May 2025

S M T W T F S
    123
4567 8910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Sunday, October 3rd, 2021 09:09 am
I've been sitting catching up on some of the discussions in my flist about the RTD news (which is fantastic, by the way!) and came to a couple of realisations.

1. That virtually all the DW fans in my flist appear to be more Moffat fans than Davies fans, which made me realise that

2. There is literally no-one left in my flist from those wonderful few years I spent gushing about DW and TW with, and swapping fics and character discussions with. Okay, a handful are still occasionally active on Dreamwidth or LJ, but I don't think any of them watch Doctor Who anymore. I know it was only really a year or two, from 2007 to around 2009 before the joy started to taper out amongst a lot of my friends, but honestly a part of that I think was the fact that RTD was running out of steam, and then there was a year without much Who or TW, and by the time Moffat arrived most people either weren't watching any more or didn't like him much. Hell, I didn't like him much either, though he has grown on me a LOT over the years, especially with the help of lots of meta and explanations from people like [personal profile] elisi.

But I don't think there's anyone left here from that wonderful golden age of my first few years on LJ who I can squee with about the return of the man who made me love Doctor Who, and that makes me sad.

On the other hand, I have lots of newer friends here I can squee with and hope that RTD does even better this time around, now he's had a chance to grow and reflect and learn what works and what doesn't.

Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't think he was ever perfect. I had plenty of issues with his writing, especially lack of attention to continuity, and second parts of two-parters that didn't feel like they delivered on the expectations set up in the first parts. But I came into the Who fandom off the back of the Buffy fandom, and Davies' Nu Who was definitely set up in the Buffy model, with a wonderful mix of drama and humour and feels, and that's what made me love it, and become a fan rather than just a viewer as I had been with the classic series. And, as I wrote recently, starting to rewatch the Sarah Jane Adventures after rewatching Chibnall's most recent season made me realise how much of that DW has lost.

I'm not expecting miracles, but I am hoping that RTD will deliver me stories that move me and characters I can care about, because that's what I've been missing the last few years!
Sunday, October 3rd, 2021 01:18 pm (UTC)
2007 was when I really fell in love with RTD's Who. It was a fantastic few years for the Doctor/Jack corner of fandom that I ended up in! But so many people from that time just fell out of the fandom after RTD's era ended, whereas I ended up liking Moffat just as much - their flaws are different, and their strengths are different, but both did a lot of things I loved and at least one thing I violently disliked. *g*

Chibnall's Who mostly bored me, and I broke up with Doctor Who over the Timeless Child thing, but I sincerely hope RTD can bring all of his strengths and revitalise the show.
Sunday, October 3rd, 2021 09:56 pm (UTC)
Yeah, I remember you being around back then, too, but our circles didn't overlap much. Funny we ended up friending each other later anyway! :D

I will never understand how Chibnall's Who ended up like this. His Torchwood wasn't boring! So bizarre. (And yeah, agreed about those three episodes.)
Sunday, October 3rd, 2021 05:30 pm (UTC)
Oooh I got name checked! <3

And it's funny, but when I try to think back to those days, what I most remember is people being mad about things - by the time End of Time was broadcast, I think there were about 3 people in all my corner of fandom who were still trying to be positive... So, here's to a new era! If nothing else, I'm sure we won't be bored.
Sunday, October 10th, 2021 04:47 pm (UTC)
Yes, because you are my guide to Moffat's Who, the person who makes sense of it to me and points all the stuff I miss because my brain just doesn't work that way! :-D
♥ I'm just glad that all my ramblings are actually being read!

And I still try to be positive, because I always *want* to be excited!
Me too! *Pollyanna fistbump*

Exactly. This is my main reason for being excited. I'm sure there will be plot holes galore and other things that annoy me, but I'll forgive a hell of a lot if someone gets me in my gut! :-)</i Also, it ought to be SO GAY! :D :D :D
Sunday, October 3rd, 2021 09:19 pm (UTC)
I wish I could have met you back then! I didn't start watching DW until 2013 (my husband was a big fan of classic and wouldn't watch new because he didn't want his memories ruined by "a Doctor with in leather with a buzz cut"; we fell in love with new in the first five minutes, and his Doctor is Nine - funny how that happens) so I came in after RTD was done and Moffat was halfway through.

I don't think any writer can ever be perfect, but RTD's stories, as you said, moved me and I cared about his characters, and that's what I'm hoping he will bring back. Chibnall discarded all of the things about Moffat's second half that nearly made me quit the show (I won't go into that here) and brought back the fun, but his plot and character development is forced, much like Moffat's, and leaves me rather cold.

So here's me, sitting next to you, waving a little flag and hoping that RTD can recapture that magic.

(I think my husband and I are the only people in the world who actually like the Timeless Child thing, assuming that Chibnall develops it well.)
Monday, October 4th, 2021 02:19 am (UTC)
Even when I started in the fandom in 2013, there was a lot more cohesion here than there is now. I feel like a lot of people ended up on Tumblr, but I don't really like it there. Also, the ability to make communities here on LJ/DW makes it so much easier to find the niche you're looking for.

Oh, yes, the Timeless Child was awful! I'm glad to hear other people felt it was just a torrent of exposition. The most disappointing thing about it, to me, was that it ignored the whole concept of the Matrix being the collection of the consciousnesses of all Time Lords ever and therefore was something to be explored, rather than just a database. If they had spent an episode letting the Doctor enter the Matrix and find out on her own, with possibly having to identify and defuse the Master's interference...

But that's probably my biggest beef with Chibnall, that he constantly stops the action to have a character (usually the Doctor) explain things, rather than let the story show them. My pessimistic opinion on why he did the Timeless Child this way is that by having the Master tell the story, there's the possibility that he's lying, and therefore if he found that the fandom didn't like the twist, then in a later episode, the Doctor can find out that it's not actually true.
Edited 4 Oct 2021 02:19 am (UTC)