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rabid1stIf you have seen The Doctor, The Widow & The Wardrobe and still count yourself a Doctor Who fan, you can skip this post.
I was once the biggest fan of Doctor Who you would ever find in America. I had a subscription to Doctor Who magazine which cost me sixty dollars a year, back when TV Guide was like 79 cents. And, yes, this was decades before David Tennant came on the scene. So, I wasn't influenced by his hotness. I loved One, Three, Four, Five, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten. I didn't like Two or Six, but I will say they never embarrassed me to the point of not watching Doctor Who. Mel and Peri almost did, but I remained true. And Trial of a Time Lord almost made up for the irritation.
I can't tell you how many of my friends tried to get me to lower my head in shame when I presented them with a Doctor Who episode. They would hoot in laughter at the ridiculously low budget monsters and sets. They would snicker at me behind my back, because I insisted that the stories were worthwhile, despite the ham-acting and the grade-school production values. I could take a lot of ribbing, because I honestly felt that the Doctor was the most amazing character ever. He didn't have to be a God or one of those wind-up monkey toys clapping his cymbals and shrieking constantly in order to hold my attention. He had gravitas and a sort of world-weary, tender humor about him. The acting was often sub-par and the companions like Mel, Adric and Peri were often excruciatingly shallow. But I still loved Doctor Who. And, as many of you know, I was so thrilled with the remake that I began writing fanfiction.
But now, thanks to Matt and Moff and the last Christmas Special, I can no longer hold my head high and admit to any sort of fan loyalty to this concept. OMG! That was so embarrassing. Never mind telling me you enjoyed it. Because I will wonder how you sat through the first twenty minutes of infantile drivel. I turned it off. So, if it got better...well...it would have to get astronomically better to make up for that start, and Dad would have to remain dead. And I don't believe he remained dead at all. As soon as I saw that damned blue box, I thought it was a dimensional window to get Dad back.
Remember when faced with such a poignant thing as a recently dead father, the Doctor would engage the family in a fight for their life at some spooky mansion and allow them all to see how life could go on despite their loss? Remember when the Doctor wasn't a half-hysterical clown and didn't need a lemonade tap to impress people? I would no sooner ask someone to watch this shallow tripe than I would ask them to eat a live bug for Christmas dinner.
I'm not even going to offer up any complaints about the silly science. What would be the point? The Wylie Coyote fall from space, for example...of course he survived...he's a cartoon. Never mind the coincidental running into people again and again, even without seeing them the first time. I suppose he just...magically knew about her husband...and where they were all going...and about the original caretaker and uncle...or he looked it up on the TARDIS magic screen or something.
It's Christmas and he's the Doctor and we are expected to swallow anything Moff throws at us. Ten took a ridiculous fall, too, but at least he had the decency to die in that episode. Never mind Donna being special BECAUSE of the coincidence surrounding her. There are no special people, unless they are extra-super-duper special like River Song and we are told we must love them. And, of course, we have to keep upping the ante on amazing with this Doctor. Sure he can survive a fall from space that creates a crater. He can fly and rise from the dead and restore your vintage Chevy. Because he's Father Christmas and Jesus and Bugs Bunny all rolled into one and on a caffeine high at all times. "Clang, Clang, Clang" go his little monkey cymbals, there's no time for true emotions or anything like higher thought processes.
Let's face it. This show doesn't bear even the slightest resemblance to the original material it is supposedly drawn from. This is not Doctor Who.
And as far as the so called plot goes, I think it must be aimed at mildly challenged 3 year olds. That would explain all the prancing about and arm waving and relentless babbling. Yes, "panthers" was cute, but nothing else he said was even approaching clever. I can't imagine any 7 or 8 year old being interested in, never mind entertained by, dancing chairs, a mad man firing off nonsense at 100 miles an hour or a lemonade tap in the sink. It was just, I don't know, I would say written for the mentally challenged, but...that would be insulting to anyone with an IQ above that of a turnip.
I was once the biggest fan of Doctor Who you would ever find in America. I had a subscription to Doctor Who magazine which cost me sixty dollars a year, back when TV Guide was like 79 cents. And, yes, this was decades before David Tennant came on the scene. So, I wasn't influenced by his hotness. I loved One, Three, Four, Five, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten. I didn't like Two or Six, but I will say they never embarrassed me to the point of not watching Doctor Who. Mel and Peri almost did, but I remained true. And Trial of a Time Lord almost made up for the irritation.
I can't tell you how many of my friends tried to get me to lower my head in shame when I presented them with a Doctor Who episode. They would hoot in laughter at the ridiculously low budget monsters and sets. They would snicker at me behind my back, because I insisted that the stories were worthwhile, despite the ham-acting and the grade-school production values. I could take a lot of ribbing, because I honestly felt that the Doctor was the most amazing character ever. He didn't have to be a God or one of those wind-up monkey toys clapping his cymbals and shrieking constantly in order to hold my attention. He had gravitas and a sort of world-weary, tender humor about him. The acting was often sub-par and the companions like Mel, Adric and Peri were often excruciatingly shallow. But I still loved Doctor Who. And, as many of you know, I was so thrilled with the remake that I began writing fanfiction.
