Number 10, and I'm only just coming out of the Hartnell era. Hartnell's departure is such a significant moment, however. We don't have him retire, or die, or walk off into the sunset, to be replaced by a new character who will fulfil his role in the series.
After complaining of increasing weakness - "This old body of mine is wearing a bit thin" - he hurries back to the TARDIS, leaving Ben and Polly behind. It's as if he knew something monumental was about to happen and needed to be prepared for it. Inside the TARDIS, he operates the controls - though some seem to be working independently of him. He collapses and is found by his companions lying on the floor.
They then see his face blur and change, and in a few moments a younger, darker haired man lies in his place.
To get some idea of what the heck has just happened, we have to move into the next episode - the first instalment of The Power of the Daleks. Most of this story is spent with Ben refusing to believe this dark-haired bloke is the Doctor - despite both he and Polly seeing the change. (Did David Whitaker / Dennis Spooner not check to see where they were when the change took place?).
These days we call it "Regeneration" but that wasn't coined until the final episode of Planet of the Spiders. Here, it is very clearly called "Renewal". "That's it. I've been renewed". It's also claimed to be intrinsically linked to the TARDIS - the Doctor states it couldn't have happened without it.
If you read old copies of Doctor Who Weekly / Monthly, they subscribe to the notion that the Troughton Doctor is a younger version of the Hartnell one. It is only much later that the series confirms he is another incarnation of the Doctor - one of 13 according to a rule set down by Robert Holmes, but since thrown out the window. (Though the draft scripts stated clearly that the Doctor had changed more than once before - "I fight it every time" / "...the last time I changed...").
Film and TV franchises have changed lead actors many times - sometimes having them a whole new character (such as the steady stream of prissy British detectives who get sent out to the Caribbean to solve all those Death(s) in Paradise) or they are supposed to be the same character (like Supermen, Spidermen, or James Bonds).
Lead actors change for various reasons - push and pull. In the case of Hartnell, his increasing ill health left the production team no choice but to replace him. Innes Lloyd and Gerry Davis hit upon the incredibly clever - genius - idea of having the Doctor, as an unknown alien, have the ability to change his body into an entirely new persona - physically and mentally / behaviourally.
The series could continue with a brand new actor, playing the exact same heroic explorer - just with a quirky new personality and fewer fluffs...
No comments:
Post a Comment