Great Actor, Lame Doctor ?Ok, so I'm going to be a bit critical here, but after last week's lame episode, and the need to publish something other than a photoshopped Chuckle Brothers movie poster, I intend a basic deconstruction of sorts outlining where 'New Who' goes wrong IMHO:
New Who, unfortunately, seems built around the model of being a patronising 'family orientated' show that seems to lack genuine self confidence in its stories abilities to maintain interest with the audience unless the following 'magic' ingredients are added to the mix:
- Innane Fart gags for the kids. Where were the fart gags in classics like Talons of Weng Chiang, Caves of Androzani etc btw? Did I miss them? Do all kids love fart gags ?
- Bizarre sexual innuendo to titilate the adults involving paving slabs etc ?! And what exactly is the point to the story? How does it drive the latter?
- Needless and self conscious television and music Pop-Culture references for the adults (which don't make a lot of sense) like last weeks off key riff on Inspector Morse to supposedly show how 'clever' the writers are and introduce some 'ironic' backdoor humour.
- Incessantly manipulative and loud music which when crudely applied patronises the audience and tries to tell it what to feel and think. The audience isn't trusted to think and feel for itself.
- A conspicuous dichotomy that although RTD is obviously a fan he really can't take it or the audience seriously enough to properly challenge their imaginations with better science-fiction scenarios and concepts. Its as if he's secretly embarrassed by the whole affair to much to play it completely straight in a fashion great Who scribe and script editor Robert Holmes for example would have done.
- The Budget and a poverty of imagination and effort when it comes to stuck in contemporary Earth or visiting alien worlds. They say audiences can't deal with it, the fact is they can't do it on a budget they feel comfortable with. However, what is wrong with revisting an odd gravel pit or two/alien wastelend once in a while? Damn sight more interesting than the supposed pragamatism of boring old Cardiff feebily pretending to be somewhere else week in week out. In the best Old Who, if a story is compelling enough many viewers can overcome budgetary shortfalls. RTD and co obviously, rightly or wrongly feel otherwise.
- The peculiar sexual chemistry between the leads which is doomed ultimately to go nowhere. The peculiar sexual chemistry between the Doctor and fellow Time Lord companion Romana (mainly because they were married to each other for a brief period) made far more sense than the Doctor's rather protracted and stagnating relationship with Rose.
There yer go, I'm sure somebody out there disagrees, but thats my two penneth. Don't get me wrong I think some of New Who has been very good: Dalek, Father's Day, The Empty Child, even RTD's two part Season 1 finale, The Girl in the Fireplace or The Impossible Planet spring to mind. The rest tend to be either indifferent, complete rubbish like New Earth or Fear Her, wildly hit and miss or like this season's criminally disappointing return of the crap and incredibly stiff new Cybermen...
