Russell T Davies yes/no

[The]

Good Lord, The is a bigger RTD fan than me

It's cause I find S1 flawless....

 

[The]

See, I never got that from Eccles. Quite separate from my dislike for his Doctor, I often got the impression from his acting that he hated having to do it. It makes his standout performances (Dalek especially) all the more standout, because you could tell he knew he was glad not to be doing rubbish like World War Three.

Oh, I agree there are levels to what he puts into it. And, I'm not disagreeing in quality comparison. But, I think my Mancrush on Eccles is so great that he could read the dictionary and I would find it cool...

 

[Jax]

Doctor Who's default setting isn't outright stupidity. Just the RTD years.

I am remembering many scenes of an Ancient powerful alien time lord giving jelly babies to people as a way to get them to do what he wants...

yep its stupid but good stupid.

 

[Bones2]

Doctor Who's default setting isn't outright stupidity. Just the RTD years.

I am remembering many scenes of an Ancient powerful alien time lord giving jelly babies to people as a way to get them to do what he wants...

yep its stupid but good stupid.

I wouldn't say that's stupid, but rather a good-humoured sign of the character's eccentricity. I'm talking about stupidity in terms of story and plot, which RTD's stories badly suffer from.

 

[Jax]

^
You know if that jellybaby thing had never occured in the franchise before and RTD was the first to introduce it you would probably call it utter crap.

btw I think Smith's Doctor has to do a jellybaby scene someday.

 

[Bones2]

I probably would, but only because it'd probably be part of the plot that the jelly baby is magic and has a time orgasm that blows up a million Daleks. Because RTD is an appallingly bad writer. If RTD had written the Doctor more as the man out of time eccentric he's supposed to be and less of the mockney manslag snogging up chavs, then I wouldn't have complained.

 

[Kitty Worrier]

Rose - yes - it got me into the show
The End of the World - yes - thought it was better than the first episode
Aliens of London/World War Three - no - the farting aliens was just too damn much for me.
The Long Game - no
Boom Town - yes
Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways - no/yes
The Christmas Invasion - no
New Earth - yes
Tooth and Claw - it started out good, but in the end, the answer is no
Love and Monsters - fuck no
Army of Ghosts/Doomsday - no, but it got rid of Rose, but alas, she comes back
The Runaway Bride - yes
Smith and Jones - yes, probably the best companion introduction. Too bad the writers have her fall for the Doctor.
Gridlock - yes
Utopia - yes
The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords - yes/no - the Doctor coming back bacause of peoples thoughts was cool, at first, but then it became way to damn fankwanky. Jesus-Doctor was just too much.
Voyage of the Damned - no - it was just awful, and boring.
Partners in Crime - yes
Midnight - yes
Turn Left - yes
The Stolen Earth/Journey's End - no... it was too much, and the aborted regen was just so stupid, plus the creation of the human doctor from that hand? I still can't believe that happened.
The Next Doctor - no
Planet of the Dead - no - I found the 'companion' annoying.
The Waters of Mars - yes
The End of Time - no.... was too much, and what a terrible way to say goodbye to Ten. Loved the last five min though.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Because RTD is an appallingly bad writer..

No.

Just no.

He has written some appallingly bad stuff, but he has also written some bloody fabulous stuff. Everybody has an off-day, and an outright bad writer could never have managed Casanova, which IMO is still his best work by a long way.

No, RTD's problem is that he's a vastly overstretched/overworked writer. Back in the classic series, they had a separate producer and script editor working together. Now we have one showrunner doing it all (even though there are other producers and exec prods on the show as well), and in RTD's case he was writing more than half the episodes, rewriting the other half, *and* in charge of SJA and Torchwood - just way too much for any one person to do, and the quality suffers as a result.

Moffatt, so far, doesn't seem to be rewriting as much, is writing fewer individual episodes, and isn't running SJA and Torchwood, so he's considerably less overstretched.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Rose - Yes
The End of the World - Yes
Aliens of London/World War Three - no
The Long Game - Yes.
Boom Town - No.
Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways - Yes.
The Christmas Invasion - Yes.
New Earth - Yes.
Tooth and Claw - Yes.
Love and Monsters - No.
Army of Ghosts/Doomsday - Yes.
The Runaway Bride - Yes.
Smith and Jones - No.
Gridlock - Yes.
Utopia - YES!!
The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords - YES!!
Voyage of the Damned - Yes.
Partners in Crime - Yes.
Midnight - Yes.
Turn Left - Yes.
The Stolen Earth/Journey's End - YES!!
The Next Doctor - Yes.
Planet of the Dead - No.
The Waters of Mars - Yes.
The End of Time - YES!!

