Doctor Who: 10 Essential Changes To Make With Peter Capaldi's Doctor
6. Earth
OK I get it: the show's produced in Wales and it's obviously cheaper to set earth-based stories in the UK. From a production perspective, I totally get that. But the Doctor's never taken a consistent stance on either the Earth or its inhabitants one minute he can't understand why he's so fond of them, the next he's calling them stupid apes or hissing "human" at them as if it were the foulest insult imaginable; one minute he's crowing about the incredible evolution and resilience of the human race, the next he can't wait to get away. So if he can't even make up his mind why or even if he likes them so much, why does he voluntarily spend so much time there?
It was clear right from the off that there was no love lost between the first Doctor and the Earth. He didn't want Susan to draw attention to them by attending "that ridiculous school" and he made sure Ian and Barbara knew exactly how little he thought of England in 1963 when he said, "I tolerate this century but I don't enjoy it." Let's also not forget the second Doctor's reaction to the prospect of being condemned to exile "on one primitive planet in one century in time" at the end of The War Games. There's enough subsequent evidence to suggest that that one period of exile relatively speaking, a very brief period in the latter part of the 20th century (relatively speaking, a very long time ago) wasn't enough to change his general opinion, neither of Earth nor humans. Remember the Third Doctor's reaction to getting "the secret of the TARDIS" back? He couldn't get away fast enough! He didn't seem bothered about who went with him or who was left behind, he was ready to up sticks and hot-foot it out of there faster than his long spindly legs could shuffle him across the laboratory floor. The Fourth Doctor took a generally kinder view of the planet and its inhabitants as a general rule and his classic series successors didn't seem to have too much against us either, though it's fair to say that none of them spent vast amounts of time marooned on Earth or making a disproportionate number of return visits. At any rate, just as the original exile did, the whole 21st century earth thing has gotten terribly dull. Doctor Who is (re)established enough by now. Audiences don't need familiar settings and contemporary norms to help them establish an appropriate vantage point, or to allow them to identify with characters and situations. The next Doctor's era needs to get more varied and more sophisticated than that and, in doing so, give the viewing public (not to mention fans) a bit of credit. Capaldi's Doctor get out a bit. You know full well that there's plenty of life beyond Earth's stratosphere, so stop coming back!