Friday Poll: Pure Historicals?

[Rob McCow]

We've had a large number of stories in the New Series that have had an historical setting. We've been to World War I once and World War II twice; we've seen Elizabethan England and Victorian Scotland; not to mention Victorian England twice; and just recently we've been taken to Venice in the 16th Century (I think it was the 16th, I'm not sure).

The times and places have been varied, but one thing's for certain. Whenever the Doctor heads back in time there are always ooglie booglie monsters lurking round every corner. Gas mask zombies, gaslight wraiths, not-really-vampires, Daleks and Cyber-kings, a great big wasp and Mother Doomfinger.

It's been argued that Doctor Who is a show about monsters and that if you have an episode without gruesome beasts then it'll be regarded as dull. Take The Massacre of St Bartholemew's Eve (or as it should more correctly called by any discerning fan, 'War of God'). No monsters and no aliens, so it's generally regarded as worthy but dull. If the New Series tried a story like that it could be a disaster.

Then again, what about stories like The Crusades? Or even Black Orchid? They are perfectly enjoyable. Or take The Kings Demons - it's all quite good fun until the Master and Kamelion turn up, whereon it all falls apart and becomes a rather dull staring contest between the Doctor and the Master.

So, should the new series give a 'pure' historical a go? Would it work? Or should it stick to Vampires and Werewolves battling Queen Victoria and Dickens with Winston Churchill and nanites?

[SiHart]

I don't see why it wouldn't work, other than us being told that audiences wouldn't accept it any longer. I don't see why that's the case. Historical dramas/ films are really popular and they don't have werewolves or vampires in them, so I think it would just take someone daring to think of the idea and actually doing it, to make it work.

Si xx

[Lissa]

Thankfully Big Finish still do monster-free historical stories from time to time and they're generally really good. Fires of Vulcan was a far more interesting story than Fires of Pompeii because one was about how the Doctor and Mel could escape the volcanic erruption when history suggested they died in it and the other was about a CGI monster that was quite monstrous.

[Si Hunt]

Then again, would you feel the same way if you were eight? Kids tend to want monsters and sci-fi elements. It's certainly what I would have wanted. My main fond memory of "The Kings Demons" is the thrilling cliffhanger with the Master appearing, and to a certain extent what makes these stories great is the contrast between the historical-ness and the juxtaposition with the fantastic - a Cyberman stalking through a Victorian Churchyard, for example. Psuedo Historicals (and don't forget the very presence of the Doctor alone makes it 'unpure') please everyone, as they give the older, more historically interested viewers a look at history, but also provide some monsters or villains for the kids. I suspect very few people would be more pleased if you took the Witches out of "The Shakespeare Code" or the Cybermen out of "The Next Doctor".

Si.

[SiHart]

I don't know. A good rip-roaring adventure could be just as exciting. Especially if it's a period kids know about from school. After all not all Doctor Who stories have monsters in them, so why should a historical one?

Si xx

[Logo Polish]

I think the thing is to just try and write something that'll be exciting or interesting or entertaining enough in its own right, and if it works that way, it might be possible to watch it without even noticing, until thinking about it later, that there wasn't a monster or an alien in it. They probably are nervous that children would be put off or bored if there wasn't some kind of monster content, and I suspect that therefore they will never attempt it, but I don't think it would be impossible. A decent thriller or swashbuckler, for example, with strong characters and a fair dose of comedy, or a comedic tone, might still work if written well enough.

[Dino]

Given the way the series is now, the story would have to be intense as being in tents in tent city?
I don't want to give Big Finish any ideas, but a historical drama where the TARDIS is broken in the middle of Hiroshima 40 minutes before the bomb drops would be quite good. Especially if the Doctor and Amy got captured and interrogated as "enemy spies"?
If it was an historical drama set in English castles, with English rep actors playing English aristocrats sbjaaeuiprgjankjwef..Oh sorry! I fell asleep on the keyboard just thinking about it...

[Larry]

it's strange that for a programm based on time travell, just how few actuall "pure historicals" there have been personaly I prefer to keep the monsters and leave "the pure historical" for other programms.

but please discount my vote as I have stupidly ticked the wrong box.

[matthewsch]

Technically, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances is a monster-free episode, but I wouldn't call it a historical in the sense that most people here are referring to, like the old series used to produce.

I think it could be done, but it would have to be done really well, not half-baked. Nobody thought a Doctor-lite episode would work after Love and Monsters, but then Moffat blew us away with Blink. Like I said, it's possible, but it would take a bit of work.