Comments | caz963: Nothing to see here...

caz963

Nothing to see here...

Sep 22, 2011 21:07

I love DWM, I really do. Although these days, I tend to read it from about the middle to the end first, because that's the part that has all the video, book and audio reviews and the "Fact of Fiction" section. I'm not so enthusiastic when it comes to reading the stuff about the current series.

But I digress. What I'm moaning about is this.
( I suppose this could be considered a spoiler )

doctor who, rant

Comments 18

nostalgia_lj September 22 2011, 20:23:54 UTC

They always like to pretend we think people will actually die. For me it's more in the mystery of how he doesn't die.

caz963 September 22 2011, 21:55:13 UTC

I get that - but this is DWM for gawd's sake. You'd think the readers of that would know better :-)

I like stories that are about the how or the why - I'm jost not all that hopeful that they'll make much sense when (if?) we get them.

it's more in the mystery of how he doesn't die.

Yes, but we already know it'll be some big timey-wimey cop out :-(

nostalgia_lj September 22 2011, 21:59:23 UTC

It;s a bit like when we all had to pretend not to know what Torchwood was, innit?

I fear River getting the Donna treatment and being unhappened D:

caz963 September 22 2011, 22:24:20 UTC

fear River getting the Donna treatment and being unhappened

That had crossed my mind, too. The Doctor goes back in time, finds baby Melody and restores her to the bosom of her family, so she isn't raised as a weapon against him and doesn't become River, and can't shoot him by the Lake (if it is her in the suit).

That said though, we know that KG has been on location for the Xmas special (don't know about AD) which would indicate Amy isn't home looking after a baby!

Thread 5

annissag September 22 2011, 20:46:50 UTC

Is there really anyone out there who still believes that Eleven is actually going to die in episode 13?

Is there anyone who ever did? That's one of the problems with this season. There's no conflict or drama because we know isn't going to die. If he'd put a character other than the only one crucial to keeping the show going it might have been effective. As it stands, we're all just going, "oh, I wonder how he's going to timey-wimey this one up." Even if, in some weird twist, he actually kills off the Doctor, I'm still going to be thinking this through the Christmas special and into next season.

caz963 September 22 2011, 22:05:01 UTC

There's no conflict or drama because we know isn't going to die.

That's it exactly. And "how's he going to get out of this one?" ceases to be exciting when you know it's all going to be "rewritten" (unwritten - whatever) somehow.

chloris September 22 2011, 21:22:05 UTC

Yeah it does seem a bit silly to frame as THE DOCTOR WILL DIE and not HOW WILL HE GET OUT OF IT since there isn't a viewer out there that doesn't know that he will indeed get out it. Now if it were Rory (and they hadn't killed him off a dozen times already) then I'd be worried.

caz963 September 22 2011, 21:51:54 UTC

That's exactly it. And also, I'd presume that the majority of DWM readers are fans and already know that Matt is on board for another series and that he's filming the Xmas special. Or if they don't get their DW news from the internet, the filming news has been in the national press, so again, I'd have thought it was fairly common knowledge.

I really like stories that are about the "why" or "how" - but with this one, we already know "how"! It'll be a big, timey-wimey fake out like the last series finale. /beeyotch

nostalgia_lj September 22 2011, 22:00:52 UTC

There's too much timey-wimey and I never thought I'd actually say that in as many words. Moffat's timey stuff is like The Lodger, in that it's brilliant as a change of pace but it's not as enjoyable when its the only option on the menu.

caz963 September 22 2011, 22:15:14 UTC

I think that's exactly it, and I think it's one of the reasons Blink is such a favourite; it was the first time we'd had a really timey-wimey story in nu-Who so it was fresh and intriguing. And because it was just one episode, there wasn't any need for character develiopment or continuity - I mean, Sally is a very engaging charater and I love her, but SM didn't have to sustain it over time.

There needs to be a balance between emotional engagement and plot - and right now, I don't think it's being achieved.

Thread 7

topaz_eyes September 23 2011, 17:53:06 UTC

Yeah, it's ridiculous for DWM to insist OMG!ELEVENTYDIESFORGOOD! *A* version of Eleven will die. It might even be the "real" one. Though it won't matter because you know there will be another version of him running around, whether it be Ganger!Eleven, or an alt!timeline!Eleven, or an alt!universe!Eleven. And Moffat will assure us that it's okay because they're all the same Doctor. Just as Auton!Rory was the same as Real!Rory, and that Amy and Rory did get to "raise" Melody because they all grew up together as best friends.

caz963 September 23 2011, 21:43:47 UTC

Yep to all of that.

And if the promo pictures I've just seen are anything to go by, the finale is going to be a complete mess. It looks like Moffat is trying to pack two hours of story into forty-five minutes,

The thing is, I suppose one could argue that the "casual viewer" might actually believe that the Doctor is going to die - and if they haven't seen any of the stuff about the Xmas episode being filmed, or about Matt having signed on for next year, I suppose it could - could - just about conceivably be true that there will be some people out there who will be surprised when Eleven doesn't die.

But then, even the casual viewer will surely know that, is a show called Doctor Who it's extremely unlikely that the eponymous character is going to be killed off. So all this "he's going to his death" stuff is utter nonsense. Clearly, it's about how he avoids death and I'm sure it could have been more suitably promoted.

Current theory appears to be that there are two Doctors.

AGAIN?

IDEK.

shadowturquoise September 24 2011, 13:51:54 UTC

WE all know that the Doctor won't die, but HE doesn't know that. I took the synopsis to mean we are going to get an introspective look at how the Doctor faces what he thinks is the end of his life. I'm looking forward to a great character study episode: I know some disagree, but I think Moff does these just as well as RTD. True, Amy had no character development in series 5, but I feel that that was the limitations of the actress. The script had potential for the growth to be shown in the acting but that wasn't leveraged. Karen's acting has gotten massively better this year and Amy has grown as a result.

caz963 September 24 2011, 20:51:24 UTC

You're right insofar as the Doctor believes he's going to die. But it just seems a bit daft to me, for DWM to be printing an article talking about "the Doctor's final days" and on the next page, one contining information about filming for the Christmas special!

Moff certainly can do good character stuff, but it seems to me that it's not his main concern - at least, not in DW.

took the synopsis to mean we are going to get an introspective look at how the Doctor faces what he thinks is the end of his life.

Having seen the trailer and the promotional shots for the finale, I somehow doubt that. Like I've said upthread, there seems to be a huge amount to pack into 45 minutes and I admit, I'm fearful of getting another mess along the lines of LKH.