One of the big taboos in the franchise is going too far back or showing far too much of the Doctor to the audience. The Doctor is supposed to be forever an outsider, a renegade, but here that's chipped away again with the script opting to show yet more of his history. We previously covered just why a prequel looking into his past would cause so many problems, and even the man who helped bring back the show with staggering success vetoed the plans to look into the Doctor's childhood. Given the way he is set up, the Doctor is the rare example of a character who only works when he is shrouded in a fair degree of mystery, allowing future stories the freedom they need to continue and develop into the next incarnation. It's one of the reasons the story lasted so long, for all the times the Master or others with knowledge of his life on Gallifrey were introduced, they were so carefully handled that it never intruded upon who the Doctor was. By throwing in elements like this, the show runs the risk of being tied too closely to one show-runner's vision of him or limiting future possibilities with the character, which could cause serious problems if the BBC expects this to last as long as the classic series did. Of course, this isn't the only problem here. We also have how Gallifrey was presented to audiences. Say what you will of the classic series' occasionally garish looks and wacky garbs, but the old Time Lords, as human as they might have looked, were pushed to be alien. It looks dumber now because we're several decades on, but the chrome walls, flowing robes and high technology were all there in full force, informing the audience that this was a high tech society. Here? What we see of Gallifrey beyond the Time Lords looks more akin to an Amish settlement than a high tech race of time travelers. The barn and the Doctor's clothing look as if they've been taken straight out of the sixteenth century and there's no indication that the people there are aliens in any way. Have a few more problems you want to suggest or do you disagree with these failings? Please leave your own suggestions in the comments below!
A gamer who has played everything from Daikatana to Dwarf Fortress. An obsessive film fanatic valuing everything from The Third Man to Flash Gordon. An addict to tabletop titles, comics and the classics of science fiction, whatever media they are a part of.
