As a Doctor Who fan, I come across a lot of commentary from fellow fans about the show: sometimes I agree with them, but other times I just roll my eyes at how misplaced some of their critiques are. More often than not, its the criticism that new Doctor Who is nothing like old Doctor Who that really makes my blood boil. Critiques of this nature tend to fall into one of five categories and its those five that this article will focus on. There are of course criticisms of a more personal nature that Id rather not get into - for instance, Im not going to rehash the Steven Moffat is sexist argument because James Cornish has already written a rebuttal to it elsewhere on this website. Im merely offering counterarguments to some of the most baseless critiques of Doctor Who as it is today.
5 . There's Too Much Romance and Sexual Tension
Now, the critics are correct when they say this is a big difference between the classic series and the new series. Throughout the classic series, the Doctor was seen as a largely asexual figure. (Although the critics do seem to forget the existence of the Doctors granddaughter Susan. And when they dont forget her they try to explain it away by saying she wasnt really his granddaughter. Yes, that makes perfect sense.) It wasnt until the TV-Movie broke the taboo by having the Doctor kiss his companion that he was first portrayed as a romantic figure. So what happened between the classic and new eras that made the Doctor more open to romance? Simple: the Time War. Hes lost his home planet and with it, his people and his family. Hes more alone than hes ever been before. Its not beyond the realm of possibility that hed feel the need to cling to someone, even if she is just a girl who works in a shop. With River Song its a bit more believable because she at least has some Time Lord DNA and is therefore more relatable to him. In the end, the romantic aspect of the new series is primarily the result of how television drama is written these days. The Doctor is still the same old Time Lord at his core, even if he just so happens to lock lips with young women every now and then.