Christopher Eccleston
(1964- )
The ninth Doctor's era
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Christopher Eccleston(1964- ) |
The ninth Doctor's era |
Doctor Doom by Antony Tomlinson 18/10/05
I remember my reaction to the news that Christopher Eccleston had been cast as the Doctor back in 2004. It was sheer delight. I was overjoyed to learn that RTD had cast an actor who was both serious (at a time when the newspapers were suggesting Alan Davies and Eddie Izzard) and also far from obvious (unlike Stephen Fry or Anthony Stewart Head). I knew immediately that Eccleston would do something great and original with the part.
As time went on, however, I became more anxious. As was commented on this site, Eccleston is an actor rarely seen to smile. His brilliance generally reveals itself in moments of violent anger (Shallow Grave, The Revenger's Tragedy [his best film]), sneering cruelty (his Machiavellian character in Elizabeth) or noble misery (The Others or RTD's Second Coming). He has not been a barrel of laughs on screen.
"Oh no" I murmured to myself, "not another dark Doctor". It was fine the first time around, but after years of violence and glumness from Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, the books and the webcasts, I did not want another lead character who would spend his time brooding and shouting. The new series needed an energetic, charismatic Doctor who would be fun to be around, like Hartnell, Troughton or Tom Baker - not a miserable sod caught up in his own legend.
Fortunately Eccleston delivered the goods. His Doctor joked, grinned and danced with the best of them. Cleverly, however, Eccleston also fully incorporated the dark side of his persona into the character. And thus, beneath the smiles, I think we can happily say that the Ninth Doctor is the first incarnation who is indisputably a depressive. He is, in fact, the first truly damaged Doctor.
Before I examine this claim more carefully, however, I would like to point out a couple of interesting and relevant facts about the Ninth Doctor, which make him a rather slippery figure for fans.
The first point to make is that, compared to all the other Doctors, the Ninth's character will ultimately be the least fully explored. Indeed, this incarnation appears in only ten (relatively short) TV adventures. More importantly, it also seems likely that he will disappear from the world of books and comic strips as soon as David Tennant makes his debut (thus missing the re-examination enjoyed by McCoy and McGann's Doctors). In addition, it seems unlikely that Eccleston will be visiting the Big Finish studio any time soon, given his rising-star status and his weariness with the part.
So we actually have relatively little to go on in exploring this character. This leads me to my second point. This is a very short-lived incarnation in fictional terms, too. At the beginning of Rose, the Doctor examines his own face in a mirror with interest, clearly indicating that he has only recently regenerated. By The Parting of the Ways, however, Rose is still the same age as when she met him. So, of the Doctor's 900 years, it seems that the Ninth incarnation contributes only about twelve months.
Furthermore, if the Doctor had only just regenerated by Rose, then it seems that all the important Time War stuff he had recently been through actually involved his previous self. Indeed, it seems likely (given his bitterness in Dalek and the replay of past events in The Parting of the Ways) that he actually gave up his youthful, energetic Eighth life to win the Time War.
This then seems to be the key to the Ninth Doctor's character. He is an individual who was born anew into an utterly unfamiliar world, and is still learning to fit in with it. Previously the Doctor always had something familiar to lean on, to help him work out who he was, as he grappled with a new body - be it fellow Time Lords (Castrovalva, The Twin Dilemma, Time and the Rani, The TV Movie), the battle with the Daleks (Power of the Daleks), UNIT (Spearhead from Space, Robot) or the Doctor's faith in his own virtue. For even when he was throttling Peri, playing spoons with the Rani or snogging Grace, he knew deep down that he was a Time Lord and a hero.
This Doctor has nothing to call on, however. His people have gone. He also seems to have lost faith in his own heroism, following his genocidal actions during the Time War. By The Parting of the Ways, he is so troubled by his previous deeds, that he becomes impotent when the menace returns. He ends up doing nothing but hoping for death - "maybe it's time" he muses with some relief.
