Visit the official Doctor Who website

Visit the official Doctor Who website
Look to the future

Asylum seekers...

Asylum seekers...
Refuge of the Daleks

Doctor Who picture resource

Doctor Who picture resource
Roam the space lanes!

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website
Step back in time

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
Armed and extremely dangerous

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures
Fearless in the face of adversity

Call on Dani’s House

Call on Dani’s House
Harmer’s a charmer

Intercept the UFO fabsite

Intercept the UFO fabsite
Defending the Earth against alien invaders!

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse
Programmable agent Echo exposed!

Hell’s belles

Hell’s belles
Naughty but nice

Love Exposure

Love Exposure
Flash photography!

Primeval portal

Primeval portal
Dressed to kill or damsels in distress?

Charmed, to be sure!

Charmed, to be sure!
The witches of San Francisco

Take on t.A.T.u.

Take on t.A.T.u.
All the way from Moscow

Proceed to the Luther website

Proceed to the Luther website
John and Jenny discuss their next move

DCI Banks is on the case

DCI Banks is on the case
You can bet on it!

On The Grid with Spooks

On The Grid with Spooks
Secret agents of Section D

Bridge to Hustle

Bridge to Hustle
Shady characters

Life on Ashes To Ashes

Life on Ashes To Ashes
Coppers with a chequered past

Claire’s no Exile

Claire’s no Exile
Goose steps

Vexed is back on the beat!

Vexed is back on the beat!
Mismatched DI Armstrong and bright fast-tracker Georgina Dixon

Medium, both super and natural

Medium, both super and natural
Open the door to your dreams

Who’s that girl? (350-picture Slideshow)

Friday 15 August 2008

If I Were Davros…


It’s no secret that under Russell T. Davies I’ve found “Doctor Who” to be severely lacking! Whereas “Fury from the Deep”, a six-part story from the late Sixties, carries an inspiring ecological subtext about the dangers of not replenishing the Earth’s natural resources upon bleeding them dry, modern “Doctor Who” appears to be about nothing in particular except sitting on your arse all day watching the telly on a council estate! No wonder I feel cheated!! If I wanted to watch the latter, I could tune into crap like “EastEnders” or open the back door. I want to watch the former served up as a metaphor featuring weed creatures rising up out of the sea to take their revenge with the aid of poison gas exhaling humans. I want terror not soap. So, if I was about to inherit the mantle of show runner instead of Steven Moffat, how would I go about correcting the numerous mistakes made over the last four series? How would I make “Doctor Who”? What would I do if I had the power, if I were Davros…

The first change I would make to “Doctor Who” is in doing away with the single episode story. They do not give enough time for character or plot development and have all but removed the all-important cliff-hanger from the programme. At present, each season gives the viewer ten stories over thirteen episodes. Keeping the thirteen forty-five minute episode format, I would reduce the number of stories to six, five two-parters would be followed by a concluding three-part season finale. This would also be more cost effective in that you are reducing the number of opening nights by four. Jon Pertwee’s producer Barry Letts was very aware of how best to utilise the budget over a full season.

My next major change would be to do away with the season arc. Under Russell, we’ve had Bad Wolf, Torchwood, Saxon and, most recently, the return of Rose. Without exception, all failures. Each of my six stories would be self-contained, with no linking devices. Trying to keep your audience hooked Russell’s way is doomed to failure if the final episode fails to deliver. Give your public half-a-dozen strongly written, well executed, stories, excitingly concluded, so they’ll want to return for more instead of trying to twist their arm into staying with the programme only to receive a smack in the face like the Doctor at the hands of the parody Master in “Last of the Time Lords”!

Another important change would be to do away with companion’s families. I’m sick to death of the Doctor touching base every other week, at his latest travelling partner’s domicile. It’s alright to start off with an assistant’s familial attachments, such as when Peri was introduced in “Planet of Fire”, but to keep revisiting home turf is way too safe for a series originally steeped in fear and terror. What a shame they didn’t lop off the final fifteen minutes of the concluding episode, this year, and keep it to forty-five minutes, rather than allowing the writer’s excessive over-indulgence. Reign it in, edit, do away with superfluous material. Get rid of the baggage!

