Since an unearthly child first graced televisions during tea time in 1963, Doctor Who has become a touchtone for both British and sci fi geek culture. We all have our favorite doctor, remember some of our favorite moments, and most terrifying foes of the funny man in his magic blue box. The show is not only the longest running sci fi in history, but one of the most loved the world over (trekkies, you can't argue with this kind of logic, and Jedis search your feelings you know it to be true!) and with the big 50 here and the news of a new Doctor, and with 7 years of new episodes since Christopher Eccleston took over as the timelord, I think now is as good a time as any for a retrospective on the past 7 seasons. The start of the next chapter in the doctor's life, and while for the most part I like it ( Hey it's still Doctor Who damn it!) there are some elements that quite frankly annoy me to no end. and without further adeu, here are my top 5 issues I take with the Davies/Moffat Years.
5 The Weeping Angels- Don't get me wrong, the first episode with the weeping angels was decent enough, but after a while I couldn't help feeling a bit too much "how much fear can we milk from statues? This is way cheaper than making up moving baddies!" vibe. It only got worse as they kept showing up like as if the producers thought 1 clever episode means we have found our new "daleks". The Judoon, and the Slitheen were also hardly replacements for the Daleks or Cybermen, but they feel like they can be interesting in subsiquent episodes more easily than these foes. I am sorry but each time I see the angels I am less scared or enthralled, kind of like with the Borg, the more we knew the less we cared, but on a much grander scale of apathy. at this point "DON'T BLINK!" is more internet meme than reason to fear.
4 Torchwood Could someone explain to me the point of an organization operating in the UK, with above the law clearance, dealing with alien threats when they already have U.N.I.T. for that? I liked Jack Harkness just fine, and have no issue with a spin off (Frankly I loved Sara Jane adventures!) but the whole point of this seems to be putting a more adult spin on the Doctor Who mythos, or at least more sex and swearing. As a show Torchwood didn't feel like Doctor Who to me, and as an organization it is simply redundant.
3 SUPERCOMPANIONS!! Speaking of Sarah Jane she is about the template of a good companion, a nice normal person to as an everyman type rudder for the doctor, who is far more out there in his endeavors. Sure there have been some pretty interesting and more fantastic companions (Romana for example) but they were more rare and far between. So far the new who has given us, Rose the Bad Wolf who had absorbed the whole memory of the Tardis and sruvived, Donna who is the also became part time lord and intertwined with the doctor, Amy Pond the mother of the most Mary Sue of the Lot River F@*#ing Song, and Lets not leave out the immortal Captain Jack or Rory the Auton bodied lovelorn legend of eternal love. Seriously other than Martha Jones most of his companions have either become or were destined for godlike connections to the doctor. Clara for example just quantum leaped herself into the doctor's entirety of reality, effectively deciding which TARDIS William Hartnel should steal, nudging Tom Baker in the right direction and so forth. enough of this what is wrong with a normal person huh?
2 Deus Ex Doctor And in someways this can be said of the doctor, sure he has always been a bit too powerful but now the tardis has a machine that can make any machine ever? He regenerates until he decides not to? whispering his name as legend makes him stronger? This is why so many people hate superman, too powerful is less interesting. and while he still isn't bullet proof of have heat vision the oncoming storm seems to be getting bigger every episode.
1 It's gone mainstream. Now this may just sound like the rantings of a geek who likes things only because they are not popular, but it reminds me of all those music fans who complain when a band has "sold out" a class mate of mine for example rued the release of Metalica's black album as he now saw freshman girls humming to enter sandman. but this in and of itself is more of a problem than I first thought. Why? you may ask, Who fans today are not thought of as as much of a stigma as they were in the 1980s, and now the show is more popular means it's fandom is more accepted. Perhaps, but it also means that the show now looks toward the new fanbase it created and will continue to push to cater to them, The Doctor can no longer afford to be a stodgy old grandfather, or a mass of curly hair and teeth, but now must look as much like a cast member of the WB type teen drama as possible. And the companions had better be popular or hot to get cast. Any chance of someone like Bill Nightly, Nick Frost, Stephen Fry, Rowan Atkinson, or even Helen Mirren becoming the next doctor, are slim and none, instead let's keep it fresh for the kids! And same with the stories, let's make sure they are safer and less controversial no need to rock the boat when at this point We have a product to sell.
That's not to say it's all bad but there are some cracks in the armor that need to be filled. It's just not the doctor that I used to know, despite having better effects and more attractive actors.
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