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

Of course not..... I've done a ton of dancing in my time

 

And another twist of the knife, though this time on someone else's behalf.

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a870522/neil-gaiman-doctor-who-messing-writers-script/

 

I saw that story and I almost posted it here, but it didn't seem like it added anymore than what we already knew. Just that Gaiman isn't afraid to repeat the story.

 

I love this quote from it!
"If this is going to be f**ked up it's going to be f**cked up by me personally with love and dedication."

 

Considering his history (particularly with BBC on Neverwhere), I'm not at all surprised with that reaction.

 

And, there is an inherent difference between doing something and having someone else mess it up than messing something up yourself!

That must be incredibly frustrating to put in the time, dedication, and love, only to have it F'd up by someone else!

 

Gaiman provides no clues as to which Toby Whithouse script he's talking about, but the only options, where they both had scripts in the mix, would be either series 5's "Vampires of Venice" or series 6's "The God Complex." And, of the two, there's one that I feel wasn't what it was supposed to be, and it's not "The God Complex."

 

Whithouse had "A Town Called Mercy" in the same season (albeit on opposite ends of the split) as "Nightmare in Silver," and considering Gaiman is undoubtedly talking about "Nightmare of Silver," I assumed he was talking "A Town Called Mercy," too.

 

Yeah, I wondered if it might have been A Town Called Mercy. Certainly there was a lot of screwing around with that episode, which IIRC was supposed to have aired after The Power of Three (it does include a reference to the Doctor, Amy and Rory's adventure with Henry VIII, which takes place Power of Three) only to be placed before it for some reason.

 

I always felt like Vampires Of Venice lacked something. It's like I feel that one also got messed up somewhere along the way and the story just lacked something.

 

Yeah, gotta be “Town Called Mercy” it’s not bad, bit it definitely could have been more. Especially with Ben Browder in the mix.

 

Given I've always felt A Town Called Mercy was a rare poor Whithouse episode.
He can't have been that pissed given he wrote three episodes subsequently.

 

Ah, you're right. For some reason, I had my seasons all confused and remembered "Silver" coming during Series 6.

It could be Gaiman's speaking of "A Town Called Mercy," but would there have been a table-read for an Amy/Rory episode in the morning and a Clara episode in the afternoon? I don't know, but that seems likely to me.

 

^ "Nightmare" could have been moved to the later block after a first reading. As well, God Complex and The Doctor's Wife wouldn't have been in the same block either, so either way we're looking at a story being moved.

The quotes are somewhat sloppy as they mention that they "first met" at a read through but that Gaiman "got to read Toby's script before anyone touched it because he was wiring Doctor Who." Which to me sounds like Moffat or a producer passing Gaiman the script for his opinion separate from meeting Toby.

 

It's possible, sure, but I'm having a hard time with the idea that there was a table read with Karen, Arthur, and Jenna in the same day, especially when the Clara Gaiman initially wrote for wasn't the Clara Jenna ultimately played.

 

I wish I knew which Whithouse episode he was referring to, since I'm actually quite fond of all 3 of his Smith-era eps.

"The Vampires of Venice" is a perfect execution of the Doctor Who formula.

"The God Complex" kinda feels a bit like it's repeating themes that we've already explored earlier in the season, especially the whole facing-your-fears thing from "Night Terrors." But it has a lot of great moments in it, especially: "I brought them here. They’d say it was their choice, but offer a child a suitcase full of sweets and they’ll take it. Offer someone all of time and space and they’ll take that too. Which is why you shouldn’t. Which is why grown-ups were invented."

"A Town Called Mercy" feels the most compromised but it's still solid. There are just a few moments when the episode feels the need to underline the moral ambiguity rather than just letting the audience come to it naturally. For a franchise that normally avoids talking down to its audience like that, it's a glaring misstep.

 

I don't know to me The Vampires Of Venice feels like there's something missing. It's a good story but just it feels like it needs something a little extra and I can't place what it is.

 

It's pretty clear based on context that he was probably talking about "A Town Called Mercy," as discussed earlier in the thread.

 

A Town Called Mercy is one of his weakest episodes.

 

Maybe, but I have a huge soft spot for it, although that might be because of Ben Browder.