Yuck. Another season of Moffat setting the bar low and failing to exceed that. Another season of him thinking the Doctor is really the secondary character and making him look bad in order to prop up the current companion.
Moffat stays for season 10
- Thread starter Lonemagpie
- Start date
Before I say what I going to say, I am going to say this, I am a bigot and I believe everyone else is a bigot. I learned to think this way after watching "Through the Wormhole" episode about bigotry. I am constantly questioning what I think about people - this is what is suggested as a possible solution at the end of the episode. It is how a person becomes less of a bigot.
I was watching "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" with the commentary on. When the Doctor is questioning the young woman about her relationship with the child, Moffat, projecting himself as the Doctor, said, what a slut. I was disgusted by the comment. How is a young woman who had a child as a teenager a slut?
I don't know if I would call Moffat a sexist; I do know from what he has said that he has difficulty in understanding the interior lives of women. I do think he does have stereotypical views of what women are and that he has become set in his views. He doesn't challenge his beliefs. This is worrisome for the character that he has chosen for the audience to relate, and who has become a conduit to the Doctor, is a woman. When I watch the show, I don't have a sense that I am watching a "realistic" portrayal of a woman. At times, she comes off like the caricature of a woman.
When George Miller wrote Mad Max: Fury Road, he enlisted the help of a woman writer for assistance. This is one of the reasons that I think that Furiosa and the other women never come off as caricatures to me. I wish Moffat would do the same; I don't expect him to.
I was watching "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" with the commentary on. When the Doctor is questioning the young woman about her relationship with the child, Moffat, projecting himself as the Doctor, said, what a slut. I was disgusted by the comment. How is a young woman who had a child as a teenager a slut?
I don't know if I would call Moffat a sexist; I do know from what he has said that he has difficulty in understanding the interior lives of women. I do think he does have stereotypical views of what women are and that he has become set in his views. He doesn't challenge his beliefs. This is worrisome for the character that he has chosen for the audience to relate, and who has become a conduit to the Doctor, is a woman. When I watch the show, I don't have a sense that I am watching a "realistic" portrayal of a woman. At times, she comes off like the caricature of a woman.
When George Miller wrote Mad Max: Fury Road, he enlisted the help of a woman writer for assistance. This is one of the reasons that I think that Furiosa and the other women never come off as caricatures to me. I wish Moffat would do the same; I don't expect him to.
I doubt it. Back in 2008, it was Tennant's departure that made BBC consider pulling the show, not RTD's. Moffat's departure won't make anyone at BBC consider pulling the show.
Doctor Who: in good hands with Moffatt!
So at the moment this is uncorroborated yes? It's interesting that just a few lines before she says he's signed up for another year she mentions that Moffat's latest episode is, apparently, Listen?
If true then, even as a fan, I hope 10 is his last. I still firmly believe that if the BBC wanted him gone he'd be gone, Sherlock or no Sherlock, what Moffat and Matt proved was that the show was bigger than the show runner or the lead, so even if Capaldi said "Well if you get rid of Moffat I'm off too" I suspect the BBC would be relaxed about it.
I doubt Moffat needs the money either.
I do find it amusing that people are claiming Moffat is alone in seeing the Doctor as an empty suit. Weren't the original heroes of the show supposed to be Ian and Barbara? And didn't RTD seem to have the exact same vision? What is the Doctor without Rose? The Doctor has always been a reflection of his companions...that's WHY he has companions. He can go anywhere in space and time, of course that's going to make him jaded, so is it do difficult to imagine he would be re-energised by companions, seeing the universe afresh through their eyes?
Frankly Enlightenment takes on a whole new level of meaning with this in mind!
But yes, sooner or later Moffat needs to go, however as a football fan I could site multiple examples of teams that seemed to be in a rut and changed manager, only to find they suddenly got a lot worse...
