Despite what I said earlier, for most of the Third Doctors first few years, he was exiled on Earth, sent there by the Time Lords as punishment for intervening with various alien species including humans. Though he still frequently found ways off the planet and was eventually given the freedom to travel once more, he was still stuck there for quite a while. This severely limited the types of stories the writers could tell. One person summed it up by saying they basically a choice between mad scientist and alien invasion. And, indeed, a look at most of the Earth-based stories in the new series shows something very similar. Keeping the series stuck on and around contemporary Earth was a big mistake in the early 1970s. It would be an even bigger mistake now. When a show that was frequently operating on a shoestring budget could still manage to stage stories set in the far-off future and actually attempt to make things look futuristic, and the new series, with a far healthier budget, cannot, something is severely wrong. So to the producers, I say give the Doctor his freedom. Give him the ability to really travel far, far away from Earth circa 2014. Give him, and us, some mind-blowing adventures in space. Everyone will be happier.
Chris Swanson is a freelance writer and blogger based in Phoenix, Arizona, where winter happens to other people. His blog is at wilybadger.wordpress.com
