“Why don’t you wear them anymore?”
“Oh, I do. I have question mark underwear.”
– Osgood and the Doctor discuss questionable fashion
Doctor Who has never been the most subtle of shows.
The fourth episode of the show, Aliens of London, proceeded to brutally murder Tony Blair and shove his body into a closet in Downing Street. Just in case the show’s politics weren’t clear enough, The Sound of Drums went on to have the Master model himself on some evil hybrid of the Tenth Doctor and Tony Blair while engaged in a crazy scheme to conquer the world. He took great care to execute the President of the United States (or “President Elect”) in the process.
Invasion of the body doubles!
Even the classic show was prone of moments of grand political pantomime. The Sylvester McCoy era had great fun skewering Thatcherism with stories like Paradise Towers and The Happiness Patrol. The media were reportedly surprised when Andrew Cartmel revealed that the real Cartmel Masterplan was to bring down the government, which only serves to demonstrate just how few people watched the show’s twilight years. Of course, Robert Holmes also wrote The Sunmakers when he had an axe to grind with the inland revenue.
All of which is to point out that The Zygon Invasion has a long pedigree. Doctor Who has a rich and distinguished history when it comes to filtering political commentary through a cartoon megaphone. While the results are undoubtedly a bit crude and blunt, it is fascinating to see a family show tackling this sort of issue relatively head-on.
Getting the all Clara…
Filed under: Television | Tagged: doctor who, the zygon invasion | 14 Comments »
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