Doctor Who in the 10s: Whomerica

While the decade was capped off with a brand new era and a gender swap for the lead character, in reality the bulk of the 2010s can most definitely be described as The Steven Moffat Era. When I recapped Series 10, I basically did a rundown of the Moffat era as well, and in someways maybe I should've saved that all for this article. But I do still have more detailed thoughts on his era, and this decade, and I'd like to explore them a bit here.

So in 2009 it was announced that Russell T Davies was stepping down from showrunner after reignited the flame of the franchise when he took on that role in 2003, launching the show in 2005.  He produced 4 1/2 series and two popular Doctors...and he had really got the ball rolling on a lot of things that were to come.  David Tennant was immensely popular and the fanbase began to really grow outside of the UK.  I was on of those fans!  I discovered how great this series was in 2007, in a wikipedia hole I ended up on the show, which I had once tried to sample years earlier (the Five Doctors, big mistake), and seeing they were making new episodes and this regeneration thing had just happened I looked it up.  Found that Children in Need special where Eccleston turned into Tennant and then Tennant began hopping around the TARDIS. I was hooked!

Anyhow, international fans, particularly here in the US, began growing in numbers, and by the end of Tennant's run it was on the cusp of truly exploding.  I think Tennant's exit and Matt Smith's entrance came at the perfect time for that explosion. Davies and Tennant laid so much groundwork, truly got the train running here in America. There were enough fans that knew there was going to be a new Doctor, a new showrunner, and a perfect jumping on point for new fans...and I think a lot of people were able to use that to say "here watch this new episode with me."  Not to mention that in the 2009 gap year I think a ton of fans began to binge the show on Netflix and were just primed for the new Doctor to come in.  It was truly a perfect storm.  And Who blew up majorly in this country and around the world. I remember it going from this weird thing I was watching and rewatching and scouring for more and more classic episodes alone in my dorm...with no one to truly talk to about it, to suddenly I could walk into some random store at the mall and find an entire shelf filled with merch based around the 2010 series. It was weird, I suddenly wasn't alone in watching it. I even remember a friend of mine, who I believe has still never watched the show himself, saying to me "I feel like you were the only guy talking about that show, and now everyone I know is...you were actually ahead of the curve on that."

I am very rarely ahead of the curve on things. For example, I am writing on a Doctor Who blog which can easily link you to my Star Trek and Babylon 5 blogs.  Not a cool dude.

Matt Smith was the face of the show here in the US.  Not only as the star of the show, but his face was plastered all over merch too.  For a lot of fans, he was THE Doctor.  His first series was really great, which only helped grow that fanbase...and his charisma and energy in the role kept the fire going even as his subsequent series weren't nearly as well written.  While Moffat reined in some of his antics during the Peter Capaldi run, and the fanbase remained pretty loyal (I overall think I preferred Capaldi and his run to Smith in general), I think it is safe to say that a lot of the rabid fan love dwindled a tad during this era.  It is kind of a shame, as I think it was overall a better written show during that time...so the show needed something new to inject new life into it. 

While the show in the 2000s under Davies saw the franchise stretch it's legs with spin-offs galore (beyond the shows like "Sarah Jane Adventures" and "Torchwood," there was also the documentary shows Doctor Who Confidential & Totally Doctor Who, as well as the non-BBC production K-9...which maybe someday I will actually watch and review for this site...maybe).  The 2010s saw that slowly fizzle out, despite the breakthrough successes in America.  SJA ended it's run a year and half into the Smith era due to star Elizabeth Sladen's death.  "Torchwood" moved it's production to the US for one season on Starz (co-produced with BBC Wales), but it's lackluster ratings and mixed critical reception essentially ended the show's run for good. Even the K-9 show made in Australia only made one season.

Spin-offs faded from the show,  I don't think Moffat had the same level of interest in spin-offs as Davies.  Instead of having his focuses divided between Who and other Who-related properties, he decided to divide it between Who and Sherlock.  Moff did help launch one Who spin-off, "Class," which was a decent enough middle ground between the tones of SJA and "Torchwood" but not so great that I lamented it's cancellation after a single short season. 

And so we come to the end the decade, with Jodie Whitaker pulling in some of the strongest viewing figures for the show in quite a while.  It seems a shame that after gaining momentum for the show in terms of ratings, they decided to take another year off and end the decade with a distinct lack of Who. But while I enjoyed Series 11, it is obvious that there are a lot of people who found the writing to be pretty weak.  I think most just missed the grandiose speeches of the Moff era.  I didn't.  At any rate maybe a bit of time can help them keep it fresh.

While the 2000s saw the end of the Wilderness and the Grand Return, the 2010s saw success for the show in a much bigger scale.  It became less of a cult hit in America and began to gain some mass mainstream appeal.  The spin-offs may have dwindled, but the franchise seemed in great health.  The 50th really being the centerpiece of the decade in a way.  It showed just how big the show has become, with it's broadcast beamed live in a large number of countries at once.  It was a hell of a decade for the show!