Is Moffat's retroness hurting the show?
- Thread starter Doctorwhovian
- Start date
And Steven Moffat doesn't so he's not all that retro.
Shame though. I'm sick of the Cy.ber.men. of this new era.
Cybermen are Cybermen. There is no real difference between the old ones and the new ones.
There are only a few "classic" villains -- Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors, Sontarans, Zygons -- from over two decades of shows. We've gotten 2 new ones in their league-- Angels and Silence -- in 8 years of nuWho. Seems to me we're about on the same pace and some folks are just whiny and impatient. 
There are only a few "classic" villains -- Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors, Sontarans, Zygons -- from over two decades of shows. We've gotten 2 new ones in their league-- Angels and Silence -- in 8 years of nuWho. Seems to me we're about on the same pace and some folks are just whiny and impatient.
Silence? Maybe you're right but they hold no place in my heart. I'd throw in the Ood myself.
Tragic ones to be sure.
Maybe you don't quite remember them.
^
Wait, remember who?
What were we talking about? Oh right. Retroness.
I don't know where these came from, but I think I lost a game of Tic-Tac-Toe on my arm. But I don't remember how...!
There are only a few "classic" villains -- Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors, Sontarans, Zygons -- from over two decades of shows. We've gotten 2 new ones in their league-- Angels and Silence -- in 8 years of nuWho. Seems to me we're about on the same pace and some folks are just whiny and impatient.
Silence? Maybe you're right but they hold no place in my heart. I'd throw in the Ood myself.
The Silence were ok as one off villains, but probably not as reccuring foes. You could almost say the same about the Weeping Angels (although they were so wonderfully creepy in their debut story it's not a great surprise they came back.)
It's interesting that even of the classic villains you mention, the Zygons only appeared once before Day of The Doctor (imagine the Krillitaines coming back for Who's 75th!) and again prior to last year only the 2nd and 3rd Doctors had faced Ice Warriors outside of books/Big Finish and only 3,4 &6 had fought Sontarans in the classic era.
It would be great if a new reccuring foe did show up, but I think it would have to be more accident than design (remember Blink was supposed to just be the Doctor lite episode)
I don't see a problem with a 50 year old-show occasionally acknowledging its past. The examples raised in the OT hardly suggest that DW just comprises the Doctor and companions sitting around going 'remember that time when...?' (as South Park's Cartman memorably summed up Family Guy).
I've been aware of DW for most of my life and have seen bits and pieces of most of the old Doctors and my knowledge of the old show is broad but shallow. A lot of the references to the past go over my head ('Nothing goes over my head! My reflexes are too fast!'). I'd imagine that most casual fans are pretty much the same. So I can't see how such in-jokes or references in any way ruin people's enjoyment of it.
A lot of people want new villains and characters and a lot of others want reappearances from past favourites. I'd say the show is achieving a good balance of both.
I've been aware of DW for most of my life and have seen bits and pieces of most of the old Doctors and my knowledge of the old show is broad but shallow. A lot of the references to the past go over my head ('Nothing goes over my head! My reflexes are too fast!'). I'd imagine that most casual fans are pretty much the same. So I can't see how such in-jokes or references in any way ruin people's enjoyment of it.
A lot of people want new villains and characters and a lot of others want reappearances from past favourites. I'd say the show is achieving a good balance of both.
Not a judgement that can (or should) be made after one episode. The only "retroness" I'd do away with is the damned Daleks, but anyway.
Agreed. (Of course, I much prefer them to the current abominations - err, the current look.)
The problem with the Daleks is each time they show up, they try to create some sort of final closure with them. It's a boy-who-cried-wolf situation. If you want a dalek "this is the last time" sort of event, then never go back to them. The same is true with The Master.
That's be going on for decades though, both The Evil Of The Daleks and Genesis Of The Daleks were meant to have been the "last" Dalek story.
RTD did that, but Moffat changed that in 'Victory of the Daleks', and since then it was established that the Daleks were back in the universe.
The Master did not quite have closure in NuWho as they had the thing with his ring in LOTTL, and he went to Gallifry in TEOT.