Contest: VOTE How long will you give Chibnall?

[Allyn Gibson]

If I've got one wish for Chibnall's era of Doctor Who, it's that he learns from the Moffat era not to do any big arcs. RTD's Bad Wolf and Torchwood arcs were simple and subtle. They paid off in the end but weren't too important along the way. Moffat came up with big, intrusive arcs that came with big, messy payoffs. They were like drawn-out Brannon Braga Star Trek weird shit episodes: come up with something crazy then work backwards from that, creating a story that doesn't actually make much sense when you think about it. I'd be happier with a bunch of good standalone episodes.

Props for the Moffat-Braga comparison. I've been making that comparison for years. The two are more similar than Moffat's defenders would care to acknowledge. Moffat is better than Braga at character moments, while Braga is better than Moffat at structure, but their storytelling sensibilities are eerily similar, and they have similar flaws such as mistaking density for complexity.

I would also like to see the season-long arcs go away. Besides my feeling that Moffat never understood how to pull off season-long arcs (which surprised me coming out of Jekyll), the arcs have made Moffat's seasons feel "small" in a way that RTD's seasons didn't. When I think about David Tennant's era, I feel like he was the Doctor for a long time. When I think about Matt Smith's era, I feel like he was barely there. In truth, the two eras were almost identical in length. But they feel different because of the nature of RTD's storytelling compared to Moffat's storytelling. RTD's storytelling had room to breathe, while Moffat's doesn't.

But while an end to season arcs is my personal preference, I can see the BBC saying to Chibnall, "Serialized storytelling is the way genre television is done now, and that's what we want from you." I think Chibnall and his writers room will be able to deliver that, but it will be a very different kind of Doctor Who, just as Discovery will almost certainly be a very different kind of Star Trek.

 

[Steve Roby]

I would also like to see the season-long arcs go away. Besides my feeling that Moffat never understood how to pull off season-long arcs (which surprised me coming out of Jekyll), the arcs have made Moffat's seasons feel "small" in a way that RTD's seasons didn't. When I think about David Tennant's era, I feel like he was the Doctor for a long time. When I think about Matt Smith's era, I feel like he was barely there. In truth, the two eras were almost identical in length. But they feel different because of the nature of RTD's storytelling compared to Moffat's storytelling. RTD's storytelling had room to breathe, while Moffat's doesn't.

I don't think I've consciously observed that, but it feels right. I know I have a harder time thinking of good standalone episodes from the Moffat era.

People sometimes talk about RTD's era as soap opera, while Moffat talks about his own in terms of fairy tales. I don't remember where it was, but I read something recently that compared Rose to The Eleventh Hour -- Rose being very much set in multicultural modern London, Eleventh Hour being somewhere in Midsomer Murders territory, that rural England full of nice white people. Rose is a shopgirl, Amy becomes a supermodel. RTD's not perfect; the early stuff with Mickey is cringe-inducing at times, but Mickey does become less of a joke before long. The thing is, RTD's Who felt closer to the real world. Moffat's felt like a fictional world at every level. The first James Corden story (The Lodger? I'm on a gadget so it's hard to check) didn't feel like the Doctor visiting the real world, it felt like the Doctor in RomComland.

Chibnall's Broadchurch is set in a lovely little tourist town, which could be Midsomery, but it feels more RTD in its focus on character and on the unpleasant sides of small town life. It has a feeling of reality that Amy's town never does, so everything that happens has more of an impact. Nothing matters in a fairy tale. If Chibnall can bring Doctor Who a bit closer to the real world, that'll help.

 

[The Wormhole]

the early stuff with Mickey is cringe-inducing at times, but Mickey does become less of a joke before long.

Noel Clarke took some of the responsibility of that, claiming he initially interpreted Mickey as a comedic character and played him that way. He feels his performance became much better when he started treating the character seriously.

The first James Corden story (The Lodger? I'm on a gadget so it's hard to check) didn't feel like the Doctor visiting the real world, it felt like the Doctor in RomComland.

That's actually one of the things I like about that episode. Doctor Who is always bending genres, at times being a different genre each episode. I remember while season 3 was airing, my sister caught a few episodes throughout the season and eventually commented "this seems like a completely different show with each episode." To which, I responded "it kind of is." So I had no problem with Doctor Who becoming a Rom-Com for a week. That's just an extension of the show's charm.

 

[Steve Roby]

I hadn't heard that about Noel Clarke, Interesting, and I'm glad he started playing Mickey more seriously. The Doctor's Mickey the idiot stuff didn't help, though.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Eccleston's Doctor has not aged well for me. "Mickey the Idiot" is part of the reason why. There's always been a streak of cruelty in the Doctor, right from meeting Ian and Barbara, but it's rarely ever been senseless cruelty, except with Mickey it is; there's no reason for the Doctor to be cruel to Mickey.

More, what used to seem like moments of badassery now read to me like impotence, and what I saw as PTSD I now see as cowardice. And he covers this with a glib, facile exterior.

I used to think he was scarred. Now I see him as broken. There's a difference.

 

[kirk55555]

I liked the 9th Doctor's somewhat mean moments. Then again, I liked the 6th Doctor right from my first viewing of The Twin Dilemma (minus the Peri choking scene), so I obvious like The Doctor when he's being a jerk

That's actually one of the things I like about that episode. Doctor Who is always bending genres, at times being a different genre each episode. I remember while season 3 was airing, my sister caught a few episodes throughout the season and eventually commented "this seems like a completely different show with each episode." To which, I responded "it kind of is." So I had no problem with Doctor Who becoming a Rom-Com for a week. That's just an extension of the show's charm.

I usually hate Rom-Com stuff, but The Lodger and its sequel are two of my favorite 11th Doctor episodes. The Doctor got to be a bit wacky with a very good guest character, and the stories were fun.

 

[Australis]

I've never understood the Chibnall hate.

Cyberwoman. I'm not very forgiving of that ep.

That said, I will give him the season. Not that we have to worry about that for another, ooo, 15 months.