It's a fucking bummer, to be sure. It's hard not to think of 1989, when the classic era was cancelled. Oh sure, they didn't say it was cancelled back then: due to the kerfuffle involving the 1985 attempt to cancel the show (or put it on a rest for budget reasons, who the fuck knows what they were doing back then?), the BBC just sort of danced around the topic, saying that the show would rest for a few years and then come back with renewed vigor. The result of this was a bunch of classic Who fans sitting around in the 1990s slowly transforming into Boo Boo The Fucking Fool, as 1990 becomes 1991 and 1991 becomes 1992 and oh shit guys I don't think it's coming back. Since we're all once bitten and twice shy, this time we're taking everything with a grain of salt, collectively. Sure, the BBC is putting the show up for competitive tender, if some streaming service/production company has a vision and a pitch and all that other show business bullshit. That doesn't mean we're going to get it any time soon. Even if some brilliant visionary burst into the BBC right the fuck today with the million-dollar pitch that would Save Doctor Who, the realities of the lumbering beast that is production means that you're not going to see a frame of it until at least 2028, and that is being fucking generous. This shit is taking a fucking slumber, and I honestly am not gonna metaphorically wait up for it.
It's a goddamn shame, too, as I was vibing with the new era. There were episodes I didn't like, sure, and the finales were a little messy. Damn it, though, I kind of vibe with messy if it has something I can grab on to, and the two Gatwa finales had that for me. At least I remember them having those moments. The words are in the archive, and you can check 'em for what I thought at the time. A messy Empire Of Death or Reality War is worth it for episodes of genius like 73 Yards (IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS AND I STILL REFLEXIVELY TYPE YEARS INSTEAD OF YARDS EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME, GOD DAM IT!) or Lux or The Story And The Engine. It was an enjoyable era, much moreso than the Chibnall years for me. Unfortunately there are just people for whom hating Doctor Who is a fucking personality trait. That's not everyone who didn't like Empire Of Death or The Reality War, of course, but I mean the people who have been cackling and calling for RTD to be burned at the stake for making sci-fi TV they did not like. The types who crowed that Doctor Who is DEAD FOREVER because they did not enjoy the era. It fills me with putrefacted ichor that these motherfuckers get to feel validated by their hate with the dissolution of the era, their reward being smug self-satisfaction as they dance on Doctor Who's fucking grave. I hope someone makes a mess of your fucking pots and pans, you ghouls.
I'm sure that somewhere out there, in the distant past, there was a 1989 counterpart of myself who felt a similar way. Who loathed the Colin Baker years for the kind of horseshit they were doing, only to find a new spark reignited within the show with McCoy. A new spark that came too little, too late, but still managed to give one last high before bowing out. I wonder if they felt the same way, with all the JNT haters metaphorically dancing on the embers of classic Who and wondering how in the hell to deal with the loss of this thing they loved? I really wonder. I've seen comparisons calling the Gatwa years more like the Colin Baker years, in that it's a truncated season where the lead had to bow out early and the finale was a messy climax involving lots of Time Lord lore. It sort of tracks, but at the same time I do see the McCoy embers in there as well. A Scottish Doctor, and episodes that take Doctor Who in new directions. Battles against magic and gods, camp mixed with seriousness. Primo Doctor Who. Hell, if you really want to cook with this fusion of C. Baker and McCoy? The one bridge between them both, Melanie Bush, is in the goddamn Gatwa era! It's not as simple as writing this era off like poor Colin Baker did. There were merits, god damn it. It's not a complete train wreck that deserved to die. It was cooking, and it's a damn shame that it can no longer cook.
We, however, can cook. If we must enter a second Wilderness Era, it will be one bolstered by the power of the Internet this time. Sure, the Internet existed during the first wilderness, but as a niche thing. Now we really are all interconnected. The fan writers and self-publishers and audio drama makers and fanficcers will thrive. I don't know if my pal Lena Mactire will cook in the Wilderness, but the loss of Doctor Who is sparking some old ideas I had way back when the Chibnall era was ongoing. Maybe I'll make my stamp on things, give a take on the show and write about the things that most impressed upon me over its run. In that way, Doctor Who need never die, so long as there's someone to imagine new adventures. What about it coming back? I forsee a few possibilities. The best-case scenario is something akin to the Eccelston era: you just dive right back in after some time has passed, and the continuity of the show prior doesn't really matter but can slowly be trickled back in to give events and enemies some thematic heft. I think the worst idea is a full-on reboot: it seems a goddamn shame to throw out 60+ years of the continuing story of Doctor Who just because some motherfuckers didn't like The Reality War. As for the unresolved Billie Piper tease, I wouldn't even bother thinking about it enough to explain it away. Just have a new Doctor, new ordinary companion, new adventures falling out of the world. It's all you need.
I don't know if I have any more to say, other than... Bye for now, Doctor Who. You've inspired me for two literal decades, since I was downstairs in my basement channel surfing and happened upon a scene of a fucking spaceship slamming into Big Ben in London. You've helped me flex my creative and critical analysis skills, you've helped me make a entire friend group of pals for me to yap with on the weekends; not just about Doctor Who, but Quantum Leap and Kamen Rider as well. You've given me 20 years of ups and downs, moments I'll never forget. You gave me Clara, for fuck's sakes. Thanks for all that. Take a rest. You've more than earned it. And, after all... You said it best yourself, a very long time ago...
“One day I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.”
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