Basically, a thread about Stephen Moffat. Moffat Might Finally Get Sacked! This is great news to me. I agree with many of the views here.
I think it is good news. I've never been able to get excited about doctor who like I did when RTD was in. I just hope this is true, although there were reports of him already haven written series 8. I'd just like to see some time with Smith without Moffat. Give Smith some good adventures.
I don't know who Stephen Moffat is, or why he deserves a thread. Maybe he's getting sacked from whatever job he has. Steven Moffat, on the other hand, isn't going anywhere. I'm sure the BBC would like the ratings to be higher, and there's certainly a noticeable decline in the overnight figures, but the idea that this constitutes an overall plummet which would have the network in panic is tabloid hogwash. Someone at the Daily Mail picked up the "Whistleblower Five" nonsense or similar and spun it into an article. "Only" 4.6 million viewers. Please. I'm so bored by Moffat's version of Doctor Who that I haven't watched a new episode since August 2011, but I'm not going to pretend that means the show is in crisis.
4.5m is the bare bones overnight figure as opposed to the final numbers. 10+ plus viewers regularly in the RTD era pftttt.... a whole 7 episodes surpassed the 10 million barrier between 2005-2010 those being specials and series finales. Jesus Christ! wasn't Doctor Who so much better when the Doctor traveled with a girl from a council estate, the Master watched the Teletubbies and the Daleks span round in circles...
I have my issues with him but I don't understand the hate he gets. RTD's era was guilty of being more childish and "meta-fanwanking" than Moffat's in my opinion. The clear break between seasons 4 and 5, showing a slicker production style and more ambitious storytelling reinvigorated my love for the series. At times, RTD made the show almost too campy. Now that said, I think Moffat has a huge opinion of himself. He's not nearly as clever as he thinks he is, and some of his plotting in season 6 made me roll my eyes. Oh, and then there's River Song. Please for the love of God can we be rid of River Song? But overall I think Moffat has done a good job.
Exactly. Recently I went back and watched mostly the entire series with a friend who was just getting into DW, and many of the episodes I hadn't seen since they were first run, and I said to myself "Was it really this campy and silly before or was I just more forgiving?" I still don't mind the camp. It's just that going back and watching the RTD era makes it seem more Saturday Morning Children's show than I remembered.
Its come to a point where Series 1-4 have very little rewatch value to me because I'm constantly rolling my eyes. There's a few belters in there i.e. Dalek, the Paul Cornell 2 parter, Waters of Mars but for the most part I'll watch a few mins of a repeat then turn over out of frustration with the dialogue.
I have issues with Doctor Who for the first time with series 7 part 2 being wildy inconsistent BUT that article the OP posted is a lot of bull. Hell even with my issues the AI score for this season is still in the 80's, which beats virtually all other UK TV shows. I hate this arguement, am sick of dumb down TV and I don't want Who to become that. Season 6 for me with the long drawn out Silence arc that started with the brilliant "Day of the Moon 2 parter" was Who at its best IMO. As for the ratings, they are NOT as low as 4.5 million because people are reporting the fricking overnights, once final numbers are accounted for its around 6 million. Now that is lower compared to the past but the audience share is still around 30% so 1 in 3 people watching TV at that moment is tuned into Doctor Who + it scores high on I Player and worldwide "Doctor Who" has never been bigger. Any audience erosion is mainly down to the show being on for 8 years now, this is not the 60's or 70's anymore people do more than just watch TV. Also the BBC has yanked the show around much more than in RTD's era with earlier starts but also this annoying season split, the BBC needs to stop screwing around with Who to try n support its other failing shows. At the end of the day Moffat should probably leave after Smith does (likely to be in 2014) just because a change every few years is not a bad thing + new Doctor but lets get our facts straight ey. RANT over
On the key issue... I don't see how ratings for the anniversary special can have any effect on Steve Moffat's future unless the series is going to be off air until 2015. Think about it: to have anything on air in 2014, they have to start shooting in early 2014 or late 2013. To sack Moffat after getting the ratings for the special you have to start recruiting his successor in December, then wait while he/she works out what they want to do, writes some scripts, commissions other people to write the other scripts... there's no way anything will be shot before July 2014... by which time you've probably reached the end of Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman's contracts and have to renegotiate with them to get them back, or recast. I'm not ruling out the possibility of Steve being shown the exit - Private Eye said 18 months ago that he was seen as 'a problem' - but he's either running the next season, or they're holding back the announcement of his already decided departure till it can be presented as a triumphal exit in November, or there'll be nothing on air between the 2013 Christmas special and, at earliest, the 2014 Christmas special.
