Davies, Moffat, and Doctor Who
May. 21st, 2008 01:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
demeter918Davies steps down.
He's still in charge of the four specials in 2009, but the 2010 series (number five!) will be helmed by Steven Moffat. Since Moffat wrote some of my favorite episodes (The Empty Child and Blink), in terms of the single-shot episodes, this will probably be great. I am currently in a stasis of mixed feelings since he also wrote one of my least favorite episodes (The Girl in the Fireplace).
However, for season-long arcs, for story lines that span two seasons, and for things like the constant reminder of past companions... this might change things by quite a bit. From all I've seen, Moffat tends to have very different ideas from Davies about character development and plot advancement. Since I tend to watch for character development, crazyinsanemad plots, and brilliantly-done single episodes, this can either go very well or very badly. I'll be honest and admit that this isn't too big of a deal with me. I'm sure he'll do a fine job, and really, we've seen his capabilities as a writer for the past three seasons. I can't really see him suddenly failing in everything that's good and holy.
Buttttttttttttttt, and you knew there'd be a 'but'!
I suppose the only thing is that it's been mentioned that RTD has a 'thing' for Rose Tyler. Which pretty much guaranteed that we heard/saw more of Rose than might have been if someone else had been in charge for S3 and S4. Not necessarily, but it's arguably so and I tend to think the same way. For all I know, if Davies had quit right after S2, we might never have seen Rose again.
Since I have no idea what the specials are about in 2009 and I have no idea where the series is going for the ending of S4 and all of S5, I can't say I know anything about the fate of Rose Tyler. Which sounds silly as I'm writing this; I never thought I'd get so hung up about a companion that I would stop caring about when David Tennant would quit the series.
Moffat doesn't exactly seem to be in love with Rose Tyler the same way Davies is, and you know what? That's okay. Not everyone's going to love her like many of us do. Also, it's hard but we have to recognize that Rose's time as front and center of the Doctor Who show is probably done and over for the most part. As much as I'd like to imagine the Doctor traveling Time and Space with Rose Tyler forever and ever and ever (well, if you consider time relative, and the fact that time is always happening, then in a way, Rose is traveling with the Doctor and always will be.) but yeah. Tennant's going to eventually quit, a new Doctor will be found, new Companions will be found, and etc.
... and that is precisely why I read fic. So I don't end up weeping into my laptop. Ha.
ANYWAYS. Like I was saying. This show is as much about the companions as it is about the Doctor for me, and Moffat doesn't have the world's best track record with companions. Admittedly, he only did one episode for S3, and that was Blink where basically there weren't any companion/Doctor interactions onscreen. (Oh, Martha, I miss you!). S2 was The Girl in the Fireplace where he threw the Doctor/Rose shipper in me into a sobfest. Forget about shipping, he totally trashed the Doctor/Companion relationship. That was Mickey's first trip and look where he ended up - on an abandoned spaceship with killer clock robots lurking about.
However. He also wrote The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, two of my favorite episodes. And quite shippy at that. I suppose the argument could be made that Moffat didn't really know where the series was going while writing that episode. Also, it's possible he really took to heart the idea that Ten and Nine really are very different. Watching his episodes between S1 and S2, I get the feeling that maybe he felt that Ten didn't feel quite the same way about Rose that Nine did. Which is actually understandable (my feelings about Nine and Ten can come another day) but in terms of the overall feeling of S2, this episode really jarred with the rest of the season. (And yes, School Reunion fit in perfectly for me. This isn't as much about being a rabid Rose-defender as one might think.)
All and all, I think I'm going to wait and see. After all, S4 is written and done. They're doing preproduction work on some of specials. We'll see what Davies has for us and where he's going to leave it at before Moffat takes over. And well. We'll go from there!
And after all! We're crazy fans, remember? We'll always have the TARDIS time machine. ;)
Also, I realize I am being a bit incoherent. I used to be better at expressing my thoughts. JAPAN HAS CHANGED ME. WOE.
EDIT: I've been hearing about Moffat's sexism as reasons why people don't want him helming the series, and I finally found out what some were referring to. I'm now in a somewhat state of unease. Oh my.
Like I said. We'll see. We have two years from that and if he does fail for me, well, I got four years of New Who off of RTD. I'm good with that.
