What Does 15 Add Up To in Time Lord Years?

15 years ago today, Doctor Who came back from six years of TV oblivion in the form of a one-off movie that sadly failed to set the stage for a new series. 15 years later, Doctor Who is in the midst of the sixth season of its revived incarnation and has seen the premiere of an episode by arguably the most acclaimed writer to ever write for the show (and maybe for television in general), Neil Gaiman. It's interesting that, like that attempted 1996 relaunch, Gaiman's episode The Doctor's Wife spends a great deal of time exploring the nature of the TARDIS and the Doctor's relationship to it. As such, it ends up being a good point of comparison as far as where the program stands 15 years since the first post-"classic series" attempt to revamp it.

The most obvious thing that stands out is that both episodes demonstrate the importance of getting the Doctor right. Whatever the flaws of the 1996 attempt, Paul McGann was undeniably good. This was brought home watching some of his screen test footage that was included on the DVD release. While the material itself seemed a bit dicey, McGann's conviction for the role draws you in. In the same way, current Doctor Matt Smith gives his all in every episode, making even some conceptually shaky stories very entertaining.

In terms of content, The Doctor's Wife comes across as a sincere valentine to the show, while the 1996 movie was an earnest albeit flawed effort to revamp it for a new audience, both guided by people who genuinely love the show. Ultimately, though, neither episode is likely to rank as one of Doctor Who's finest hours. In this way, both of these stories bring to mind the contributions of the one Doctor Who writer who challenges Gaiman's level of acclaim, the late great Douglas Adams (about whom Gaiman wrote a biography in the 1980s).

Putting aside his brilliant salvage job, City of Death, Douglas Adams wrote two full stories during Tom Baker's tenure in the late 70s. The first of them, The Pirate Planet, was silly but fun, while the other, Shada, is legendary not for its quality but rather because it was never finished. in short, Doctor Who rarely lends itself to perfection, and as tonight's episode reminds me that seems just as it should be.