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It's not just me, then...
I read something today which reminded me of a comment I'd made concerning the current series of DW.
It was in a comment I wrote to a post by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chloris67 about The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People
Today, I was reading the reviews of 6x05, 6x06 and 6x07 in the current issue of DWM, and I was interested to see that the reviewer (Graham Kibble-White) had reached a similar conclusion. At the end of his review of AGMGTW, he says:
Personally, I'm not sure DW has felt like DW when when SM has been writing it, but that's a different argument altogether.
But it's definitely one of the reasons why I think that S6 isn't really hanging together as a whole - so far. Steven Moffat IS a fabulous writer and he has a very individual voice - but perhaps that's not such a good thing when you can't write every episode of your show and when you want or need to write the "important" episodes yourself. And I'm not criticising him for that, because I can understand why it's the case; he knows what he wants to do and how he wants to do it and I'm sure, were I in his shoes, I'd do the same.
And I'm in no way saying that RTD doesn't have a very individual voice, because he does; it's just that the way he structured each series - around a THEME rather than an overarching PLOT - seemed to work better in the current format. I'm also not arguing here that those themes were always particularly well seeded, but they were there, principally in the background, which meant that it was easier for other writers to 'fit in'. All the stories felt like standalones which (sometimes) included references to the overall theme, whereas now Moffat's episodes are all linked together and the others stand outside that 'inner circle' and can never really belong.
It was in a comment I wrote to a post by
chloris67 about The Rebel Flesh/The Almost PeopleDW was, in its first incarnation, a weekly "serial"; half an hour each week ending with a cliffhanger of some sort, but there are problems with trying to do something similar in the current format. The biggest of these is, IMO, sustaining the story throughout thirteen forty-five minute episodes where the brains behind it doesn't write every episode. I wrote a post about S5 wherein I posited that the way the main "cracks in the universe" arc stories were presented to us just didn't work - I mean, it was obvious that the ones [stories] in between were fillers; and the same thing is happening this series. Granted TDW was fabulous and I wouldn't have missed it for the world, but otherwise, we all know we're treading water until the next Moffat episode which will advance the series arc.
Today, I was reading the reviews of 6x05, 6x06 and 6x07 in the current issue of DWM, and I was interested to see that the reviewer (Graham Kibble-White) had reached a similar conclusion. At the end of his review of AGMGTW, he says:
I think I stumbled upon the curse of Doctor Who. This year, the show just hasn't quite felt like Doctor Who when it's been scripted by someone other than Steven [Moffat]... The series has a new voice now which is brilliant, but idiosyncratic.
Personally, I'm not sure DW has felt like DW when when SM has been writing it, but that's a different argument altogether.
But it's definitely one of the reasons why I think that S6 isn't really hanging together as a whole - so far. Steven Moffat IS a fabulous writer and he has a very individual voice - but perhaps that's not such a good thing when you can't write every episode of your show and when you want or need to write the "important" episodes yourself. And I'm not criticising him for that, because I can understand why it's the case; he knows what he wants to do and how he wants to do it and I'm sure, were I in his shoes, I'd do the same.
And I'm in no way saying that RTD doesn't have a very individual voice, because he does; it's just that the way he structured each series - around a THEME rather than an overarching PLOT - seemed to work better in the current format. I'm also not arguing here that those themes were always particularly well seeded, but they were there, principally in the background, which meant that it was easier for other writers to 'fit in'. All the stories felt like standalones which (sometimes) included references to the overall theme, whereas now Moffat's episodes are all linked together and the others stand outside that 'inner circle' and can never really belong.