Rules Would Be Good

[poliphilo]

Dr Who this evening. Oh goody!

So how will he get out of this evening's tight spot? Will he discover in the Tardis's store rooms a piece of technology as awesome as the anti-gravity motor-bike he used to scale the sky-scraper in last week's episode?

Odd that he'd never used it before! Useful piece of kit an anti-gravity motor-bike.

I won't say the show has jumped the shark because it's done that many, many times before. Remember the time David Tennant's Doctor stopped the Daleks from destroying the Universe (yes, the entire Universe! Do you have any idea how big that is?) by moving a lever? Or the other time when he fell through a glass dome from a height of several hundred feet- and survived with nothing but a few cuts and grazes?

The first Doctor- William Hartnell's Doctor- was an old man living on his wits. Somewhere down the line he turned into a superhero. Superheroes- I humbly suggest- are less interesting than old men living on their wits.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the show. It's inventive and colourful and funny. But also exasperating. SF demands an initial suspension of disbelief- but if it's to engage us there's got to be some measure of internal consistency, some sense of the game being played to a rule-book. There should be things that are allowable and things that aren't- and they shouldn't be subject to the exigencies of plot. There need to be pricks to kick against.  With Dr Who there has long ceased to be a rule-book. The Doctor is forbidden to cross his own time-line- except on the occasions when he can, he is subject to the laws of physics, except when he isn't, he can go anywhere in time and space except when he can't. His powers ebb and flow as the story demands. What's the explanation for all this? Well, sorry, but it's beyond your puny human understanding- or to use the technical jargon-  all a bit timey-wimey. Timey-wimey- an amusing concept, but really you might just as well have gods descending on machines.

Oh, what I'd give for a modicum of rigour!

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Oh, what I'd give for a modicum of rigour!

As the barmaid said to the bishop. Quite agree about Doctor Who, though.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't get it. Moffat creates these fiendishly complicated plots- so he's obviously very smart- but he doesn't care about having things make sense.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

I agree with your humble suggestion. I'd rather have someone who thought his way out of situations. Still enjoy the show, but it's frothy these days.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Frothy is just the right word. I enjoy it when it's on and then think, "What was that all about?"

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

I agree - frothy - without the rigour of the original series which had a modicum of realism thrown in.I still love the show and its mythology , but i do despair when serendipity overcomes the rigour of living on your own wits.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That sonic screwdriver is beginning to bug me. It has become a "get out of jail free" card. Face an insuperable obstacle? Just wave the sonic at it and it'll go away.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

It has become, in effect, a magic wand. I'm afraid I lost interest a few series ago.

I knew I'd lost interest when I found I'd recorded a whole series and hadn't got round to watching any episodes at all before the next series arrived.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose I'll ever stop watching, but I often wonder why I bother.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

It's become a weapon, as well, which I dislike intensely. Though I prefer the current Doctor to Eccleston's "I'm the sole surviving Time Lord so it's OK if I act like a thug" incarnation.

I keep watching so I can get good and cross, I suspect. But it has its moments too.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The only good thing about last night's episode was the prosthetics.

[raakone.livejournal.com]

Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey?

I did notice the Sonic Screwdriver was overused some times....at least they sometimes had wooden doors and "deadlocks", but not so much lately.

I quite like those episodes where he triumphs over the villain not through some "deus-ex-machina", but through his wits (still happens time to time)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think there's too much reliance on ancient formulae. Let's have some stories that don't involve someone trying to conquer the world/solar system/universe.

The best stories are very often the smaller ones where nothing very much is at stake.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

I still bother because sometimes the ideas are better than the story. As for the sonic screwdriver, well, i remember a time (when Peter Davidson was the Doctor) it was ditched totally by the producer,John Nathan Turner, as in his words "it became too cliched, a get out of jail free card".

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think they should ditch it again.

[butterscotch711.livejournal.com]

Totally agree that DW lacks rigour.

The standard formula for early stories was: TARDIS materialises, Doctor and companions venture out and immediately get cut off from the TARDIS somehow, Doctor and companions deal with whatever world they're in on their wits.

The new series has had quite a few stories where the Doctor is dying/nearly dying/going to be killed, and everybody on Earth looks up to the sky and chants his name or something.

I like it when the Doctor is a confusing, weird crank and only his companions really appreciate him.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Oh God, yes, that was awful. the Doctor had been shrunk to the size of a budgie and then everyone chanted his name and he was rejuvenated- after which time spun backwards and everything we'd just seen had never happened. Bleeagh!