Neil Gaiman: "My Doctor Who experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth"

[The Nth Doctor]

More specifically, his experience with "Nightmare in Silver," unsurprisingly.

"I did two episodes of Doctor Who over the last decade, one I loved and it won awards, one I do not love and it is widely regarded as having some good bits in it but being rather a curate's egg.

"As far as I'm concerned both of the scripts were of equal quality but the biggest differences were having a say in what actually got to the screen, a say in what got changed, a say in what got rewritten, a say in the colour scheme, a say in all those things."​

While he doesn't outright say the episode title in his interview with The Telegraph, it's obvious from the context which episode he's referring to.

I enjoyed the episode more the second time around, but knowing that what we saw wasn't Gaimain's original intention relieves me greatly as a huge Gaiman fan, but it's also disappointing. Considering the huge success of "The Doctor's Wife," by fans and critics alike, I'm surprised Moffat, BBC, or whoever else would meddle with Gaimain's script to the level that displeased Gaimain with the final results.

Considering the context of the article (i.e. how he views showrunning Good Omens) and his recent comments about wanting to write for Jodie Whittaker, I like to think Gaiman isn't entirely soured from the experience to prevent him from writing for Doctor Who again.

 

[Samurai8472]

While he doesn't outright say the episode title in his interview with The Telegraph, it's obvious from the context which episode he's referring to.

He also said he did two. That's not hard to figure out.

"The Doctors Wife"
one I loved and it won awards

"Nightmare in Silver"
one I do not love

 

[The Nth Doctor]

He also said he did two. That's not hard to figure out.

"The Doctors Wife"
one I loved and it won awards

"Nightmare in Silver"
one I do not love

That's what I meant by context.

 

[Marc]

I enjoyed the episode more the second time around, but knowing that what we saw wasn't Gaimain's original intention relieves me greatly as a huge Gaiman fan, but it's also disappointing. Considering the huge success of "The Doctor's Wife," by fans and critics alike, I'm surprised Moffat, BBC, or whoever else would meddle with Gaimain's script to the level that displeased Gaimain with the final results.

without seeing the original script we don't know why the changes were made but often production reasons (time and money being the biggest) have been the biggest causes of changes to Doctor Who scripts over the years.

Does it say something about the episodes that I remember The Doctor's Wife (which looked fairly straightforward from a production point of view) but don't remember nightmare in silver (which according to one critic was in the same league as Silver Nemesis).

 

[Christopher]

it is widely regarded as having some good bits in it but being rather a curate's egg.

I had to look that one up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curate's_egg

While he doesn't outright say the episode title in his interview with The Telegraph, it's obvious from the context which episode he's referring to.

Two paragraphs beyond the part you quoted, Gaiman specifically says "I'm glad my second Doctor Who episode left me with a bad taste in my mouth."

 

[The Nth Doctor]

^ Oops, so he did.

without seeing the original script we don't know why the changes were made but often production reasons (time and money being the biggest) have been the biggest causes of changes to Doctor Who scripts over the years.

Certainly possibly, but I think Gaiman is savvy enough to understand those kind of limitations. Instead, the impression I get is that the changes were made mostly due to creative reasoning than anything else. But that's just my own supposition.

 

[Christopher]

without seeing the original script we don't know why the changes were made but often production reasons (time and money being the biggest) have been the biggest causes of changes to Doctor Who scripts over the years.

Certainly possibly, but I think Gaiman is savvy enough to understand those kind of limitations. Instead, the impression I get is that the changes were made mostly due to creative reasoning than anything else.

It could be both -- that changes had to be made for production/budget reasons, but Gaiman wasn't consulted on how to make those changes.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

It could be both -- that changes had to be made for production/budget reasons, but Gaiman wasn't consulted on how to make those changes.

Which just seems weird to me considering the successful collaboration he had with them with "The Doctor's Wife." Maybe it was an availability issue?

Also, I seem to recall "The Doctor's Wife" also had to be scaled down considerably for budget reasons. I'm blanking on the particulars, but I believe that lead to them using the makeshift TARDIS console and bringing the Tennant console out of moth balls. I think Gaiman wanted to feature a lot more consoles. If they were able to make it work for "The Doctor's Wife," why not "Nightmare in Silver"?

 

[Christopher]

If they were able to make it work for "The Doctor's Wife," why not "Nightmare in Silver"?

Well, they didn't have the same producer or director, so maybe the later ones just weren't as inclined to consult Gaiman.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Good point, I hadn't thought about that. Still, I wonder about Moffat. He was part of the reason Gaiman wrote for them in the first place. I'm not suggesting anything maleficence, negligence, or anything like that, but I wonder why he didn't or wasn't able to make the script work to Gaiman's satisfaction.

