Pirates of Dark Water... [SPOILERS! FOR DOCTOR WHO SERIES 8, EPISODE 11]

[jjpor]

...was a fairly whacked-out cartoon they used to show on Children's BBC back in the early 90s. It was about this alien planet (I assume) where there was, well, a lot of ocean. A bit like Earthsea or somewhere. And pirates. And "dark water", which was like this Lovecraftian abomination from the Beyond, one part oil slick one part The Blob, which was

Comments

[jjpor]

It was kind of freaky, as I remember it. The main baddie had this enormous ship with, like, dragons on it. I mean, on board it. Or something like that.

I don't pretend to know or understand the mind of Steven Moffat by this point. Evil Romana was my worst case scenario so I'm hoping that ship has sailed now - although there's still next week. I'm still betting on evil future Doctor, although I appreciate that's unlikely to turn out to be true.

I thought it was a good joke, but problematic in a couple of ways, and you're right there does seem to be a lot of that stuff in Moffat's Who canon.

I think that's the problem with dabbling with this sort of stuff - some people are going to dig it, and other people are going to be deeply upset by it and with good reason. Perhaps it's a mistake for a show like Doctor Who to delve directly into these sorts of questions - part of me admires the cheek and ambition that makes somebody like Moffat think it's a good idea, and another part of me cringes. So I really do sympathise with you on that point.

And s/he has survived worse than that in the past and come back for another round of evildoing, so I'm not sure why anybody would be surprised by it. ;) Fans, eh?

[akashasheiress]

Well, I'm personally hoping for Good!Juliet Landau!Romana saving the day this Saturday! Fat chance, but a girl can dream. ;D

[liadtbunny]

Thank you for the sympathy, shame Moffat don't bother to look where the fine line was. Personally I think of Doctor Who as a sort of all ages show and shouldn't really be getting too dark or have the relationships get too dysfunctional. I don't consider DW to be a none more black comedy or a show for adults only where I would expect something near the edge. But I'm sure many disagree with me!