Nerd Journal: MM on Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV, or, "Sam and Dean Who?"

Sorry, Metallicar. It's not you; it's me. MM has lost her heart to the TARDIS, and she's gone.

I feel as though I owe some kind of explanation, especially to La Parisienne, my fellow TV maven. So here it is. The short version is: if ever a TV series seems calibrated precisely to capture my imagination, the BBC reboot of "Doctor Who" (2005-present) is that series. I'll explain at length later (think of the irresistible combination of technophiliac pleasures, history-covered jaunts through time, and the whole sci fi idea), but for now, let me give you a pair of little video clips in an attempt to explain why, at its best, it is so compelling on a purely human level:



As Alessandra and I were just saying, this episode ("Gridlock" from season 3) is largely silly and involves a massive anti-grav traffic jam, a Hydra-like gigantic monster, space epidemics, telepathic aliens, and kittens. (Yes, kittens. Cute, but come on, really?) But what catapults the whole thing into the stratosphere in terms of acting and character development are the two scenes I linked above, bookending the episode. Out of the silliness comes that elegy, that scintillating flash, and the Shakespearean talents of the actor shine.

We go to the Great Idea, so often missed by TV showrunners and moviemakers, that a truly great story is character-driven, and if you don't care about your characters, then not all the CGI explosions will really fire your imagination. Besides, after that scene, I defy any fan to not feel a melancholy pang for lost Gallifrey -- and it's not even a real place. Now that is storytelling, and that is acting. MM has laughed at every melodramatic tearjerker movie she's ever seen, but Tennant's delicately modulated threnody for Gallifrey made her misty, and that was a real surprise. And I'm not often surprised. The ability of "Doctor Who" to reach for -- and to achieve -- these moments is at the heart of why I love this show.

Now onto the present season of both "Supernatural" and "Doctor Who." Really, it's almost Dickensian in its opposition -- the best of times, the worst of times ... While last Thursday's season finale of "Supernatural" was a disappointment (a crashing bore, actually -- as the delightful Kamikaze Editor said, "How did they make Armageddon boring?" 'Tis a sad mystery), the fresh season of "Doctor Who" with its new Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) has been dishing up some stellar storytelling right from its premiere episode.

In fact, while the Winchesters of "Supernatural" have been steadily frittering away my goodwill all season, the new Doctor has been growing on me. I had been extremely reluctant to commit to Matt Smith -- or anybody, really, in the role -- after the departure of the stunningly gifted David Tennant as the previous Doctor, but I have to say that the lady has been well wooed and is all but won.

Oh, don't get me wrong: sometimes "Doctor Who" can be as silly and campy as any other show, and that's fine -- and often fun anyway. A few episodes are catastrophically awful ("Fear Her" was absolutely unforgivable), but the show itself has so much potential, and it achieves that potential more than it doesn't.

"Supernatural" has been disappointing all season, and its good moments can't outweigh the bad, for the bad is a wearisome drain on its audience. The fun is gone. (In fact, the season finale was described by the critics at TV Without Pity as "bringing five years' worth of plot points and mythology to a close in the most anti-climactic manner imaginable." More here.) Do you remember when I said goodbye to "24"? I am about to say goodbye to "Supernatural" too.

So into the TARDIS! Allons-y!