Last week, one of my fellow Doctor Who Watchers posited that there was no need for a return of the Paternoster Gang in Series 9 … or beyond. As a fan of the trio, my initial reaction was, of course, “How dare you say such a thing!”
However, the logic behind his statement is not all that flawed. His main arguments are that the interaction between the Gang and the Doctor seems to have “hit a lull” and that Madam Vastra is too strong of a character to work well alongside the Doctor (one could say, especially alongside Peter Capaldi’s Twelve, who is a much more rigid character than Matt Smith’s Eleven).
And those aren’t bad arguments. It is true that ‘Deep Breath’ saw hardly any actual interaction between the trio and the Doctor. Most of the Gang’s screen time was as their own separate unit or in the company of Clara. And I completely agree with the statement that Madame Vastra is a strong character.
However, neither of these things should mean that the Paternoster Gang never shows up on Doctor Who again. If anything, ‘Deep Breath’ showed us that the crime-fighting threesome can stand on their own very well. So well that fans have been clamoring for a spin-off. Moffat has refused a Paternoster Gang spin-off, but he needn’t also refuse to bring in the Gang for their own semi-spin-off episodes. Doctor Who used to do this sort of thing pretty regularly during the Russell T. Davies era, where every single episode did not have to center solely on the Doctor and/or his companion. There were a few episodes where we barely saw the Doctor or his current companion, even.
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… Right now most of you are probably thinking of ‘Love and Monsters,’ which surely wasn’t a great episode. But the lack of the Doctor and Rose isn’t what made it a bad episode, it was that the stars of that episode (and the monster, which was, incidentally, created by a nine-year-old child, so what did you expect?) weren’t really good enough to host their very own episode.
Well, we already know that isn’t the case with the Paternoster Gang.
“Midnight”
credit: BBC
Doctor Who used to do episodes that only featured the current companion, or that only featured the Doctor because his companion was off doing their own thing for some reason or another. Yeah, that used to happen sometimes. Like ‘Midnight,’ for example, when Donna (wisely) decided to stay at the hotel and have a spa day while the Doctor went out on that fateful cruise. And then there was ‘Midnight’s counterpoint ‘Turn Left,’ an entirely Donna-centric story.
It’s the idea that every single episode does not have to be centered around the Doctor and companion, an idea that Steven Moffat does not seem to be entirely very fond of just yet. In fact, sometimes it’s nice to have a bit of a break from the Doctor-and-Companion Show to give us a bit more depth and background on other people.
Remember Craig Owens? He was cool. And fun. It was nice to get a bit of fresh blood in there for awhile, wasn’t it?
I know I’m not the only Whovian to feel a bit like Series 8 was The Clara Show. And I guess Series 7 was kind of The Amy Show, really. We still need the Paternoster Gang, especially if they aren’t going to get their own spin-off show! We need them to break up the monotony of the recent rash of companion-centric episodes, or, at the very least, to offer a new dynamic for the companion in those companion-centered episodes! Something different than the usual “redshirter” throw-away characters that tend to populate most episodes and whose only purpose seems to be to elevate and illuminate the companion.
Let’s have some more reoccurring characters who feel like actual people … characters like the Paternoster Gang.
And as for Moffat’s claim that “The moment you start relying on something, you should probably throw it away. I always kind of feel that nothing should stay in the Doctor’s life.” … RUBBISH!
The Ponds were around for AGES!
credit: BBC
Amy stayed around for longer than any other companion, a record that Clara seems to be attempting to match, if not exceed. And what about the Master? Sure, the Master is now Missy, but it’s still a character that has carried over all the way from Classic Who. Yet Moffat seems to have no qualms about bringing that particular staple back. The Cybermen? Daleks? Weeping Angels? River Song? Captain Jack? UNIT?
Both the Daleks and Weeping Angels were supposed to have been exterminated a few different times now, and yet, they somehow manage to keep coming back. It’s a nice sentiment he expresses there, but clearly Mr. Moffat is not sticking to his own advice.
No, the Paternoster Gang should most definitely not leave the show for good. Neither do they need to be over-used, for sure, but keeping them around to throw in every now and then will help keep Moffat’s Series 9 — and beyond — from growing too stale.