Moffat Who simply looks better.

[MadOnion]

Watched a lot of NuWho with all 3 doctors recently, and one thing that really stood out to me is how much better the overall "look" of the show under Moffat. Something about the sets and the props in the RTD era just looks really cheesy to me, especially the futuristic stuff. The last two seasons have much better set design and cinematography IMO.

Overall I like everything about Moffat Who better. Matt Smith is my favorite doctor. The stories and writing are better. The season long arcs are more intricate and imaginative. I found that the RTD era episodes that I wanted to watch again were mostly the Moffat ones.

I'd say the only thing RTD did better was the humor. The Harriet Jones shtick cracks me up every time.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Well, starting with Waters Of Mars ( I believe ), they've been shooting in HD. Definitely since the start of Series 5.

That's the main reason they have a new TARDIS exterior. The old one looked really bad in HD.

Probably the same for most of the sets and because of HD they had to do a better job of it.


The issue with me as far as Matt's story arcs go, they really haven't finished any of them.

We still don't know "who" or what took control of the TARDIS in The Big Bang.

I'm still subscribing to the Omega theory.

 

[Butters]

While I agree with much of what you've said, and I do find that 11 is the most interesting Doctor of the new run, I'm simply not as entertained by the Moffat era, and there are far less good stand alone episodes to dip in to.

The casting too is better. Some of the supporting characters in Turn Left, for example, are especially cringe worthy.

 

[The Wormhole]

To be honest, I haven't noticed much of a difference in the look of RTD Who or Moffat Who. If anything Moffat is making some of the same stylistic choices in a different manner. EG, while RTD always had people in the distsant future dressed in modern day clothes, Moffat has people from the distant future in period dress, like those guys the Sontaran nurse was working for in A Good Man Goes to War.

I've also noticed Moffat era, particularly season 6 has darker episodes. Darker as in not well lit. Seriously, I can think of a dark scene in nearly every episode of S6. A good deal of S5, too.

I'm not saying RTD or Moffat are any better in any regard. I just don't see much of a difference in terms of how the show looks.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

I think it looks slightly cheaper now, obviously because they don't have as much money. I don't mind, though.

 

[davejames]

Watched a lot of NuWho with all 3 doctors recently, and one thing that really stood out to me is how much better the overall "look" of the show under Moffat. Something about the sets and the props in the RTD era just looks really cheesy to me, especially the futuristic stuff. The last two seasons have much better set design and cinematography IMO.

Yeah it feels that way to me too, although I think it probably has more to do with just the very different style of storytelling.

RTD's Who could be a lot of fun, but it was so fast and zippy that it couldn't help but make the show look a bit cheap at times. Plus his Doctor spent a lot of time running around Cardiff and other not terribly romantic looking places.

 

[sidious618]

I find Moffat's Who to be much more interesting than RTD's as RTD's got repetitive post season two.

 

[beamMe]

I find Moffat's Who to be much more interesting than RTD's as RTD's got repetitive post season two.

I'm not sure about repetitive, but I agree that the last two series with Matt Smith's Doctor were certainly the best since the the show's re-start and leagues ahead of any of the old Who-stories.

 

[RoJoHen]

I agree that Moffat's Who has a better look to it, but I imagine that had more to do with being shot in HD than anything else. Season 6 was the first season I watched on Blu-Ray.

 

[DWF]

The show is shot now in HD but it really doens't look that much better to me than the RTD era nor is it as exciting as the RTD era to me.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Smith is my fave Doctor but I don't think the storylines or the ongoing arcs have been as good as they were under RTD.

I'm quite convinced that Moffat works better as a writer who comes in and writes the odd great story once or twice a season than he is as a show-runner, masterminding the bigger picture.

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm quite convinced that Moffat works better as a writer who comes in and writes the odd great story once or twice a season than he is as a show-runner, masterminding the bigger picture.

I find Moffat is a better character writer than story writer. Take a look at his RTD era episodes. The Girl in the Fireplace and Blink character oriented episodes and are excellent. The Empty Child and the Library two parters aren't so character oriented but still feature excellent character work.

Since Moffat took over his episodes stories have ranged from avergae to awesome, but he still does an excellent job with characters. We continually see fine character work with the Doctor, Amy, Rory, and River and we've had some very memorable characters introduced throughout the run like Dorium, Canton, everyone introduced in A Good Man Goes to War, just to name a few.

 

[Corbomite]

The HD isn't nothing, but Moffat hired all new cinematographers and directors when he took over.

 

[JRoss]

Watched a lot of NuWho with all 3 doctors recently, and one thing that really stood out to me is how much better the overall "look" of the show under Moffat. Something about the sets and the props in the RTD era just looks really cheesy to me, especially the futuristic stuff. The last two seasons have much better set design and cinematography IMO.

Overall I like everything about Moffat Who better. Matt Smith is my favorite doctor. The stories and writing are better. The season long arcs are more intricate and imaginative. I found that the RTD era episodes that I wanted to watch again were mostly the Moffat ones.

I'd say the only thing RTD did better was the humor. The Harriet Jones shtick cracks me up every time.

Meh. YMMV.

 

[Trubinator]

Shooting in HD definitely seems to make a difference, but I don't think that's entirely it. I'd bet they have a different production designer and a whole new art team. Mostly though I have appreciated how they switched to the standard American framerate for broadcast television; I never could stand the soap opera feel of the old Doctor Who.

 

[Cutter John]

Moffat does great one or two parters. I much preferred RTD's story arcs though.

 

[Starkers]

Yeah, I don't want to get into discussions about which Who is better because it's an unanswerable question, but Moffat Who looks infinitely more polished than RTD's. It operates within a very different colour pallette as well. The brightly lit world of RTD was good, but at times I did feel like I was watching Hollyoakes or something. I don't know if Moffat's brand actually has more money spent on it, but it certainly looks like it does.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I agree the style is different. However, for what it's worth, I thought the style was different between Eccleston and Tennant too.

 

[TommyR01D]

Shooting in HD definitely seems to make a difference, but I don't think that's entirely it. I'd bet they have a different production designer and a whole new art team. Mostly though I have appreciated how they switched to the standard American framerate for broadcast television; I never could stand the soap opera feel of the old Doctor Who.

Soap Opera Feel?

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Looking back, it's quite interesting to realize how much influence each producer has had on the show.

These days of course you have Russel T. Davies' larger-than-life, romantic approach versus Steven Moffat's "postmodern fairytale" take on the show. But that's nothing new. In the past, we've had Barry Letts' "Doctor Who as a socially relevant action movie", Philipp Hinchcliffe's gothic stories / Hammer studio homages, Graham Williams' spoofs and self-parodies, John Nathan Turner's increasingly self-referential shows or Peter Bryant's base-under-siege/cardboard monsters era.