Have you all seen the new Doctor Who Prequel?

[rabid1st]

It is out there somewhere, written by Moff, a man who can't let an idea die, even when it is begging for that final rest.

Spoilers...I suppose...


This is shorter than I realized, too...only 2:34 minutes. It seemed to take ages, to me.

So, in a remarkable genius twist, the Doctor meets Clara as a child. Some people are crowing that they "Called it." OMG! I would be embarrassed to call that. As it is, I'm embarrassed for Moff and his complete lack of originality. Good lord. Not again. And the idea of doing this isn't even HIS idea. He stole it from Peter Pan...by way of that "red bicycle" that Nine mentioned to Rose. Yet, he keeps beating and beating on us with it.

Also, he couldn't resist usurping Donna's lovely specialness for one of his companions. Remember how Ten went on about how he met Donna once and then he met her Grandfather and then he met her again? "I met you for a second time." And it was all because Donna was marking a special moment in the Doctor's life, the creation of Ten 2? Remember that? Well, now, the Doctor is going on about how special Clara is because he has met her and lost her a few times. So, she must be marking a special time in HIS life. Or it wasn't so very unusual with Donna. Or it isn't with Clara. And I was just finding her marginally interesting, too.

I was momentarily touched, because I thought, at first, that Eleven was talking about Amy being lost to him, to a random girl. Then, I thought, no...is it River he's lost? Rose? It sounds a lot like Donna. Oh...Oh, right, this is a new Doctor with a new companion. Forget his past, this has to be the new girl. Remember he met her twice and she died twice and...he knows she likes baking. I don't know that I would call her a FRIEND, exactly, because we all barely know her. I don't love her, yet. But Moff does. So, he means Clara. And, of course, I already knew the touching brat WAS Clara...because...the curdling bile of embarrassment rose up in me as soon as she skipped into the scene. Up to the end, I, secretly, held out a slight hope that Clara would be baby-sitting the moppet or something. That might have been clever, Moff playing against his own cliché. But, he's not bright enough for that. So, instead, sigh, Moff did the same thing he did with Reinette and River and Amy. Someone said, "Maybe he just likes that formula. People understand it, because it is familiar." Yes, that's what television needs more of--easily understood formulaic writing. *Snark! Rant! Mutter! Gag!*

This speaks directly to something I was talking about in the comments of another thread. There is a type of Doctor Who fan, and Moff is this type, that thinks the Doctor is great because of who he is. Time Lord. Time God. Last of his Kind. Super-Genius. Just sitting around on a swing, he's "incredible." And so, all of his companions must be extra special snowflakes, too. Each more amazing than the last, bragged on and bragging until the hyperbole blurs into meaningless noise.

Then, there's the type of fan that I am, I think the Doctor is special because of what he does, rather than who he is. I want a deeper relationship. I no longer thrill to nothing more than his arrival on the scene. I need deeds. Time Lords are aristocratic wastes of space as RTD illustrated. It was to the Doctor's credit, for many years, that he didn't belong with them. He wanted to be out in the universe doing things, meeting people, uncertain about what happens next. Too bad Moff can't see that and is only interested in having him show up and dazzle with the pedigree. I will only be happy when the Doctor is in someone else's hands and back to being interesting, rather than incredible.



Rae

Comments

[jedi_of_urth]

Moffat keeps running into the same story idea over and over again without learning to leave it alone because it's bad. That or he just never met an illogical relationship with borderline (or not so borderline) creepy undertones to it that he could resist.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

It is interesting that you mentioned creepy...because I have to say, this time, my mind went straight to the idea that Moff is a paedophile. I was creeped out a bit by Reinette and River, but I thought it was possible that Moff had this idea and was sorry he gave it up to a one-shot episode...so he recreated it. That doesn't account for Amy though...and it really doesn't account for this one. I mean, yes, it is logical that the Doctor might want to keep an eye on Clara this time, looking for something wrong with her, or whatever...but...to do a special preview when nobody (with any sense) expects this scene to be in there...seems to me to be Moff acting out some deeper issues.