But now, thanks to Matt and Moff and the last Christmas Special, I can no longer hold my head high and admit to any sort of fan loyalty to this concept. OMG! That was so embarrassing. Never mind telling me you enjoyed it. Because I will wonder how you sat through the first twenty minutes of infantile drivel. I turned it off. So, if it got better...well...it would have to get astronomically better to make up for that start, and Dad would have to remain dead. And I don't believe he remained dead at all. As soon as I saw that damned blue box, I thought it was a dimensional window to get Dad back.
Remember when faced with such a poignant thing as a recently dead father, the Doctor would engage the family in a fight for their life at some spooky mansion and allow them all to see how life could go on despite their loss? Remember when the Doctor wasn't a half-hysterical clown and didn't need a lemonade tap to impress people? I would no sooner ask someone to watch this shallow tripe than I would ask them to eat a live bug for Christmas dinner.
I'm not even going to offer up any complaints about the silly science. What would be the point? The Wylie Coyote fall from space, for example...of course he survived...he's a cartoon. Never mind the coincidental running into people again and again, even without seeing them the first time. I suppose he just...magically knew about her husband...and where they were all going...and about the original caretaker and uncle...or he looked it up on the TARDIS magic screen or something.
It's Christmas and he's the Doctor and we are expected to swallow anything Moff throws at us. Ten took a ridiculous fall, too, but at least he had the decency to die in that episode. Never mind Donna being special BECAUSE of the coincidence surrounding her. There are no special people, unless they are extra-super-duper special like River Song and we are told we must love them. And, of course, we have to keep upping the ante on amazing with this Doctor. Sure he can survive a fall from space that creates a crater. He can fly and rise from the dead and restore your vintage Chevy. Because he's Father Christmas and Jesus and Bugs Bunny all rolled into one and on a caffeine high at all times. "Clang, Clang, Clang" go his little monkey cymbals, there's no time for true emotions or anything like higher thought processes.
Let's face it. This show doesn't bear even the slightest resemblance to the original material it is supposedly drawn from. This is not Doctor Who.
And as far as the so called plot goes, I think it must be aimed at mildly challenged 3 year olds. That would explain all the prancing about and arm waving and relentless babbling. Yes, "panthers" was cute, but nothing else he said was even approaching clever. I can't imagine any 7 or 8 year old being interested in, never mind entertained by, dancing chairs, a mad man firing off nonsense at 100 miles an hour or a lemonade tap in the sink. It was just, I don't know, I would say written for the mentally challenged, but...that would be insulting to anyone with an IQ above that of a turnip.
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(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-18 07:23 am (UTC)I miss my show.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-18 08:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-18 09:15 am (UTC)I can't wait until this entire crew is gone. But frankly, I want the concept packed back into mothballs until a proper regeneration can be developed. Because I can't bear to watch this...this...insult to the memory of a once great show.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-18 09:44 am (UTC)What I wouldn't give to see a well written, plot driven, multi-Doctor special... But as we've seen this crew has issues with cannon and consistency. I have no interest in watching 90 minutes of the River Song show. (And yes, I'll admit that is partly my shipper heart speaking) but Moffat's walking, talking wet dream is a large factor in my disinterest now.
Somebody needs to forward some fanfic to the writers, because let's be honest, who wouldn't like to see some of the epics brought to life on screen *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-18 12:38 pm (UTC)As for River, what saddens me is that I might have enjoyed that character if she hadn't been so obsessively hyped. I want to think that there would have been room in my heart for another "favored" companion, if Rose/Ten had been handled better and I hadn't had to choke on such large servings of River. I suppose I've always resented braggarts and this crew does nothing but boast and crow.
It is ironic that all of those fans complained about Rose being "forced down our throats," when, in fact, she was very understated, so much so that some people missed the subtext entirely. And compared to the relentless propaganda machine that is River Song, Rose was a shrinking violet.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-18 08:07 am (UTC)Though honestly, it isn't the insipid one-shots that get to me (considering my love of craptasic movies) - it's what passes for a plot arch these days. It would be one thing if they were simply overhyped, but the insulting, nonsensical, drivel that The Moff is so gosh darn proud of that he trolls people who aren't "bright enough" to "get it" (like the rabid forum-fanboy he is) just sends me into a *hulk-smash* zone.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-18 09:03 am (UTC)Yes! Moff does tie up his loose ends. But he telegraphs plot points like he's dealing with, as I said above, mildly challenged 3 year olds. "Look at this little girl. Who could she possibly be?" I wasn't surprised by anything last season, not one thing. Oh, except that they used the mechanical suit rather than the artificially created Doctor for their "Of course the Doctor isn't really dead" twist.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-18 07:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-18 11:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-05-19 05:27 am (UTC)