Doctor Who 7.2 — Page 2

Hmmmm.....

Just finished watching the finale. Although, now, so much makes sense, why do I still feel cheated?

A big part of me feels like a victim of Moffat's ego. ...like all season long he's been saying, "You think you're cleverer than me? That you can 'put clues together' and predict an outcome? Well, I'll fix that - I'll give you nothing. NOTHING! ...and then we'll see who's the 'cleverer boy'!"

Moffat has spoken about "cleverness" before. When interviewed for the Guardian regarding the death of Holmes in Sherlock Moffat says, "There is a clue everybody's missed [...] So many people theorising about Sherlock's death online – and they missed it!"

Later in the article, he comments on viewer reactions saying, "They [Sherlock, and Dr. Who] are very clever shows, but they also fetishise cleverness. Cleverness is the superpower. So I get irritated when people say on Twitter: 'It's too complicated. I'm not following it.' Well, you could try putting your phone down and watching it."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/jan/20/steven-moffat-sherlock-doctor-who

The issue that I have with Moffat's thinking is that there's a difference between "clues" and "red herrings". One offers a way to solve a puzzle. The other is designed to deceive, and lead to a false conclusion. I'm finding that, in his effort to be clever, Moffat resorts to incorporating red herrings more often than he offers clues. He also slips in esoteric phrases like, "The souffle isn't the souffle. The souffle is the recipe" and "Run you clever boy - and remember me!" ...as if those are "clues" we should have picked up on to solve the puzzle.

After watching this Dr. Who finale, I wonder if those two specific "clues" aren't meant to be part of the story arc at all. In the case of the latter, do any of the characters left on screen actually take the advice to "run"? Would it have made any difference if they had, or had not?

Perhaps they were written directly at and for the viewers. Perhaps they are Moffat's "upper-handed" scoldings to remind us who's in charge. Maybe it's Moffat who fetishizes the "cleverness" in his own recipes, and as we are left scrambling to find answers from week to week, we should always remember who really is the cleverer boy.

Updated On: 5/19/13 at 10:56 AM

Matt Smith to Leave Doctor Who

Oh wow, all the best to him. Sad to see him go. He fast became my very favorite Doctor of all.

>> Although Tennant will always be "my" Doctor, I have really loved Smith's take on the character.

I never felt like Smith had his own, original take on the Doctor. Tennant is "my" Doctor, too, but Smith's Doctor always felt like "Tennant Lite". Right from the beginning, I've found that I've often been able to see and hear Smith strictly imitating the character Tennant created (minus the catch-phrases).

Given his unique physical appearance, I expected Smith to be his own Doctor, similar to how Tennant's Doctor is so completely different from Eccleston's (who I also enjoyed very much!). That never happened.

I wonder if that was a direction selected for him by the showrunners as a way to help transition fans like me, who were so enraptured by Tennant.

I totally disagree, John Adams. Aside from Tennant and Smith both possessing a talent for speaking very fast, I don't really see many similarities between their performances, if any.

David Tennant will always be my favorite doctor, but I like Matt Smith. The problem with Matt's era is, basically, the writing. Other than a few episodes here and there, it's not as engaging as the majority of Tennant's tenure. Also, it's starting to seem that Matt is starting to go on auto pilot as the Doctor. If you look at the first season, he has SO much more energy and wonder in his eyes. Now, it seems like he lost a lot of that. Am I sad he's leaving? Yes. Am I devastated? No. Honestly, I'm ready for Moffatt to hand the reigns over to someone else and he just write the occasional episode (where I think he excelled).

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Updated On: 6/3/13 at 10:36 AM

"David Tennant will always be my favorite doctor, but I like Matt Smith. The problem with Matt's era is, basically, the writing. Other than a few episodes here and there, it's not as engaging as the majority of Tennant's tenure. Also, it's starting to seem that Matt is starting to go on auto pilot as the Doctor. If you look at the first season, he has SO much more energy and wonder in his eyes. Now, it seems like he lost a lot of that. Am I sad he's leaving? Yes. Am I devastated? No. Honestly, I'm ready for Moffatt to hand the reigns over to someone else and he just write the occasional episode (where I think he excelled)."

Well said! I agree. Wish Moffat would just stick to writing.

^ I agree

When Ten lost Rose, he was slightly less energetic for a while with Martha. He met Shakespeare and still thought of Rose.

I think Matt showed more energy when he had to play The Doctor and the Cyberplanner or whatever it was called in one scene.

Will be announced on Sunday on both BBC and BBC America:
Who will be the next Doctor?

Wholeheartedly agree

British television has always struck me as more open than American to casting men and women of color in major roles. Surely, across the infinite span of time and space, there have to be vessels for the Doctor other than skinny, 30-ish white dudes.

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I love Ben. I love most of his roles, even if I didn't like the movie (Perfume, for example). However, Ben Whishaw is too private and reserved to probably ever want the role. Too much constant attention, I'd think.

Did you guys know Ben doesn't even have a private computer?

And he has said before that it would be weird for him to be Q and The Doctor. That's why my first choice for so long, Andrew Scott, wouldn't work. Too many know him too well as Moriarty.

I still think James Callis would be excellent

Ben on the wrongness of being The Doctor