I've said for years that Davies's favorite theme to play with in his fiction is unrequited love, and Moffat's favorite theme to play with is sex and sexual relationships. Which is why I always preferred Davies.
For all the Mary-Sue mooning over Ten, I always felt safe because I knew that, since Davies's favorite theme is unrequited love, nobody was ever going to wind up with the Doctor. EVER. The romantic stirrings were there only to rip it all away from the Doctor by the end of the episode, and was meant to highlight how Truly Alone the character really was. And since I love Lonely Doctor, it generally worked fine with me. (I never liked Moffat's episodes during the Who years, because he tended to tip the romance too far before giving me the unrequited pay-off, but overall it worked for me.)
But Moffat LOVES sex and sexual relationship themes. You only need to watch a few episodes of "Coupling" to see that. Sex was ALWAYS going to become a Thing once he took "Doctor Who" over, and I knew that was simply not going to work for me. So, I stopped watching after "The End of Time." Nothing I've heard has made me regret that! :)
I'm glad you are enjoying a lot of stuff about the episodes. But I really do hear you about that end-of-the-episode fuss with Amy jumping at the Doctor. As a fan of "The Office," I DO _NOT_ get the apparent love everybody else seems to have for already-attached people to meet new romantic interests. WHY DO WE HAVE SUCH AN OBSESSION WITH THAT IN FICTION?? WHAT IS _WRONG_ WITH US??!?!?
Oh, yeah, I definitely prefer the unrequited stuff...although I wish they didn't have to add in Mary Sue elements as well.* As for "Coupling"...I've seen commercials for it and had an instant "Ick. That is SO something I'm never gonna watch" reaction to it BUT, Anglophile that I am, I'm enough of an ignorant 'Mercan to where, as usual, I have never heard of ANYbody who has ANYthing to do with Doctor Who before they join Who. So...
Still, silly me, I keep thinking that because Who is so beloved and such a franchise and has such a name to live up to, that it is somehow _better_ than certain things--that it will always, if cared for by fans, be kept _above_ certain lines. So even if I had known Moffat's past writing credits, I wouldn't have automatically expected Moffat to put blatant sex in _Who_. I mean...it's WHO! It may be his writing, but surely he knows what's appropriate when and knows how and when to tone himself down a little. Right? (cocks eyebrow at him)...RIGHT?!
If his sexual fixation wasn't (a) directed towards the Doctor, (b) sometimes CREEPY, and (c) everybody is constantly up for sex at any moment, always (what I dubbed "Instant Happy Bonkville"), I wouldn't mind as much. I still wouldn't like the blatantness and juvenille, obvious, trendy, _cheapening_ jokes he puts in, but... (I also have a foolish pipe dream that someday, maybe, they will realise that Who IS popular, so they can STOP selling out now and write intelligent stories that give their audience a bit of credit! Teenagers are not necessarily idiots, and since these are teenagers who were willing to give a sci-fi show a look in the first place, I'm guessing they're at least a _little_ bit used to thinking.)
As for people dumping Adorable But Boring the second Mr. Exciting comes along, I _get_ that, in principle (although there's...(snaps fingers) this thing...phrase right on the tip of my tongue, what's the word...self-control?), and I can understand why scandalous saucy kinds of stories like that can be exciting to some people.
But DO NOT. Expect me. To LIKE this person! You do this, you have them cheat on a signifcant other who _doesn't_ deserve it, and they've lost my sympathy. I will no longer accept them as a good guy. Protagonist, yes, but all that means is that you get more camera time than anyone else. It doesn't mean you're a HERO. You can do this storyline with the bitchy neighbor in the soap opera all you want...but whenever you do this storyline, bear in mind that THAT is the type the audience will instantly think of. Not the loveable ingenue. Betrayal, lying, selfishness, and likeability. (sings) One of these things is not like the others...
Anyway, I took the LONG way around through Who--from 1963 on, including specials, fan-made stuff sometimes, documentaries and commentaries, Torchwood and SJA, so at this point, I've spent so much time on it that it's like "I am GOING to catch up and you're NOT GONNA STOP ME NOW!!" (plummets spaceship into planet. Wait, that's from an actually _good_ Who story.) So it would just be too _depressing_ to come THIS CLOSE and never quite actually reach the point of " The new episode coming up this week? I'll _actually be able to watch on telly_ with everyone else!" You can understand that... (Besides, there might be a hidden gem or two in there somewhere.)
So that's why I keep half-torturing myself with these and then writing these ranty reviews. I AM making an effort to keep at least _some_ of my bile off the screen, though...really... :P
...Notorious
*And I'm not the only one pissed off about the whole "WHY do they make them attached to someone else first?!" thing--in one of the podcasts I've been listening to, one host said that he kind of, although he _likes_ Mickey...wish he had never been created, as a character? For exactly the reasons I've always said.
