I got into Doctor Who when Russell T. Davies was the showrunner and David Tennant was the Doctor..at that point, I thought it was delightfully weird and not quite like anything that I’d seen before. I wasn’t rearranging my schedule to watch it but I had it set to record on my DVR and liked to watch a few in a row if I had the time. Then Steven Moffat took over the show and I noticed things started changing almost immediately..instead of frequently venturing to the far reaches of space and time, the episodes were almost all on Earth and constantly going to the same time periods and settings. The companions stopped being relatable people and turned into living MacGuffins, the other recurring characters stopped being engaging and became props around which the story was constructed..in general, the plot was almost always moving/directing the characters rather than the other way around.
Also, instead of being a wanderer of space and time trying to help as many beings as possible, the Doctor is only trying to solve the ‘mystery’ around their companion(s) and they’d better do it quickly or all of space and time is doomed..oh yeah, the TARDIS is constantly getting blown up and the Doctor is constantly getting ‘killed’ (for ‘shock value’), the companion is constantly taking up new professions or becoming some other person entirely and you have no idea what is actually going on from season to season or even episode to episode (but that’s all part of the stupidly convoluted plot because of the showrunner’s massive ego and how every episode is really him screaming “I’M SO CLEVER! I’M SO CLEVER! Remember the arc words even though they never amount to anything! Here’s the 5,000th Doctor Who reference from the 60s!!!! FUN!!!!!!”) But it really is no fun at all to watch his screenplays because it’s rare that there’s a human element that one can connect to..instead, he seems to be trying to make the viewer feel foolish for not being able to figure out his puzzles (typically, multiple viewings are required along with having to pay attention to every single detail and then (maybe) putting all the pieces together.) And even then, one is not likely going to completely figure out the plot until it gets (somewhat) explained in the finale..but by then he’s setting up another puzzle to solve for the next season because apparently that’s entertaining. Of course I like media that doesn’t stop and explain everything before it happens and allows an intelligent viewer a chance to figure things out..but Moffat goes way too far in that aspect.
So yeah, I eventually had enough and stopped watching..it was quite discomfiting to watch a show I liked turn into a complete disaster. I didn’t even give the 12th Doctor a chance (which might have been a slight mistake) once I heard Moffat was coming back and while Peter Capaldi is a fine actor, not even the very best can save bad scripts. The thing with Moffat’s writing in general is that, given a standalone episode or movie, he can usually write a very effective screenplay. It will likely be superficial and flashy, but it will still be entertaining because the format forces him to keep his usage of puzzle boxes to a minimum and limit his overuse of references; he doesn’t have to worry about having the audience come back because he already has them.
Yet, when it comes to things like showrunning, long-term continuity, character arcs, the key element in a television series of keeping the audience coming back episode after episode..he’s incompetent. He throws every idea he has on the screen with no care or constraint which causes him to constantly write himself into and out of corners while thinking he’s so damn smart just because he can do so. Writers who know how to do long-term continuity don’t get into those corners to begin with and have a vision of where the show has been and where it’s going..Moffat literally seemed like he was just making it up as he went.
An example of such is what happened with the second episode that Neil Gaiman (my favorite author, for the record) wrote for the show..the first was a brilliant standalone called “The Doctor’s Wife” which was one of the very best episodes during the modern era of Doctor Who. So of course, Moffat invited Gaiman to write another script..but in this case, it was the second of a two parter in which two schoolchildren are along for the ride and who turned out to be completely useless characters as they were never referred to before and never referred to again; they were only there because Moffat threw a dart and it landed on “Schoolteacher” for the companion’s profession this time. Gaiman did his best with “Nightmare in Steel” but the episode is unfortunately well named..I remember being livid that Gaiman’s talents were wasted on something completely irrelevant because Moffat indirectly stuck him in a corner by not appropriately structuring the flow of episodes to give him a chance to write another standalone; why not let the writer of the first part (Mark Gattis) finish his idea? I could go on and on about other awful Moffat-era episodes..“Victory of the Daleks” was an absolute train wreck, for instance, but I think I’ve made my point.
