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Test number one of my ability to stop beating a horse that died two weeks ago: Failed.
All right. Honestly, I don't know what it was about this season that caused the analytical bug to bite me so hard (in fact, it may have more to do with outside circumstances) but you know, at this point any of you that did click past the cut still have the right to to hit me over the head and say "Geez,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
evilhippo, why don't you just suck it up and start interacting with the fandom proper so you can leave us alone?"
So. Let's start with the thing that's been itching at me the most for the past week. That would be... actually, that would be the Entire Universe, but let's trim that down a bit. What's really nagging at the back of my mind is the perspective you get on it. RTD's seasons were massive, sprawling, and speculative. "Here is the end of the universe," "Here is the destruction of Earth," "Here is the human race expanding into the stars." It was a universe that was firmly extrapolated from our own, that referenced back to it (occasionally in very non-sequitur ways), and expanded upon it. Interestingly enough (to me, at least), though the focus was supposedly on character and emotion, the things that were most consistent were the ways in which the world evolved and changed because of the events we'd seen previously. There was an entire world in the background, talking amongst themselves between the Doctor's big appearances. I don't think this was a truly conscious effort, partly because it goes against my prerogative not to give RTD any credit whatsoever, but mostly because a lot of what was there seems to have been added for colour. But the fact remains that there were always people--be they conspiracy theorists, bystanders, buses of old people--who were watching, and were as invested and curious about these events as the Doctor. Things went on in the background--take Harriet Jones' arc. Sure, this was some of the only character evolution that happened in RTD's seasons (because goodness forbid any of your main characters get fleshed out beyond an initial outline), but it gave a deeper dimension to the universe that could then be played off later on. (Actually I take that evolution bit back--her personality changed very little, but her situation changed, so at least there's that). A lot of this also led to the show being very politicized, which led to some incredibly ham-handed gestures (if the end of Torchwood was fair game in this discussion, I'd hold that up with a spotlight on it, but I don't even want to get into TW), but despite that, regardless of where the Doctor and his companions were, there was always some kind of lesson (for lack of a better term) that could be reapplied to the real world. Coming clean here: In most fiction this is the sort of thing that annoys the crap out of me, and the number of times episodes in Nine and Ten's era boiled down to "Humans, look at how neat they are!" was borderline obnoxious, but Doctor Who is a show for children (or at least, everyone likes to point that out when it gets creepy), and there's always a place for that kind of thing. And here's the very important part, in all of this universal and temporal mucking about: it also wasn't afraid to contradict itself.
Now, let's switch over to Moffat's universe. I remember when this season was starting I remarked a lot, to anyone who would listen, about how you could feel that this universe was in different hands. And it took me quite a while to put my finger on exactly why that was. I thought it was the direction (and it was, partly. This season was prettier and a bit more stylish than its predecessors). But in hindsight what happened this season, what made the biggest difference to me, was the incredible shift in scope. We went from a wild, dynamic, nonsense universe in which the Doctor and his companions were happy (if haunted and occasionally intense), curious tourists to one in which the Doctor and his companions are more or less at the mercy of a universe that isn't what it appears to be. And what's more, they're alone in it. No one exists outside of the TARDIS (with the exception of River Song, but an argument can be made for her being part of the TARDIS crew anyway). Add to that the fact that, not only did this entire season train us not to trust anything we were perceiving, it also kept very, very tight control over what we were perceiving. Gone are the international, world, and even local events... in fact, most of what goes on outside the TARDIS is gone. Most of what we see on Earth is Leadworth, and most of that is imagined (note for future rambling: Amy's Choice as a microcosm of the season. I wouldn't put it past Moffat.) Suddenly, the Doctor's story of saving the Earth is bound to one girl. (This path leads me toward a "Holy crap, Amy Pond is a bigger Mary Sue than Rose Tyler!" argument, so I'm leaving this path.)
