Introduction: Who does Doctor Who Think He Is?
Despite his dexterity with a sonic screwdriver, bowties, and fezzes, The Doctor has had to field no small amount of incoming antagonism from the controls of the T.A.R.D.I.S.. Critics from across the science fiction community, from authors and essayists to fans with backgrounds in the varied disciplines of‘the Sciences, have complained that the long running British program (now over a half-century old) Doctor Who (or DW) is not ‘proper’ science fiction. Detractors protest that the program utilizes little in the way of actual hard science, instead relying upon technology that is too fantastically described to be understood, let alone taken seriously. (What self-respecting spacecraft would be shaped like a
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The series, go the grievances, utilizes conventions that are anachronistic (have you ever seen a Cyberman?) and worse, is dependent on questionable storytelling dynamics. For instance, the late popular British fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett, a self-confessed fan of the show, has widely complained that Doctor Who should not be considered science fiction as its science is “pixel thin”, its “ludicrous storylines break most of the laws of narratives”, employs “that wonderful element 'makeitupasyougalongeum” as a placeholder for science, and over-utilizes the dreaded “deus ex machina” . Marine scientist and fan Prof. Chris Parson exclaims, “the current series has had a shocking disregard for science…Much popular science fiction is not terribly accurate as far as science goes (sound in space*; single ecosystem planets; the ubiquitous humanoid bipedal aliens that speak English with an American accent), including many episodes of Doctor Who (the Tardis itself defies any known principles of physics)” . The BBC, where Doctor Who calls its home, has also collected objections, most recently regarding an episode (“Dark Waters”) in which the idea that the dead could feel