various people. It complements itself well with his appearance, being full of youthful vigour that speaks of a young energy at the heart of this new and renewed Doctor.
The heart of this Doctor, though, is the fact that he's a hero, or perhaps to use a phrase used in the most recent series of Doctor Who, a good man. He's not the action hero that Pertwee was, nor the eccentric oddball of Baker, the grumpy but charming man of Hartnell or the cosmic hobo of Troughton. He's more of a romantic hero, existing to be a simple good man who goes out into the Universe to explore and go on an adventure. It's a more relaxed take on the Doctor than his predecessors, but it's one that I look forward to exploring, as the Fifth Doctor's era begins.
No comments:
Post a Comment