Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor

The saying goodbye to a doctor is always a bit bittersweet.  There is a certain excitement and anticipation of a new personality and new adventures that comes with a regeneration, but it also means saying farewell to the current personality and the realization that we will no longer get anymore of their stories.  Last night saw the final episode of Jodie Whittaker’s history making tenure as one of the most beloved genre characters, The Doctor in Doctor Who.  I know there has been some controversy over a woman taking over the reigns of such a long standing character who has historically been male and others have not appreciated the writing and storylines given to Jodie.  I cannot address these issues, because what one person likes or expects is so subjective.  I can only speak to my own feelings and I can honestly say, I loved Jodie’s take on the Doctor.  Not every episode was amazing, but over the course of the last 59 years there have been plenty of bad scripts that each of the doctors have faced.  I personally loved many of the stories and Jodie ranks up there as one of my favorites, her manic energy, raw emotion and a type of inner light really shined through and her farewell episode really showcased all of her talents.

The final episode of the 2022 specials sees the Doctor fighting the Master (Sacha Dhawan) who has coerced the Cybermen and the Daleks into working together to finally eliminate the Doctor altogether, by forcing a regeneration into himself.  With the doctor out of the picture it is up to Yas (Mandip Gill) with the help of holographic versions of the Doctor’s different incarnations, to pull some old friends together to return the Doctor to her natural form and defeat their foes.  Returning companions Vinder (Jacob Anderson), Graham (Bradley Walsh), Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), Teagan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) join with Yas to get the job done.  As always, the good triumph over evil, but not before the Doc’s body is badly damaged and at the end, we say goodbye to Jodie’s version and welcome back an old friend.

This was such a fun and emotionally filled episode.  There was a ton of adventure, a lot of goodbyes, and we got to see the return of several different Doctor’s in their multiple forms.  David Bradley plays a version of the first Doctor who was originally played by William Hartnell in 1963.  Reprising their roles from the classic series are Peter Davison as number 5, Colin Baker as 6, and Sylvester McCoy as 7.  Paul McGann returns as the 8^th Doctor from the Fox television movie, which is considered cannon and Jo Martin reprises her role as the “Fugitive Doctor” from an earlier set of regenerations. Being a fan of the classic series, it was amazing to see all the characters including my all time favorite, Peter Davison along with favorite companion Teagan.  His brief scene with her brought me to tears due to the emotional impact of their scene and nostalgia of those wonderful stories they had together, “Brave Heart Teagan”! Along those same lines is Ace’s reunion with Sylvester McCoy another favorite pairing of mine from the classic series, who finally get their resolution and a proper goodbye.

The end of the episode also brings together some other classic companions, Jo Jones played by Katy Manning who was a companion of Jon Pertwee’s Doctor (number 3) and Melanie Bush played by Bonnie Langford who rode the Tardis along with Colin Baker.  The real surprise was 97 year old William Russell as Ian Chesterton one of the original companions that accompanied Doctor number 1 in 1963.  He was a companion for 77 episode from the pilot all the way through to 1965. So, who is the new Dr Who? You’ll have to tune in to find out! It is wonderfully worth the watch!