Bad Wolf/Bad Idea
I've started re-watching the Peter Capaldi Doctor Who series after being rather underwhelmed by the first Ncuti Gatwa series and his final episodes broadcast this last fortnight. It's the first time I have watched these Twelfth Doctor episodes since they were originally transmitted, so they're both familiar and also new.
So far, I'm enjoying them. Capaldi is definitely a great Doctor, somewhat in the vein of Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee (and not some sexycute, skinny trousered pretty boy with amazing hair like the later series Docs). But that's another post for another day.
Anyway, I've just watched the 2nd episode "Into the Dalek" and a throwaway comment by Clara Oswald - about how The Doctor's obvious hatred for the Daleks could be seen as racial prejudice - had me thinking.
Russell T Davies worked hard in these Gatwa episodes to touch on modern issues; fake news, fascism, homophobia, transphobia, racism, sexism, the "manosphere" amongst other things.
What if there was a future episode where, in a parallel to the current rise in sympathy for far-right/Nazi ideology; and, as an echo of Clara's "prejudice" quote, the Daleks were being championed as an oppressed race?
As murderous machines of death they are seen to have as much right to exist as the most peaceful sentient gas cloud. Mouthpieces on futuristic social media loudly proclaim them as misunderstood, that they might have had some good ideas, actually and at least they made the interplanetary trains run on time and it was the people who fought against the Daleks that were the true evil beings.
Public opinion on The Doctor throughout the multiverse in time and space starts to waver as he's painted as some kind of fascist; forcing his Dalekist views on people and vigorously following up on his anti-Skaro rhetoric by regularly trying to defeat Dalek-kind. He's just as bad as what he's saying the Daleks are. In FACT HE'S THE MONSTER HERE.
Quite where a writer with actual literary skills could go with this is unknown. I'm sure the Doctor could rehabilitate his image once a Dalek exterminates a Space Laurence Fox live on Galactic TikTok and he brings it to justice via an interplanetary YouTube Short. It could be epic or it could be shite. I'm just writing out a half-baked brain fart here late at night.
Listen RTD, if Disney hasn't given up on Doctor Who and there's scope for two more series (and not more Wilderness Years), you can have this idea on me. I'm sure you could do summat with it. Just bung me a few quid, yeah?