This year marks the 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who. When looking back at its history then, the Wilderness years and how the show managed to modernise and come back is an important discussion. A lot of things can be attributed to the show’s success; the mind of Russell T Davies, the grounded nature of the series, and the focus on family drama was certainly integral. The Time War however I think was more important in creating the success of Doctor Who than most fans think, the whole shape of the series surrounded it, and the series might have been missing something without it.
I think the decision of the Time War itself came from a few different things. The mystery of the Doctor was a core component of Doctor Who at its inception with William Hartnell, it made him a greatly compelling and strongly mysterious character as you didn’t know who the Doctor was or where he came from. As the Time Lords were introduced a lot of aspects of this mystery were unfortunately slowly stripped away as Time Lord society got more fleshed out. They started in the War Games as this fantastically mysterious force with immense power that was to be feared. However, over time they became more and more like total buffoons and embarrassing bumbling politicians. Visiting Gallifrey became more tiresome and a chore, which took away more from the Doctor as a character than it added to him.
I think the Sylvester McCoy years were fairly successful in adding some mystery back into the Doctor as a character, but I think the Russell T Davies era with the concept of the Time War is the best success of revitalising the Doctor’s mystery since the Hartnell days. I think the truth of the matter is that most eras tend to try and add mystery to the Doctor by adding something to their origins. Yet most of the time with the Doctor being Half Human, the Hybrid, and the Timeless Child, it ends up detracting from the Doctor and reducing the mystery the more details are added to the backstory.
The Time War expertly leaves the past of the Doctor before they left Gallifrey alone, which is very wise. It simply uses a new event to inject more mystery into the Doctor, making room for newer ideas with more to explore. It also creates something more relevant to the Doctor in their current adventures which is far more effective. Gaps in the timeline of the Doctor with things we don’t know about them presents compelling mysteries for the audience to be intrigued by, which is similar to the mystery at the start of the show. The story of the Vault in Series 10 similarly worked because of this. It brings up interesting questions regarding the Doctor's morality and trustworthiness by presenting them in a fitting new mould, rather than bringing everything back to the same time period of their life on Gallifrey along with the same questions. New questions retain the Doctor's mystery but redesign it, and I like that.
With the show having been away for some time then it also made a great amount of sense to acknowledge the time away. Series 1 with Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor deals excellently with what the Doctor has become and what he has transformed into, away from our TV screens, in a powerfully self-aware way. It means the Doctor is a fresh and mysterious character for a new audience in the way Hartnell’s First Doctor was. Even for the audience who already know the show and the character, the Ninth Doctor is also this mysterious and unknown figure. Since we last saw the Doctor, he has had experiences which have scarred and broken him as a person, and it creates a strong impact on the show. With Eccleston’s Doctor it creates this theme of shame on his place as the Doctor with things having changed. The arc is a good reflection of the modern show and character, dealing with the overwhelming legacy of the classic series and the weight it holds on the modern show in an honest way which works well. It works within the fiction but has a good overarching self-aware meaning to it also.
The Ninth Doctor has one of the most clear and well-told arcs in all of Doctor Who because it’s so simple and well developed, and it’s all due to the impact of the Time War on the Doctor. I think the key to the Time War is that it is all ambiguous, the details are all in the shadows with very vague mentions and stories. It’s incredibly powerful to leave the Time War in purely the heads of the viewer in their imagination and to create it through the impact of reputation. It leaves this intense imprint upon every viewer and yet only gives you breadcrumbs and very little information. That being said, it still gives you enough to paint a picture in your head and a good sense of history. The mystery of the Time War and the role of the Doctor in it is not a mystery box to be unveiled, and that’s not how it’s framed but more based in character, which is wise. Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor is a compellingly bitter and ruthless man torn apart by war. You have a greatly sympathetic figure dealing with PTSD and a loss of identity as a man of peace, and I love the way the series explores how the war has shaped him as he feels defined by anger and rage.
I love the way aspects of the war are sprinkled in with mere mentions of it which add intrigue across Rose and the End of the World. The revelation in the End of the World as the Doctor comes clean about the war and the fate of his home world works well as it is deeply cathartic for the Doctor as he begins to mend wounds and deal with the guilt of his past. You see how the death of the Time Lords leaves a great burden and responsibility on his shoulders in Father’s Day and I adore the way the story deals with his place in their absence. You can see a very human and sympathetic side to the Ninth Doctor as someone who wants a simpler and quiet life that’s been denied to him, due to the fate of the Time Lords and the horrid nature of the situation which is a rare quality to the Doctor that I like.
The character of Rose is also quite integral to the Time War arc. The Doctor and companion relationship is at the centre of every era, and it was Russell T Davies who brilliantly managed to give the companion a new role and make them important to the Doctor. He also pushed it into untapped territory with the romantic route, but did it very carefully. I don’t think this would have worked without the Time War mechanic, it was a story device and idea that everything surrounded and made everything click.
It's the Doctor’s vulnerability after the Time War that allows him to fall for Rose as a person after he confides in her about what happened to his people. She doesen't judge him but is sympathetic, which creates a meaningful relationship. Yet it's in the story Dalek where the wounds of the Time War are wonderfully exposed. It explores the emotional damage left behind by the Time War with the Doctor and the Dalek as the last two survivors. Asking what that makes of them and what they do with their legacy in a compelling way. I love the way the story shows mirrors between the Doctor and the Dalek. It shows the fierce and angry side of the Doctor with his detest for the Daleks; strongly questioning the morality of his ruthlessness in wanting to wipe them out. Dalek transforms the Doctor into a fascinatingly morally grey character after his actions at the end of the Time War, and solidly challenges the implications of him being consumed by anger, rage, and killing much like the Dalek has. I think the impact Rose has on him in influencing him to be a better person in this story is great as he starts to commit himself to good values and heal from the hurt of war rewardingly.
