Fair Warning: I'm delving deep into two of my fandoms here- Doctor Who and Pro-Wrestling. I'll try to explain to a non-fan as much as I can.
So- The Eight Season of the Revamped Doctor Who ended last night with the second half of a two part episode. This isn't a review of that episode- for reviews of the episodes, I highly recommend "The Reluctant Optimist". Instead, I want to talk about why this season has been so frustrating for me as a fan.
It's got nothing to do with the acting. I think Peter Capaldi has been great as the 12th Doctor. It took me a while to appreciate Jenna Coleman as the Doctor's Companion, Calra Oswald, but she has really done an excellent job acting.
It's just too bad the scripts were so awful.
Steven Moffat is the showrunner- not only the main writer, but the person who drives the direction of the show. He took over from Russell T. Davies just as we went from the 10th Doctor to the 11th.
If you're a pro-wrestling fan, you'll get this analogy:
Steven Moffat is the Vince Russo of Doctor Who.
If you're not a pro-wrestling fan, let me explain.
Vince Russo used to be the head writer for the WWE back in 1998- then in 1999 jumped ship to the competition, WCW. Back in the WWE, he had the owner of the federation, Vince McMahon, act as his editor (much like Davies could be for Moffat). In WCW, he had no editor at all.
Both Russo and Moffat love to write the Markout Moment- the line/scene/moment where the character says or does something that you as a fan will remember and share with your friends. It can be a moment of awesomeness, of heartwarming, of funny, of anger- anything to make you mark out.
That would be fine. The problem is that both Russo and Moffat (a) throw so many markout moments that they lose the impact and (b) forget the consequences of what they wrote five minutes ago.
An example from Russo's reign- he had the biggest face in the fed lose a match by having someone betray him three months in a row. At that point, you stop rooting for the good guy to get revenge and start thinking he's an idiot.
Or, from last's night Doctor Who episode (SPOILERS!)...
...
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... OK, five minutes are spent with the Doctor and Clara agonizing over a decision-. Her boyfriend, Danny Pink, has been turned into a Cyberman, but still retains his emotions. He's in a ton of pain. In addition, if they inhibit his emotions, he'll hook up more with the hive mind and be able to tell the Doctor the Cyberman's plans. But shutting off his emotions will turn him fully into a Cyberman, losing his independence and he'll be lost to Clara forever.
So it's one of those morality decisions. They spend a lot of time before finally making the call to turn on the inhibitor. Big moment, right?
Pink reveals the Cyberman's plans, they confront the big Bad- and not FIVE MINUTES LATER, Pink is revealed to still have his independence and feelings.
So what the hell was all that buildup for?
This entire season has been like that- big buildups to moments, that are then forgotten about before the next commercial. And so, any markout moment is lost, because it doesn't mean anything.
(In addition, Moffat has decided to spend this year having the Doctor mock and condemn any soldier. It's always great to see a fandom you like being used to insult a group of people you respect. Really.)
So... yeah. My wife has turned me into a Doctor Who fan. But I don't think I'll pay much more attention until they replace Moffat as the showrunner. I'm not interested in what he's selling.
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