Cult British Re-makes, part 1: the new Doctor Who

I'm a bit concerned that I seem to be writing negative, angry reviews and articles, which Knightfall celebrates great stuff. I think he is more healthy. But I've had a bad day and I want to rant!

On Saturday night I watched a double-bill of brand new versions of classic, cult British shows which I love: Episode 3 of the latest series of Doctor Who, and the very first episode of the curious new remake of The Prisoner. It was strange and fun to see two TV remakes one after another, but I really was disappointed by both of them.

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Newcomer Matt Smith plays the 11th Doctor, but he's just like the 10th. He overacts slightly less, and he's slightly younger, and he has a bow tie. Aside from that, he's identical. It annoys me how young and handsome the character has become. I preferred him as a strange old man, a wild eccentric, or at the very least a moody oddball. Ever since David Tennant (10th Doctor), he's been a cool, dashing, even sexy hero. And ever since Christopher Eccleston (9th Doctor and the first of the reinvented series) he's stuck to a pretty solid formula.

The formula is as follows-

The Doctor regenerates, to find he is younger and cooler than before. Immediately he meets / rescues an attractive but inexperienced girl from London who is either Rose Tyler or a half-assed imitation of Rose Tyler because Billie Piper wasn't available.
He spends a few episodes wooing her over to his adventurous, seemingly-carefree lifestyle while travelling between Britain's romantic past, the alien-invaded present and a dystopian (yet somehow contemporary) future-version of the country. He warns her that the life is dangerous, but she finds a new lease of life accompanying him.
And then the Daleks/Cybermen/Master/bloody Daleks again return even though he was sure he finished them off properly last time. He is distraught and terrified when he sees them again. Finally there is an epic conclusion, and the Doctor makes a serious face and shouts at the baddies. Not-Rose keeps him 'human' throughout this and he makes some jokes during the final confrontation to demonstrate this. They win. They also meet another character who has a spin-off series, and the Doctor and Bootleg Rose almost kiss a couple of times.

And this formula was AMAZING back when (fantastic) writer Russell T Davies invented it, and hired Christopher Eccleston to play the title role. It was new and daring. We had a great new Doctor, modern issues, a 'companion' who was rounded, relatable and interesting as well as being eye candy. Eccleston's serious face and shouty voice were genuinely intimidating.* If anything, the character was more believable when he suddenly became enraged. He was over 30. And the writing, acting and casting were magnificent. It was very different to previous versions of the show, but that was surprisingly not a bad thing.
Eccleston wisely quit after the first, perfect, self-contained series. The 9th Doctor's death at the end gave the show an excellent, bittersweet climax.

If you ever fancy watching some great British sci-fi, I highly recommend this series. I really love it.

The Doctor and his companion, as played by grown-up actors.

It's just, in 2005, this was an amazing programme. Now, five seasons later, not much is different about it... but it's become bad television. The acting is very poor, the plots are child-oriented, the Daleks (back again!) are painted in bright primary colours, and the leads are little more than rip-offs of the 10th Doctor and Rose.

I always felt that the David Tenant years were a watered-down, shallow, kid-friendly copy of the superb, succinct, Eccleston series. But they were still good fun. Now... they've taken it too far. It's soulless now.

Also, they buggered up the logo and theme tune.

And I wanted to say this publicly - about Saturday night's episode, 'Victory of the Daleks'...

That was the absolute worst depiction of Winston Churchill I've ever seen in my life. No really, the absolute worst. That actor, and whoever wrote the episode, should be ashamed of themselves.

-----Pictured: Churchill, bumbling around, making funny faces, siding with homicidal aliens, getting confused, chomping endless cigars to settle his nerves, trusting mysterious travellers, and blushing as he's outwitted by a pretty young woman who he makes privy to all his military strategy.

Like he always did.

If you watched Saturday's episode - and you remember the moment when the Doctor is reunited with the Daleks... and how he was confused, scared and energised by their reappearance... and how we kept getting shots from the Daleks' blue-tinted POV as he tried to out-think them...

Then check this out!

*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wztQfjx6gsg&feature=related

Now that's more like it!

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I'd like to spend even more time talking about The Prisoner and its remake, so I'll make this a two-part piece! The second part ought to be less negative, at least!

Be seeing you.