The historical episode is an alternate history (or at least, I can't see The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances being contiguous with Victory to the Daleks).Please conveniently ignore that I'm pretending history is consistent here, which I've not only already said was untrue, but pointed out as a positive point. The outer space/far-flung future episode is the only time we see a city, and it's tiny, cramped, and all we see is an underground market and... the insides of a space whale (for future rambling: How the Beast Below turns the "Aren't humans neat?" trope on its head and makes it about the Doctor instead. Aaaah so much of this season was made backwards, I don't even know what tools to poke at it with). I'm hovering dangerously close to a conclusion here, something like: This Entire Season is Boxed-In. Never does the narration take us up outside of the main narrative to see what else is going on, what anyone else is seeing in the world or even in the small groups the TARDIS crew encounter--it's all about getting from plot point to plot point. It is focused. Intensely and obsessively focused. And this, I think, is what really ended up being a detriment. This season was plotted out in such fine detail it didn't leave room for any of the nonsensical wonder that you can get from Doctor Who, and with the ongoing plotline, there was also none of the relief at the world being saved. A tight episode here and there (what we used to be wonderful oases of Moffat or Cornell in the RTD world) is good. But a strangle-hold on the narrative for an entire season, regardless of how intricate and rewarding the plotting ends up being, does not work. (At least, not in this universe, for me. Your mileage may vary.) You have to come up for air and have a little bit of fun. Even the utter and complete nonsense (Victory for the Daleks) played a part in the end, and to me that just screams of someone grabbing all the loose threads and trying to tie them together. But when you have an entire universe in your hands, you have to let some threads go off in their own direction, because as soon as you tie them all together you have one singular knot and nothing outside of it. (This resonates really strongly with the Earth all alone in the sky after the TARDIS explosion, and this is another reason I think the claustrophobic nature of this season was at least partially intentional. Interestingly enough, once Amy has some other people in her life, there is a world outside, even if it exists mostly as a joke about Richard Dawkins. (But I did adore that joke.))
Which brings me to one of the things that sits most strangely with me about the finale. While RTD was actually rather good with the big picture but often missed the mark by overblowing the emotional angle, it seems like Moffat is making the same mistake in the opposite direction. Suddenly this season we had characters with inconsistencies and quirks and questionable decisions, and we had nothing but them to focus on. There were tensions and conflict that weren't just sexual or sex-based or done as a political statement about equality of viewpoints. I thought the whole thing was better for it (though the sudden and complete lack of homosexuality was a little weird after RTD's "gay agenda"). And then, rather than focusing on these complex relationships and their impacts on each other, the plot takes so long to untangle (and is so un-untangled) we don't even have time to think about things like 1) How much it must hurt the Doctor to have his companion used against him like that, 2) How absolutely, fabulously un-normal Rory will be forever now that he has 2000 years of plastic experience in his head (sudden character depth, go!So long as Rory doesn't pick up a habit of staring at people with Great Nestene Intensity), 3) How Amy must feel to have a husband who spent 2000 years as a plastic soldier guarding her (guilty? conflicted? weirded out? I would be all of these things). I mean... okay, there really was no appropriate time to step back and explore these things, and I do hope it'll happen next season, but I'm also not sure it will, because not even a hint was given about it in the finale. Those are the sort of things that hang there in the air, even if you set them aside to celebrate a wedding. There is suddenly a lot of emotional baggage in the TARDIS, and unfortunately it's also very clear that nothing has been resolved vis a vis the Silence/the bad guys, and that this plot arc will continue, further putting off the chance for emotional unloading. (Unless we run across something like Amy's Choice again, which was fantastic for emotional unloading. But that's more a symptom of the emotional depth that doesn't get to be played out in the end, rather than a point I can hold up to prove that things might get resolved.) We're left with a lot of room for emotions getting pent up and exploding here, and... in the shadow of RTD's era, I'm not going to endorse letting emotions fall by the wayside until they explode.
Honestly, I know I'm poking at this season a little too hard. I really did enjoy it. But I also find it really, really fascinating to see the differences in approach between Moffat and RTD as show runners. I'm left wondering, just a little, about whether this season's feel wasn't a way of distancing itself from RTD's era. If so, it did a very, very good job. And now I just want to hope that Moffat starts to feel comfortable winging it just a little bit. Because, as much as I love plotting and tight writing, I also adore the old-school "throw everything against the wall and see what sticks" mentality (and I think Moffat was going for a little of that in the finale, but his grip on the universe was too tight to make it work properly. There was nothing truly unexpected to there throw against the wall, so the entire universe broke instead). He doesn't have to prove that he's a clever writer, we're here to have fun.
