I have returned to
The Polarity is Reversed after thinking way too much about Moon Jae-in's Eleventh Doctor.
So expect way too much write-up since the Korean element is genuinely a key aspect to understanding TPiR's 'New Who'.
The
Eleventh Doctor, acted by Moon Jae-in, is perhaps
the emblematic Doctor of many viewers who started on New Who. Sure, there's a generation that first saw Gillard, maybe a few poor sods whose first Doctor was Papandreou, and of course the many youngsters who started with Germanotta or Putin, and those who just started by watching Marin, but Moon Jae-in enjoys the honour of being the Doctor who introduced millions to the show. At once a friendly older figure - perhaps an older father figure or grandfather - yet someone who could be very serious if he needed to, he struck perhaps the perfect delicate balance that Gillard struggled at times to achieve and Papandreou... didn't succeed at.
There's a case to argue that Doctor Who between 2007 and 2012 - one which lasted three seasons and barely one more while struggling with austerity, bad casting and below-par writers - was in many ways the last gasp of Old Who. This arguably does a disservice to Gillard for her efforts at reinventing the show for a new century, but alas, the narrative has stuck even though she remains a popular Doctor. Nevertheless, the BBC was deeply suffering from cuts imposed to it by George Osborne. Doctor Who was about to be put on hiatus for a second time.
Then the Koreans arrived.
Korea was the hub of a wave of Britmania in the 2000s and the Korean Broadcasting Service was very interested in purchasing rights to produce Doctor Who. The BBC, hesitant at signing away permanently one of its most well-known shows, yet acutely aware of tightening budgets, agreed to what would fundamentally transform the show - perhaps truly start 'New Who' - a co-production between the state broadcasters of Britain and Korea. It was Doctor Who's second foray into Asia, after the Fifth Doctor was acted by Hong Kong actor Teng Hsiao-ping, and arguably one far deeper. With Teng's Doctor, it was still British writers - leading to quite a few orientalist stories - but this was a full
co-production.
The unique dynamic that led to the co-production arguably empowered KBS compared to BBC. KBS was the one with the money purse, they were amply funded by the state and was keen to ensure that while Doctor Who still remained 'British' in spirit, that it would become undeniably Korean in influence. Ironically enough, the suggestion of a Korean actor for the new Doctor was from the BBC side [with Doctor Who being already famous for being the show that almost always never cast a Brit as the protagonist]. Moon Jae-in was already notable in a popular Korean show named
The Occultist that explored a woman's deepening dependence on a spiritualist, even as she rose to greater heights. His role as Detective Yoon Duck-soo made him a household name and it was this that drew British eyes to him. He was easily confirmed.
The companions being also Korean was a bit of a push, and in the end it was agreed that the two - a couple - would be Korean-
American. Both BBC and KBS obsessed about breaking into the American market, and this is why you see a good deal of American settings in the first season, including the first episode being in San Francisco and leaning heavily on the 'Silicon Valley' theme.
Despite the BBC signing off on it as "well, they're paying, not us, why not" with low expectations, Series 5 proved immensely popular. People all around the world loved the experienced yet kind Eleventh Doctor and his companions, with the family dynamic between Danny and June, their time-travelling daughter Hana and the friendly Doctor proving to give the show a grounding that past Doctors seemed to lack. A Christmas Special and new series was signed off after the third episode proved to bring in impressive viewer numbers.
Series 6 would continue this dynamic, but the BBC was loath to make Doctor Who into an ensemble cast and the final episode of the series - Midsummer Nights - would see June and Danny permanently leave the show via being sent to an alternate dimension. Their experiences in that alternate dimension would eventually end up a very popular show named
The Lake Beside the Woods and run on for 2 series on KBS, but safely distanced from the Doctor Who franchise. The Christmas Special would focus on the Doctor alone.
The BBC was keen to explore a less 'family-oriented' dynamic than KBS initially agreed to, and eventually got their way with one of the next pair of companions. With the white whale of the American market still being frustratingly un-harpooned, a different tactic was sought. Namely Down Under. Doctor Who was not unfamiliar with Australia, after all Gillard was from there and a few companions were Australian in the past. The casting of Australian actress Ruby Rose as biker rebel Jacinda Regan was received with cautious optimism, especially alongside Han Dong-hoon as beleaguered teacher Andy Park [the old tactic of making companions be from the diaspora was deployed again].
Jacinda and Andy were a fairly different dynamic to June and Danny, being a teacher and his rebel ex-student, but the series proved popular, even if not quite as popular as before. KBS still was happy enough to hand over the funding, but Jacinda left at the end of the series, having said to have chosen to stay to join a biker gang in Pyongyang. The Christmas Special was one involving Hana Lake and her complicated relationship with the Doctor.
