Day 733: The Family of Blood

One of the major differences between the novel and television versions of Human Nature is the ending. For the novel, the villains are more or less killed, while in the television version, the villains are given the far worse fate of being allowed to live. Immortality has long been viewed as a curse in Doctor Who, with examples such as the fate of Borusa in The Five Doctors and the development of the character of Ashildr in Capaldi's second series immediately springing to mind. The Family of Blood, however, is the first story to really deal with it as a horrific and harsh punishment.

We see The Family of Blood being given immortality, but sentenced to withstand different punishments that effectively render them trapped for all eternity. It's interesting to note, as well, that this is akin to the Doctor killing them, and yet it doesn't feel out of character, for whatever reason. Maybe it's because the act of killing would be too brutal, too much of a denial of their lives. It could also be due to the fact that the Doctor is giving them what they wanted, immortality, making him seem like a kind punisher, albeit with a cruel streak in his heart.

It could also be due to the fact that, as an audience, it's easy to see that they deserved it. The Family of Blood are frequently seen killing innocents and crossing various lines that make them too big a threat to let go. And this is followed up by Tennant's acting through the scene, which marks one of the few scenes he performs as the Doctor in this episode. He is quiet and serious, staring into the camera like an angry god, which feels quietly terrifying, but only for those who feel his wrath. It's also followed up by the fact that, for the rest of the Doctor's scenes, he comes across as likeable, dropping techno-babble and joking with Martha and one of the young schoolboys. The contrast between the two moods is extraordinary and slightly frightening, and shows the full range of Tennant's Doctor. And we'll explore that range further as his tenure continues. Tomorrow, however, we'll look at a story where he doesn't make too much of an appearance at all...

Day 732: Human Nature

Human Nature has an interesting story about its conception. It was first written by Paul Cornell in 1995, where it was published as a Doctor Who New Adventure novel. The concept was that the Doctor, keen to empathise with humans, turns himself into a human known as John Smith, setting into motion a series of beautiful and tragic events as the Doctor experiences all that humanity has to offer. It is a very good novel, and I have a very fond memory of reading it on a train journey to Sydney whilst on break from University. Now, it wasn't just admired by me, it was admired by an awful lot of people, including Russell T Davies, who brought Cornell back to Series 3 with the intention of having him adapt Human Nature for the television series.

There are some substantial differences between the two Human Natures, ranging from the villains, the cutting of various sub-plots and, of course, the changing of Doctor from Sylvester McCoy to David Tennant (and companion from Bernice Summerfield to Martha Jones). That said, the key things still remain the same. The Doctor still becomes human. He is still hunted for his Time Lord abilities. He still falls in love. The story is still in the shadow of the oncoming Great War, which gives some excellent moments as we realise that the schoolboys, while not necessarily being trained to become soldiers, are going to end up that way anyway. But there's still one difference that I think is rather interesting between the two.

The intention of the Doctor in the original story was, as I mentioned previously, to empathise with humans. In the television version, however, the Doctor is forced into it out of necessity in order to escape from the Family of Blood. This changes the focus of the story, in my opinion. For the novel version, it is essentially a story about the Doctor trying to be human, but unfortunately having to deal with an alien menace that forces him to give up his life as John Smith. For the television version, on the other hand, the story is about the Doctor avoiding an alien menace by becoming human, making the attack by the Family of Blood more inevitable as part of how events would eventually unfurl. It also means that John Smith, in the television version, is nothing more than a by-product, a man who was created out of necessity rather than want. It makes his final scenes feel slightly more tragic, as he begs for his own life, with Martha and the implied Doctor not even having considered that John's life might come into play.

But that's all looking forward to the next episode. But I suppose it's natural to look forward, after all, it's Human Nature.

Day 704: Father's Day

This story is, in many ways, a further contemplation on the events of The Long Game. Once again, we get a companion (this time it's Rose) trying to change history, and once again, we see the Doctor's rage at this fact. But there's enough to differentiate it from The Long Game to make it unique, as well as allowing us to sympathise with Rose and give what is possibly a better story.

For a start, Rose's intentions are honourable. Whilst there is the point to be made that she wishes to use time travel for strictly her own benefit, she's doing this by saving her father from dying in a hit and run accident. It's certainly more morally just than taking data from the future back to the present day, because it's all about saving a life rather than just improving one. Indeed, as Rose points out, the Doctor saves lives all throughout history, and that's alright, but the Doctor's response is that he's allowed to because he understands how to go about it and in what circumstances he can and can't save people (and indeed, this will be explored at length through the rest of the series, particularly in The Fires of Pompeii and The Waters of Mars). But the point is that we can see that Rose is trying to do a good thing, and so we can sympathise with her.

That said, the consequences are far more visible this time around. Creatures from the Time Vortex come through to the Earth, killing the entire human race in an effort to set time back in progress. It's a shocking image to see, and a handy reminder of the stakes of the story, as we get the ever-present visual of seeing them swirl around the church where the Doctor, Rose and a group of others are gathered in hiding. With all of this, one would expect the Doctor to be cruel to Rose, but he forgives her. He can understand where she's coming from, and he feels her pain, so he allows her to apologise and indeed, jokes about it immediately beforehand with a baby version of Rose.

But as events reach their inevitable conclusion, Rose's father goes out and decides to die, making events go back to the way they were. But they didn't quite go back to normal, because history was subtly changed. The hit and run accident, became more of a simple accident, with the driver staying around to accept the blame and help where he could. And, perhaps most importantly of all, Rose stayed with her father as he died. It's not an earth-shattering moment of changing history, but it's a good one, and it improves the world in a far better way than what Adam did in The Long Game. It all just goes as further evidence to show that Rose is one of the best companions to be on screen ever.