If you cross a buffalo with Corporal Klinger...
I love(d?) Doctor Who, but the episodes after the last Christmas special haven’t really felt…like that thing I used to love. And I can’t entirely put my finger on it. But it makes me a little bit sad and alienated from it and some of the other fans, reasons for which I also cannot put my finger on.
But I feel awkward about it since so many people love it and will defend it to the death, so I try not to say anything because I don’t want to start an argument, don’t want to kick something other people love, and…can’t…put my finger exactly on what it is that’s doing it.
Each episode makes me a little sadder. Important parts of several episodes seem to happen for no other reason than that they’re important for something to happen in the plot, and that smacks of bad writing.
In the Doctor Who Insider in last week’s episode, during the commercial breaks, Moffat was talking about how important it was that the writers loved the show and wanted to interact with it. That was the most important thing to him. I believe he said as much explicitly. I kind of wish he’d place a little more importance on the quality of their writing…
I’m also really getting tired of the sonic screwdriver. I mean, they’re not even trying anymore. It’s not even just a cure-all anymore. The Doctor used to be incredibly knowledgeable, he’d been around, he’d seen things. Now, instead, he waves his sonic at something, looks at it like there’s any place at all for any kind of readout (I mean really, pretending is all well and good for kids and people who don’t have prop departments and actual budgets, but this is clearly no longer a low-budget show), and can tell you anything and everything about whatever the plot needs him to know about.
The strange thing is, at this point, to me, Clara feels like more of a real person than The Doctor. You get the occasional glimpse of character depth every now and then, but I feel like either Matt Smith or the writers (or maybe both) tend to generally forget that The Doctor is over 900 years old, and has seen a lot of terrible things, and done some of them.
I WANT IT NAO.
Also
Is anyone else really really looking forward to these guys meeting each other?
I dunno, this just furthers the skepticism in my head. Some time ago, I saw a screencap of a tweet from someone I don’t know saying that Moffat has made Doctor Who a caricature of itself. I didn’t agree at the time, but it lingered in the back of my head. And since then, things keep bringing it back to the front of my head. Actually, the biggest example of this in my mind is making The Question “Doctor Who?” It just feels like picking up after a comedian who made their career with subtle and intricate humor, lobbing bad puns at the audience, and winking and saying “Get it? Eh?”
More than anything else though, more than the many questions about Moffat and misogyny (although I have to say I was horrified by that one line a few episodes ago, with the Doctor and the monk), more than the return to the over-reliance on the sonic screwdriver (I’m reminded of how the writers ditched it for an entire Doctor’s run because it had become too ridiculously overused), I’m concerned with how little desire Moffat seems to have to work with what has come before.
Giving the Daleks selective amnesia concerning the Doctor smacks of not only bad writing (a fair number of the major historical events of the Dalek race are related to the Doctor, and almost all of them in any kind of recent history, which I have to think would throw the Daleks into disarray in and of itself), but also of a writer who does not want to just leave his imprint on the series, but make it all his. This is a series that has run for over thirty seasons, had eleven different stars and who knows how many head writers, and has become a major piece of British culture. And he doesn’t seem to want to share his toy. And this just seems like a continuation in that direction.
I want to enjoy Doctor Who. I loved so much of what’s been in the last few years. But it’s starting to get to the point that I’m not sure how much I want to watch any given episode, except for the upcoming episode written by Neil Gaiman. That one I’m really psyched about. I kind of wish I was that psyched about the other episodes too.
(Source: pondspondsponds)
oh m y god
I think this is part of why Ten is so firmly lodged in as my Doctor. He was the most nerdy-silly of the New Doctors.
(Source: expelliarmus, via thetrekkiehasthephonebox)
The woman who gave Clara the Doctor’s phone number:
River, Amy, or someone else?(I’m thinking River, but Amy’s name appearing as the author of the kid’s novel - plus the mention of “Chapter 11” - puts her as a pretty strong possibility as well.)
My money is on it being someone completely different. I don’t think it’ll be Amy, I think that was just their way of referencing her. Like “Hey, remember Amy, who we threw way into the past? Yeah. That’s all. Just wanted to be sure you remembered.”
Heavy filtering on an official TARDIS image and voila. Incredible dorkiness and what am I doing with my life?
Being awesome. CLEARLY.
The face and hands aren’t colored in because I couldn’t for the life of me decide on a skintone and hair color so now it’s like a very limited coloring book.
How many doctors can you spot?
Also, could be a boy or a girl, which I’m also pleased with.
OH MY GOD YES
And it’s back.
I’M NOT EVEN IN THIS FANDOM BUT OMG
are you human.
Uh…no. Gallifreyan.
(via graintaire)
It’s never too late. I only started a little over a year ago.
Start with “Blink” (even though it’s nowhere near the start of the modern series) because its awesome and a perfect stand-alone episode. Then go back to the beginning.
Welcome.
Good luck.
I started with the first episode of the second season of New Who, completely by accident, saw three episodes, then went back and watched the first season, and I’ve never looked back.
(Source: girlcanteach)