This is therefore a Doctor desperately clinging onto the familiar. In Dalek, he delights in his own hatred of his ancient enemies. That is something old which he can understand. Even when it becomes clear that this threat is now impotent, he maintains his hatred. Ultimately, however, he realises that he - like the Dalek - faces a choice between change and death.
As his life goes on, this Doctor sees the death of more and more that is familiar. He sees the end of Earth in The End of the World and the end of UNIT in World War Three - although he is ultimately glad to break his links with the planet. Wronged beings also return to further undermine his self-belief (Rose, The Unquiet Dead, Boom Town, The Parting of the Ways). He even loses faith in a companion (he forgave Turlough, Dodo and Barbara for far worse crimes than Adam's), ultimately dumping him in The Long Game.
This then explains the Ninth Doctor's unusual habit of clinging jealously onto the only things he believes he can rely on - Rose and the TARDIS (who, interestingly, end up merging in Parting of the Ways). And this attitude also explains his indulgence of Rose's whims in Father's Day - he cannot help but trust her, for the sake of his own sanity. If he did not, he would have nothing at all. However, he faces utter disappointment when she proves to be "another stupid ape".
Given his inability to find anything in which to maintain his faith, the Doctor inevitably loses his system of values and thus his ability to act heroically. Dramatically, this is disappointing for a "new" action adventure series - we don't want a hero who only saves the day four out of ten times, and then only with a great deal of help from others. Nevertheless, in terms of the entire history of the character, this tendency to fail fits perfectly.
In essence then, the Ninth Doctor is only a brief stage in the Doctor's life. He is the chrysalis-type figure who absorbs the need for change following the death of his old life. He exists to make the character ready for a new beginning. And so he learns to trust the unreliable - an ape like Rose and a rickety old TARDIS - and learns to love what has become an alien universe. And so he can begin again.
In portraying this conflicted figure, Eccleston does an amazing job. He grins and jokes as the Doctor has always done. However, he also clearly shows that there is something superficial in these smiles. Equally, he tries to show off his heroic streak in an over-the-top manner, and then collapses sadly when he realises he's not up to it any more. Even his costume fits well with this "half-formed" status. It is a blank, black costume. Unlike his predecessors, it does not tell us about his character. For he is yet to fully develop one.
Anyway, delightful as this Doctor was (joking with urchins at dinner, dancing at the end of the world or fawning over Dickens) he was always doomed. For there was no core about which his personality could form. So it seems appropriate to me that he vanished after only one season. He was always meant to die and to be born again. And so the star of "The Second Coming" will, hopefully, be replaced with a more self-assured "Casanova".
A Review by David Rosenthal 6/5/06
I liked Chris Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor. He said in interviews he never really watched Doctor Who and just did his own interpretation and didn't really use any of the others. He did a great job and I loved when he always said fantastic. I also like when he did serious dramatic episodes. Like Dalek, for example, he really expressed his anger over the destruction over Gallifrey being destroyed by the Daleks in the Time War and he expresses his anger to the one Dalek and how they are both the last of both their races.
You are a hero Chris Eccleston thank you. Chris Eccleston is great: I love the tear he shed whe Jabe talked to him about his world being destroyed in The End of the World; that one tear was perfect. I really loved his performance. I think his best episode was Dalek, with the psycological interplay between him and the Dalek. He really was fantastic. And at the end of The Parting of the Ways he says you to Rose, "You were fantastic - and you know what? So was I."
He was, as he would say, fantastic, in every sense of the word. It's too bad he had to leave and quit so early but I have really high hopes for David Tennant. He isn't my very favorite Doctor but he is close.
Chris you were fantastic. David Tennant looks fantastic too. We will miss you Chris. Come back for a reunion special if they make one.
