jasmasson

I just finished this first darling season of television. I was completely charmed by the original TARDIS team, who got incredible character evolutions. The Doctor slowly bonds with his abductees, and becomes something of the heroic figure we know and love, going from a ruthless disinterest in anyone not named Susan, to being equally devoted to his companions' safety, to willingly remaining on an alien planet to cleanse their poisoned water supply. His temper and pride remain, but he learns to be better, and finds his sense of humor and adventure and even compassion for others. It's beautiful.

Meanwhile, Barbara goes from absolute hysterical panic to being strong and level-headed, adapting to the crazy life she must now lead yet also being the most aware of history and grappling with the reality of people who died hundreds of years ago. Ian starts out taking the leader position, because the Doctor borders on useless, but over time he is given reason to trust the Doctor (he's frequently rendered helpless, waiting on death row or getting poisoned, which allows for his surrogate family to save him) and becomes a team player.

They end up with a genuine family dynamic that I have rarely seen on TV. Ian and Barbara are close and supportive, which can be read as romantic, but it isn't declared openly, so it can never become the focus. What we are given is therefore a girl, her grandfather and what amounts to an adoptive aunt and uncle. This is far more unusual than the later Pond family dynamic, which (despite the time travel complexity) boiled down to two couples who just happened to be blood relatives, so the focus there was always on the romantic interactions. Most television I've watched keeps a focus on couples, coworkers/friends, or siblings, with some parental issues to shake things up. Grandparents, though? Aside from 12 Monkeys, with the coolest, fiercest Team Grandma in existence, I'm drawing a blank. Maybe it's only an artifact of this being a family program, but it's a welcome change regardless, and I found it endlessly charming.

Which is good, because a lot of these serials pad for time by splitting up the cast in endless ways. The reunions are always super heartwarming and adorable, bringing a smile to my face. I'm actually kind of dreading the bust up of this original team, because they're so sweet, and I'm not ready to move on to a post-Susan timeline.

Now, about Susan. The main takeaway I found online when looking up some of these episodes was people expressing irritation as her for screaming so much and being wasted potential. Which hits an old wound for me, as a child of the 90s when the Not Like Other Girls treatment of female characters was absolutely everywhere in the media I consumed, in which more feminine characters would get looked down on or scolded. And I was a more feminine, quiet child, so seeing female characters who had the gall to need rescuing getting hit with "why can't they just rescue themselves? why are they so useless?" always hurt a bit. It had a "how dare you require help?" vibe.

Anyway, Susan is the character I most identify with, and while not my favorite companion, certainly the one who is most accurate to how I would behave in such a situation, so she has my complete compassion. Her boldness while on Earth was clearly a result of what she stated in 'An Unearthly Child.' She was happy there. She just wants to be able to go swimming without it being an acid sea. She enjoyed walking at night, in the fog, not because she was a bold explorer later retconned into a helpless damsel, but because she felt safe doing so. Now that she's thrown back into hostile, terrifying environments, she wants it to stop. She's the hesitant one, who doesn't want to leave the TARDIS, who doesn't want her little family group split up, because she already lost her first one under mysterious, but obviously deeply traumatic circumstances.

When her grandfather orders her to go with the rest of the team and leave him on a solo mission, she instantly turns the teleportation dial on her wrist, saying afterward that goodbyes are too hard. She already lost the rest of her family, her friends and her planet, so she knows what she's talking about here. Her grandfather sends her away and she's mentally trying to prepare for never seeing him again. It's a heartbreaking detail. Likewise, she tries a self-sacrifice to keep her companions safe during 'The Sensorites,' in which she begins to hone her psychic powers, and it plainly comes from a place of desperation. She is so often frantic, wishing for things to stay the same, yet forced by the necessities of time travel to remain on the move, never getting to settle down. I hope her eventual TARDIS departure is not too sad, and leaves a window for her to have a happy ending.

Very wonderful character dynamics all around. This may become one of my very favorite TARDIS teams, and watching the Doctor grow into the Doctor is quite fun. I'll probably make another post about the actual episodes and my favorites. I'm so glad most of this show is available on YouTube! It's such a nice end of night treat, because every episode is a brisk 20 minutes.