If true then, even as a fan, I hope 10 is his last. I still firmly believe that if the BBC wanted him gone he'd be gone, Sherlock or no Sherlock, what Moffat and Matt proved was that the show was bigger than the show runner or the lead, so even if Capaldi said "Well if you get rid of Moffat I'm off too" I suspect the BBC would be relaxed about it.
I doubt Moffat needs the money either.
I do find it amusing that people are claiming Moffat is alone in seeing the Doctor as an empty suit. Weren't the original heroes of the show supposed to be Ian and Barbara? And didn't RTD seem to have the exact same vision? What is the Doctor without Rose? The Doctor has always been a reflection of his companions...that's WHY he has companions. He can go anywhere in space and time, of course that's going to make him jaded, so is it do difficult to imagine he would be re-energised by companions, seeing the universe afresh through their eyes?
Frankly Enlightenment takes on a whole new level of meaning with this in mind!
But yes, sooner or later Moffat needs to go, however as a football fan I could site multiple examples of teams that seemed to be in a rut and changed manager, only to find they suddenly got a lot worse...
I very much doubt it. The BBC landscape is different now than it was in 2008-9, and there are more people with a vested interest in Doctor Who now than there were then. Depending on what happens with Top Gear, for instance, Doctor Who could become even more important to the BBC as a revenue generator.
I said in exasperation that I feel the BBC will have to cancel Doctor Who to get Moffat out of the building, but I'm well aware that the BBC will do no such thing.
Agreed.
What I really feel about this turn of events is a sense of resignation. If the BBC didn't want to retain him, they wouldn't have offered him another season. If Moffat didn't feel he had more to contribute, he wouldn't have accepted the offer. I'm personally not happy by this, but I can't really get angry at Moffat's decision to stay.
It's what it is. *shrug*
I have to disagree.. during part of the fourth Doctor's tenure, and the subsequent Tenth Doctor Specials, which Ratings were very high, there was no real companion, and yet some of those stories are some of the most cherished, where the doctor is on his own, and discovering problems and solving them with whom ever is around at the time. Hartnell had to start with Ian and Barbara because that was the beginning of the show, and there needed to be a context to have people relate to the "humans" coming on board the TARDIS. To say the Doctor needs a human companion to see the universe through their eyes, I agree has become a constant theme in the new series.. under Moffat, but what would the Doctor be without rose? Time Lord Victorious. The fact that the captain of the Mars base couldn't handle her own timeline changing and being alive was her fault.. she could have moved to another country, stayed on a beach, and made her grand daughter think she had died on Mars, but she was a weak minded character, and took her own life rather then be smart and make things work..I have no sympathy for people like that, and thought that as a story ender for the waters of mars, that shock to the Doctor was meant to drive the character back to needing a companion, which I suppose was RTD's goal too..
I think that is short sited.. some of the best comics from the DWM had the Doctor on his own, and running into the most weirdest places and enemies.. The Doctor could survive a whole season without a companion, It has been tried before to some extent.. (Tom Baker) but not as much recently.. (the suggestion is that the Doctor has seen it all, which I find hard to believe, and that he needs a human along to show him the wonder of the universe. the universe is massive, and I am sick to death of the Doctor always being portrayed as knowing everything, and wanting to enjoy not having an answer for something like in the flatline episode..) I wish they would get back to the exploratory story lines, and not this all knowing, all powerful, always has the answer to everything Doctor..even with his long life span, the Doctor can't possibly have seen everything that is out there, in all the countless billions of Galaxies, and trillions of stars in the universe.
If capaldi were to head off on his own Trek for a season, I could handle it, if they wrote the story arc well, but Moffat would never go there with his current mindset..
Oh BTW, if some people are going to let a programme (Like Through the Wormhole) dictate their view on reality, then there is definitely something wrong there. If that were anyone I knew personally, I would have to sit them down and have an intervention.. TV shows should not dictate anyone's world view, and if so then maybe there is something wrong there...a tv show can make you think, but I don't subscribe to any one particular point of view, ideology, dogma, theology, or orthodoxy.. to do so is to fall into a mind trap, to take a position and never see the flip side of the coin, or to accept new data that can change a perspective.. this is the core of the "Gnosis" I practice.. To say a programme is dictating a point of view on Bigotry is like the equivalent of saying I watched Hitler's speech at Nuremberg and now believe all Jews are the root cause of evil in the world. Personally as a free enlightened thinker, I find that POV abhorrent and dangerous..
