Hello there, Sindatur. Nice to meet you.
No, I absolutely do not support the issuing of death threats, and I hope I made it very clear that I have no time for such people (even if they are 'only' insulting him, its still unacceptable. Criticism should be of a person's work, not of the person themself). My comment was simply that he had to take his share of blame for the ill-feeling that large sections of fans have towards him personally. I don't condone how some are expressing that feeling, but his goading of them and his ill chosen public comments haven't helped.
I feel he is far too cavalier in dismissing legitmate concerns - i.e he and his more zealous supporters just seem to label any and all reservations about his work as baseless hater talk, and he comes across as very mocking and self congratulatory (just read his comments on the S5 box!)
Issues like the Villain Decay that has been afflicting the Daleks and Cybermen under his tenure, his cavalier attitude to solving everything with magic timey wimeyness, the constant barrage of fanwank and his disdain for mainstream viewers, are just some of the IMO very valid issues for debate. But to listen to him talk, the series is better than ever, there are absolutely no problems, other than from certain fans, who aren't fans at all, and who he hates... How does this kind of talk help?
No-one is ever going to get all of what they want from any one writer or showrunner. He has his own style, and to an extent we should be willing to at least give it a fair hearing. But a bit of give from him would not be out of line - this thread is showing that whether people like the current show or not, most (practically all on here) have felt this season to be inferior to the previous one, with many citing the storyarc as a reason.
Given that the storyarc is all Moffat, that means it is beholden on him to address these concerns. As a writer, he has to be free to do things the way he thinks is best, but I would hope that he realises that his choices are affecting a product that is held sacred to millions of people. So I don't think its unreasonable for him to pay at least some attention to the issues that are vexing fans who are trying their best to stay loyal.
So I apologise if my earlier comments made it seem like I condoned the appalling behaviour of some fans towards him. He's given a lot to the show (regardless of how I feel about his current form), and besides, nobody deserves such treatment.
But I contend that there is deep disquiet in the community over the choices Moffat is making, and the way he is choosing to write his episodes and sell the show.
Just a couple of things: number one, a television show, or a book, or a movie, or anything along those lines, is theoretically a work of art, not a product. As such, the artist has absolutely zero obligation to give the viewer what they claim they want. That's the difference between art and product: product is simply giving the audience what it asks for, while art is an attempt to do something new, from the artist's point of view, with no effort wasted on trying to cater to an audience, and all the artist can do is cross their fingers and hope that the audience "gets it." So - Moffatt must be admired, at least, for ignoring fan wishes. He clearly thinks of his show as a work of art, as any television writer should, and so he'll just keep doing what he feels he wants to do, keep giving us what he feels he wants the show to communicate, and just hope that the viewers like it, even if it's not what they thought they wanted. So, you're wrong - Moffatt should not be criticized for blatantly ignoring perfectly valid suggestions from the audience. He ought to be commended. The man, the artist, is sticking to his guns. If he's right, the audience will stay. If he's wrong, they'll jump ship. But he's taking the responsibility onto himself, as any artist should.
Now, with that said, second - you're right, season 6 was pretty awful. Rarely have I been so disillusioned with a Doctor Who season. I'd have to go back to McCoy's first season to find a more wrong-headed interpretation of what the Doctor Who universe ought to feel like.
Here's my problem: Doctor Who is not a kid's show. Never has been. BBC has always pretended it was, but it's always been a lie. In the pilot, Hartnell almost killed a man on the ground with a rock to the head. In Jon Pertwee, plastic men came to life and shot a whole street of innocent bystanders to death. Davison's years were not only dark in tone, but adult in conception, theme, attitude. Colin Baker's years, crap as they were, were violent and controversial. McCoy's years turned very adult. And RTD's years largely dealt with adult themes from the real world.
So what's this condescending tone the show has suddenly taken on, about facing your fears and they will all go away? In the old Doctor Who, if you faced your fears, they would eat you. What's this impish quirky man-from-another-dimension bullshit they're pulling with the Doctor's performance and writing? He's not Peter Pan, or an imp from the 5th dimension, or the Mad Hatter. He's a scientist, and an engineer, and he's been around for a very long time. And he's not from "somewhere out there" and he's not some girl's imaginary friend, we know exactly where's he's from, and we've met his people, and we've followed his adventures for decades.
Basically, why is Moffatt treating the whole thing like a kid's show? It's patronizing. Its self-conscious quirkiness is irritating. I don't like it.
Sorry. Didn't intend to go on like that.
The answer is the 5th season is better. Marginally.
) are what fandom’s all about.
