Who’s Done With Who?

I’ve come to the conclusion I’m no longer set out to be a Doctor Who fan. I’ve been DEEPLY disappointed by series five. It has very much been “be careful what you wish for” outcome for me.

I was *so* excited about Steven Moffat taking over from Russell T Davies in the executive producer role and now I rue that very excitement and wish of it taking place.

I loved the series of Jekyll he’d made prior to getting the job and there were aspects of Russell T Davies’ script writing that didn’t sit well with me.

There were scripts not written by him of course, including Moffat ones, that were wonderful. So why now does it appear to me that Moffat scripts were so much better under the RTD and Julie Gardner reign of New Who than under Moffat’s own clan?

I thought given the way he (Moffat) treated the production of Jekyll, combined with the dark script, we’d see a darker, more adult Who, but it’s the complete opposite for me! It feels like old Who, like Sarah Jane Adventures, designed purely for children. There doesn’t feel anything very adult to grasp onto any more. The drama feels clipped yet unfathomable. It’s hard to explain.

That’s not where RTD took it. There was some emotional pap from time to sure, but by heck there was depth of character! I learned SO much about the Doctor and who he was in the past 4/5 years of RTD’s reign. In this series I have learned absolutely nothing new about the Doctor, other than the fact he appears to like to eat fish fingers and custard during the final hours of regeneration.

Although I think Matt Smith is a fine actor, there is still something not right about his Doctor. He’s getting a little one dimensional in his portrayal of the Doctor. There’s no depth there. It doesn’t feel like there are many things going on in his brain, as there should be, for he *is* the Doctor.

I never feel like he’s the ‘cleverest person in the room’ because, frankly, this version of the Doctor appears not to be. For about the first 4 or 5 episodes, Amy seemed to be the one coming up with solutions! I mean, come ON!!

Speaking of Amy, I DETEST her character. She’s brazen to the point of stupidity and no amount of peril she finds herself in ever seems to kerb that. Whenever anything remotely bad happens to her (I mean she didn’t even appear to get very emotional when her fiance’ was vapourised in front of her eyes for flips sake!), I find myself saying “good”! “I hope that teaches you a lesson, you dickhead!” But it never does. I really couldn’t care less if she fell off a cliff!

I really do like Rory though. He’s WAY more human than Amy. I mean Jesus, even I felt more emotional about Rory’s death than Amy did!

The only person who brings real depth to their character is Alex Kingston playing River Song. But she has nothing/no one to bounce off! She really does make Matt Smith and Karen Gillan (Matt less so, because he does have SOME acting prowess) look like a couple of am-dram students.

I cared about RTD characters, even if I didn’t necessarily like them! I loved Rose’s history and all about her dad. Us knowing her mum Jacqui and boyfriend Mickey.

I didn’t shine to her so much, Martha, and although Freema’s not the best actress, Martha’s character had DEPTH! I keep saying that word over and over again. Her sister, her brother. Her parents split. Her mum being bitter and her dad dating a floozy that the rest of the family hated.

Finally Donna and the amazing Catherine Tate! That dynamic of he being utterly awed by the Doctor, but in no way attracted to him. Her mum being such a cow to her. Her Gramps loving his star-gazing and being so fiesty.

All lovely, wonderfully rounded characters. What do we have now? I petulent 20 odd year old with a fiance she really couldn’t give a stuff about. A character with no…erm…depth, or warmth, or redeeming features. And a doddery old feeling Doctor who’s quite thick (and not the brilliant intellectual and utter ‘man of wonder’ we’ve had), played by a 27 year old.

I really didn’t want to pick on Matt’s Doctor but there is just something not quite convincing about it and it is the age of him! I’m meant to believe that the Doctor is 906. The way Matt portrays him, I just can’t. I was ALWAYS convinced by David Tennant’s Doctor that he was that old, even when he was being silly.

And that’s another point! When the DT/CE doctors lost their way it was expressed more as silliness, not stupidity. The implication with Matt’s doctor just appears to be thickness, stupidity and dumbness. I never feel assured he’s going to solve ANYTHING. It’s always like he’s waiting for someone to come along and do it for him.

Needless to say, I think I’m over my Who fandom. I shall watch series 1-4 and the 2009 specials and be happy with my brief Who years.

All good things come to an end.