I think Russell T Davies showed with the Time War that he wasn’t afraid to take the Doctor to unexpected places that would challenge him. He deals with the nature of who the Doctor is and the implications of his morally ambiguous actions in an engrossing manner, managing to redefine the nature of the Doctor as a character and what the show is about perfectly. The love story with Rose fittingly comes out of the Time War and is a strong part of his healing. The Doctor finds someone who makes him want to be a better person and who he becomes comfortable and happy with during Series 2 with David Tennant’s Doctor which is an interesting and unique direction. Companions like Martha and Donna helps keep the Doctor rooted in his morality after he had been drawn apart from it during the Time War, and I think this makes a lot of sense and is a good ongoing theme for the show. It also helps securely redefine the companion role and give them an active purpose. However, I think fans underestimate how the Time War is the very meat of what draws most of the arcs and stories together during the era and makes them work.
David Tennant’s Doctor is in some ways a departure from Christopher Eccleston’s but also a fitting natural continuation. The Doctor is consumed by the guilt of his past, desperately trying to make amends by being a hero, and it’s interesting and tragic to see. You feel great sympathy for the Doctor seeing him constantly lose people and be surrounded by death as he tries to do the right thing, which is horribly sad. The Tenth Doctor’s vanity and arrogance truly comes from his powerlessness and the guilt he feels from the Time War which makes him a strongly thought-out character and leads to his satisfying Time Lord Victorious arc in the Waters of Mars and the End of Time. The Tenth Doctor is my favourite because his trajectory and descent to villainy is fascinating to watch and unlike any other Doctor. Yet the breadcrumbs for his darkness and want for power are effectively laid throughout his era to culminate in a great way. You get a very emotionally raw performance from David Tennant in the End of Time which is terrific. In the end, he becomes so far drawn in his arrogance and entitlement that he needs to change which takes the Doctor to interesting and new places which I enjoy seeing unfold. The conclusion to his arc is very satisfying to me. However, the unfolding nature of his character is defined by the Time War and the mystery of it; it feels believable and deeply rewarding for it to have such a deep impact on the Doctor and his actions.
You’ve also got to consider how the Time War helped redefine the Master with John Simm’s incarnation, through many encounters with different enemies you unfold different layers of the Time War, yet it remains a vast mystery which I like a lot. The Doctor meeting the only other surviving Time Lord is a very interesting dynamic, and it flips and alters the relationship in a fascinating way. Seeing the Doctor pleading to the Master and wanting to befriend and make amends is tragically believable. You feel more pity and sympathy for both the Doctor and the Master, and David Tennant’s anger and sadness at the death of the Master in his performance is truly tragic with the loneliness the Doctor feels. The Time War allowed the show the ability to change, modernise and challenge things in a very natural way that didn’t feel forced, and the Master I think was one of those things.
The Time War arc also did something very positive for the Time Lords, making them a mystery again as they were when first introduced. Seeing them as vague figures defined by reputation means that their appearance feels all the more special when they appear in the End of Time with Timothy Dalton as Rassilon. Furthermore, seeing them as corrupted warlike beings as evil as the Daleks with immense power makes them much more interesting and changes their image to something with far more potential. Their sparing use being all the more impactful.
The Matt Smith years after Russell T Davies left didn’t find much to do with the Time War as the arc had kind of been stretched as far as it could go. However, it was revisited in a time that seemed fitting for the 50th Anniversary Special with the Day of the Doctor, and it felt like the right time to finally draw the arc to a close as there is only so long the show can have momentum with the same Time War guilt. The idea of John Hurt as the War Doctor I think is an interesting concept that provides a great cliff-hanger at the end of the Name of the Doctor. The idea of a mysterious Doctor that we didn’t know about is interesting and beyond that, I think it made sense for the 50th Anniversary to do something with the gap of when the show was away and add something of substance and value during that period. Adding a Doctor during the Time War, especially played by a well-known and legendary actor such as John Hurt, is something that has great potential. It also makes sense after so many years to finally see the Time War but I’m glad a lot of things are left out of context and there is an appropriate sense of distance. The War Doctor is probably the least interesting Doctor, but John Hurt is great in his ethical conflict and dilemma, and I like the way Billie Piper as the Moment challenges him. The dark implications of the death of all the children on Gallifrey deals with the fundamental questions of what bringing an end to the war really means in an effectively tragic way.
I think it's a clever idea for the Day of the Doctor to function as A Christmas Carol-style of story, with the War Doctor seeing who he will become as a result of the Time War. It’s a strong self-aware story from Steven Moffat on how the Time War changed the Doctor, changed Doctor Who, and how it transformed and modernised it. It sees John Hurt's Doctor entertainingly making fun of all the modern trends of Doctor Who and the way it has evolved and I enjoy that. The idea of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors representing the stages of PTSD and how the Doctor has reacted to the Time War and shaped who he has become as a person is also excellently and powerfully introspective.
I think it was fitting for the Doctor at this stage to have grown and realised they made a mistake, decide to change it and bring Gallifrey back. It satisfyingly brought an end to the Time War guilt and opened up new opportunities with the storyline of finding Gallifrey. It provides a worked-out closure for the Eleventh Doctor and a pleasing and optimistic end to the arc.
Unfortunately, despite good potential Steven Moffat did nothing with the storyline of Gallifrey having returned. With Chris Chibnall then destroying it once again in Spyfall, it made its return feel utterly pointless. Yet the Time War arc itself is important for having defined how the modern version of Doctor Who came to be. Whether it’s in the arc of the Doctor, the role of the companion, or the restored mystery of the Doctor and the Time Lords, the success of so many things sprung from the Time War itself.
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