A Love Letter by Robert Smith? 18/7/07
Dear Chris,
I know the moment when I first knew. No, it wasn't that opening scene of Rose ("Run!"), magical though it is. You did a fine job, sure, but the power of that opening is fairly and squarely due to Russell's writing, I think we can all acknowledge that. It's not that scene where you take Billie's hand and talk about the spinning of the Earth as though you're drunk, despite the fact that that scene got all the airplay on every documentary imaginable in those first few weeks. You were good, sure, but I still wasn't certain.
Editor's note: You can read the rest of this article in Time, Unincorporated, Volume 3, published by Mad Norwegian Press. For copyright reasons, we are unable to display the online version simultaneously.
Not So Fantastic by Adrian Loder 7/8/07
The inspiration to write a review strikes me sporadically, haphazardly even, and I'm not always sure what I'm going to write next. This is borne out in my collected output: my first review was submitted all the way back in 1997 for The Brain of Morbius; that was back when there were actually stories that hadn't been reviewed yet, a concept which now seems absurd, as every TV story has at least a page full of reviews and oftentimes more than just a page. But anyway, I've been submitting since then, but I've gone years without sending anything in sometimes.
And so when I decided this morning that I was going to review the Ninth Doctor, it was without any real kind of warning. I'd just been kind of mulling over some things in my head, about the way the Ninth Doctor's story arc worked itself out, and I said to myself, "You know, I just really didn't like the Ninth Doctor very much, did I?"
And that's when it hit me: I don't really like the Ninth Doctor. And I started wondering why, and I think the reason is because he didn't feel like the Doctor to me. I don't know if people develop complexes where they are wary or scared of seeing their heroes brought down to Earth, and so they go ahead and just do it themselves to get it over with, or what, but after hearing Jubilee for the first time, and knowing that Dalek was largely a trimmed down and rewritten version of it, it really struck me. Because Colin Baker's 6th Doctor does not behave at all the way Eccleston's 9th Doctor behaves, and I don't fault Eccleston; I think he played the role they asked him to play, and did it well, I just didn't like the role very much.
Before the point of this spirals completely out of my reach, what I'm trying to say is, Rob Shearman was obviously trying to do something grand and new with Jubilee, but that story shows how humans behave in a Dalek-like manner, whereas in Dalek, it is the Doctor whose behavior is compared to the Daleks. I don't think Shearman is responsible for this - or that he would have done it without prodding. RTD was off on a "character arc" deal, an "emotional story" with the Doctor, where he's tired and bitter from the Time War, and sure, ok, that's understandable, and I see where he went with it and the point, but I just didn't like it. Doctor Who's been around for how long? 42 years before the first new season on TV aired, 40 years before work began on devising the revival or New Series. It all just feels a bit dancing on someone's grave; here, I brought back your childhood (hell, adulthood) hero and turned him into someone you don't like, aren't I daring and cute and cool?
The wonder of fiction is that it isn't real and that may sound obvious or redundant, but hang on a second. In reality, no one is perfect, and indeed perfection is impossible. As an aside, we seem to have taken that truth as meaning that perfection is undesirable or would be unfulfilling, but perfection is, by definition, um... perfect. As in, flawless. Which means if we did have perfection it would not be undesirable; in fact, that is exactly what we should desire, even though we know it can't actually happen. But the creative aspect of society has become so enmeshed with depicting every human failing, every misery, every wretchedness, as realistically as possible; you know, I'm not saying everything should be beyond belief, but there comes a time when I think you have to say 'Stop'. The beauty of creativity and created works are that they don't have to be true to life, we can do whatever we want with them. Why is everyone so obsessed with making our fictional heroes as fallible and borderline-psychotic as our real life ones so often turn out to be? Instead of aping our own misery we should take advantage of fictional media to create something that is better than our world.
Which brings me back to what RTD did to the character of the Doctor. In Dalek he tortures the titular creature, and I don't care about the Time War and the motivations and the rationalizations and justifications you can construct; the entire thing is fiction, the entire thing need not have been as it was, and someone or several someones are responsible for making it what it was because they decided to do so. None of the other Doctors would have tortured anyone - not even Colin Baker's 6th Doctor, as portrayed on TV, would do such a thing - and yet this incarnation of the Doctor is so filled with hatred and bitterness over what the Daleks have caused, and of his own lost race, that he sinks to the very level they do. And I'm sure someone will argue that the point of the whole thing is not in what happens in one particular story during that season, but the overall progression. Baloney.