So when I heard that Moffat was stepping down, I was instantly ready to give the show another chance. He probably is better suited for Sherlock, anyway (though that show has its own Moffat-related issues..as someone who is quite knowledgeable about the Holmes canon, watching it for me is like “Yeah, I get that reference..and that one, and that one..can we move on with the plot already?!”) And then when I heard that the Thirteenth Doctor would be a woman, my reaction was “About time! Moffat never would have had a female Doctor..and even if he had, he’d have written her just as terribly.” I did keep my expectations low when watching the season premiere, but when it finished, I was satisfied. New showrunner Chris Chibnall has gotten rid of just about everything I complained about above; the companions feel like real people again, the Doctor is compassionate, determined, and resourceful (she also has a thirst for knowledge and exploration that Moffat’s Doctors never seemed to have much of since they were almost always in the same places/times in just about any given episode)..while the plot itself wasn’t anything new or remarkable, just the fact that there weren’t any puzzle boxes, constantly repeated arc words, or tons of references to wade through made it much more enjoyable to watch. I was actually looking forward to watching the next episode (which hasn’t happened for me in several years) and that kept me going through the whole season.
Granted, some of the episodes (For instance, “Arachnids in the U.K.” didn’t click for me and “The Tsuranga Conundrum” was a bit too straightforward) weren’t as good as the others but when I’m into a show, one average/below average episode isn’t going to make me stop watching. It’s when the bad episodes keep piling up and watching becomes a grim chore (as what happened with Moffat..in retrospect, I kept watching long after I should have given it up, but I kept futilely hoping that things would get better.)
(While this might be a bit of a reach, it’s possible that Moffat started writing the Doctor in a similar fashion to how he writes Holmes on Sherlock..which misses the point of both characters since the original Sherlock Holmes didn’t become so popular solely based on his incredible abilities of detection and analysis but rather how he used those abilities to help those who needed it along with satisfying his desire to utilize said abilities..(there’s definite parallels between the Doctor and Holmes but that’s far beyond the scope of this piece.) It will be about a year until the next season, but I can wait; there will be plenty of other things to watch and analyze in 2019, after all.)
It is possible that I’m personally overrating this season just because I was that sick of Moffat’s style. Should I ever sour similarly on Chibnall, perhaps I wouldn’t hang on so long this time as I’ve seen how quickly the show can fall off a cliff and how long it can take to recover. I recognize it’s harder than ever to keep an audience engaged as staggering and ever growing amounts of content are literally a click away, so showrunners have to do whatever they can to keep their audiences if they want to keep their jobs. I also wonder how much of a factor Doctor Who’s iconic status in British television has been in keeping this show going..i.e. would it have been canceled after the Moffat era ended instead of softly rebooted as it was? The ratings were generally better for this season compared to its two predecessors, so the show doesn’t appear to be in any immediate danger but if the next season doesn’t do nearly as well, the BBC might not wait as long to try a new showrunner.
Overall, the season demonstrated that all that was needed was a fresh perspective to revitalize the show. There’s definitely room for improvement and the season finale didn’t have the usual sense of closure (it felt more like the end of the beginning of a longer story arc instead and was unfortunately a bit dull and underwhelming. The New Year’s special was definitely better but was kind of cheesy and had pacing issues) but I didn’t mind a Moffat-less finale; there was no getting buried under an avalanche of convolutions and yawning as yet another companion one never could connect with leaves the show and we’re supposed to feel sad. We’ll all have to see how they do it, but I’ll likely feel something whenever these companions leave the TARDIS and return to ’normal’ life..and the Thirteenth Doctor will likely be devastated; I like that she seems to genuinely care for her companions instead of treating them like burdens and/or puzzles to solve. I am surprised at how polarizing this season was but I can understand that anyone who enjoyed the Moffat era wouldn’t like this at all since it’s written/plotted so differently..I’ve seen plenty of comments that echo how I used to feel. The new Doctor Who has brought people like me back while alienating others, but it’s the nature of creative works that nothing past, present, or future is going to have universal appeal, even amongst its own fanbase (especially now with so few barriers (for good or ill) between the content creators and the audience). Everyone involved is doing their best and that’s all they can do; I was entertained, someone else might not be, and that’s ok.