Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: bbc, doctor who, russell t davies, steven moffat, Whoniverse

Doctor Who: The Moment Companions Discover The Universe is Chaos

Doctor Who is incomplete without a companion - the Doctor's foil, best friend, and forever unrequited love story in a forever chaotic journey.

Doctor Who is a series of fascinating contradictions. It's constantly about the tension, the line between Order and Chaos, and the Doctor isn't always on the side you expect. Yes, they are the hero of the series. The Doctor saves the day and the universe, and the companion joins the Doctor on their journey through Space and Time when they decide that's what they want to do instead of staying home and safe. That is the point where their entire life changes because of this anarchic alien.

The point of no return for a companion is when they discover there are aliens and the universe is vast and dangerous and weird and wondrous. A new companion is always a new story and practically a new show. That companion becomes The Doctor's foil and best friend, the audience surrogate. This is a show about wonders, but it doesn't work without the companion seeing the contradictory sides of The Doctor.

Did it occur to anyone watching that the first time Billie Piper's Rose meets Christopher Ecclestone's Ninth Doctor, he commits what some might consider an act of terrorism? Yes, yes, he blew up an entire department store on Oxford Street in the heart of Central London to stop the alien menace inside the building, but still. It can also be read as a blow against a symbol of rampant consumerism, and working there was deadening for Rose. The Doctor blew up the mundanity of her life and set her on a path of adventure (as well as endless danger and death). I guess for kids, blowing stuff up is always fun, and Russell T. Davies always knew that. It's not British pop culture without total anarchic, destructive chaos! The Doctor has always had that anarchic edge. That's always the subversive edge lurking under the best British pop. The Doctor has never been a conservative figure maintaining the status symbol like James Bond (though Bond also has that anarchic side of destroying property and blewing things up all the time, in the name of the British government as his excuse). This is a series where the hero is an agent of chaos. Steven Moffat certainly relished that about the character – they may be kind and funny, but are also a terrifying Agent of Chaos! The Doctor loves everything but can never fully love their companion. The Doctor has many friends but is always lonely.

These are the rules of what Russell T. Davies now calls The Whoniverse. They play out consistently in every era.

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