Throughout the majority of that season the Doctor is remorseless and often ineffectual, trying to save the day but usually having to be bailed out by someone else, as if he were just going through the motions. There are only two moments in that entire season where I really feel any good feelings for the Ninth Doctor, and those are 1) the point in The Doctor Dances, near the end, where he rejoices that the problem is solved and no has died, that everyone is saved; and 2) the point in The Parting of the Ways when he finally becomes the Doctor of old and refuses to put an end to the Daleks, refuses to commit genocide, even thought it may mean his own death.
This progression may be interesting from a character development point of view, watching the Doctor's progression through his Ninth incarnation as he gradually regains what made him so unlike other so-called heroes. But the problem is that creating that progression also creates a lot of stories in which the star of the show is not someone I look at as heroic or the equal of his actions of old.
In the end, I can't be too hard on him; it is, after all, the Doctor, even if he has become something that would have probably horrified himself in an earlier incarnation. But I'm afraid that the Ninth Doctor just doesn't fit the role of hero the way he did in earlier incarnations, and just is not very fun to watch when the actions he commits are often so much against what he always stood for. And no amount of "emotional stories" excuses can justify it to me. Fortunately, although he does show echoes of the pain of the past in his Tenth incarnation, more of the hero of old, the champion of the rights of all others, giving even the wicked a chance to redeem themselves before delivering the final blow, shines through in the next and current incarnation.
The Ninth Doctor in question by Nathan Mullins 6/4/09
When I heard that Doctor Who was due to come back, I had very high hopes for the new series, but I didn't know what approach would be taken concerning the lead actor and the show itself. I had thought that Paul McGann might return as the eighth to show the regeneration of him into the ninth Doctor and it was rumoured for a while that he was but no. When I heard of Christopher Eccleston fulfilling the role of the Ninth Doctor, I had doubts. I hadn't seen him in anything so I had nothing to judge his acting by but my mum had seen him in the Second Coming so she didn't know what to make of him. I was displeased, from what I saw of him in the lead role of Doctor Who. Needless to say, I will say my piece when I write this review.
I felt that during his time as the Doctor, we saw another side of this wanderer that we hadn't seen in a long while. The scripts seem to portray the ninth Doctor as a lonely 'God', seen as a loner who feels he can travel with no one due to the loss of his people. I also didn't like his costume. The leather jacket just didn't suit the Doctor's personality, I felt, and without sounding as if I'm bashing the ninth Doctor, I'm not because the majority of the episodes we saw of him were brilliant and some weren't and that's how it goes. I just didn't like Christopher Eccleston's 'take' on the role and whereas some people did, I felt David Tennant had a better understanding of the role than he did when he took the part.
I did like the ninth Doctor. His personality and energy he (Chris) gave were good, but there were some things that riled me and they were the smiles the ninth Doctor would pull when he had an idea or was excited and it was overkill because he'd do it nearly in every episode. Though, the emotion the ninth Doctor gave when he was about to regenerate was just beautiful and the chemistry between him and Rose that had developed for so long during her stay in the TARDIS, and the build up that led to him regenerating into the tenth Doctor was just as heartfelt as the performances they both gave. He was a great Doctor but one I wasn't ready for. I also have an issue with him leaving the series just after making just one. To be honest, if he had stayed, the impression that I have of him now would have been altered a hell of a lot but when I heard that he'd be staying for only one season, I wasn't impressed and there was no way he would have been typecast for making just one series. Peter Davison left after three and that was good enough, but one series isn't good enough in my opinion.
However, his episodes were among the best the series has ever produced. Bear in mind, David Tennant's are just as fantastic but I've said my piece and have made my point.