Well, to be fair, the central premise of Doctor Who is a man who is for all intents and purposes immortal, and will simply regenerate into a new body rather than dying. So a certain amount of cheating death is only to be expected. But the stakes seemed to have changed in recent years. Back in the first series of New Who, when Christopher Eccleston triumphantly exclaimed, "Just this once, everybody lives!" that actually was a nice change of pace. But over the past few years, the show has morphed into this really safe environment where the audience doesn't have to worry about the characters dying. Take Rory, for example. How many times did that guy die over the course of two and a half seasons? After a while, there was no point in even getting worked up over it. He dies, he comes back, no big deal. And take Jenny in The Name of the Doctor she had what would have been a really fantastic death scene, only to be brought back moments later, good as new. When death becomes a temporary condition, there are no stakes.
Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.