Rae

[karie22.livejournal.com]

Seriously, my brain went to pedophile, too.

[soophelia.livejournal.com]

my mind went straight to the idea that Moff is a paedophile

I agree. It's a definite pattern: Moffat seems obsessed with 'The Doctor meets them as children and falls in love with them.'

And I think that Moffat sees himself as the Doctor (or how he would like to be). It's just creepy and I just can't watch the show anymore because of that.

I hope a new showrunner takes over very soon.

Who would you like to see take over as showrunner?

[glory_jean]

Gotta go with the crowd - my thoughts went there too. :(

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Okay, perhaps paedophile is unfair. Maybe he just likes the idea of companions being selected as children, though, it is hardly canon outside of his world. Let's just say that Moff fixates inappropriately on children...and hope the BBC keeps an eye on him.

[jedi_of_urth]

It's probably part of the whole Peter Pan thing (which I've never liked applying to the Doctor to begin with), but I'm pretty sure Moff would see nothing wrong with the whole Imprinting thing in Twilight either. Mostly I have to doubt he's thought about the implications of a lot of this stuff, and I'm pretty sure he thinks it's OMG SO CREATIVE AND ORIGINAL (never mind that he *keeps doing it*). But then the fact that this is where his mind keeps going probably has its own implications...

[sensiblecat.livejournal.com]

I've got two words to say to that. Jimmy. Saville.

[karie22.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting this, I hadn't seen it before.

I HATED the entire Reinette plot, and I'm not just talking about the Doctor being an ass and totally out of character and apparently not giving a toss if he abandoned Rose and Mickey to die on a spaceship. The whole bit with her being a child when they met and then five minutes later being a woman throwing herself at him just sort of creeped me out. And, as much as I loved Amy, I always thought it was kind of lame that he tried to re-create that same plot with her. He's starting to feel like a one-hit wonder, except with the "hit" being one of those grating, annoying songs that the radio stations all play 100 times a day until you want to drive your car off a bridge.

I'm really, really, REALLY hoping that this will turn out differently. I was so intrigued by Clara and I felt that there were so many possibilities where she was concerned. I'm hoping maybe the Doctor knew the girl was Clara all along and had simply popped in on her as a child to see if he could gain some insight into what exactly she is. With Moffat in the driver's seat, though, I have a sinking feeling in my stomach that this will not be the case.

Honestly, RTD, of all the people you could have turned this show over to, did you have to pick the least creative in the bunch?

By the way, is anyone else wondering if maybe River has died some time between TATM and Snowmen?

[jedi_of_urth]

He's starting to feel like a one-hit wonder, except with the "hit" being one of those grating, annoying songs that the radio stations all play 100 times a day until you want to drive your car off a bridge.

Moff's standard story = Sexy and I Know It y/y?

But anyway, there are so many things wrong with GitF and the "My how you've grown" aspect is far from the least of them, but of course he keeps coming back to it and certainly not improving on the idea yet.

By the way, is anyone else wondering if maybe River has died some time between TATM and Snowmen?

Well I still haven't even bothered watching season 6, let alone s7, but I assume River still dies in the Library, and since that whole plot is so temporally screwed up I also don't know if she'll ever be dead as in gone from the story. Maybe it could be, but I wouldn't bet on it.

[karie22.livejournal.com]

Moff's standard story = Sexy and I Know It y/y?

Yes!!

But anyway, there are so many things wrong with GitF and the "My how you've grown" aspect is far from the least of them, but of course he keeps coming back to it and certainly not improving on the idea yet.

