The Doctor is a gary stu

[Guilherme Zoldan]

So Ive been watching the new doctor who and I quite liked season one, the doctor was interesting, mysterious but charming.
But now Im at season three and Im starting to notice that the doctor is a bit...hard to relate to. He is an unstoppable badass with basicaly no flaws who never looses, he never even needs help he just defeats the most evil creatures in the universe by himself.
Not sure if its the writing or the way David Temnant plays him that makes him such a smug asshole, although I think its both.
Am I alone in thinking this? Does it get any better from third season onwards?

 

[Donnie Restad]

Ummm, David Tennant? The new Doctor is Matt Smith.
To which Doctor are you referring?

 

[Luke5515]

Well he's supposed to be an unstoppable badass, you're supposed to related to his companions.
It's a great show, stick with it.

 

[Guilherme Zoldan]

As I said Im at the third season

 

[Thaluikhain]

More or less all new Dr Who is like that...though, like most Gary Stu's, he's only perfect when he's not doing anything. He, and just about everyone else in the show is unbelievably thick, because anyone being remotely clever would stop the other people from seeming to be scary/smart/whatever.

If they spent some of that time people blather on about him being wonderful having him actually do something, he might become somewhat impressive. As it is, no.

EDIT: I read somewhere someone saying how the new Dr Who is trying to be a superhero movie each episode, which made sense.

You've got you Gary Stu hero having the save the world/universe/every universe/all of time from monster X, featuring lots of CGI explosions and monsters, with talking and character stuff (mostly built on emo whining) as filler.

I can't disagree with that too much.

 

[Guilherme Zoldan]

Well he's supposed to be an unstoppable badass, you're supposed to related to his companions.
It's a great show, stick with it.

Well yes but he is still the protagonist, the one we are supposed to root for. The only reason we root for him though is because if he looses the planet blows up, thats really weak writing.
A protagonist you can relate to makes for a much more engaging story. Not to mention since he never looses, never so much as seems to need help, theres no tension, we almost feel sorry for his enemies.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Well yes but he is still the protagonist, the one we are supposed to root for. The only reason we root for him though is because if he looses the planet blows up, thats really weak writing.

I hate to quote Yahtzee, but "Holy shit! I live on a planet!"

Also, it doesn't help that he has to save the fucking planet every other week from some badly thought out threat. At season 3, you've mostly come across reasonably sensible ones, it gets really, really bad later on.

 

[Guilherme Zoldan]

I find it funny that he just bumps into those cosmic threats all the time when he is traveling for fun.

 

[LloydEsaka]

Can't really agree with you on this, I find the show to be amazingly well written. Then again, I'm easily entertained for short periods of time. Sure we all know he's going to fix it, but the fun part is seeing how he does. As for the Doctor being perfect I think you're focusing on him saving the world too much. Sure he succeeds, but he doesn't always save everyone, or sometimes bad things happen. He's just a 900 year old time lord, a.k.a really really smart, that tends to be really really lucky as well.

As for finding him to be unrelatable I'd have to disagree because I find some similarities in my lifestyle and the Doctor's. I spend most of my time studying or exploring virtual worlds to see what the human mind can imagine (whereas the Doctor goes around the universe and time to learn things and stuff, particularly human things and stuff) and a couple times a week my friends and I will get together and play some stuff for several hours (the Doctor gets his companions and takes him with them on his travels), but at the end of it all they have to leave (like the companions leaving the TARDIS) and I'm left to explore on my lonesome again (as does the Doctor). I realize my lifestyle is my choice, but it's what I like doing, exploring the worlds others create, however superficial that "exploring" may be.

As for whether or not to keep watching it, oh most definitely. Tennant was my favorite Doctor, but Matt Smith is very VERY good as well.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Don't like? Don't watch.

Very tired of constant defending.

