Which is a more dangerous proposition?

1. Beaming down on a landing party as a red shirt on Star Trek?
2. Or being promised that you'll be safe/okay/gotten out of danger by the Doctor?

Because, damn, the Doctor sure says "I'm sorry" a lot ...

Filed under :: Media - TV - Doctor Who
Link · Print · Edit · TR/G

That's pretty much a new Doctor thing I think.

Yes, it is. Though, to be honest, I seem to recall the body count used to be pretty high in the older shows, too. The Doctor just didn't say, "I'm sorry.""

Well, that and things that happened that were tragic was usually the fault of the Companion(s) not listening to the Doctor.

Doctor: Stay in the TARDIS, this is a dangerous place.

Companion(s): Allllllriiiiight.... ~pout~

~The Doctor leaves~

~the Companion(s) see something on the Video Screen and rushes out of the TARDIS followed by something bad happening~

Even the only Companion death (Adric) was really the fault of the companion and not the Doctor's.

Well, not so much things that were the fault of the Doctor, as things the Doctor couldn't stop. Usually along the lines of Hapless Folks Running Into Daleks or Cybermen or Robots of Sutekh or Insect Dudes or ...

Usually it wasn't folks the Doctor had to feel like he'd failed (whether he had or not), but the body count was still there.

Again, I think that this is a new Doctor thing.

Old School Doctor Who:

People died because Evil Person/Being/Race was…well…Evil. Not much the Doctor could do about this, and so he never really said anything about it.

People died because they did not understand something that was just trying to live/survive/not be exterminated. Once the Doctor would find out what was “Really” going on, there would be deaths, but there would be no reason to apologize.

People died fighting the good fight against the Evil person/Being/Race. The whole fighting the good fight/stiff upper lip/Die on your feet not on your knees type of thing. The good Doctor in Churchill mode really, again no need to be sorry, or say so.

People died because they ignored what the Doctor told them what they either needed to do, or did what the Doctor told them not to do because it would be wrong/evil/kill them. This was the greatest cause of death usually, and as a viewer you really had no pity for them when they did this, though the Doctor would make a statement about how he wished that they had been able to make to right choice, but refused to do so.

Really the only people that he apologized to where to Companions if something went horribly wrong, or if they were in danger because of something he did (his several prosecutions in Galifrey come to mind). Or on those occasions when someone that the Companions cared about did something and the Doctor would refuse to intervene due to that persons “free will”.

So, I think this may be a case of the times dictating the character. I think the Viewing Public (and the writers, etc) want someone to apologize for all the things that are happening in the world that happen because someone couldn't stop X from happening, or because you have Modern Day Dalak's running amuck and their leaders either condone the actions, refuse to stop them, of do anything that may rock the boat.

I think that the 9th -- and now 10th -- Doctor spend a lot of time apologizing because (a) they are wracked with horrible survivor's guilt from the end of the Time War (which end they personally executed, so far as we can tell, ending both the Time Lords and -- ha! -- the Daleks), and, in many case (b) they keep promising to keep people safe and they end up dying. Even in cases where the Doctor isn't directly responsible, he feels responsible for not being able to fix it. Dude's headed for a nervous breakdown.

It's of a piece with his increasing obsession for finding a Companion -- profound loneliness coupled with *wanting* someone to protect.

I think it's a change in the times the show is produced in (and a change in the producer as well, of course) -- but it's probably a bit more realistic (and even appealing) than the Doctor being *just* nigh-omniscient.