Oh and a extra massive YES!! for RTD for not only bring Who back but for making it cool.

 

[Shazam!]

Rose - Yes, I guess. Primarily for the reason that it was rad seeing Doctor Who back on TV.

The End of the World - Yes. Seeing a companion freaking out over just abandoning everything they know to go travelling with a weird alien was a cool concept.

Aliens of London/World War Three - No. Seriously guys, as if no-one in the meetings went "Er, are we really having farting aliens in this?"

The Long Game - Yes. The story was kinda dull but it featured a crazy monster on a space station.

Boom Town - No. Just dull. And then the bad guy turned into an egg. WTF.

Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways - No/Yes. Bad Wolf was terrible with the Bad Wolf reveal an obvious after-thought. POTW had a crazy Daleks, spaceships and a Dalek Emperor. WIN.

The Christmas Invasion - Yes. It was cool to see a new Doctor and this was before the 'alien spaceship over Earth concept' wore out its welcome.

New Earth - No. *facepalm* at just about everything.

Tooth and Claw - Yes. Werewolves and that.

Love and Monsters - No. Again, I resent the fact that no-one in the meetings had any balls to say "Um, this is a shit idea..."

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday - No. As if they messed up Daleks v Cybermen. It had some nice music at the end though Rose really should've stayed in the parallel universe never to be seen again. Ever.

The Runaway Bride - No. It's a spaceship over Earth! Yawn.

Smith and Jones - No. Guys, The Doctor expelled radiation through his foot.

Gridlock - Yes. A cool stand alone story and Martha was't totally lame.

Utopia - Yes. Although really, it's only because of the ending.

The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords - LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Voyage of the Damned - No. Just fucking shit.

Partners in Crime - No. Should've been a SJA story.

Midnight - YES. Creepy and self-contained. Nu-Who needs more of this.

Turn Left - No. I'm not sure why. It just didn't work for me. Catherine Tate was good in it though.

The Stolen Earth/Journey's End - Yes/No. I quite liked how ridiculous everything was and seeing all the characters (minus Rose) interacting was quite cool. WTF was with clone Doctor though. Seriously, guys.

The Next Doctor - No. Such a cool concept ruined by giant Cybermen and hot air balloons.

Planet of the Dead - No. Just a bit shit, really.

The Waters of Mars - No. It was okay up until all that Time Lord Victorious bullshit that offered nothing save for some new buzz words to be thrown around over at Gallifrey Base.

The End of Time - No. The Stolen Earth/Journey's End would've been a much better send off.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

I didn't think RTD wrote Planet of the Dead btw?

Cowritten with the similarly untalented Gareth Roberts.

Nonsense. Roberts is considerably worse than RTD. The very worst of RTD is better than the very best of Roberts.

Anyway.

Rose - no
The End of the World - yes
Aliens of London/World War Three - no
The Long Game - no
Boom Town - yes
Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways - yes
The Christmas Invasion - yes
New Earth - no
Tooth and Claw - yes (this grew on me over time - I thought it was balls for about 2 years)
Love and Monsters - yes, marginally
Army of Ghosts/Doomsday - yes
The Runaway Bride - yes
Smith and Jones - yes
Gridlock - yes
Utopia - yes
The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords - yes
Voyage of the Damned - a stupefyingly large no.
Partners in Crime - yes
Midnight - yes
Turn Left - yes
The Stolen Earth/Journey's End - yes
The Next Doctor - yes
Planet of the Dead - no
The Waters of Mars - yes
The End of Time - yes

I believe that's a 76% like rate for me. I would also like to add that RTD did an okay job on SJA which was likeable enough (though that was solely due to how brilliant Matt Smith is). I also like Everything Changes a lot.

Perhaps a poll should gone in as well:

Option 1: Yes
Option 2: No
Option 3: It Really Is Time To Move On From This Now

 

[Starkers]

Because RTD is an appallingly bad writer..

No.

Just no.

He has written some appallingly bad stuff, but he has also written some bloody fabulous stuff. Everybody has an off-day, and an outright bad writer could never have managed Casanova, which IMO is still his best work by a long way.

