I have been a fan of Doctor Who since I was four years old. My first season of viewing was Tom Baker’s penultimate year. I was always more terrified of Tom than any of his adversaries, so I was relieved when he regenerated into the far more aesthetically pleasing and less wee-inducing Peter Davison. Admittedly, my love of the show waned in later years as I began to play out more and found the Sixth and Seventh Doctors less appealing.
That said; I am fully cognizant of the fact that TV shows have their ups and downs.
When the new series began in 2005, my inner-child was sparked into life and I adored the adventures of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors and their entertaining companions. The zenith was the partnering of Tennant and Tate in ‘series 4’ (or season 30) and I couldn’t have been happier with the result.
When the news broke that Russell T Davies was stepping down from the role of Executive Producer and head writer, I was saddened but reassured that Steven Moffat would be the perfect successor as his Curriculum Vitae is an impressive list of classic TV. I would never have thought it would be the start of a new lull in the series history.
Before I go on, I must say this is purely a personal opinion. The show has a vast number of ardent followers and that’s great to see, but for me… things are not as good any more.
Firstly, it needs to be said that I like Matt Smith. I think he is a good choice. Not a great choice, but a good one all the same. I often find his Doctor to be a little too mad echoing the latter Tom Baker years when it seemed to be more about buffoonery than decent storytelling. I shall not lay any blame at Smith’s door though.
I shan’t beat around the bush. I hate Amy Pond. I find her character to be obnoxious. All this sassy pouting and frowning drives me mad.
Rory is much more watchable but they do seem intent on killing him off repeatedly and resurrecting him. This continuous disregard for the character merely makes us complacent about the drama as we know there is little real danger for the characters. The once wonderful “Everybody Lives” motto from ‘The Empty Child’ has now become a mockery of itself.
The biggest problem for me in the latest incarnation of the programme is the incoherent storytelling with complex non-linear arcs with little internal logic. The occasional episode playing with time is bound to be entertaining, but this new run seems to do it all the time. What ever happened to the Doctor not crossing his own time line and the consequences? The much lauded episode ‘Day of the Moon’ made less sense than David Lynch’s Eraserhead, but somehow, it keeps getting the big thumbs up from fans. Are they watching properly or merely staring at their TVs uttering “ooh, pretty” every now and again.
Steven Moffat is great with concepts but I think he needs to find a decent script editor to pick up the nonsensical strands.
Series 5 was purposefully designed to make the Doctor into a ‘fairytale’! Why? Who can say? I could not have felt more distant from the plots with this desperate attempt to take him away from the real world which Russell had worked at so hard in creating.
I had hoped series 6 would be an improvement but I have been shocked at how frustrating it has been. The opening two-parter was bonkers in its complete lack of logic. Episode three was dull and lacked originality and episode four was something akin to fan-fiction of the lowest form (and yet, the majority of fans seem to think it’s the greatest episode of anything, ever.)
It’s sad when something you love so much becomes almost unwatchable.
Episodes five and six were heading in a better direction, and when I say ‘better’, I actually mean ‘classic’. Although not perfect, it offered us a reasonably strong storyline with moral implications – something which the classic series did well on a number of occasions. There was a ‘cliff-hanger’ moment at the end and despite being surprising, I still found myself not caring much. The same for episode seven, frankly. It was all a bit mad and extreme but with little reasoning behind it. Twenty minutes of gathering characters from space and time, I was urging the story to just get on with it and then when the battles were happening, I couldn’t bring myself to really give a sh*t. The final ‘reveal’ was intriguing but not that shocking and I am unsure why it is supposed to be (in Steven Moffat’s words) “Game-changing”.
The second-half of the season was not exactly thrilling and just continued the trend of ‘fairytale’ and lazy plotting.
The highlight for me was ‘The God Complex’ in which we had a genuine threat and actual
deaths (shock, horror!) and it was nice to see that love didn’t conquer all and it was
faith which actually caused the downfall of the ill-fated characters. That was smart and brave. Thank you Toby Whithouse for that.
All too often, we’ve been seeing love conquering all.
In ‘Closing Time’ a father’s love for his son was key to the storyline – or was that ‘Night Terrors’… or ‘The Curse of the Black Spot’… or ‘The Almost People’?
In ‘The Girl Who Waited’ we were subjected to a separate fantasy realm within our universe which caused havoc for our heroes – or was that ‘Night Terrors’… or ‘The God Complex’… or ‘The Wedding of River Song’.
Surely I cannot be the only one to see the repetitive nature of the stories within the sixth series?
I also worry that the once wonderfully enigmatic and curious entity that was River Song has become something of a loose-cannon who cannot be trusted and f*cks everything up… because she’s a woman. Seriously? Is this sort of misogynistic crap still warranted in the 21st century? I cannot fault Alex Kingston’s performance as she is radiant and commands the screen, but the writing of her character is sloppy.
The timeline is also a bit of a mess. Even with some close analysis, it’s a frustrating mix of coincidences, lies and convenient omissions to suit the showrunner when he can’t be bothered figuring it out himself.
As I said before, this is just a personal opinion on the show and there are hordes of fans out there that have loved the show and profess it loudly. There’s nothing wrong with that. I just cannot share their opinion.
The sooner we get a new showrunner, the better. I loved Russell T Davies’ work on the show, but I cannot deny that it was probably time for him to go (having witnessed ‘The End of Time’…) – so it’s time for new blood. Can I do it, please? I’d bring back logic, decent companions and try to give strength to individual stories rather than focus on arcing plots. It's not enough to say 'fill in the blanks yourselves', Steven!
I don't like being spoon-fed either, but I need to know the writers have a little decency and respect for their audience.
I must also add that this opinion is not mine alone. I find it interesting that a large number of my friends both in the UK and Australia are feeling the same way. So, it’s not just me then…