What I'm going to cross my fingers and hope for, actually, is that this pocket-sized universe with no outside to speak of was intentional. I mean, the jump from London to Leadworth was definitely a conscious choice--and in the context of this suddenly-smaller universe it must mean something. It certainly effectively lampshades the lack of politics and community in this world. I really want to think that's a clever way of keeping us from noticing how little we have to work with here. If things just continue the way they are, though, I will probably be spending the whole of Moffat's tenure imagining that the whole thing is an illusion taking place inside the TARDIS. (Wouldn't that be witty and awful? Whoever the menacing silence voice has been holding the Doctor hostage on the TARDIS all along, destroying the universe and recreating it from Amy was actually a soft reboot of all the TARDIS' circuitry, allowing the silence voice to gain control of the TARDIS...) (See where I go on to tout things that would be exactly the same sort of problem as solutions to the problem? Woo!)
All right, time to find something useful to do with my time... until I can watch this week's Top Gear (which, thankfully, has yet to incite any kind of analysis from me).
All right. Honestly, I don't know what it was about this season that caused the analytical bug to bite me so hard (in fact, it may have more to do with outside circumstances) but you know, at this point any of you that did click past the cut still have the right to to hit me over the head and say "Geez,
evilhippo, why don't you just suck it up and start interacting with the fandom proper so you can leave us alone?"So. Let's start with the thing that's been itching at me the most for the past week. That would be... actually, that would be the Entire Universe, but let's trim that down a bit. What's really nagging at the back of my mind is the perspective you get on it. RTD's seasons were massive, sprawling, and speculative. "Here is the end of the universe," "Here is the destruction of Earth," "Here is the human race expanding into the stars." It was a universe that was firmly extrapolated from our own, that referenced back to it (occasionally in very non-sequitur ways), and expanded upon it. Interestingly enough (to me, at least), though the focus was supposedly on character and emotion, the things that were most consistent were the ways in which the world evolved and changed because of the events we'd seen previously. There was an entire world in the background, talking amongst themselves between the Doctor's big appearances. I don't think this was a truly conscious effort, partly because it goes against my prerogative not to give RTD any credit whatsoever, but mostly because a lot of what was there seems to have been added for colour. But the fact remains that there were always people--be they conspiracy theorists, bystanders, buses of old people--who were watching, and were as invested and curious about these events as the Doctor. Things went on in the background--take Harriet Jones' arc. Sure, this was some of the only character evolution that happened in RTD's seasons (because goodness forbid any of your main characters get fleshed out beyond an initial outline), but it gave a deeper dimension to the universe that could then be played off later on. (Actually I take that evolution bit back--her personality changed very little, but her situation changed, so at least there's that). A lot of this also led to the show being very politicized, which led to some incredibly ham-handed gestures (if the end of Torchwood was fair game in this discussion, I'd hold that up with a spotlight on it, but I don't even want to get into TW), but despite that, regardless of where the Doctor and his companions were, there was always some kind of lesson (for lack of a better term) that could be reapplied to the real world. Coming clean here: In most fiction this is the sort of thing that annoys the crap out of me, and the number of times episodes in Nine and Ten's era boiled down to "Humans, look at how neat they are!" was borderline obnoxious, but Doctor Who is a show for children (or at least, everyone likes to point that out when it gets creepy), and there's always a place for that kind of thing. And here's the very important part, in all of this universal and temporal mucking about: it also wasn't afraid to contradict itself.
