RTD Defends Controversial Doctor Who Villain Changes: “You have to accept 40 years have passed”
Russell T Davies has defended his controversial changes to Omega in Doctor Who’s Series 15 finale.
In “The Reality War”, Omega returned not as the mythic, cloaked figure long remembered by fans of the classic series, but as a large skeletal CGI monster. His dramatic reappearance was short-lived, with the character swiftly defeated within minutes. Reactions were, rather inevitably, divided (to say the least).
One of the biggest criticisms was the decision not to use an actor in costume, as had been done in Omega’s original appearances. Davies addressed the backlash in Doctor Who Magazine, saying, “You don’t need a man in a big cloak when you’ve got Archie Panjabi and Anita Dobson being their own Time Lords! A third one was just going to make it slightly mad.”
He added, “These things do grow in legend. They become the legend. That is the point of the Wish World, and the point of the Underverse actually. It’s a continuing thing across the entire two series. That wishes and hopes come true.”
Davies pointed to the Time War as a narrative justification. “A lot of things said about Omega were not said in the original series,” he admitted. “You have to accept that 40 years have passed. The Time War came along and everyone’s history got changed. So that’s what Omega is now. You can reinvent it.”
He compared the reinterpretation of Gallifreyan history to the real-world reassessment of historical figures. “There was plenty of fuss made about Winston Churchill being in Doctor Who, when there’s plenty of history to suggest he wasn’t such a good guy. And that’s always the way. Our history of slavery, our way of walking through the world is constantly being re-analysed.”
“So I like to think it’s the same on Gallifrey,” he continued. “That’s happened, over the eons, Omega has been recontextualised, and the story gets bolder and changes over time. We don’t want to repeat the past, we want to push it forward.”
Yet whether this justification satisfies fans is another matter entirely…