 

[Guilherme Zoldan]

He is really really smart I can take that, but he has no flaws. Sure he doesn't always save everyone but he is able to defeat any enemy no matter how powerful, he never shows fear or even seems seriously threatened by his foes.
And he is never, ever wrong. Seriously tell me one point in the whole series in which he has actually been wrong about something.
I think he could be a much more relatable character if he just had some actual flaws.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Seriously tell me one point in the whole series in which he has actually been wrong about something.

Killing the whale in Starship UK.
Letting Miss Evangelista and the others die in the Library.
Letting 1/10 of the Earth die.
Enabling the Dalek Invasion of Earth.

Just a few.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

He is really really smart I can take that, but he has no flaws. Sure he doesn't always save everyone but he is able to defeat any enemy no matter how powerful, he never shows fear or even seems seriously threatened by his foes.
And he is never, ever wrong. Seriously tell me one point in the whole series in which he has actually been wrong about something.
I think he could be a much more relatable character if he just had some actual flaws.

Keep watching. Not to give any spoilers, but that confidence and the sense that he can do no wrong is ultimately the downfall of the Tenth Doctor; he gets too cocky, and it screws him up.


That said, The Doctor never really was supposed to be the person you identified with. Going all the way back to the First Doctor in the 1960's, the companions were there so the Doctor would have someone to explain things to, and the viewers wouldn't be lost. That much hasn't changed, nor will it.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Not sure if its the writing or the way David Temnant plays him that makes him such a smug asshole, although I think its both.

The writing is a bit off, being Davies' trough-water; but if you want a real Mary Sue, watch Rose.

All she needs is purple eyes...oh, she gets them as well.

 

[Guilherme Zoldan]

Again he is the protagonist, maybe he isn't the main one we are supposed to project onto but he needs to at least be a bit relatable or you don't feel invested in what he does. Maybe that format you mention would work if the series followed the companion and not the doctor, but it doesn't, the companion is just a sidekick nobody cares about.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Watch this one.

If you can't get anything from that, it's not the show for you.

 

[Azahul]

I find the idea of anyone considering the Doctor a Gary Stu absolutely hilarious. What it shows is that these days no one has any idea what the term means, and that it (and Mary Sue) have come to be used to describe any character the user of the term dislikes and happens to be somewhat competent at something. Honestly, calling the Doctor a Gary Stu is nearly as stupid as calling Geralt of Rivia one (and I've heard that bandied around a few times, and still find it utterly ridiculous).

Look at it this way. Mary Sue/Gary Stus are meant to be author-insert characters, someone unbelievably awesome, loved by everyone, usually something the author would want to be. Who the hell would want to be the Doctor? Yes, he has the whole of time and space to play with. Yes, he's essentially immortal. Yes, he's damned intelligent. But honestly, wanting those things doesn't make you want to be the Doctor. They make you want to be a Time Lord with a TARDIS (or possibly Captain Jack Harkness, but that's another matter ).

The Doctor, on the other hand, lives a thoroughly unpleasant life. People hate him. Others fear him. His home is destroyed, his people wiped out, the race they sacrificed themselves to kill is still out there, and the Doctor has thoroughly failed in his original attempt to travel the universe at whim. Admittedly, David Tennant's character isn't all that interesting, but that doesn't make him a Gary Stu. That makes him a bland, badly written character. There's a difference between that and an author-insert. I still liked the David Tennant episodes, but that was more due to the actor than the writing (although Season 3 one of the best episodes ever, Blink).

On the subject of whether you should keep watching though, I say go for it. Don't worry, Matt Smith's a much more enjoyable character to watch, and the themes running through the fifth and sixth seasons are more interesting than anything done under RTD. Not to mention that they finally get away from saving the universe every episode and, mostly, spend their time dealing with smaller scale, more personal issues (admittedly, the universe tries to end on them a few times, but no where near as often as in series 2-4).


Edit: Ninja'd on the Blink point.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Wait, third season? You mean John Pertwee? How was he a Gary Stu?

EDIT: Ah, you're referring to David Tennant. I still don't see it.