Ugh, I'd forgotten about (repressed?) that line. It actually made my skin crawl. I guess, to the Doctor, it's all relative, considering he's 900 years older than any woman he meets, so they're all "children" to him. But to see her as a child one minute and then an adult the next and immediately start lusting after her (and that felt like a lusty tone when he said that line, hence the skin-crawling)... yeah. IDK, they go to such great pains to paint him as this sexually-oblivious alien, that it feels shocking and weird when he suddenly starts behaving like, you know, a man. Even with Rose, who he actually fell in love with, he seemed to completely overlook her as being a sexual being. It was kind of like,"Oh, Rose is wonderful, I love Rose, I'm sometimes possessive of Rose, but why are all these blokes staring at her chest? That's weird." I'm still freaked out by all the innuendo between River and the Doctor and the casual mentions of their sex life, and don't even get me started on that "Good Queen Bess" thing. Maybe if they'd actually show him becoming sexualized instead of having him act like a nun one minute and a horny teenager the next, it wouldn't be so weird.

Oh, dear, I think I've veered off topic from my original point...

Well I still haven't even bothered watching season 6, let alone s7, but I assume River still dies in the Library, and since that whole plot is so temporally screwed up I also don't know if she'll ever be dead as in gone from the story. Maybe it could be, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Yeah, my assumption is that she still dies in the library, and I can't imagine Moff would kill her offscreen given his apparent love for her, but I was thinking it was odd in Snowmen how shut down the Doctor was, like he had absolutely no one left, and I kept thinking "where's River?" and I know they don't travel together all the time, but Amy's last request of her daughter was that she would look after him and not let him be alone... I just thought she'd be popping in from time to time and not allowing him to shut himself off from the world like he'd done in the most recent episode. So I was wondering, would Moff actually have sent her off to the library offscreen, without taking the opportunity to write out the whole new haircut, singing towers, crying, giving of the sonic screwdriver scene?

I think it's a moot point, though, because I was searching around online last night and it seems to be confirmed that AK will be back for at least one ep this season, so I guess he didn't go and send her to the library after all.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

It is wishful thinking, I imagine, that we are rid of River.

I think that it is entirely possible that Moff will have Eleven rescue River from the Library. So she goes on, much as Rose has for the Rose fans.

Personally, I would like to see Eleven's Regeneration assigned to the Library computer. Maybe that is what Clara is all about...maybe she is River, as some have said, projected out from the Library computer into reality. Come to fetch HER Doctor home. This would fit in nicely with my Idle & Blessed storyline, which is, I suppose, why I like it. :grin:

[marrael.livejournal.com]

There is a type of Doctor Who fan, and Moff is this type, that thinks the Doctor is great because of who he is.

The minute you said that, you categorize Moffat as a writer pretty effectively. This is the kind of writing many kids' book plots are made of--kid finds out he's intrinsically special by virtue of birth, usually (hence orphans are such popular protagonists: their parents were *SPECIAL*, but no one knows it yet) and less often by circumstance (prophecy). This kind of plot appeals to kids because they are in the time of their life obsessed with intrinsic specialness.

But as a writer friend put it, kids grow up, and hopefully at some point in their lives, adults should all realise intrinsic specialness cannot hold a candle to what a person *does* that makes him worth looking up to. Intrinsic specialness flops in adult plots, as it should.

Note: I've not been watching DW. I just read about the crap Moffat is doing to it, and try not to be outraged.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Hee! That is a good plan. I wish I could adopt it. I have watched Doctor Who since I was a child. I love all of the Doctors, except Six...who has many of the failings of Eleven, actually. And I've always loved the show because of what it represented...

Substance over style.
Brains over guns.
Friendship over sexual appetite.
Wit and whimsy triumphing over serious evildoers.
And finally...because it gave us all someone to admire in the Doctor, an outcast from his own kind who does good instead of turning angry and bitter.

I do sort of blame RTD for encouraging Moff on that last one. But really a lot of the running with the ball was Moff. Moff wanted Doctor Who to be mainstream. He didn't understand that being popular is almost the opposite of being memorable.

[yumimum.livejournal.com]

Thank you. You've summed up my feelings perfectly.

