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More Dr Who
Jul. 4th, 2007 01:23 pmLong comment on SWisstone's jnl got away from me so may as well stick here or my own FL?
I do think we're getting a bit of a NME style backlash re series 3 - I was thinking in bed last night that I never expected to see what is at root a wonderful high concept show but which was always destroyed by kiddy levels of acting and SFX , given the same kind of production and scripting values of high class US TV. It's a golden age of sorts.
I also think we shouldn't lump Torchwood and Dr Who together - they have the same writer/producer yes but without Torchwood, would we be so down on this series of DW??
I watched a Tom Baker series lately and was amazed how clunky the pace, script, plot and acting was (not TB but everyone else.) It's not just the SFX that have changed from ye olde days.
Has Dr Who been destroyed by the introduction of Romance and Girls? (And um Boys?) I do think the first two series grew slowly to be All about Rose yes, and I think when she went, RTD realised this wasn't sustainable. Yes, Martha has a crush on the Doctor but no, the season hs NOT been all about that. Martha has remained competent and cheerful and in the end she has walked away from what she recognises is a crush on an unavailable older (probably Aspy :) man. If anything the theme lately is more the loneliness of the Doctor , to which M is a fairly ineffective salve - and that is a respectable high-concept skiffy theme for the Last of the Time Lords.
What is the alternative? For modern audiences, a lack of emotional involvement with the main parties will not cut it. Monster of the week, even grand cosmic epic of several weeks, would not keep the kind of audiences we have seen. I think RTD's on the whole, bar a few horrors like the Cpt Jack/Cpt Jack kiss scene, striking the right balance of soap opera/skiffy hi jinks. (Why we didn't even get a farewell kiss from Jack this time - I was SO disappointed!)
Also re the calls for Moffat to take over - y'know that I am as big a fan of Moffat's writing as ANYONE. But he's not a producer, is married to one in fact and gets HER to produce his stuff. Although he's a Dr Who fan, sure, there's no evidence he has grand visions for this series or how to modernise the Dr Who canon as RTD had. Moffat is keen on WRITING - on playing with structure, with dramatic form, and with damn good jokes. He is not really even a character guy, though I think he is growing in that direction. I am not sure he would have much to bring to being producer at all - his time would be better spent writing more than one episode per season..
Now Cornell, though, I can see...
But PS yes Catherine Tate is all wrong as a companion. But she can act. Maybe it'll be better than we think.. Also she's OLDER. Maybe she won't fall for the Doctor. Maybe she'll boss him around!! Maybe she'll be funny! Remember that RTD has a very gay penchant for bossy older sassy women (Jackie anyone?) as well as impressionable English Roses..
I do think we're getting a bit of a NME style backlash re series 3 - I was thinking in bed last night that I never expected to see what is at root a wonderful high concept show but which was always destroyed by kiddy levels of acting and SFX , given the same kind of production and scripting values of high class US TV. It's a golden age of sorts.
I also think we shouldn't lump Torchwood and Dr Who together - they have the same writer/producer yes but without Torchwood, would we be so down on this series of DW??
I watched a Tom Baker series lately and was amazed how clunky the pace, script, plot and acting was (not TB but everyone else.) It's not just the SFX that have changed from ye olde days.
Has Dr Who been destroyed by the introduction of Romance and Girls? (And um Boys?) I do think the first two series grew slowly to be All about Rose yes, and I think when she went, RTD realised this wasn't sustainable. Yes, Martha has a crush on the Doctor but no, the season hs NOT been all about that. Martha has remained competent and cheerful and in the end she has walked away from what she recognises is a crush on an unavailable older (probably Aspy :) man. If anything the theme lately is more the loneliness of the Doctor , to which M is a fairly ineffective salve - and that is a respectable high-concept skiffy theme for the Last of the Time Lords.
What is the alternative? For modern audiences, a lack of emotional involvement with the main parties will not cut it. Monster of the week, even grand cosmic epic of several weeks, would not keep the kind of audiences we have seen. I think RTD's on the whole, bar a few horrors like the Cpt Jack/Cpt Jack kiss scene, striking the right balance of soap opera/skiffy hi jinks. (Why we didn't even get a farewell kiss from Jack this time - I was SO disappointed!)
Also re the calls for Moffat to take over - y'know that I am as big a fan of Moffat's writing as ANYONE. But he's not a producer, is married to one in fact and gets HER to produce his stuff. Although he's a Dr Who fan, sure, there's no evidence he has grand visions for this series or how to modernise the Dr Who canon as RTD had. Moffat is keen on WRITING - on playing with structure, with dramatic form, and with damn good jokes. He is not really even a character guy, though I think he is growing in that direction. I am not sure he would have much to bring to being producer at all - his time would be better spent writing more than one episode per season..
Now Cornell, though, I can see...
But PS yes Catherine Tate is all wrong as a companion. But she can act. Maybe it'll be better than we think.. Also she's OLDER. Maybe she won't fall for the Doctor. Maybe she'll boss him around!! Maybe she'll be funny! Remember that RTD has a very gay penchant for bossy older sassy women (Jackie anyone?) as well as impressionable English Roses..
