You can't kill Doctor Who.
That's the ultimate meta-lesson from "The ??? ???? ?????? ??????? ????????Story & the Engine," episode 5 of Season 2 of the show's tenure on Disney+. Even if persistent online rumors that Disney won't renew its co-production for a third season turn out to be true, this 61-year-old BBC show will simply emerge in a new form.
As the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) says in his first ever six-word memoir: "I'm born. I die. I am reborn."
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"The Story & the Engine," which mostly takes place inside a barber shop in Lagos, Nigeria, is a prime example of how Doctor Who can adapt to many different places, times, and cultures. Written by Nigerian-British playwright Inua Ellams, the script builds on his play "Barber Shop Chronicles" — for which Ellams visited 60 Black-owned barber shops in the UK and across Africa — and gives an American Gods-style sci-fi spin to the stories traditionally told there.
Ellams is the first Black man to write for Doctor Who, and this episode is the first to feature a fully BIPOC cast — other than in a brief flashback scene in which current companion Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) is working as a nurse in a UK hospital.
But Ellams himself is hardly new to Who; he's a fan of the show from his childhood in Nigeria. Classic 1970s episodes were shown, via an ancient projector, on a large screen — hence the magic screen in the Lagos barber shop where stories are projected ... and where, for the first time, the Doctor Who opening titles appear in the universe of the show itself.
SEE ALSO: All the times 'Doctor Who' broke the fourth wall"As a kid I was terrified of this show," Ellams told Doctor Who Magazine. "Hiding behind the sofa, peeking ... it was closer to a cinema in my living room."
When has the Doctor visited Africa?
Technically, we've seen the Doctor in Africa twice before — but he barely knew he was there.
In "The Chase" (1965), William Hartnell's first Doctor visits a haunted house exhibit which turns out to be in Ghana in the then-far future year of 1996. And in "The Pyramids of Mars" (1975), which saw the original appearance of Season 1 villain Sutekh, the Tom Baker Doctor is transported to Sutekh's tomb in Egypt.
But "The Story & the Engine" is the first time the Doctor knowinglylands his TARDIS on the African continent. Why? First, Lagos' status as a communications hub can help the TARDIS navigate Belinda's way home. But the Doctor also explains to Belinda that since his current "Black body" is not fully accepted in many parts of the world, he likes to come to the barber shop in Lagos formerly run by his friend Omo, where he can just be himself.
What's the original six-word story?
The Doctor discovers a mysterious barber has taken Omo and his customers hostage. The barber is using stories to power a journey through story-space known as the Nexus. And that gives the Doctor a path to victory: by inserting his own "never-ending story" into the barber's engine, using just six words.
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The six-word story concept isn't new, of course; it's generally attributed to Ernest Hemingway, an American writer with his own connections to Africa. But the Doctor claims that he gave Hemingway the idea for six-word stories because, "I wanted to see how good he was."
The six-word story Hemingway came up with isn't actually mentioned in the show, but you might be familiar with it if you've ever taken a creative writing class. "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."
Whatever happens to the show next on the U.S. side, its popularity in the UK — not to mention many countries around the world like Nigeria — will ensure its continuity in the long run. Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor will regenerate, and the Doctor will be reborn.
Doctor Who Season 2 premiered Apr. 12 on Disney+ and BBC. New episodes air weekly on Saturdays at 3 a.m. ET.
Topics Doctor Who