Nearing The End Of Season 4

[poliphilo]

I love Dr Who, but...

I'm glad that RTD's regime is drawing to an end. I think we need a change of direction- not because I hate what he's done (I don't) but because we know what he's got in his locker now and the tropes are becoming over-familiar. 

The thing I'm most weary of is the doomsday scenario. I've lost count of the number of times the Doctor has saved the earth from total destruction over the past four years. Now he's confronting not just the end of the world but the end of the Universe. And it's going to involve Daleks. Ho hum.

The bigger the story, the sillier the resolution.  An overwhelming threat, all hope lost- and then the day is saved by the power of love or faith or something like that- these final twists are almost always (a) trite and (b) incomprehensible.  Last season's finale involved turning the clocks back to cancel out the horrors of a whole year. It was beyond stupid.  It wouldn't be so bad if RTD didn't seem to take these episodes so seriously. Last night's warm-up for the latest Armageddon, Turn Left, with its dystopian future of atomic holocaust and concentration camps- was exceptionally grim and po-faced. This, we were told on Dr Who Confidential, is what life would be like in a Doctorless universe. Well- ahem- that's the universe we already live in, dontchaknow? 

Under RTD's leadership the show has developed into a compensation fantasy for the Death of God- with the Doctor as an embarrassingly personal Jesus.  He suffers, he dies; he rises again (repeatedly),  he saves us, he dispenses judgement; people are always telling us how wonderful he is. The show in its earlier incarnations was never as religiose as this. If David Tennant weren't such a fun performer- and didn't now have such a reliably earth-bound companion in Catherine Tate-  the character he plays would be insufferable. 

Stephen Moffat is up next. He's always been the best writer in the pack- with a taste, not for apocalypse, but for elegant, intimate spookery. Odds are he'll give us smaller stories and a smaller Doctor. Here's hoping.

Comments

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Well said.

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

I disagree about Catherine Tate - or at least the character she plays. It seems that in every episode I've watched so far, she screeching on about you can't let the xxx (fill in the blanks) die, be slaughtered - whatever. Bring back a little more of Martha's cynicism, Puleez - This catch-all sympathies earth-mother reminds me of some of the people I used to know and avoid on NYC's upper West Side when I still lived there. Professional protestersrs - YUK!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Donna Noble is the most strongly-flavoured companion yet and- I agree- she's not always likable, but the saving grace is that she's not in awe of the Doctor; she challenges him, she brings him down to earth- and as RTD's vision of the Doctor becomes increasingly Messianic- so we need someone like her to act as a counterweight.

I tried hard to like Martha Jones, but I'm afraid Freema Agyemen is a much less interesting and charismatic actor than either Billie Piper of Catherine Tate.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

This, we were told on Dr Who Confidential, is what life would be like in a Doctorless universe. Well- ahem- that's the universe we already live in, dontchaknow?

While I largely agree with your point, the above isn't true.

We don't live in a world with Daleks, Adipose aliens, Farting mayors of Cardiff (well - maybe ...) or replicas of the Titanic destroying London from a sub-orbital crash.

The Doctor's world sans Doctor is not our own.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, yes- I take your point.

[happydog.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree. I have enjoyed these 4th Season episodes but I'm not always comfortable with the idea of the Doctor as some sort of angel or god. Granted that he does have some godlike powers, but they should be limited to occasional displays as in "Family of Blood," where his revenge on the Family seems all the more grim. Especially coming from David Tennant, who seems to be a fun doctor even in the middle of everything; watching him turn grim put me off balance.

Going to the fourth season, we do have some evidence of the Doctor not being totally infallible or right. In "Midnight," he really is only a character and does not save the day at all. It could be argued that he facilitates the villain's growing in power. That episode is also a strong commentary on hysteria and the madness of groupthink.

I think Moffatt is brilliant and I agree that he's overall a better writer than RTD. In "Silence in the Library," I knew that Miss Evangelista, beautiful and stupid and unnecessary, would be the first to die. I was not surprised when she was taken by the Vashta Nerada. What I was not prepared for was the horror and pathos of the Data Ghost trickling off into nothingness. That was far more chilling and tear inducing than anything I've seen on TV in a long time.

As much as I loved Martha - and I loved Martha, she's so beautiful and those big brown eyes won me over - I agree with you that Donna Noble, obnoxious as she can be sometimes, is needed. She is common and ordinary and impatient, very flawed indeed, but her humanity also includes a compassion and a realism that is very much needed with this very powerful Doctor. I hope she stays around a while.

[tinceiri.livejournal.com]

I was nudged here by Seraphim. You seem to be interesting, and so I'd like to add you.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Pleased to meet you. Any friend of Seraphim's is a friend of mine.

I'm adding you back.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Midnight was a fine episode- perhaps the most distinctive episode this season. I'd like more of the same- smaller, more intimate, less rushing about. Even so, I thought it fitted very neatly into my thesis that RTD's Doctor is a Christ figure. This was the one where he (almost) got crucified- "a man of sorrows and rejected of men".

I don't believe Moffat has done anything better than his two-parter in Season 1- The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. By comparison I found the Library story- fine as it was- a little forced- as if he were straining to live up to our expectations.

Catherine Tate is amazing. I'd like her to stick around too- but I doubt that she will- if only because- like Chris Eccleston before her- she's a star in her own right and has other fish to fry.

[butterscotch711.livejournal.com]

Agreed!

The RTD episodes I really liked tended to be smaller and stand-alone. Like Midnight, for example. Or Rose, the very first episode. I thought that was underrated.

He is known for his arcs. I thought season one arced really well, even if some of it was a bit lame. I wasn't as impressed with season two and three, but I have really enjoyed season four. The arcing seems to work best when it is really focused on a companion's journey, with the Doctor as a catalyst for that. Donna has been so good.

I think Tennant really suits Moffat's style and I'm kind of hoping he has a second phase as a Moffat doctor.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Midnight was excellent. I wish they'd give us more stories like that.

Arcs are OK. I like the idea in principle. I just wish RTD's would make more sense. I've had that Bad Wolf business explained to me several times and I still don't think I've grasped it. Sci-fi premises should be simple and strong and clear.

And plausible. All too often RTD resolves his plots by recourse to dodgy metaphysics.

Catherine Tate has been brilliant. I love David Tennant, but he's a very good actor and must be getting loads of job offers. Will he really want to stay with the programme through 2110? I have my doubts.

[butterscotch711.livejournal.com]

Oh I agree, Bad Wolf makes absolutely no logical sense. I guess that's the bit I thought was lame! The finale is all about things like 'Oh, there's a magical sound that makes Daleks explode' and the same reality TV shows being on in the year 200,000, and then it asks us to simply accept that the Tardis is magical and all-powerful - much more all-powerful than the Time Lords ever were.

But I guess I thought there were recurrent themes in season one, like disguises, childishness and what having your body means to you, that the finale tried to wrap up.

And I also doubt Tennant will be around for too much longer, I just wish that he would be!