Andy carried on to the next series, along with a new companion Penny Han, who was intended to add a bit of mystery with her extrahuman abilities. Series 8 was reasonably popular. Not as much as 5 or 6, but it was getting regular viewership, and the last episode - "Meteor Garden" - received numbers that would impress anyone. Andy leaving the show was mutually agreed, he was essentially 'done' as a companion, and Penny's arc ending up with her being overwhelmed by the forced injection of knowledge and the Doctor trying to save her from complete brain-collapse.
With a new Labour government in Britain keen to increase funding for the BBC and the KBS starting to lose interest in the co-production, Series 9 proved to be one of the show's more unique series. The presence of Jess Lyons - acted by Scotswoman Mhairi Black - was the first unambiguously British companion in quite a while and the focus being on her relationship with the Doctor, one defined by both obsession and distrust, was a shift that received mostly positive reviews focusing on her being a companion who was already familiar with the Doctor.
After the end of S9, the BBC confirmed that they were ceasing the co-production with KBS on amicable grounds [a good few Korean writers would choose to stay in the UK to work for the BBC, and that is why there's a neighbourhood in Cardiff with an unusually-high Korean presence] and Moon Jae-in confirmed he intended to retire, wishing to seek other works, saying that his Doctor's story was "almost completed", and completed it would be with the final episode, a Christmas Special in which many tuned in to watch of the Doctor's adventure in a hotel on the moon haunted by spirits.
His regeneration into the Twelfth Doctor ended a very unique era for Doctor Who, and one that remains unforgettable.
The six companions of the Eleventh Doctor.
June Lake and
Danny Shaw are a Korean-American couple living in San Francisco. They serve as somewhat relatable people in the new Doctor Who, with their tight relationship with each other being the foundation for the 'family dynamic' of Series 5 and 6. Their employment is left vague, with it being just enough for a comfortable apartment. The Doctor enters their lives as the city becomes very confused on who are robots created by Nestene Corporation and who are humans. In the end this is cleared up and all the robots - Autons they are belatedly called - are either dismantled or in certain cases just neutralised. Their travels with the Doctor weave through their developing family life, including with their daughter Hana who ends up disappearing due to her latent time travelling abilities [acquired due to being conceived on the Tardis]. In the end, they chose to go together into a parallel world and be trapped forever there to save the universe from being taken over by Cybermen.
Jacinda Regan is a rebel, simple. She loves her bike and she always holds authority in disdain, making her former teacher Andy Park deeply frustrated at times. However, she is a kind-hearted woman who holds a strong moral code. With the Doctor and Andy, she's often the one arguing to help people when they just want to leave. In the end, she chose to stay in Pyongyang to join a biker gang after the end of the series. The actress has given her opinion that she thinks that Jacinda would end up being dissatisfied with the gang and seek to do greater things.
Andy Park is a teacher. A hard-working teacher often frustrated with his students. But a teacher nevertheless. He takes pride in being able to notice even the littlest things, and even though Jacinda dropped out of school, he still attempts to teach her things on their travels. With Penny, he proves a far more successful teacher even if Penny's abilities prove beyond his understanding. In the end, he leaves the Tardis voluntarily, citing a wish to continue teaching his students and finding time travel increasingly a distraction.
Penny Han is a normal woman. Or at least she thinks. One day she wakes up and notices that she can see scents. It gets worse from there as she manifests other (far more extreme) abilities, seemingly at random, that wrecks her life and brings her to the Doctor's attention. In the end, it is revealed that she is a genetically-enhanced human augmented by the Nestene Corporation (seeking revenge on the Doctor) and ends up having her brain be overloaded with knowledge in an attempt to bring the Corporation down, throwing her life in danger. In the end, the Doctor reaches out to the Neutwork Project [brain-uploading, already introduced in a previous episode] to save her, which they do but it's only confirmed in the Thirteenth Doctor episode The Trial of a Time Lord, Resurgence, in where she appears to the Doctor as a digital consciousness.
Jess Lyons was once obsessed with the Doctor. She regularly went on websites such as "Who is the Doctor?" and "Police Box Sightings". But she decided that it all was nonsense. Up until a police box appeared in front of her as she was walking home from work. Her teenage obsession was now proved correct. Her relationship with the Doctor is always slightly fraught, but deeply interested on both sides. The Doctor this late in his eleventh incarnation is seeking someone who can share similar appreciation of the wonders of the universe, and Jess seems to fill that box. Eventually she decides that it is time to put away childish things once more, and works with the Court of Time to go after the Doctor. It was initially planned that she would make a re-appearance in The Trial of a Time Lord, but contract negotiations fell through.