Well, I assume PLENTY of fans out there are pissed about this--a minority, but enough to where I would've heard the opinion by now if I had been visiting communities and forums. Problem is, even when I DON'T do that, I get spoiled out the yin-yang, so...no, until I either catch up or GIVE up entirely.
For all the Mary-Sue mooning over Ten, I always felt safe because I knew that, since Davies's favorite theme is unrequited love, nobody was ever going to wind up with the Doctor. EVER. The romantic stirrings were there only to rip it all away from the Doctor by the end of the episode, and was meant to highlight how Truly Alone the character really was. And since I love Lonely Doctor, it generally worked fine with me. (I never liked Moffat's episodes during the Who years, because he tended to tip the romance too far before giving me the unrequited pay-off, but overall it worked for me.)
But Moffat LOVES sex and sexual relationship themes. You only need to watch a few episodes of "Coupling" to see that. Sex was ALWAYS going to become a Thing once he took "Doctor Who" over, and I knew that was simply not going to work for me. So, I stopped watching after "The End of Time." Nothing I've heard has made me regret that! :)
I'm glad you are enjoying a lot of stuff about the episodes. But I really do hear you about that end-of-the-episode fuss with Amy jumping at the Doctor. As a fan of "The Office," I DO _NOT_ get the apparent love everybody else seems to have for already-attached people to meet new romantic interests. WHY DO WE HAVE SUCH AN OBSESSION WITH THAT IN FICTION?? WHAT IS _WRONG_ WITH US??!?!?
... ahem. :P
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Still, silly me, I keep thinking that because Who is so beloved and such a franchise and has such a name to live up to, that it is somehow _better_ than certain things--that it will always, if cared for by fans, be kept _above_ certain lines. So even if I had known Moffat's past writing credits, I wouldn't have automatically expected Moffat to put blatant sex in _Who_. I mean...it's WHO! It may be his writing, but surely he knows what's appropriate when and knows how and when to tone himself down a little. Right?
(cocks eyebrow at him)...RIGHT?!
If his sexual fixation wasn't (a) directed towards the Doctor, (b) sometimes CREEPY, and (c) everybody is constantly up for sex at any moment, always (what I dubbed "Instant Happy Bonkville"), I wouldn't mind as much. I still wouldn't like the blatantness and juvenille, obvious, trendy, _cheapening_ jokes he puts in, but...
(I also have a foolish pipe dream that someday, maybe, they will realise that Who IS popular, so they can STOP selling out now and write intelligent stories that give their audience a bit of credit! Teenagers are not necessarily idiots, and since these are teenagers who were willing to give a sci-fi show a look in the first place, I'm guessing they're at least a _little_ bit used to thinking.)
As for people dumping Adorable But Boring the second Mr. Exciting comes along, I _get_ that, in principle (although there's...(snaps fingers) this thing...phrase right on the tip of my tongue, what's the word...self-control?), and I can understand why scandalous saucy kinds of stories like that can be exciting to some people.
But DO NOT.
Expect me.
To LIKE this person! You do this, you have them cheat on a signifcant other who _doesn't_ deserve it, and they've lost my sympathy. I will no longer accept them as a good guy. Protagonist, yes, but all that means is that you get more camera time than anyone else. It doesn't mean you're a HERO. You can do this storyline with the bitchy neighbor in the soap opera all you want...but whenever you do this storyline, bear in mind that THAT is the type the audience will instantly think of. Not the loveable ingenue.
Betrayal, lying, selfishness, and likeability. (sings) One of these things is not like the others...
Anyway, I took the LONG way around through Who--from 1963 on, including specials, fan-made stuff sometimes, documentaries and commentaries, Torchwood and SJA, so at this point, I've spent so much time on it that it's like "I am GOING to catch up and you're NOT GONNA STOP ME NOW!!" (plummets spaceship into planet. Wait, that's from an actually _good_ Who story.) So it would just be too _depressing_ to come THIS CLOSE and never quite actually reach the point of " The new episode coming up this week? I'll _actually be able to watch on telly_ with everyone else!" You can understand that...
(Besides, there might be a hidden gem or two in there somewhere.)
So that's why I keep half-torturing myself with these and then writing these ranty reviews. I AM making an effort to keep at least _some_ of my bile off the screen, though...really... :P
...Notorious
*And I'm not the only one pissed off about the whole "WHY do they make them attached to someone else first?!" thing--in one of the podcasts I've been listening to, one host said that he kind of, although he _likes_ Mickey...wish he had never been created, as a character? For exactly the reasons I've always said.
Well, I assume PLENTY of fans out there are pissed about this--a minority, but enough to where I would've heard the opinion by now if I had been visiting communities and forums. Problem is, even when I DON'T do that, I get spoiled out the yin-yang, so...no, until I either catch up or GIVE up entirely.
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