Wow, that article is making a lot of of nothing. The share is high. The AIs are still high. If they did fire him, it would be for slow script writing, not the reasons they state! Oh, and Smith has said he'll be around for the 8th season. diankra, Matt Smith himself said that they'd start filming, with him, late this year or early 2014. I'm guessing he'd know. I hope he's right! Mr Awe
You beat me to it. But I'll spell it out anyway. Stephen and Steven are two seperate names, although it is acceptable to use the Steve abbreviation for both names. Moffat is Steven, not Stephen.
The Bells of Saint John - 8.44 million The Rings of Akhaten - 7.45 million Cold War - 7.37 million Hide - 6.61 million Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS - 6.50 million The Crimson Horror - 6.47 million The latest episode has not recieved it's final ratings yet but will be around 6 million at the least. I player news been released...
Well, obviously Matt doesn't know for sure, or he'd know if it was 2013 or 2014 that he'd be back for next season. But I am assuming he is back for next season, just waiting to hear on shooting dates. But my point is that if that's the case, then either Moffat is starting work on ideas for next year, or he's finishing work on the Christmas special'll that'll be his farewell, while the BBC settle the detail with a successor wh's already as good as chosen. My guess is one more year of Matt and Moffat in 2014, but with one of them maybe bowing out in mid-season.
I couldn't even finish Journey's End. Inexcusable. The current series has its flaws (Rushed endings, no 2-parters, an underdeveloped arc) but it's so far ahead of say, Series 2 that it's unreal.
In fairness to RTD the Master watching the Teletubbies was a quite amusing Master related in joke harking back to the classic series... But other than that
Given the amount of childish or badly written crap during the RTD era, anyone who doesn't think the overall standard has gone up since Moffat took over needs their head looking...
Ahh of course the Clangers, forgot about that. Its a shame The Master has been so dreadfully written since the character returned, the battle of intellects between Delgado and Pertwee is dated now but its still sublime in contrast to that slimey, uncomfortable to watch 'bromance' RTD wrote between Tennant and Simm. Those people mostly being Tennant fangirls who refuse to accept another actor in the role and believe the show was better as science fiction Eastenders.
Moffat raised the standard certainly, but the weaknesses in his storytelling can be just as frustrating. Moffat seems to write around these big ideas first and foremost, even if the narrative often suffers. The climaxes of both of his previous series were lacking for this, which lessens the story leading up to them retrospectively. I'm willing to forgive a bad episode here or there, but when every super-important end-of-the-world arc ends with a mess of hand-waving and forced deus-ex-machina I start to lose interest.
Bullshit, liking the RTD era better is a valid opinion, it may not fit your tastes but can't just belittle others by calling them fangirls or in need of getting their heads checked. I liked the RTD era better, yes, it was campy, over the top and sometimes ridiculous but it was always exciting, I felt for the characters because I got to know them, they had lives, families, dreams etc., the storyarcs of each series were well written and subtly integrated into the episodes. Steven Moffat has written fantastic episodes and created great characters but all of that happened during the RTD era, as soon as he became the showrunner it was over. The only good character he created since then is Rory, Amy was annoying and Clara? Maureen Ryan said it best, she's not a character, she's a mystery to be solved, that's boring. And River? Good riddance, a once great character was completely ruined and driven into the ground by too many appearances and her superior attitude got old really fast. I could live with not so great companions, but the story arcs are even worse, there was no subtlety, the cracks, the pregnant/not pregnant screen etc. were all shoved into our faces, the Tardis exploding was never resolved, sure, we can fanwank an explanation but we shouldn't have to. The Doctor's "death" in series six was the worst story ever written because it was obvious from the moment they said "He's really dead" that he wasn't really dead, there was no tension, it would have been an okay storyline for 1 or 2 episodes but 13? Blergh. Moffat thinks he's really clever, he's not, his "big" stories are too predictable and when they're not predictable it's because he's pulling something out of his ass (Hi Melody, Amy's and Rory's best friend since childhood, how are you? OMG, she's River, who would have though ... well no one, because no one knew she existed until 15 minutes ago). He's also too in love with his timey wimey crap and the stories and characters are suffering because of it. Amy's and Rory's exit is the best example, he had set up a story that clearly showed Amy and Rory growing and moving away from their companion role, it would have made a lot of sense if their run had ended with them telling him "We love you and the time we spend with you, but we can't do this anymore, you're always welcome if you want to visit, but that's it. Thank you, goodbye!" But instead of doing that he cooked up a nonsensical story about angels in manhattan that run a hotel and for some reason new York will explode if he tries to pick Amy and Rory up.