Now, let's switch over to Moffat's universe. I remember when this season was starting I remarked a lot, to anyone who would listen, about how you could feel that this universe was in different hands. And it took me quite a while to put my finger on exactly why that was. I thought it was the direction (and it was, partly. This season was prettier and a bit more stylish than its predecessors). But in hindsight what happened this season, what made the biggest difference to me, was the incredible shift in scope. We went from a wild, dynamic, nonsense universe in which the Doctor and his companions were happy (if haunted and occasionally intense), curious tourists to one in which the Doctor and his companions are more or less at the mercy of a universe that isn't what it appears to be. And what's more, they're alone in it. No one exists outside of the TARDIS (with the exception of River Song, but an argument can be made for her being part of the TARDIS crew anyway). Add to that the fact that, not only did this entire season train us not to trust anything we were perceiving, it also kept very, very tight control over what we were perceiving. Gone are the international, world, and even local events... in fact, most of what goes on outside the TARDIS is gone. Most of what we see on Earth is Leadworth, and most of that is imagined (note for future rambling: Amy's Choice as a microcosm of the season. I wouldn't put it past Moffat.) Suddenly, the Doctor's story of saving the Earth is bound to one girl. (This path leads me toward a "Holy crap, Amy Pond is a bigger Mary Sue than Rose Tyler!" argument, so I'm leaving this path.)
The historical episode is an alternate history (or at least, I can't see The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances being contiguous with Victory to the Daleks).
Which brings me to one of the things that sits most strangely with me about the finale. While RTD was actually rather good with the big picture but often missed the mark by overblowing the emotional angle, it seems like Moffat is making the same mistake in the opposite direction. Suddenly this season we had characters with inconsistencies and quirks and questionable decisions, and we had nothing but them to focus on. There were tensions and conflict that weren't just sexual or sex-based or done as a political statement about equality of viewpoints. I thought the whole thing was better for it (though the sudden and complete lack of homosexuality was a little weird after RTD's "gay agenda"). And then, rather than focusing on these complex relationships and their impacts on each other, the plot takes so long to untangle (and is so un-untangled) we don't even have time to think about things like 1) How much it must hurt the Doctor to have his companion used against him like that, 2) How absolutely, fabulously un-normal Rory will be forever now that he has 2000 years of plastic experience in his head (sudden character depth, go!
Honestly, I know I'm poking at this season a little too hard. I really did enjoy it. But I also find it really, really fascinating to see the differences in approach between Moffat and RTD as show runners. I'm left wondering, just a little, about whether this season's feel wasn't a way of distancing itself from RTD's era. If so, it did a very, very good job. And now I just want to hope that Moffat starts to feel comfortable winging it just a little bit. Because, as much as I love plotting and tight writing, I also adore the old-school "throw everything against the wall and see what sticks" mentality (and I think Moffat was going for a little of that in the finale, but his grip on the universe was too tight to make it work properly. There was nothing truly unexpected to there throw against the wall, so the entire universe broke instead). He doesn't have to prove that he's a clever writer, we're here to have fun.
What I'm going to cross my fingers and hope for, actually, is that this pocket-sized universe with no outside to speak of was intentional. I mean, the jump from London to Leadworth was definitely a conscious choice--and in the context of this suddenly-smaller universe it must mean something. It certainly effectively lampshades the lack of politics and community in this world. I really want to think that's a clever way of keeping us from noticing how little we have to work with here. If things just continue the way they are, though, I will probably be spending the whole of Moffat's tenure imagining that the whole thing is an illusion taking place inside the TARDIS. (Wouldn't that be witty and awful? Whoever the menacing silence voice has been holding the Doctor hostage on the TARDIS all along, destroying the universe and recreating it from Amy was actually a soft reboot of all the TARDIS' circuitry, allowing the silence voice to gain control of the TARDIS...) (See where I go on to tout things that would be exactly the same sort of problem as solutions to the problem? Woo!)
All right, time to find something useful to do with my time... until I can watch this week's Top Gear (which, thankfully, has yet to incite any kind of analysis from me).
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GUHH, Top Gear! How much did I love coming back from a weekend of driving to San Jose and back and finding RUPERT GRINT waiting for me? VERY MUCH, THAT'S HOW. T_T
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I... haven't been able to come by this week's episode through my usual channels. I might have to resort to torrenting it. I might be doing that... right now. (Blah, torrenting. So early-to-mid aughts).
Also there's a part of me that, for whatever reason, feels like Rupert Grint shouldn't even be allowed to drive yet, despite the fact that he's actually older than my little sister, and has been past driving age for at least five years.
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