Comedy has been a staple of Doctor Who in both the original and the current series, despite the occasional season of tedious self-importance or morbid horror. And even in those periods, some comic relief always managed to sneak its way into the episodes. The serial nature of the original series gave writers very few opportunities for episodes devoted entirely to comedic stories, but the more episodic nature of the revived series has allowed writers to explore the more humorous side of the franchise.
To be fair, the results have been fairly mixed. Fan reactions have tended towards the negative when episodes have seemingly drifted too far towards outright comedy, something I continue to find baffling given, as I said, that humor has almost always been part of the show’s make-up. For myself, I frequently find the pretenses towards science-fiction an unwanted intrusion into the comedy episodes, especially as they have mostly occurred late in the season, often as a sort of “last gasp” of fun and frivolity before the sturm-und-drang of the finale. Gareth Roberts’ adaptation of his Doctor Who Magazine strip is probably the most satisfying of the comedy episodes in the new series to date. Partly I think this is because it is almost entirely a comedy episode, with the fantasy elements restricted to a sub-plot that doesn’t come to the fore until the end. And even then, the story of the time-lost space-ship killing humans in an effort to find a new pilot (computer logic, or lack thereof, being the real culprit), is dealt with almost as quickly as it is introduced. The resolution even to this element hinges on the comedy-romance of guest stars James Corden and Daisy Haggard, further pushing the comedy elements to the front.
That leaves the bulk of the episode as a mix of Corden’s sweet romantic story, as an average guy unable to bring himself to declare his feelings for his seemingly platonic female friend, and the comedy of errors that results when we discover that she’s in the same situation-and the Doctor’s inept efforts to fit into 21st century society as an average person. Corden and Haggard’s story works because they’re both very believable in their roles and play them with the right amount of mannered style to communicate the joke. The Doctor’s story works very well because at this point we have already had ten episodes of Matt Smith playing an angst-free, more relaxed Doctor, one who is open to making jokes and far more oblivious to human mores and customs than his two immediate predecessors. It is probable that the episode wouldn’t have worked anywhere near as well with either Eccleston’s or Tennant’s Doctors. Both in terms of visual style and personality, those Doctors were very of their time and place, their alienness more implied. Smith’s Doctor feels more obviously out of place in contemporary society, and pairing him with an average guy and having him attempt to make a go of such basic situations as “working” and “playing a game” makes for jokes that work better than they would with other actors.
Entries (RSS)
What really makes Smith’s Doctor sing is that, while he can be comically inept in social situations, he actually cares more about the personal lives of his friends and the people he meets more than the last couple of Doctors. He’s out of touch with social niceties, but he understands the romance between the two friends in the Lodger better than they do, and is nudging them together all the way.
Really fantastic episode not hurt in the least by seeing Matt Smith nearly naked. Or outfitted in footie kit.
I found Gareth Roberts Who CV interesting. I can’t say anything about his New Adventures work or anything, but the two-and-a-half episodes he’s written, “The Shakespeare Code” (probably the only New Who episode I’ve never seen, though I don’t recall it being particularly lauded), “The Unicorn and the Wasp” (thoroughly mediocre, and I’ll never forgive it for making Agatha Christie just sort of blegh), and “Planet of the Dead” (not-quite awful, but close), would never have prepared me to believe he’d write such a delight as “The Lodger.”
Enormously enjoyable. Sweet, sweet story with nicely modulated scary bits sprinkled in along the way, Doctor Eleven as a sort of daffy/wise matchmaker (“6 billion people on the planet, though watching you two I’m starting to wonder how…” as a throwaway was a perfect example of the ep’s charming tone) — it was like a confection, in my book.
Through no fault of either character or actress, everything about Amy is so … so … *fraught* now (moving as she is from catalyst to axis for the Main Story), that having her on the sidelines made it feel like there was some room to breathe.
The Doctor’s distractions feel not like he isn’t paying attention to anything, but rather that he’s paying attention to *everything* — all at the same time, mind racing — and it really works for me — coupled as it is with a kind of low grade near-mutter talking-to-himself thing which Smith seems to do particularly well.
Hat tip to the series for the engagement ring payoff which was set up nicely before.
I suppose it’s just not how they do it now, that is, a Big Story running over the whole season is Required, but honestly a nice long stretch of monster-of-the-week episodes would be, I suspect, quite fun.
Did anyone else think this episode was an extended riff on Spaced? it sure felt like it to me. (Not that that’s a bad thing!)
Nice to read an exploration of this episode that isn’t coloured by a prior bias towards/agin James Corden. I…I would recommend…maybe…trying Gavin & Stacey, the sitcom he wrote with Ruth Jones (who was in an episode of Torchwood, nerdly-nerdly). Actually, I dunno. You might hate it. I like it. It’s in the best modern British tradition, but…it’s a bit polarising.
Daisy Haggard, too. She was in a sketch show called manstrokewoman (sic), along with Nick Frost, Nicholas Burns, etc., and it’s very good.
I enjoyed this episode a great deal. The power of love ending aside, I enjoyed the setup, the performances and the…info-dump. I’d agree that the sci-fi business was a bit by-the-by, but I didn’t mind.
You know…some people have spun five-series shows out of set-ups like this. Thank Christ for brevity, what?
I’ve just this last week watched my first full Jon Pertwee Who, as well. “Carnival of Monsters.” Not bad. Nice bit of righteous anger from The Doctor. Pre-Davros Michael Wisher giving it his best Scott Pilgrim-eyes. Astonishing that what was probably his most famous role completely obscured his most striking feature. Also saw some more Troughton (The Krotons, quite good) and the man himself, Hartnell. That story had the Doctor et al. trapped aboard the TARDIS and going slowly mad. An excellent tale.
//\Oo/\\