And now that I think about it. This could all be hideously depressing. HA!
He's still in charge of the four specials in 2009, but the 2010 series (number five!) will be helmed by Steven Moffat. Since Moffat wrote some of my favorite episodes (The Empty Child and Blink), in terms of the single-shot episodes, this will probably be great. I am currently in a stasis of mixed feelings since he also wrote one of my least favorite episodes (The Girl in the Fireplace).
However, for season-long arcs, for story lines that span two seasons, and for things like the constant reminder of past companions... this might change things by quite a bit. From all I've seen, Moffat tends to have very different ideas from Davies about character development and plot advancement. Since I tend to watch for character development, crazyinsanemad plots, and brilliantly-done single episodes, this can either go very well or very badly. I'll be honest and admit that this isn't too big of a deal with me. I'm sure he'll do a fine job, and really, we've seen his capabilities as a writer for the past three seasons. I can't really see him suddenly failing in everything that's good and holy.
Buttttttttttttttt, and you knew there'd be a 'but'!
I suppose the only thing is that it's been mentioned that RTD has a 'thing' for Rose Tyler. Which pretty much guaranteed that we heard/saw more of Rose than might have been if someone else had been in charge for S3 and S4. Not necessarily, but it's arguably so and I tend to think the same way. For all I know, if Davies had quit right after S2, we might never have seen Rose again.
Since I have no idea what the specials are about in 2009 and I have no idea where the series is going for the ending of S4 and all of S5, I can't say I know anything about the fate of Rose Tyler. Which sounds silly as I'm writing this; I never thought I'd get so hung up about a companion that I would stop caring about when David Tennant would quit the series.
Moffat doesn't exactly seem to be in love with Rose Tyler the same way Davies is, and you know what? That's okay. Not everyone's going to love her like many of us do. Also, it's hard but we have to recognize that Rose's time as front and center of the Doctor Who show is probably done and over for the most part. As much as I'd like to imagine the Doctor traveling Time and Space with Rose Tyler forever and ever and ever (well, if you consider time relative, and the fact that time is always happening, then in a way, Rose is traveling with the Doctor and always will be.) but yeah. Tennant's going to eventually quit, a new Doctor will be found, new Companions will be found, and etc.
... and that is precisely why I read fic. So I don't end up weeping into my laptop. Ha.
ANYWAYS. Like I was saying. This show is as much about the companions as it is about the Doctor for me, and Moffat doesn't have the world's best track record with companions. Admittedly, he only did one episode for S3, and that was Blink where basically there weren't any companion/Doctor interactions onscreen. (Oh, Martha, I miss you!). S2 was The Girl in the Fireplace where he threw the Doctor/Rose shipper in me into a sobfest. Forget about shipping, he totally trashed the Doctor/Companion relationship. That was Mickey's first trip and look where he ended up - on an abandoned spaceship with killer clock robots lurking about.
However. He also wrote The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, two of my favorite episodes. And quite shippy at that. I suppose the argument could be made that Moffat didn't really know where the series was going while writing that episode. Also, it's possible he really took to heart the idea that Ten and Nine really are very different. Watching his episodes between S1 and S2, I get the feeling that maybe he felt that Ten didn't feel quite the same way about Rose that Nine did. Which is actually understandable (my feelings about Nine and Ten can come another day) but in terms of the overall feeling of S2, this episode really jarred with the rest of the season. (And yes, School Reunion fit in perfectly for me. This isn't as much about being a rabid Rose-defender as one might think.)
All and all, I think I'm going to wait and see. After all, S4 is written and done. They're doing preproduction work on some of specials. We'll see what Davies has for us and where he's going to leave it at before Moffat takes over. And well. We'll go from there!
And after all! We're crazy fans, remember? We'll always have the TARDIS time machine. ;)
Also, I realize I am being a bit incoherent. I used to be better at expressing my thoughts. JAPAN HAS CHANGED ME. WOE.
EDIT: I've been hearing about Moffat's sexism as reasons why people don't want him helming the series, and I finally found out what some were referring to. I'm now in a somewhat state of unease. Oh my.
Like I said. We'll see. We have two years from that and if he does fail for me, well, I got four years of New Who off of RTD. I'm good with that.
And now that I think about it. This could all be hideously depressing. HA!
