Shrill: Daleks still impress.

Image by AB Kade Rogers

A doctor in the house

A FAMILIAR-looking blue phone booth rematerialised in the lounge rooms of many eagerly awaiting fans via the airwaves of the ABC recently.

It’s been a long time since the good Doctor graced us with his presence. Although the face is unfamiliar, the time-travelling eccentric with the binary heartbeat and his quirks remains the same.

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, you obviously weren’t a child in the ’80s. TV was a wonderful thing back then.

Instead of suffering the neurotic strains of a dozen 20-somethings bleating about who-knows-what while parading about in their underwear, the children of the ’80s peeked from behind their couches as a strangely dressed man and his robot dog battled against strange creatures.

The stuff of legend; it shaped a whole generation and scared the hell out of us. Is the new series as good as the old? The special effects are better, monsters don’t have zips barely hidden among their scales and fur anymore, and the acting has improved … largely due to the fact that there are real actors on the show now.

Christopher Eccleston brings the Doctor back to life in his ninth incarnation. With the injection of dry humour and a touch of larrikinism to the role, he is quite believable as the renegade Timelord who knocked off a TARDIS and defied his superiors all those years ago.

Admittedly, I don’t get the exhilarating sense of dread anymore when I watch, but I was overjoyed when a Dalek glided menacingly across my TV screen. Resembling an oversized peppermill with lights on its head, these ridiculous looking apparitions with their shrill rasping voices have never lost their appeal.

The BBC have not forgotten the kids who grew up in the ’80s, and in the climate of reality programs numbing the imaginations of millions, it’s refreshing to see that there is still a faint glimmer of hope.

– Able Seaman Kade Rogers