By Gunarso Nguyen
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a little weird?”
“They never really stop.”
No other quote in the latest season of Doctor Who fully encapsulates the personality of the latest actor to portray the titular character. The latest season of the immensely popular British television program Doctor Who, the world’s longest running science fiction television program, originating in 1963, is now available on Netflix. The show, cancelled in 1989, a temporary hiatus for fans, was rebooted in 2005 under former head writer Russel T. Davies , and is currently in it’s 5th season, which in the continuity of the show is the 30th season. Matt Smith, the 11th person play the role, is the youngest actor to play the Doctor, the quasi-mysterious 900 year old Time Lord, the last of his kind. The show, under new direction by head writer Steven Moffat, portrays a frenetic, easily distracted old man trapped in a young man’s body gallivanting across all of time and space with a new pair of companions, Amy Pond, portrayed by the effervescent Karen Gillian and the charmingly insecure Rory Williams, played with lovely earnestness by Arthur Darvill.
This latest season captures a childlike sense of wonder and mystery to the universe, a quality that was considered occasionally lacking by some under Davies’s run. The first episode of the fifth season, titled The 11th Hour, shows a new Doctor desperately trying to salvage his severely damaged ship, the TARDIS (which is perpetually trapped in the form of a 1960s police box), before crash landing in the front yard of an 11-year-old Amelia Pond, who is praying to Santa for someone to come and fix a mysterious crack in her wall which has been emanating strange voices. It is a positively fairy-tale like story, full of charm and wonder and the kind of mystery that makes you feel like you’re five years old again and still believe in monsters.
Indeed, one of the recurring themes of the latest series is that monsters are real, and frightening, and that courage, intellect, wit and just a little bit of luck will see you through. A large part of the charm of the show, in contrast to many American television programs, is a running theme through the life of the series that intellect and romance (in the classical sense) will triumph over adversity, as opposed to brute force and cynicism. Do yourself a favor and check out the latest season of Doctor Who available on Netflix, and join the rest of your brethren across the pond.
