Aside from the beginnings and endings of seasons, The Doctor’s Wife by Neil Gaiman comes as close to a signature event as many of us are likely to see in Doctor Who-dom. With anticipation and the accompanying stakes running high, there was much to deliver on. What most came across, both in the story itself, and especially in the “Confidential” that followed, was how very much of a fanboy Gaiman is.
The reappearance of the 9/10 Console room was just one of the so many reveals and/or callbacks to elements both nu-and-classic that populated the script. If you boil it down, it’s a pretty spare script for plotting and characters. House (wouldn’t Hugh Laurie’s voice have been a surreal treat here) is quite a bit like Omega from The Three Doctors and The Five Doctors in his motivation to cross over to the “real” universe. But Auntie, Uncle, Nephew, and Idris (wouldn’t Astrid have worked better had it not been taken already) all worked wonderfully.
Having said all that, this is not a story for relatively inexperienced Doctor Who fans. This fans first viewing left us somewhat muddled, having the intellect satisfied but without the emotional punch other stories have been able to deliver. And that’s OK… more than that actually. A second viewing left the THT Brain Trust feeling more fully satisfied. How ’bout you?
Images and caps for The Doctor’s Wife are now online.
Also with four stories down we resuscitate the 2011 Dynamic Ratings Table.