Everybody Likes Doctor Who

I strikes me that I've only cursorily commented on the new Doctor Who series (Series 3, to be exact) and I've got to remedy that? How? With a full-blown Doctor Who Week, that's how! Destined to become an annual (bi-annual? monthly?) event, Doctor Who Week will change the way you look at Who (and I don't mean the first baseman).

Well, maybe it won't, but you never know. Doctor Who Week uses the Easter Egg in the Star Trek pic of the day as a trampoline and will end with the promise of weekly thoughts on Series 3 episodes. But to lay some groundwork, how about a theory of mine?

It's part of a Doctor Who tradition that wherever he goes, good people respond relatively well to him. He's just got to say "Hi, I'm the Doctor, need help?" and he's immediately taken into the inner circle without very many questions. How does he do this? An air about him? People are basically sheep and respond to his authority? We always tend to trust doctors? It's why he travels with a buxom companion?Well, I'm sure that all helps, but it seems to me that there's a lot more going on here.

In the new series, they've given the Doctor psychic paper, a gadget that basically gives him whatever credentials would open the door into the story. But I don't think it was even necessary. Just look at this scene from Aliens of London. The Doctor meets armed soldiers in a hospital they've tightly secured:
Without ever taking out the psychic paper badge, this is the scene seconds later:
He's gone from having guns pointed at his head to leading a special forces unit just like that. Just a follow me, delta formation, bla bla bla. If this were a role-playing game, the Doctor would have his Fast Talk skill at superhuman levels.

My answer: A low-level telepathic field. It's been shown that both he and the TARDIS are indeed telepathic. The Doctor's been able to share information with his other selves on Anniversary shows (where various Doctors could share the stage) telepathically. He's been aware of malevolent presences in the past, and now would "know" if any of his people were still alive. The powerful hypnotic skills of both the 4th Doctor and the Master might certainly be telepathy-based, and he uses such techniques to draw information out of his one-time snog, Madame de Pompadour.
Lucky devil.

So is it so farfetched that he would be sending out "trust me" vibes telepathically? I think not, but I'll suffer other opinions gladly.

And kids, don't try the vibe thing at home. There is such a thing as too much loving.


Doctor Who Week Celebration Extra! Bully coincidentally reviews Billie Piper's autobiography Growing Pains today over at Comics Oughta Be Fun!

Plus! Gad, Sir! Comics! has something on the reappearance of the Daleks this weekend.