No, RTD's problem is that he's a vastly overstretched/overworked writer. Back in the classic series, they had a separate producer and script editor working together. Now we have one showrunner doing it all (even though there are other producers and exec prods on the show as well), and in RTD's case he was writing more than half the episodes, rewriting the other half, *and* in charge of SJA and Torchwood - just way too much for any one person to do, and the quality suffers as a result.

Moffatt, so far, doesn't seem to be rewriting as much, is writing fewer individual episodes, and isn't running SJA and Torchwood, so he's considerably less overstretched.

Yup I'd pretty much agree with all of that (although I never saw Casanova). Thing is that even in a lot of those episodes I said no to, there are moments that shine (even in The Aliens of London/WW3!) but to downside is that even those eps I said yes to usually contain at least one moment that has me tearing my hair out.

Like you say RTD wrote/exec produced a heck of a lot of stuff (even without factoring in the rewrites) and yet, going on this thread, the majority of people like more than 50% of them...cripes if people liked more 50% of my writing I'd be chuffed with that!

I still think Moffat stretches himself too far as well, what with 6 eps od Who and Sherlock in the mix.

I think part of the problem is that a lot of people have little concept of just how much work both of them have had to put into Who.

 

[Starkers]

Perhaps a poll should gone in as well:

Option 1: Yes
Option 2: No
Option 3: It Really Is Time To Move On From This Now

Can I vote 3 please

 

[Lonemagpie]

I still think Moffat stretches himself too far as well, what with 6 eps od Who and Sherlock in the mix.

Not so much with Sherlock, because it's *different* than Who, not a part of it - and for a writer a change *is* as good as a rest (and, IMO, any sign of it being too much came out in Sherlock, where in the first episode especially Sherlock himself appeared to be spend much of the time auditioning for Matt Smith's job)

 

[Lonemagpie]

Thing is that even in a lot of those episodes I said no to, there are moments that shine (even in The Aliens of London/WW3!) but to downside is that even those eps I said yes to usually contain at least one moment that has me tearing my hair out.

Same here on that front too - which itself is nothing new, even in the original series.

 

[Winterwind]

Perhaps a poll should gone in as well:

Option 1: Yes
Option 2: No
Option 3: It Really Is Time To Move On From This Now

Can I vote 3 please

No. You may not. We must continue to bash RTD!!!

And while I can agree with Lonemagpie's point about being stretched thin, RTD didn't have those two spin-offs during S1 which was when his writing was at its most juvenile with those damned farting aliens.

 

[Starkers]

Well at the risk of defending RTD , I think in the first series everyone involved was still trying to get a handle on exactly what kind of a show they were trying to make, what level to pitch it at. I keep meaning to get his book on writing for Who, not sure if he mentions it or not but I know he has aknowledged misteps before (10.5 as Rose's sex doll for example!)

 

[Saul]

Rose - no
The End of the World - no
Aliens of London/World War Three - yes
The Long Game - yes
Boom Town - yes
Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways - yes
The Christmas Invasion - yes
New Earth - no
Tooth and Claw - no
Love and Monsters - yes
Army of Ghosts/Doomsday - yes
The Runaway Bride - no
Smith and Jones - yes
Gridlock - yes
Utopia - yes
The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords - yes
Voyage of the Damned - no
Partners in Crime - yes
Midnight - yes
Turn Left - yes
The Stolen Earth/Journey's End - yes
The Next Doctor - yes
Planet of the Dead - no
The Waters of Mars - yes
The End of Time - yes

 

[Takeru]

Let's see:

Rose - Yes
The End of the World - Yes
Aliens of London/World War Three - No
The Long Game - No
Boom Town - Yes
Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways - Yes
The Christmas Invasion - No
New Earth - No
Tooth and Claw - Yes
Love and Monsters - No
Army of Ghosts/Doomsday - Yes
The Runaway Bride - Yes
Smith and Jones - Yes
Gridlock - No
Utopia - Yes
The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords - No
Voyage of the Damned - No
Partners in Crime - Yes
Midnight - Yes
Turn Left - Yes
The Stolen Earth/Journey's End - Yes
The Next Doctor - Yes
Planet of the Dead - No
The Waters of Mars - Yes
The End of Time - No

 

[Stevil2001]

Moffatt, so far, doesn't seem to be rewriting as much, is writing fewer individual episodes, and isn't running SJA and Torchwood, so he's considerably less overstretched.

Of course, the tradeoff here is that the non-Moffat episodes this season seemed much more variable than the non-RTD ones had been.