The stories make far more sense, the endings are reasonably well-foreshadowed and there is considerably less technobabble. There's also been a lot more and far more logical use of the show's time travel premise. The show jettisoning the heavy baggage and continuity of the Davies Era, such as Rose's family, Mickey, Donna and her family and so on, was also a good idea. DOCTOR WHO is about the Doctor visiting different worlds and times in the TARDIS and resolving problems. Having a large supporting cast and something of a base of operations on contemporary Earth with allies to call upon was a nice idea and experiment, as in the UNIT days of the Third Doctor, but after four years the show did need to ditch it and get back to its core premise. The result of this is that this season feels pared-back, streamlined and maybe a little more claustraphobic than previous seasons, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it has successfully reintroduced some tension to the show.
All of that said, disappointments from the Moffat Era have mostly revolved around his 'I, Borg'ing the Weeping Angels (taking a previously cool and badass enemy and weakening them, mostly by ignoring the very, very clearly-established rules previously set out for them) and of course 'Victory of the Daleks', not for being necessarily awful ('Daleks in Manhattan' was far, far worse) but for taking such a cool premise (the Daleks versus Churchill and the Doctor and Space Spitfires in WW2!) and wasting it.
The Weeping Angels are still cool baddies but it has lessened them... I think the problem was that they were always going to be really hard to use again without doing so, unless they just served up the same thing again. I do have an underlying feeling of let down with this series so far though - I think it has been good (and a nice change from the previous series) but it keeps feeling like something is lacking in each episode that I can't put my finger on.
They do need to come up with some more Weeping Angel type baddies though, as they really works much better for building up tension than old people with bad breath trapping the Doctor in a butcher's shop.
My other big disappointment this year is the arc plot. Frankly, DOCTOR WHO should ditch the arc plots as the show is simply not well-suited to it. 'Bad Wolf' was a nice idea and as an isolated experiment would have worked well. But having a 'big bad' threatening in every episode every year is turning WHO into BUFFY, and it's getting a bit silly. On the original series exactly three seasons out of twenty-six had a season-spanning, 'big bad' arc plot and the show coped well without it for the rest of time. In addition, with the escalating threat of each season and each finale, there's nowhere for the show left to go. Once you have the Daleks trying to destroy the universe and then the Time Lords trying to destroy all of time and space and every dimension of existence in their entirety, these 'cracks in time' just feel a bit dull.
I really agree on this - I'd much prefer Doctor Who to be made up of one - four part episodes sub-dividing the series with no overall story arc.
*MySmiley*
Robert Graves "There is no money in poetry, but then there is no poetry in money, either."
Henning Mankell "We must defend the open society, because if we start locking our doors, if we let fear decide, the person who committed the act of terror will win"
Robert Graves "There is no money in poetry, but then there is no poetry in money, either."
Henning Mankell "We must defend the open society, because if we start locking our doors, if we let fear decide, the person who committed the act of terror will win"
Am I the only one disappointed with the new Doctor Who series?
19/05/2010 04:57:11 PM
- 723 Views
Honestly, I find Matt Smith makes up for almost all my complaints
19/05/2010 06:27:58 PM
- 526 Views
Re: Honestly, I find Matt Smith makes up for almost all my complaints
19/05/2010 06:32:08 PM
- 558 Views
This series shows notable improvements over the Russell T. Davies era
19/05/2010 10:31:19 PM
- 505 Views
You have a good point at the end.
20/05/2010 12:41:26 AM
- 583 Views
I like arc plots, but they always do the mistake of trying to
20/05/2010 05:53:57 AM
- 514 Views
Re: I like arc plots, but they always do the mistake of trying to
20/05/2010 09:27:42 AM
- 494 Views
Re: This series shows notable improvements over the Russell T. Davies era
20/05/2010 09:27:08 AM
- 559 Views
I agree.
20/05/2010 11:58:31 AM
- 503 Views
I quite like it.
20/05/2010 06:46:20 PM
- 653 Views
nope, im highly dissapointed the bbc made another one. the show sucks *NM*
20/05/2010 09:42:49 PM
- 379 Views