Doctor Who: mixed feelings, and a question

[major_clanger]

The Wedding of River Song

Did I enjoy it? Yes. Did it wrap up the Amy/River plot arc? Sort of. Did it work as an exposition of time travel. Um, I have serious doubts.

Comments

[lil_shepherd]

Dr Who has never been science fiction - it is science fantasy, or, as Moffat says, "fairy tale". Which does not make your point any less valid, of course.

[davidwake]

Oh yes it has been.

The problem is that this story was yet another one that was simply one element after another after another. Putting lots and lots and lots of things in a pot doesn't make a good stew.

[altariel]

But has been a fantasy adventure series since its return.

[davidwake]

I would agree, although I want it to be SF. It always was, some better than others, but recently it's not even been fantasy. This week's was "cameo plotting", this is a Dalek bit, this is the Churchill bit, etc. I always have a sinking feeling when it's radically different form the last episode and we have explaining how we got there.

Compare this with Moffat's "Blink" and the very tight plotting of "Coupling".

[altariel]

A considerable part of the charm of Doctor Who for me is its ability to shift between a variety of genres (SF, fantasy, gothic) whilst, plot-wise, basically remaining a family adventure series.

I admit I'm not a great fan of complex arcs and would prefer strong and distinctive stories-of-the-week. Having said that, the fairy tale flavour of last season worked particularly well for me, and I've enjoyed this season's nods to Indiana Jones.

[davidwake]

I agree.

I think Russell T's great addition was complex arcs, but now they are being overdone, almost there for the sake of being there. For example, the end of the last episode was merely a head telling us what the next arc was going to be.

[altariel]

The irony being that I've enjoyed the arc episodes more than the SotW episodes this season - chiefly, I think, because Moffatt is such a slick scriptwriter. "Let's Kill Hitler" was wonderful.