Hub 123 by Various

Author:Various
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy
Publisher: Right Hand Publishing

REVIEWS

Doctor Who: “Vincent and the Doctor”

Written by Richard Curtis

Starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Tony Curran

Directed by Jonny Campbell

Saturday 5th June, BBC1

reviewed by scott harrison

The idea of the Doctor travelling back in time and meeting famous names from Earth history isn’t a concept unique to twenty-first century Who. Nor is the idea that the Doctor has, at some point in their life, been a major influence or guiding light within their work.

(However, the Doctor popping back in time just to roger one of England’s most famous monarchs, purely because he’s coming to the end of his current incarnation and just doesn’t care anymore, is particularly unique to New Who and something we should perhaps gloss over for the moment. Ahem!) As early as the show’s fourth story, way back in February 1964, the Doctor’s Saturday tea-time adventures began to become entwined with and, to a greater or lesser degree, influence the political, artistic or scientific endeavours or some of the most notorious and brilliant minds in world history. Here, in this case, the First Doctor, along with original TARDIS crew of Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and granddaughter Susan, find themselves in the year 1289 and travelling in the caravan of Venetian explorer Marco Polo across Cathay en route for the court of the mighty Kublai Khan. Back then the programme had been designed as a family show that would not only entertained the hip ‘n’ groovy Juke Box Jury audience but would also explore scientific and historical themes that might prove educational and informative to all the young children watching. For the first four years of Doctor Who at least a third of each of its nine-story seasons would be given over to ‘pure’ historical adventures – all science fiction elements (save for the Doctor’s party) ejected in favour of stories based on actual recorded events. A trend that was eventually stopped by the season four finale Evil of the Daleks in 1967. Producing a purely historical episode of Doctor Who now would probably be televisual suicide as the modern viewing audience looks to programming less for educational purposes and more for escapism and excitement.

Having spotted something alien and malevolent peering out of a window in Van Gogh’s The Church at Auvers while visiting the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, the Doctor and Amy travel back to Auvers-sur-oise, France in 1890, to find an invisible alien called a Krafayis stalking the town’s tiny cobbled by-streets. They soon befriend Vincent van Gogh who, only months away from committing suicide, is battling demons of his own, troubled as he is by acute mental illness and crushing self-doubt. The Doctor and Amy decide to show Van Gogh the impact of his work upon future generations, in the hope of bringing a little peace of mind to the Dutch painter in the last days of his life.

I have to admit, I was – like countless other fans – a little dubious when I heard that writer Richard Curtis would be providing a script for series 5.

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