Change my dear...
It's a funny old world Doctor Who fandom. Things go in a cycle, as the appointment of Steven Moffat as the new Executive Producer has shown. There's been an gush of love for him this week and he's being viewed very much as a saviour coming to save the show from the mess RTD has made of it, well, sort of anyway. It's similar to the gushing that happened when RTD was first appointed to resurrect the show.
There's always going to be a significant number of fans who just don't like new Doctor Who whatever it's like. We've seen it so many times before, The Hinchcliffe years were universally dispised for damaging the continuity of the show for downgrading the Time Lords to corrupt old men and not following the history of the Daleks set out in The Daleks, but now they're held up as the pinnacle of the original series. The Williams years were universally derided for not being as adult as The Pertwee era (Ha!) and the JNT years were generally not held to be as great as the Hinchcliffe years... and now of course the RTD era just isn't what they want either. As Steve said, most fans just want a gothic horror series, like that's the be all and end all of the series' potential. There's so much more to it than that.
Like it or not what RTD has seceded in doing is make the show in the way he wants, and fortunately it's been a great success. Yes, it probably is time for a change of personnel at the top, but personally I've thoroughly enjoyed all four series and there's been more successes than there has been weak stories, and more that's pushed the boundaries of the show than ever before. But there are other ways of doing the show, and we're hopefully going to find that they'll work just as well.
I have my reservations of course. I'm not a huge fan of Steven Moffatt (me being one of the very, very few people who just thought Blink was dull and I didn't buy into the central relationship of The Girl in the Fireplace either, but others seem to just love it). There's no doubt that he's a brilliant writer, but I feel indifferent about much of his Doctor Who. I have no idea what his Doctor Who is going to be like, in much the same way I had no idea about what RTD's Doctor Who was going to be like. Some seem to think it's going to be a return to gothic horror (though quite how anyone has come to that conclusion is beyond my thought processes) some think it will be more of the same... it will be interesting to see in 2010.
I haven't been writing for a while. I've been busy producing my audio adventure, Heist! I'm thoroughly enjoying the control of making it myself, but some of the processes involved have been a bit tedious and/or stressful. I think it sounds really good though and I'm looking forward to unleashing it on PS in July. It's very different to the other stories in our little season, which I suppose is the main thing. I think many will prefer Martin's story although from what I've heard I don't think it's quite as good as Heist! (I wrote Heist!, I'm allowed to be biased!!) but we're both doing different things, and taking Doctor Who in different ways. I probably just like to think I'm a better writer than everyone else. Ego, you know! But it's not true!
One thing I seem to have learnt is how to write concisely for these audios. With just a few minor trims the first episode came in at 25 minutes, which was pleasing. I also think I've got better at writing for audio. There weren't too many things that seemed unclear as I worked on it. It hangs together pretty well really. Well I think so anyway.
Despite aiming to step down from writing for a while I've somehow agreed to help Paul with his forthcoming adventure. I think after that I need a bit of a break to gather some ideas. There's good stuff to come I think, but it's dangerous to have too much control! I just like to gently guide things!
posted by Si @ 9:25 pm
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