Doctor Who Mastered a Classic Sci-Fi Trope 15 Years Ago

(SeaPRwire) –   The enduring popularity of Doctor Who for over six decades stems from its remarkable versatility. Stories can range from musical escapades with the Beatles to cosmic capers with bizarre aliens or sprawling multiverse tales packed with temporal complexity. A particularly compelling narrative strategy for the series involves adopting a classic science fiction concept and ingeniously weaving the Doctor into it.

Former showrunner Steven Moffat once noted on Doctor Who Confidential, “You know you’ve got a good idea for a Doctor Who episode if you think ‘Well, I’ve just blown that feature film idea forever, haven’t I?’” Fifteen years ago, an ideal illustration of this approach crafted an epic mid-season finale, taking a staple sci-fi setup and executing it in a uniquely Doctor Who fashion.

“The Almost People” concludes a two-part story in Season 6. The Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) investigate an acid factory that employs a peculiar safety method: synthetic duplicates, nicknamed “Gangers” from “doppelgangers,” perform hazardous duties as they are considered disposable. A solar storm, however, triggers the Gangers to develop autonomy and rebel against their human originals.

This installment reveals a Ganger duplicate of the Doctor himself. The synthetic Flesh struggles to contain his immense lifespan, causing echoes of previous incarnations—including the Fourth and Tenth Doctors—to surface. While the Ganger Doctor and his kind fight for liberation, the surviving humans must flee from Ganger Jennifer, who transforms the Flesh into a horrifying creature.

The theme of artificial beings is widespread in science fiction, from Blade Runner to Alien and Star Trek. Doctor Who, however, subverts the trope. Rather than destroying the Gangers, the Doctor validates their personhood, even stabilizing their forms to live permanently as humans. The terror of the Flesh monster remains potent, yet the story concludes on an optimistic note—at least for the Gangers.

Typically, a Doctor Who adventure ends with the Doctor and companions cheerfully departing in the TARDIS, mission accomplished. Here, the outcome is different. The Doctor discloses that their trip to the acid factory was no accident; he needed to examine the artificial Flesh because he had long suspected that Amy was not the real Amy, but a Ganger replica. Abruptly, she melts into a puddle of Flesh and regains consciousness aboard an alien spacecraft, going into labor.

This exemplifies the episode’s brilliance: it delivers a rich, philosophical narrative exploring humanity while simultaneously advancing the season’s larger plot, seamlessly connecting the two. This was Doctor Who at its peak—masterfully controlling its storyline to tell both a self-contained tale and a grander saga concurrently.

Doctor Who (2005-2022) begins streaming on AMC+ starting June 11.