I've kept my self in check until now, since I've been hoping things would pick up, but alas, I'm afraid that whilst individual episodes have been good, the over all story line behind the revamped Doctor Who has been far too insular for my liking. Doctor Who used to be about stories, but now its all about some Londonesque fantasy about saving the universe, over and over again, and frankly, its getting boring. Even the inclusion of the Daleks left me disapointed, for in episode 12; 'The Stolen Earth', the Daleks were back once again all powerful and stomping the puny humans into the dust, but once again, the day is saved by a pathetic plot twist straight from the Star Trek play book.
Deux ex machina strikes again.
I blame Davies, the man most responsible for the creative direction of the revamped series and its various spin offs. Like Miles Bennet Dyson, I wish some one could go back in time and stop him, but alas, the damage is done and not even a Time Lord can save us from this mediocrity. I know a lot of people love the new Who, but sheep love grass too, and that doesn't mean I'm going to start eating it.
There is so much going for the New Who, excellent actors, excellent effects, some pretty good characters (see image below), but they're all wasted. Thrown away to make room for some multicultural masturbation from the fabled centre of the universe; a.k.a. London.
Switching to full rant mode...
...and the Daleks? Whats with the Daleks? They used to be the best thing in Doctor Who, but in New Labour... sorry I mean New Who... the Daleks have been reduced to a side show. Where as before, despite the shoddy effects and microscopic budgets, the Daleks at least got an entire story arc, something longer than just a walk on part in yet another Doctor-snaps-his-fingers-and-ends-yet-another-Dalek-empire. Because seriously, where do the Daleks keep getting these new empires/leaders/space craft? We keep getting told that all the Daleks were supposedly destroyed in the Time War ...except it seems for Davros (the über Hitler who never dies), the Emporer Dalek, the Supreme Dalek, the cult of Skaro, an army of Daleks in a Gallifrean prison ship and not one but two Dalek empires!
But where are all the Dalek engineers? Who builds their ships? or their ship yards? who mines the minerals? where is the Dalek infrastructure? Where are their slaves? their victims? There used to be a time when the Daleks were scary. Now they've been reduced to a slick parody of themselves getting used to prop up Russel T Davies's crap writing, and if you need any proof of how weak the Daleks have become, you just have to count how many times they scream EXTERMINATE! in New Who as they have to compensate for the appalling lack of plot by tickling the audience into a gut reaction.
Sure its cool when a Dalek screams EXTERMINATE! but not when thats all it does.
Rant mode off.
Davies is being replaced by Steven Moffat it seems, and that may be an improvement. It remains to be seen. I don't mind one off adventures, but I prefer full stories, with multiple episodes driven by a good old fashioned plot. No amount of Dalek bling can replace that.
6 comments:
Agreed.
I liked the New Who more than you did, but disliked it for all the same reasons that you did... I'm just a bit more tolerant.
Welcome Moffat!
That depends on what we're tolerating!
Dr. Who is crazy popular. I never even gave it a chance.
I actually watched a grand total of 10 seconds of the New Who.
There was a cat-faced lady standing there looking stupid.
*click*
Somoe of them were really good, even a bit scary
The two best episodes of the new who - "Blink" in series 2 & "Silence in the Library" in series 4 - were both written by Steven Moffat.
As such I am hopeful that series five will be better than those episodes written by Davies. Moffat at least grants the Doctor with failings and is not allowed to be the sole saviour of the day.
Davies makes too many contrite contractions to close an episode and has elevated the Docotr to an unholy level in his ability to solve any problem. All that despite having the best characters and actors performing for him.
Still I love it and never miss an episode.
Brando et al.
I'm a total pessimist (and I don't like Catherine Tate at all), but even I've watched most of the new series.
I think by themselves they'd be okay, but my problem is, they rest upon the huge foundation of the old series, (the longest running sci fi show of all time) and where as the new shows have a far better production quality, the simple fact is, they just can't compete because the genius (Terry Nation) behind Doctor Who is dead.
The BBC have used New Who as a flag ship programme which means it has to carry the burden of generating high ratings for the BBC, and in the UK today, that means it has to accomidate a political agenda which promotes London-style-multiculture.
Now, don't get me wrong! I don't care about multiculture in London, London has always been a multicultural city in one way or another, I'm just saying, I want science fiction entertainment, not a party political broadcast from the BBC where the universe is deliberately populated by a cross section of the urban strata of London.
Unfortunately since I don't pay for Doctor Who, my opinion carries little validity. If 10 million people tuned in as is reported, then New Who did what it was designd to do. I'm just not convinced those 10 million people wouldn't have also tuned in to watch the same show if it had a better story arc over the course of its running time.
I'm currently watching the old Tom Baker seasons and the differences are profound. Baker is the quintessential TV Who for me because he had the part in my childhood so he's the one I remember. I also like McGann's audio Doctor Who and I wish they'd done something with him on TV instead of using Eccleston. I didn't dislike Eccleston, I just think using him was a mistake as he obviously didn't care to commit to more than one series, even after it was successful.
Watching the older shows, with their meager budgets and cheap sets, its obvious that its the stories that appeal, not the 'Dalek bling' and fancy star appeal of New Who. The mere fact that they have to prop up Doctor Who now, with a 'Doctor Who confidential' after each episode further emphasises the way in which New Who is not about good story telling, but about 'celebrity'.
I'm sure Moffat will be a more original writer since his few stories were some of the best episodes, and his previous writing job was a very funny comedy show called 'Coupling', but if he is forced to operate in the same parameters of celebrity worship for an audience whose attention span has been reduced to that of goldfish, then I'm not optimistic
(When am I ever?)
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