Which as a GNOSTIC (not agnostic) which is not a religion, it is simply called "the Way" a way of being, a way of living, thinking, and reacting..
my personal spiritual philosophy aside, I would never let a TV series lead me to believe everyone is a bigot.. that is a cynical and destructive point of view in my opinion, and sets almost everyone up as either a monster or victim, or both..
Last edited:
Agreed.
I wouldn't be annoyed at Moffat staying, if the standard of the show had been relatively OK. Since series 6, he's displayed a consistent lack of interest in the arcs he instigates, and they almost always end up dissapointingly. Last year's finale was half-awesome (Dark Water) and half-awful (Death in Heaven), and even his most praised episode (Listen) had an absolutely forced wink at the War Doctor's barn in Day of the Doctor, while also making Clara even more of an important figure in the Doctor's life. And the Christmas special would've fared better had Clara really died at the end - but frak that! Coleman wants to stay, so who cares, right?
I just hope that Moffat's last couple of series (and I hope 9 and 10 really are that) will really be much better than anything since series 5.
Tenth Doctor Specials = Tenth Doctor's Fourth Series.
This is the key for me. Why bother with big world/character-changing arcs if you're going to wrap them up with about as much thought given as signing a get well card for that guy in the mail-room's wife?
There is one, count them one, Tom Baker story without a companion, unless you're implying Romana is some kind of Tyler Durdan style figmant of the Doctor's imagination?
As for the tenth Doctor specials Lady Cristina clearly fulfils the role of the companion in Planet of the Dead same as Wilf does in The End of Time. I'd give you Waters of Mars Lindsey Duncan doesn't feel like a companion, as for their ratings, they were the only Who we had, of course they were good.
Yeah clearly the BBC are happy with Moff...or at least not unhappy enough to do anything about it.
Well with all this talk of wanting Moff to leave, what is a suitable alternative for Producer? I haven't heard many names bandied about..Name some and give a reason as to why they would do better..Just saying..
There are producers on both sides of the Atlantic who could handle Doctor Who.
Replacing Moffat, imho, will require thinking outside the box. Frankly, I'd prefer someone with writer's room experience. My dream producer would be Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies, Hannibal). My more realistic choice would be Michael Hirst (Vikings).
I don't think there's an "obvious" replacement for Moffat in the way that Moffat was the obvious replacement for RTD in 2008-9. None of the names that fandom bandies about as being on the BBC's shortlist -- including Mark Gatiss, Chris Chibnall, and Toby Whithouse -- strike me as imaginative choices. They're not outside the box. They seem too... safe.
Why would any future Producer have to be someone that fans would even have heard of? Doctor Who isn't the only show on British TV and there's no reason why the right person for the job should have a previous association with the series, or even be a fan. Personally, after 10+ years in one direction I'd pick someone who has never even seen an episode prior to being offered the job, that way we might get some fresh ideas.
"never seen an episode" - that was JNT's criteria towards writers and directors.
I probably wouldn't go as far as "someone who has never even seen an episode" -- though that worked for Star Trek when Nick Meyer was hired for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I'd be perfectly happy with someone who hasn't written Doctor Who for Moffat and RTD would. What matters is the previous track record with writing and producing television, not the prior Doctor Who experience.
Personally, I don't think that an unsafe, outside-the-box choice is ever going to be obvious.
Was Moffat really all that imaginative of a choice, come to speak of it?
Well I never said it had to be a show allumni, I just want to hear alternatives and why that's all I am saying. They can't be a first time producer, in reality, the BBC would want someone with experience in production to hire for the gig.
Similar threads