 

[YLu]

That's interesting. I remember a story going around about Moffat purposely being rather hands-off with "Nightmare in Silver" because he wasn't happy about the lack of recognition for his writing contributions to "The Doctor's Wife." Wonder how/if that ties into this.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Oh, that is interesting. I hadn't heard of that particular tidbit. Do you remember where you heard/read that?

 

[Csalem]

That's interesting. I remember a story going around about Moffat purposely being rather hands-off with "Nightmare in Silver" because he wasn't happy about the lack of recognition for his writing contributions to "The Doctor's Wife." Wonder how/if that ties into this.

RTD made similar comments regarding lack of recognition in The Writer's Tale in relation to the rewrite he did on Human Nature/Family of Blood. I suppose it is the nature of the job when it comes to uncredited rewrites.

 

[GNDN18]

Which just seems weird to me considering the successful collaboration he had with them with "The Doctor's Wife." Maybe it was an availability issue?

Also, I seem to recall "The Doctor's Wife" also had to be scaled down considerably for budget reasons. I'm blanking on the particulars, but I believe that lead to them using the makeshift TARDIS console and bringing the Tennant console out of moth balls. I think Gaiman wanted to feature a lot more consoles. If they were able to make it work for "The Doctor's Wife," why not "Nightmare in Silver"?

I read that, too, but I forget where. As I recall, there was a lot of corridor-running that replaced the scripted grand tour of the Tardis. Sort of an “Invasion of Time” redux.

 

[Lonemagpie]

The springs-to-mind change with Nightmare, right from the get-go, was that it was written for Victorian Clara (from The Snowmen) and two Victorian kids - but then everything about Clara got changed en route to production...

 

[Marc]

RTD made similar comments regarding lack of recognition in The Writer's Tale in relation to the rewrite he did on Human Nature/Family of Blood. I suppose it is the nature of the job when it comes to uncredited rewrites.

I saw an interview with Terrance Dicks (it's on the Fang Rock DVD) and when talking about his time as script editor. There were times when he did complete re-writes but took that as part of his job and he'd paid off the original writer in full first.

Guess times have changed.

 

[The Wormhole]

Good point, I hadn't thought about that. Still, I wonder about Moffat. He was part of the reason Gaiman wrote for them in the first place. I'm not suggesting anything maleficence, negligence, or anything like that, but I wonder why he didn't or wasn't able to make the script work to Gaiman's satisfaction.

Nightmare in Silver was part of the seventh season, a year Moffat has admitted to feeling overworked and burnt out during (mostly due to things related to the fiftieth anniversary).

That's interesting. I remember a story going around about Moffat purposely being rather hands-off with "Nightmare in Silver" because he wasn't happy about the lack of recognition for his writing contributions to "The Doctor's Wife." Wonder how/if that ties into this.

Moffat could have arranged to have a co-writing credit on the episode, as he did on a few in seasons 8 and 9. It's a showrunner's right.

RTD made similar comments regarding lack of recognition in The Writer's Tale in relation to the rewrite he did on Human Nature/Family of Blood. I suppose it is the nature of the job when it comes to uncredited rewrites.

Not exactly. RTD bemoans the fact that internet reviewers were praising Paul Cornell's writing and even comparing how much superior it was to RTD's, despite the fact he did extensive script-editing on it. But again, had he wanted writing credit, he could have requested it. Indeed, he reluctantly caved to BBC pressure to be credited as a co-writer on Planet of the Dead and Waters of Mars since he only did his usual script editing that he didn't typically get credited for. BBC wanted his name listed as a writer on those scripts in the hopes they could attract big name guest stars.

 

[Starkers]

Which just seems weird to me considering the successful collaboration he had with them with "The Doctor's Wife." Maybe it was an availability issue?

Also, I seem to recall "The Doctor's Wife" also had to be scaled down considerably for budget reasons. I'm blanking on the particulars, but I believe that lead to them using the makeshift TARDIS console and bringing the Tennant console out of moth balls. I think Gaiman wanted to feature a lot more consoles. If they were able to make it work for "The Doctor's Wife," why not "Nightmare in Silver"?

Also Gaiman had originally envisaged Nephew as a new alien but due to the budget considerations they had to reuse an Ood costume.

For me the problems with Nightmare in Silver most revolved around it feeling too much like a TNG Borg episode and not enough like a Cyberman story.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Gosh, "Nightmare in Silver" is one of my favorite DW episodes, thanks to Warwick Davis's performance and the character of Porridge both.

 

[Starkers]

Another problem is that it's kinda hard to visualise "the greatest amusement park in the universe!" on a TV budget.