Confession #73: I Think Callbacks Are Good

January 21, 2015

One of the delights of Doctor Who (or irritations, depending on how you feel about a particular one) is recurring characters. The tradition began decades ago, primarily out of necessity when the production team decided to take the show in a new direction and strand the Doctor on Earth. The team of humans at UNIT with whom he worked for the next several years became honorary TARDIS crew, even though most of them rarely (if ever) set foot inside the TARDIS.

To this day, Brigadier Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (usually simply called “the Brigadier”) is remembered fondly—so much so that his daughter Kate Stewart has followed in her father’s footsteps and become a quasi-regular on the show in her own right. If Nicholas Courtney were still alive, it’s a sure bet they’d be trying to find a way to get him a guest spot.

Since the show’s return in 2005, others have wormed their way into fandom’s collective hearts. Regardless of how you might personally feel about either of them, it’s hard to deny that Capt. Jack Harkness and River Song each have a large following. River has appeared in a whole series’ worth of episodes (thirteen of them) over the years, and though Jack only appeared in eleven episodes of Who, he also got three (or four, depending on how you count) series of his own show.

Whenever popular non-core characters crop up that often, fandom begins speculating about (and in some quarters, clamoring for) those characters’ returns. After an interview published last month in which Moffat admitted he was open to bringing either Jack or River back—provided the stories called for it—I’m sure the lobbying engine will kick into overdrive (as if fan input ever actually affects Moffat’s decisions).

I’ve never gotten on board the River train, probably because of the peculiar phase of nascent fandom during which I first encountered her, but even I would love to see her with someone besides Eleven (Ten hardly counts). She often claimed to be familiar with “all” the Doctor’s faces, yet her entire timeline seemed to run its course during Eleven’s life—with the obvious exception of the encounter in the Library.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see her crop up in another era in his life, and make good on those claims? I’ll not be crushed if it never happens, but from a narrative standpoint, I think it would really add something to her character. Besides, I’ll bet her chemistry with Twelve would be killer.

Then there’s Jack. Surely he’s kept track of Eleven’s antics, but he never got to meet that incarnation face to face (at least not on screen; I can’t speak to events in any alternate media). After having first met Nine and then worked so closely with Ten on various occasions, I can’t help but wonder what he’d think of this new, older-looking man. Twelve gives off a “grumpy ol’ cuss” vibe more in line with Nine that Jack just might find that comforting. His relationship with Ten was strained at first, given the way Bad Wolf Rose changed Jack; would that awkwardness return, or be water under the bridge?

There are other guest characters I can envision making a return, too, though I think River and Jack are by far most likely. But it would be fascinating to revisit others, and see how their relationships with the Doctor evolved as a result. I know, for example, that there are plenty of folks out there who’d like to see Jenny return. That would certainly throw the search for Gallifrey into a whole new light, I’d think.

And, though there are rights reasons that will prevent this from (ever?) happening, I’d love to see the Doctor bump into Grace Holloway and/or Chang Lee again some day. Did Grace spend the last thirty years kicking herself for turning down a trip in the TARDIS? Did Lee leave town over Christmas that year like the Doctor told him to, and if so—what happened to San Francisco?

Doctor Who has a rich history full of beloved characters. While I agree that to stay fresh it always needs to move ahead and find new ones to draw in its audience (but maybe without killing them off unnecessarily, eh? ~cough~Osgood~cough~), frequent nods to the past have been a part of the show’s DNA almost since it began (hello, Daleks). I’d like to see a few more in the years to come.