In his 50+ year history , the Doctor did indeed have enough time to make himself known throughout all the dimensions of the Universe. The Time Lord's on screen age is a continuous source of debate but last time he claimed he had lived for more than 2000 years. Earth years, supposedly... Does the TARDIS also translate extra-planetary time measures? Anyway, back to the point. It does seem logical that after you save planet after planet and defeat threat after threat, at least some of the top universal baddies would at least say "hi". Even the First Doctor was memorised by the Daleks fairly quickly. But to go from that to making an allied alien fleet (made of Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Draconians, Autons, Zygons and whatever else was there) just go away with a speech is dropping the suspended disbelief with a loud unconvincing bang. Yes, they weren't there to shoot him down, but to trap him in a giant box. This actually further proves the point. The trend started in Silence in the Library when the Tenth Doctor made himself aware to the Vashta Nerada. It then seemed like a nice touch. Yes, the character should have enough history and gravitas to scare his enemies a little, but winning wars with speeches is just boring, no matter how non-violent the Doctor is supposed to be. Just like during Tom Baker's run he used to not-die a lot, during Matt Smith's he just seemed to win by presenting himself... a lot. So then the question is, are aliens just going to stop attacking Earth now because they know it's protected by the Doctor? The Boneless did, but then the lethal Speech & Sonic combination sent them home crying. The point is, fans want the Doctor to be more smart than boastful and to actually see him struggle to defeat his enemies, be they old or new. Moffat acknowledged this problem at the end of Series 6 when the Doctor himself said that he was getting "too big". He even tried to make the Daleks forget him at the beginning of Series 7. But none of those promises really stuck. And why did his name suddenly become the most important question in the Universe, anyway? How can a character actually be mysterious if he just goes around giving everyone his CV? With so much information about him going about the galaxies, the only mystery left is why he hasn't been defeated properly yet.
Adrian Serban lives in Bucharest, Romania where he has studied screenwriting and film criticism. But it's not all about artsy European dramas for him, as he's also a fan of horrors, kung-fu flicks and sci-fi films of all eras. Monty Python and Doctor Who are two British institutions that changed his life for the better. Or so he thinks.
