Examining the Doctor’s Attitude Towards Soldiers
Mark McCullough takes a look at the Doctor’s anti-soldier attitude and its more recent prominence.
In the run up to The Caretaker, much was made of the interaction between Danny Pink and the Doctor with particular concern about the latter’s anti-soldier remarks. By the time the episode had aired and we had seen the scenes in question, it would seem they had overhyped it slightly. Although that’s not to say that the remarks didn’t come across as slightly jarring and extremely out of character for the Doctor. But is this a new fad for the Doctor, or is it something that has been ingrained in his character since the show returned in 2005? I thought it may be useful to analyse and offer a reason.
Soldier Boy
Since the revival of the show there has been plenty of opportunity for interaction of our protagonist with soldiers of all shapes and sizes. There has been: UNIT Soldiers, the Church Clerics, the Sontarans, the Guards at the Ood Sphere and most recently the Combined Galactic Resistance. However his animosity towards soldiers is not something new. The Tenth Doctor was perhaps one of the most vocal against them throughout his era. This was more evident in some episodes; The Sontaran Stratagem and Planet of the Dead are a few that spring to mind. This character trait also carried over to the Eleventh incarnation of the character, who made clear his opinions on the church clerics. So it is evident that this fascination with being anti-soldier is nothing new for the Doctor. What is noticeably different is the intensity of the animosity, never before have we seen the Doctor reject a person’s worth based on their military nature. It certainly didn’t bode well for Mr. Pink.
When it came to Danny’s turn to face the Doctor he seemed to take it quite well and was able to stand up for himself. However, you could see that he was annoyed about the Doctor’s condemnation of his past. It was here that the show risked overstepping the fine line between appropriate drama and being downright disrespectful to those who risk their lives for the good of others. Thankfully the show remains on the correct side of this line, if only by the revelation that Doctor’s motives were simply to see if Danny was good enough for Clara. The thing is, I don’t quite buy this explanation because earlier in the episode we seen the same prejudice directed towards Danny before the Doctor knew of any connection to Clara. For that reason, I believe that the answer to the Doctor’s anti-soldier stance lies in the Time Lord’s past.
The Time War
As revealed and expanded upon in last year’s fiftieth-anniversary celebrations, the Doctor had a secret incarnation which he was so ashamed of he denounced it as an incarnation of the Doctor. We know relatively little about this Doctor other than his apparent change of heart in The Day of the Doctor where he decides to save Gallifrey instead of destroying it. This snippet at the end of this Doctor’s life was not enough to determine just how ruthless a warrior he was (We are given some expansion in Engines of War). What we do know is that this Doctor was a Warrior; he referred to himself as such and acted accordingly. Perhaps the only moment which gives a true insight into the atrocities he has been responsible for is the fact that Daleks are capable of going against their primal instinct to exterminate in favour of trying to locate the Doctor.
What is not left to the viewer’s imagination is how the other Doctors hold the War Doctor. The hate and contempt delivered in the few lines where the Doctor’s true opinion is reveal (Remember that they forgot the events of The Day of the Doctor were forgotten to them, so their initial opinion is their only true one). Another telling factor is that after this incarnation, the Doctor’s incarnations refuse to carry a gun. What this would suggest is that the underlying reason for the Doctor’s animosity towards soldiers is due to an association with the War Doctor whether that be active association or on a more subconscious level.
All Hail the Daleks
Perhaps an alternative theory is that it is the Daleks which form the root of his opinions on soldiers. Throughout all seven complete series of the show’s revival it has been no secret how much the Doctor hates the Daleks, from screaming at a Dalek to die in Dalek, to the short encounter in The Wedding of River Song, it has been one of the few constants in an ever-changing show. Many consider the Daleks to be perfect soldiers, ruthlessly efficient, highly calculating, and armed to the teeth. Couple this with the fact that they hate all life that is not Dalek which makes them all the more deadly. Perhaps it is these shared traits that makes the Doctor see the Dalek in a soldier when he should be seeing the hero.
So what changed?
Earlier in the article I told you how the Doctor has always been opposed to soldiers, however never before has it been seen to the extent it has with the Twelfth Doctor. So what is the reason for this? Starting with the Dalek theory, it is easy to see how his hatred for the Daleks could have increased given the events on Trenzalore. It would also explain why he was particularly brutal to Journey because he just had an encounter with his most fearsome enemy.
However, I believe the first theory (or a mix of the two) is the more likely to be the case. You might suggest that given that the Doctor is now aware of the true circumstances about the War Doctor, he shouldn’t have hated the incarnation any more. However, whilst this may have been the case, he is exposed to war on Trenzalore in The Time of the Doctor. We see his character try to protect himself from the harsh realities of the situation by surrounding himself with the innocence of children. He uses this almost as a way to self-justify the events which occur and tries to cling to it in the memory of Barnable. Ultimately the war ends with him destroying the enemy completely in a manner which had echoes of the use of the Moment. It is therefore inevitable that the war of Trenzalore will have re-opened old wounds from the Time War. Couple this with the fact he regenerates into a more unstable Doctor and it becomes likely that this Doctor’s hatred towards soldiers comes as an outward projection of the Doctor’s self-hatred.
Conclusion
The Doctor has never been fond of soldiers ever since his involvement in the Time War, but was the events at Trenzalore which have led to the Doctor’s hard-line stance which Danny Pink had to suffer the brunt of. Whilst this is purely conjecture on my part, it does help to rationalise the Doctor’s actions in The Caretaker.
