Father's Day

Russell T. Davies has been heavily criticized by some fans for his ‘domestic’ emphasis – Davies, it is said, is more interested in the companion Rose and her family connections and melodramas than in the Doctor and old-fashioned ‘Who’ adventure. It’s a criticism that is both somewhat warranted and somewhat exaggerated, but it’s interesting that the story perhaps *most* interested in Rose’s family life, Paul Cornell’s ‘Father’s Day,’ turns out to be an utter triumph, by far the finest of the 2005 series. Not only is it a fast-paced, classically Whovian adventure with great monsters, but in tying the emotional component that Davies worked to bring to the series in to an exciting plot (as opposed to merely tacking it on, as happens in stories like ‘Aliens of London’/’World War Three’), it also brings something truly fresh and new to ‘Doctor Who,’ while at the same time making better use of time travel than perhaps any story in series history.

First things first. This story hinges on a questionable hypothesis – surely no other Doctor would have the bad judgment to grant a companion’s request to witness the death of someone so close. But the Ninth Doctor is different from the others – in fact, we’ve already seen him make mistakes several times by this point in the series (trying to help the Gelth, encouraging Adam Mitchell to experience future culture and then lambasting him when he does, etc.). But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, in terms of the series’ dramatic element – how many times in classic ‘Who’ did all sense of danger evaporate because this infallible Super Time Lord was on the scene? I’m thinking specifically of certain Pertwee and McCoy stories, but it really could be said for most of them (except maybe Davison) . . . . Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor is different from them all – he is at once more alien and estranged from humanity than any Doctor since Hartnell, and yet more *human* any of the others, in his imperfection, his failings. Eccleston is truly at his best here – dark and furious when he stares down Rose and insults her, authoritative and classically Doctor-ish when taking over the situation at the church, child-like and haunted when he listens enviously to Stuart and Sarah talk about their banal lives . . . and of course shocking when he pays for his caprices with his own life (for once). It’s hard to say how fans will ultimately remember Christopher Eccleston – fondly, as the actor who brought ‘their’ character back from the dead, or as an uncommitted deserter, as well as a symbol of Russell Davies’s sins as producer? Time will tell, but is can’t be denied that he’s in fine form here.

But of course, this story is more Rose Tyler’s than the Doctor’s, and Billie Piper plays the role with all the commitment and good taste we’ve come to expect from her. Camille Coduri is as screechy and shrewish as ever, but for once it works in the context of the story. Still, the best acting here probably comes from Shaun Dingwall as Peter Allan Tyler. It’s a perfect performance: Tyler is a believable and likeable non-hero – we can see why Jacky would be annoyed and impatient with this dreamer’s schemes (a separate compartment for yogurt?) – but we can’t help liking him. He’s beautifully written, too – not ‘the most wonderful man in the world,’ but extremely kind (you can see it in the loving way he looks at Rose, and one of his first questions about his own future is “Am I a good dad?”), and smart enough to figure out who Rose is, and how exactly she caused their dilemma in the first place. *And* brave enough to face what he must do to make it all right . . . .

These characters come together in a rather brilliantly constructed and moving time-travel story. Considering how key time travel is to ‘Doctor Who’s’ basic concept, it’s amazing the series hasn’t asked these sorts of questions more often. The Chronovores – excuse me, I suppose it isn’t exactly established that the Reapers *are* Chronovores, though they seem close enough to me – are scary and believable, and yet ‘Father’s Day’ is really a story about living in the past, and the futility of wanting to change it. Cornell’s script is dotted with interesting takes on the question (Stuart’s father warning him that his future self might not be so thrilled with his match, etc.), and it all comes together in a blissful harmony of ideas and aesthetics.

All in all, a wonderful ‘Doctor Who’ story, perhaps the first real classic of the new era.