Random comment is random
I'm sure I'm saying nothing that hasn't been said before a million times by other people, but every time I see a post bemoaning Doctor Who's "lack of gravitas" and whining about not taking the show "seriously" enough, I want to full-out belly laugh.
Gravitas. That word has grown twee and overused. (Along with "iconic", to a lesser degree, but I digress.) Do these people know what they're asking for? What show they're watching?
What's wrong with the occasional lightness of touch or moment of humour? The best dramas make use of them. The best comedies have moments of touching, moving drama. Box yourself into fully one genre or the other - something Who has never done - and you'll only end up boring half your audience or patronising them.
I just read a passionate defence of romantic comedy on my f-list, at the end of a rant about 30 Rock, here: mindymakru.livejournal.com/36508.html While I'm aware that Who is not romcom (though it's capable of being so), the point she makes about Shakespeare I think carries over to the show; if elements of many myriad genres was good enough for him, what the heck is wrong with Who dipping into all those very same elements?
Personally I think Doctor Who does a damn fine job of skipping along a fine line that means it caters for a massively wide audience and is capable of making me laugh and cry within the space of a single episode. If that's not taking the show "seriously" enough, I'm not sure what would be. And I don't think I'd want to watch it if they did make it, either.
Gravitas? Faugh. These people wouldn't know gravitas if it sat beside them on the train and fondled their inner leg. Big "g" gravitas would look obvious, overdone and stupid, anyway ...
Off to work ... rant over.