should moffat step down

Discussion in 'Doctor Who' started by tmosler, Jun 21, 2013.

  1. tmosler

    tmosler Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    As speculation for the next doctor goes on moffat has sighned on for the next season. I was wondering what people here thought about moffat being in charge of season 8. I have heard that a lot of people think that moffat is spreading himself to thin with sherlock and that it is time for someone new to be incharge. Also if he was to step down who would you want to replace him i have heard some people think gaiman would do a good job.
     
  2. Photoman15

    Photoman15 Commodore Commodore

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    Can Gaiman produce a TV show? It's not just writing.
     
  3. Candlelight

    Candlelight Admiral Admiral

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    I don't like Moffat's character arcs. I really wanted Clara to be a normal companion, but instead we got another overly complicated back story.
     
  4. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    That's the role companions play nowadays. They need something to do. They need to be a part of the season in some way.

    Otherwise people would complain that the companions are just set pieces. They're just there. They don't contribute to the overall story.
     
  5. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Having read a few interviews with Gaiman recently where the subject of his Who episode came up he made it clear that he found writing just one episode a huge endeavour, it really is a lot of work, especially if you're writing novels/comics/other film and TV at the same time. Frankly I'm not sure Gaiman would/could commit to that--plus to add that being a writer doesn't automatically make you a good show runner.

    Oh and as a final point re Gaiman, the other problem is that his Who era would probably be too similar to Moffat's anyway in terms of its fairytale nature. Whether you like Moffat Who or not (and I do) the next showrunner's era shouldn't be more of the same.

    Personally I want Moffat to do one more series at least, but maybe not more than that. Much as I felt with RTD I'd quite like it if he still wrote for the show in future but much like RTD I doubt he will :)

    I think it would be very interesting to see Moffat chart the initial course of Doctor 12, but then someone else take over, we've yet to see--in the modern era-- the same Doctor through two different show runners' eyes.

    As for who should take over eventually, who knows (pardon the pun) it's not like we have any say in it, and it might be a name we recognise it might not. Every name in the hat has pluses and minuses;

    Toby Whithouse, I never saw Being Human but his Who work's been pretty good, well until A Town Called MErcy anyway, the only dud note of 7A for me.

    Gatiss , knows Who inside out and has a lot of experience, though oddly before this year I’d always enjoyed his non Who writing more than his Who episodes, but then in 7B he gave us The Crimson Horror and Cold War, the two best episodes aside from The Name of the Doctor, so he’s higher up my list than he would have been six months ago! Given his love of the horrific we might get a more gothic Who from him.

    Chibnall, there was a time I’d have potentially stopped watching if he took over. His Who episodes had been a bit bland and as for early Torchwood…but I really liked the work he did on 7A, and you can’t deny he’s racked up a lot of show runner experience. Still wouldn’t be keen but as with Gatiss I’d be far less apoplectic than I would have been at one time.

    Personally I’d give the job to Joe Ahearne, oodles of experience as a director, writer and executive producer plus he hasn’t worked on Who since 2005 so it would be less of a case of the BBC promoting from within Who.
     
  6. Bob The Skutter

    Bob The Skutter Complete Arse Cleft In Memoriam

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    A Town Called Mercy was one of the few I liked in series 7. I loved Being Human, but I believe he's making a show for BBC Two anyway right now.
     
  7. Pingfah

    Pingfah Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    OK, I think they should get Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman as dual showrunners. Never gonna happen, but they are a great team.
     
  8. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    I am more than happy for Moffat to continue...
     
  9. MickJo1701

    MickJo1701 Commander Red Shirt

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    Agreed, there will always be a section of the fanbase that will bitch and whine about the showrunner regardless of who it is and what they write because it isn't their idea of what Doctor Who should be.
     
  10. Atticus

    Atticus Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    It's not just what he's written in this case, it's the fact he has, for whatever reason, found it near-impossible to maintain the production pace of the RTD years.
     
  11. Mr Awe

    Mr Awe Vice Admiral Admiral

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    No, I think he's got a couple of good years left in him!
     
  12. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    Yea, I've enjoyed the Moffat run with matt Smith, and I am looking forward to him writing for a new Doctor.

    If it's true that the smaller number of episodes is because he's stretched too thin, rather than a budget constraint (Or other Big Brass reason) I would definitely like to see that resolved and go back to a full run, even if that run is shortened to only 10 episodes straight through a year + Christmas Special.
     
  13. Pingfah

    Pingfah Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    To clarify, I don't think Moffat should stand down unless he wants to, but if he did I'd like McKean & Gaiman.
     
  14. Ubik

    Ubik Commodore Commodore

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    Please God, let him stand down. I haven't been this put off by Doctor Who since the Colin Baker years, and I haven't been this bored since the middle Jon Pertwee years. And, for the record, I am not someone who just bitches about change. I have liked about 80% of all produced Doctor Who since the show began half a century ago, and I think Star Trek: TOS, TNG, and DS9 are all fantastic shows in different ways.

    But Moffat's Doctor Who....man. It can't end soon enough.

    Oh....and no offense to those who, for whatever reason I can't even begin to fathom, love his vision of the show. Different tastes, and all that.
     
  15. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Well that’s the great thing about Doctor Who, if you don’t like a Doctor or a particular vision of the show you know that eventually it is going to change (barring becoming so unpopular it’s canned but even then it’ll probably come back)

    Of course the downside is, if you like a particular Doctor/vision you always fear the next one will be something you hate…
     
  16. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    That's never happened to me. Sure, I don't love every episode, but, I enjoy all the Doctors and all the Eras.
     
  17. Mr Awe

    Mr Awe Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ^ For me, the change from Davison to Colin Baker was horrible when it happened. I've grown to appreciate Colin more since then.

    For the new series, all the changes have been from one great actor to another.

    Mr Awe
     
  18. Ubik

    Ubik Commodore Commodore

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    Interestingly, I have never felt that. I've always been excited about the change. My intense distaste for Moffat's era actually came as a complete surprise to me. It even snuck up on me as, over the first half of his first season or so, I kept trying to convince myself that I still was enjoying it as much as ever. But by the end of that first season, I just couldn't lie to myself anymore....I had to admit to myself that the love was gone. *Sniff*

    In all seriousness, I just really, really think his Mad Hatter-esque conception of the main character, his condescending fairy-tale tone, all of it just strikes me as utterly wrong for a science fiction television show that, over five decades, has proved again and again and again that it is NOT "just a kid's show", never has been, and absolutely deserves to be taken seriously.

    Anyway....even if he leaves after one year, it's still pretty soon, and maybe the next showrunner will dislike Moffat's vision as much as I do, and then, maybe, we'll see something different.
     
  19. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    The thing that I find interesting about those who don’t like Moffat is that they seem to split into two camps. The ‘It’s childish/dumbed down’ group and the ‘It’s overly complicated/not for kids’ group, I think the anti RTD brigade (and at times I was one of them) were a bit more unified about what they didn’t like about his era :)

    I'd stress I'm not having a go at anyone, just saying what I see.

    Maybe we'll all love Doctor 12 and (nu) showrunner 3...and on saturday nights we can watch Doctor Who then go outside to see the porcine display team in the sky :devil:
     
  20. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Despite some occassional lapses, Moffat's episodes still remain, by far, my favorite ones every season, so no, I really hope he doesn't leave anytime soon.

    The other regular DW writers do some good stuff now and then, but I just find their storytelling to be way too conventional, and not nearly as witty or inventive.