The scariest part for me right now is my complete lack of interest with the MS leaving rumours. I hate that Moffat has made me care that little about a show a used to love. Tool.

[karie22.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hadn't heard those rumors!

Geeze, they better start addressing this whole "13 regenerations" thing on the show and a way around it, otherwise they're going to have to end it soon with the way they're burning through them.

[yumimum.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. According to his Moff-ship plotholes don't matter because nowadays DW fans don't care too much about the backstory...

http://www.themarysue.com/steven-moffat-ponds/

Be warned. It will make you wanna smack the git.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

It is possible that Moff will not address the idea of Thirteen Regenerations, since that concept is not part of the New School era. In fact, Ten says, "You die, I regenerated." And there are all sorts of references to the Doctor being immortal unless his regeneration goes wrong. So, if the true take Moff has is that new fans just don't care about the Old Show Continuity. Then, new fans will just assume he can regenerate forever. And you don't have to explain anything. But if you do feel you need to explain...it is a one off line...thus...

"In the old days, the Time Lords kept us to thirteen regenerations. Nobody knows why exactly. Tradition, maybe. It was assumed things would go wrong after that...so nobody has tested it. But...here I go..." And he regenerates. DONE!

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I was interested. I had some hope we would change the Doctor's style for the better if we dump MS. He might be a wonderful actor and man, but he hasn't moved me in the slightest with this character. His Doctor just reads so very shallow to me. I can't feel anything for him but a slight contempt.

[soophelia.livejournal.com]

Yes, you said everything that I was thinking! I want to watch Doctor Who again, but I won't until a new showrunner takes over (and I hope it's soon).

I hope the rumor is true that Moffat and Matt are leaving soon, but I take it with a grain of salt (unfortunately).

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/doctor-who-steven-moffat-admits-1779192


Also this was interesting
http://www.themarysue.com/steven-moffat-ponds/

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I had seen that last article. And the part about the new fans not caring, was very telling. That is exactly the problem with New Who. It bears no resemblance to Old Who. The character has a TARDIS and the same name, but he's not the kind-hearted, slightly eccentric, pottering genius that he was until Moff took over. Now he's an icon. He presents himself, tells us how wonderful he is, his companion agrees, and the problem is magically solved. Never mind the reasoning, because he's a God and we are mere fans and so we would never understand it all. Just worship him and his writers and move on to the next fun adventure. Continuity? What's that?

[asahifirsa.livejournal.com]

I must admit that I like Clara a lot better after those two eps than Amy after all those seasons. So I'll give them a chance to surprise me. So far Moffats run on Doctor Who did not impress me, but seeing as Mark Gatiss seemed to have his fingers in the pie quite a bit, maybe it's better now.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Yes, I still like Clara. It is Jenna, I suspect, rather than Matt or Moff improving. It is just that I really didn't need another scene with the Doctor and a little girl. Maybe if he could now meet Jack and Rory as children it would be better.

I'm going to regret this

[dragon-bait21.livejournal.com]

I invited friends over to watch with us Saturday. Now I'm feeling embarrassed about admitting to them I watch the show. I was hoping for once Moffat may have decided to shake things up, no such luck.

Re: I'm going to regret this

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Well, to be honest, they might not show the preview clip before the episode. Of course, it is a bad sign for Moff showing any real originality with Clara, too. She will love the Doctor, just like all the rest. And he will apply inappropriate sexual innuendos. And the Doctor will be greeted as the greatest being in the universe.

I still maintain, btw, that this is not the REAL Doctor we are seeing, but a doppleganger. And I think Clara might not last as a companion beyond Christmas. On the other hand, perhaps she will be a real person after all...and last. There is a part of me that thinks Clara is a projection from the REAL Doctor's mind and that's why she keeps meeting this Doctor. This Doctor being the FLESH one who survived. I think he's not real because he changed the TARDIS and his clothes and he's acting far less manic these days. But we will see.

Rae