Doctor Who Series 12: Ten Huge Questions After Nikola Tesla’s Night Of Terror
4. Is The Doctor Becoming Too Violent?
When the Skithra is returned to her ship and destroyed, the
ending of David Tennant’s first episode The Christmas Invasion comes to mind. There,
the Doctor condemns Hilary Jones from ordering Torchwood to blow up the Sycorax
ship. This time, the Doctor is the destroyer. It makes no difference that the
Skithra ship appears to get away in the end. The Doctor was prepared to kill
them all. Although the Doctor does say she gave the Skithra the chance to
evolve, there is little indication of that in the script.
For a Doctor who lives by the mantra ‘there is always hope’, she has become extremely destructive. This is just the latest example. In Orphan 55, the mutated victims of humanity’s disregard for the environment, the Dregs, are treated with utter contempt.
Death, a big deal in the Steven Moffat era, when some fans were ranting about the producer not being able to kill people off, has been cheapened this series. Not for the first time, the discovery of dead bodies is noted by little more than a comment or two, and the action quickly moves on. Unless the Doctor’s actions come back to haunt her, this does seem like a huge misstep.