Doctor Who: The Fourth Wall & The Bootstrap Paradox

There are some storytelling devices which we occasionally see on Doctor Who, but are not usual occurrences. Two of them are used in the fourth episode of Series 9, ‘Before the Flood.’ What makes matters even more interesting is that one device is used to introduce another. In the prologue, the Doctor breaks the fourth wall when he addresses the audience. By doing so, he sets up the premise of what they are about to see with an explanation of the bootstrap paradox. Both the breaking of the fourth wall and the bootstrap paradox have been used in previous stories of the program.

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The intimacy of the fourth wall being broken fits well with all of the winks and nods on Doctor Who. The first, most famous, and most blatant example of this being done on the show is in ‘The Feast of Steven.’ In this episode, the First Doctor turns to the camera and jovially greets the audience with, “Incidentally, happy Christmas to all of you at home!” The video of this episode was unfortunately lost. Thankfully, some stills and the audio remain.

As for the bootstrap paradox, the most famous example in Doctor Who is in ‘Blink.’ Sally Sparrow watches a mysterious tape of the Tenth Doctor in which he seems to respond directly to the viewers. She writes down everything that he says and later gives him the transcript. She does this so that he can record himself saying these things, so that she can watch the tape and write it down… and so it goes.

It was cool to see the bootstrap paradox return to Doctor Who in ‘Before the Flood.’ What Whovian doesn’t appreciate some good old-fashioned wibbly wobbly storytelling? What made the episode for me, however, was the Doctor’s monologue directed at the camera — an ideal platform to showcase Peter Capaldi’s superb acting talent. I am a fan of monologues in general, and this one is quite a gem. It is sure to go down as a beloved highlight for this series, one in which Capaldi is truly finding his footing as the Doctor.

What do you think of the use of these storytelling devices on Doctor Who? Let us know in the comments.

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