Reset - Doctor Who & Steven Moffat

Boy it has been a long time since I've blogged. I suppose I got caught up in trying to organize my different books, getting my life sorted & work, my energies went elsewhere. But I did miss it. So I am going to start of slow & focus on using the first few entries on my commentary on the new Doctor Who series.

But before I write about the 11th Hour, the new era of Doctor Who, I want to set some parameters. I'm thrilled that Russell T. Davies was able to retool Doctor Who but at the same time it hurt the show. Yes he is a fan but I felt he directed the show for himself, not the fans.

He seemed to try to out-do himself each season. More special effects and explosions. And the big bad threat to destroy reality or universe. It grew a little tiresome by the fourth season. I won't get into the brain rape he did to Donna. That is a separate and long blog to come.

I find his storytelling starts off strong but petters off at the end. A good example is The Next Doctor. Great story until the Cyber King rises out of the Thames. OMG! Special effects & explosions, once again. Let alone continuity issues. Victorian London is being blown up by a giant robot and it isn't part of human history? Hello!

But for me, and many other Whovians, each season was guaranteed a bright spot. Something from Steven Moffat. Off the bat, Season 1, The Empty Child & The Doctor Dances stood out. They blew me away. I was creeped out with the image of Jamie with the gas mask, plaintively asking "Are you my mommy?" It caused shivers. I wanted to jump behind the couch.

I was stunned by the happy ending with The Doctor Dances. For a moment, the new dark Doctor had a victory. My friend & fellow Whoian talked for a long time about the episodes and agreed here was a writer that knew, grokked Doctor Who.

When I heard Steven was penning an episode for Season 2, I was excited. And stunned when I watched it. I'm a sucker for good historical Doctor Who stories and this is a good example.

Lady in the Fireplace had creepy elements, especially when Rose finds the heart. And the Clockwork "people" made me jump. But it was the story of the Doctor and Reinette that captivated me. The emotion in the story was honest, real. I welled up at the end, when we see the funeral possession leaving Versailles.

What impressed me was Steven went off in a different direction with this episode. He didn't follow a formula. And he had the balls to give us, this time, a sad ending. Yet the loss is not because of a sacrifice but of circumstance. The Doctor had nothing to do with her death, he just came back too late.

Then came the penultimate episode in Season 3, Blink. We hit the ground running, wondering why Sally Sparrow is in the old mansion. As she rips away the wallpaper, revealing a message, I was totally entranced. Up to now, I have not been too thrilled by the Doctor lite episodes. But Steven pulled it off. This episode made me jump, laugh, cry out, well-up and bask in genius story-telling. This is an episode I bow down to him. Any ideas I've had for Doctor Who stories will now made me say "I'm not worthy!" Here is a story that does not rely on CGI, explosions and giant gizmos. Simple strobe-lighting and fibreglass constructs and I was hiding behind the couch.

Saying Blink is the penultimate episode does not take away from Season 4, Silence in the Library and the Forests of the Dead. Once again he takes something mundane and makes it scary. It was an amazing story that gripped me. And intrigued me. Finally we meet someone from the Doctor's future, who knows the Doctor. For me, River Song is a character I want to know more about and that is going to happen. Hurrah!

What impressed me is the range Steven Moffat has. As an aspiring writer, I'm inspired at what he has done. He does creepy, romantic, funny, biting commentary, usually packed into one episode. He takes ordinary things and makes them extraordinary. Mundane things become terrifying, silly or sad. I have learned a few things from him.

This babbling preamble is important to get an idea of the mindset I came into the new series. I am extremely happy that Russell T. Davies was able to bring back Doctor Who. But the strong hand Davies had gave us episodes that were amazing, at the beginning but ended up with a wet fart with chunks.

I am not putting down the great stories by Paul Cornell, Toby Whithouse or Gareth Roberts but you can see the tinkering hand of Davies in the final production.

From my point of view, Davies is a Doctor Who fan who put together a show he wanted to see. Then there is Steven Moffat, IMHO, wants to put together a show that the fans want to see. And his 4 year track record shows that.

That is why I was so excited when it was announced that Steven Moffat would be "in charge" of Doctor Who. I saw an evolution of the show from a big, funky special effects show to more story-telling and effective uses of special effects. A step back from the fancy CGI to "wow" the audience.

The four episodes Steven wrote, we have strong characters and compelling stories. We wouldn't have Captain Jack, Sally Sparrow or River Song now in the Whoverse. Let alone Dave and the other Dave, Kathy Nightingale or Larry.

I, like many Whovians, scoured the Internet to get details of the hand-over to Steven. Then came the announcement that Matt Smith would be the next Doctor. Up front, I was a little concerned because he was so young. And the BBC website didn't help with some articles that having a "younger" Doctor would help push Doctor Who merchandising. But the gay man I am, I did look and comment he is cute. The initial stills I saw intrigued me.

But when I saw his interview his fingers going all about and his honest humility about taking on such an iconic role, I said "yeah, I think he can do it." I was going to give him a chance.



So the parameters are set. You have an idea where I am coming from as I start to post my reviews of Moffat run of Doctor Who. There will be spoilers and biased. I am part of a small crowd that liked Adric and was shocked & pissed off when he died in Earthshock.

For me, Doctor Who is the story not the effects. It is the crack in Peter Davison's voice in Warriors of Deep, lamenting there should have been a better way or Sylvester McCoy tipping his hat during a sword fight in Battlefield. Or the quiet river-ride in Shada. Doctor Who was low budget so they had to focus on story and characters,

And yeah, not every episode was golden. No series is perfect. But Doctor Who provides a perfect spotlight on our lives, a commentary of who we are. A good example is The Happiness Patrol. Something I think Davies lost track of. He focused on the story arc and the grand finale. Bigger is better. Now we are in a new era. And over the next day or so, I will post a blow by blow review of the new Doctor.