In a recent online discussion about whether “Moffat detractors” are numerous or just loud, I saw someone posit that those fans “usually want RTD and Tennant back.” After countering that assertion—and another that fans familiar with pre-Hiatus Who are more likely to like Moffat (what?)—with both my own experiences and the opinions of several of my friends (none of whom have ever suggested anything so absurd as to bring back a previous Doctor for regular episodes), I got to thinking about the human tendency to wax nostalgic about “the good old days.”
Are the Good Old Days ever really as good as we remember?
I think fandom is much like parenthood (or any number of other experiences), in that once an era is well and truly in the rear-view mirror of our lives, it is far easier to remember the good parts than the bad (barring any truly traumatic moments). We look back on the episodes that made us fans and think, “nothing will ever be quite as good as it was when X was the Doctor,” or “when Y was in charge,” and pine for a time when everything was “as it should be.”
Since it’s only been about seven years since I came into the fold (as opposed to many of the folks my age, especially Brits, who have now been fans for nigh on forty years), I don’t have the breadth of experience to speak to what it was like to be a fan during the pre-Hiatus/”Classic” era, but I can extrapolate from what I’ve read or been told by others.
As far as I can tell, there’s always been shit going on behind the scenes, whether fans were made privy to it at the time or not. There were politics within production teams and around the BBC, disagreements and miscommunications between individuals or between cast and higher-ups, and fans calling for the head of the person in charge (or the person on screen) while others defended the same. In other words, “same shit, different day.”
We tend to look fondly on our own favorites, glossing over or outright ignoring the uglier bits. No matter whether your love lies with the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era, JNT’s run, the RTD years, the Moffat Age, or somewhere else entirely, there are problematic parts lurking. Maybe it’s something in the stories, an issue with the behavior or policies of someone behind the scenes, or just poor communication between creators and fans, but no part of Who‘s history is entirely clean. It is, after all, a piece of human history.
But the other thing is, each era is unique. As issues arise, approaches evolve. Each showrunner tries things their own way, and each is suited well to some fans but not to others. That’s part of what makes Doctor Who the powerhouse that it has become: its infinite variety. So if the way things are going right now are either not at all to your taste or are exactly to your taste, you haven’t long to endure/enjoy.
Everyone has their favorites; that’s only natural. But to claim that the Good Old Days—whichever days any given fan may mean when they say that—were the best is bald opinion at best, and high hubris at worst. Acknowledge which aspects are to your taste and which are simply Not For You and move on; no one wins in a “who’s the best” bickering match*.
We’re all fans here—and that’s the important part.
*Unless it’s the Red Kangs
Fairy tales
I don’t believe so much in the Good Old Days. Every era had it’s plusses and minuses. But our ccurrent show runner’s basic philosophy is flawed. Doctor Who is not a fairy tale.
The last season had a few really high points but I felt most of it was below par. Not because of Capaldi, who did fine work. But because most of the scripts embodied the Doctor Who as fairy tale thing.
Kill the Moon was my least favorite episode of the season. In fact I thought it stank. As science fiction it was terrible and made no sense whatever. The moon as a giant egg is stupid beyond measure and the resolution of the episode, with the moon hatching and the newly hatched space butterfly laying a new egg the same size as the one it hatched from makes zero sense. Clara’s actions in refusing to kill the hatching creature were reckless and stupid. And The Doctor refusing to take part in the decision was entirely out of character.
But it worked well if viewed as a fairy tale. In a fairy tale magic beings such as giant space butterflies are an accepted part of the genre and that they can perform miracles such as instantly restoring the moon is par for the course. And Clara’s decision makes much more sense. She acted with compassion instead of practicality and such behaviour has been rewarded in fairy tales since the dawn of time.
But while I UNDERSTAND Kill the Moon and why it works as a fairy tale I still don’t like it. I don’t watch Doctor Who to see morality tales involving magic beings. I watch it to see thrilling, science based adventures in time and space.
If I wanted to watch fairy tales I’d watch Once Upon a Time or Grimm. I do, in fact, watch those shows and enjoy them. But I watch them with the understanding that they are fairy tales and will involve magic and mystical beings.
When I turn on Doctor Who I don’t want a fairy tale. I want science fiction. And that’s why I am dissatisfied with Moffat as showrunner.
Fiction with or w/o Science
I am in complete agreement with you about the quality of Kill the Moon, though I’d never interpreted it as a fairy tale. I know Moffat stated outright that he was going in the fairy tale direction when he started, but I thought I’d also read that he was planning to change gears when Capaldi came on (though whether or not he did is clearly debatable).
There are other things that bother me about the direction of the show under Moffat, and I keep hoping we’ll hear he’s stepping down “soon.” But the show needs to continue to evolve and move forward in both its mythology and its storytelling, rather than go back to “the way it used to be,” whatever that means to any particular fan that advocates for it.
More fairy tales
The episode with the appearing / disappearing trees is another script that plays horribly as scifi but was meant as a fairy tale. A child is lost in the forest and must overcome various trials. Meave encounters wild beasts and magic beings and must untangle a mystery. With the help of the Doctor and Clara she does this and is rewarded by saving her sister from captivity by fairies.
Again, as science fiction this makes zero sense. The trees appear for no good reason (the reason given is stupid and obviously concocted quickly to give a vague appearance of the script making sense) and disappear just as quickly, mostly as a stage setting. Tigers and wolves attack and are defeated easily. The riddle of the appearance of the trees is deduced easily and the threat of having the trees destroyed before they can save the Earth is disposed of with a quick radio message (though whether or not this message was recieved or taken seriously by the authorities is completely glossed over). Then Meave’s sister, briefly mentioned at the beginning of the episode, appears as a reward for the virtuous quester.
None of this is even vaguely science fiction. It barely works as a fairy tale. The vague window dressing of solar flares and oxygen airbags is completely unconvincing. It was an awful episode on every level.
Astute
That actually makes a lot of sense. It hadn’t even occurred to me to try to interpret it as a fairy tale (in which case, it makes much more sense, even if it’s not good)—because Doctor Who is supposed to be science fiction! No wonder so many fans hated it…