Weaponized libraries and the delights of 50 years of Doctor Who

You would have to have had your awareness sucked dry by memory-devouring aliens The Silence not to realize that this weekend marked the fifthieth anniversary of classic British science fiction TV series Doctor Who, still unbelievably better than ever after all those decades. And if you want to learn what gives a story arc eternal life, now read on…

For one thing, it really helps to make the fundamental mechanism of your narrative’s renewal a crux of the plot itself, so that regeneration and refreshment of the story comes as an inevitable outcome. And the just-aired fiftieth anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor,” showcased that beautifully, with three iterations, no less, of the endlessly resurrecting, time-traveling hero meeting each other at a decision point in a concatenation of timelines: One, the War Doctor (John Hurt) poised to commit double galactic genocide to end the Time War and salvage the rest of Creation, and the other two Doctors exhibiting the personal consequences. In the last online mini-episode, “The Night of the Doctor,” he had to come back from the dead and resurrect as an entirely different person just to be there. Even his own weapon of mass destruction develops a conscience and pleads with him to consider the alternatives. You do not get much more dramatic than this.

Oh, and just for a bit of Brit bragging here? “The Day of the Doctor” aired simultaneously in 94 countries, as well as screening in some cinemas, giving it an instant Guinness World Record for the largest ever simulcast of a TV drama. With all the power of Hollywood and U.S. Big Media, show me an American series that even comes close.

Much of the credit goes to Steven Moffat, the veteran Scottish (I’m proud to say), writer of the show who helped bring Doctor Who back from its sixteen-year hibernation between 1989 and 2005. I’m not sure if he’s now won more Hugo Awards than any other British writer for his work on the show, but if not, he must be nearly there.

Oh, and that weaponized library reference? That’s from the second episode of the second series of the revived Doctor Who from 2006, “Tooth and Claw,” and features Queen Victoria, werewolves of  Scotland, and the genesis of the Torchwood Institute, which became a more adult spin-off series in its own right in the course of its attempts to defend the British Empire from the onset of the Unimaginable. Trapped in a library, the Doctor declares:

“You want weapons? We’re in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world! This room’s the greatest arsenal we could have – arm yourselves!”

Best pro-library line, ever. The British Library should emblazon it across their frontage.

So arm yourselves indeed, people. After 50 years, no one knows how to tell a story better. Or to honor storytelling more. After all, they’ve been at it longer than almost anyone else …

Editor’s note: Paul shared this with me on Facebook over the weekend, and it’s really a delightfully surreal watch. How did they manage Daleks that are sillier than on the show?

Update: Chris Meadows pointed out in the comments that he’d earlier written an article on the episode The Silence in the Library. Apologies to Chris that we forgot about it when we wrote, edited and published this.