One Doctor, one companion. Throughout. No regenerations unless the lead is moving on. If you promise a death, deliver! Russell promised in Season’s Two and Four and went back on his word. Rose didn’t die in battle, unfortunately, and Donna had her memory all-too-conveniently wiped! Absolutely no reset buttons, in any way, shape or form!! I would choose a different writer for each story and, if possible, none would have written for the series before. I wouldn’t insist on writing the finale myself but would like to have a stab at one of the adventures! I’ve no objection to returning monsters, the Ice Warriors - as depicted in their black and white episodes - would be welcome, and wouldn’t insist on naming new ones myself, as Russell did the Ood. I’m pretty certain Verity Lambert didn’t insist Terry Nation call his creations the Daleks!! I think the writer came up with the name all on his lonesome.

So, there you have it. My six-story plan for the next season of “Doctor Who”! I fear it may be too late to give me the job!!

9 comments:

Steve said...

Have to say, although I don't feel as aggrieved as you do regarding the modern era of DW, I do agree that longer stories, less soap input, and no "get out of jail free" cards would see the show hugely improved.

Rol said...

I like your idea of more two parters and the return of the all important cliffhanger... though I'll admit I also like the IDEA of an overall arc... if it could be well-executed and deliver a decent finale.

TimeWarden said...

You possibly don't feel as strongly about new "Who", Steve, because you're not comparing it to what went before. In the fullness of time, I'm hoping RTD's version will be seen as nothing more than a blip on the "Doctor Who" landscape!

An overall arc coerces casual viewers into watching every episode though, Rol, and if those arcs are as contrived as in every recent season of "Doctor Who" then the cynic in me says they're included for the sole purpose of keeping ratings high in preference to good storytelling.

Gorilla Bananas said...

What do Daleks eat? They sound pretty constipated to me.

TimeWarden said...

I believe they're on a strict vegetarian diet!

doppelganger said...

OK Davros.... here's the rules:

BRING BACK CLIFFHANGERS

BRING BACK THE PROPER THEME TUNE

DON'T BRING BACK CHARACTERS JUST 'COS EVERYONE FEELS THEY WANT THEM BACK (Rose, Davros), UNLESS YOU CAN THINK OF SOMETHING INTERESTING TO SAY ABOUT THEM (Sarah Jane in School reunion)

STOP COMPANIONS FROM JOINING PSEUDO-MILITARISTIC ORGANISATIONS (Jack, Rose, Martha, Mickey)- THEY INSTANTLY BECOME LESS INTERESTING

SORT OUT TORCHWOOD (it's become like DC's Vertigo Line - its' promise squandered and now vulgar and pretentious in equal measure)

ermh.... sorry for shouting - I resolved never to say anything online about 'season 4' but I can't help it...

Ok.... ermh.... 'season themes'... yeah, I dunno... not well handled - not at all sure I understand what Bad Wolf is to this day - though the foreshadowing of Mr Saxon was ok.

I like the general emotional themes of each season. One and two dealt with the possibility of the Doctor falling in love with a companion (though it was DEALT WITH then - poor move to bring Rose back)

Season three fumbled with the idea that the Doctor might be some kind of lonely God / Monster (as did the two Chrissy specials that book ended it) - a theme returned to briefly by Davros (wish they'd given Doc / dav more time to talk!)

Season four was quite thoughtful about whether Donna 'meant anything'as a person....

(I think Catherine Tate did ok - refreshing to have a companion that didn't fancy the Doctor and who wasn't in awe of him)

ah well.... good stuff and bad stuff.... Have to be careful not to invest too much hope in the Grand Moff's tenure I guess...

TimeWarden said...

I never really warmed to any of the companions over the last four years, Doppelgänger, though Tate as Donna wasn't as bad as expected. I just think they threw her character away, at the end, as if it was all a dream! Those last fifteen minutes could've been better spent earlier in the final episode, as you suggest, simply talking to Davros.

There are other "improvements" I could've added to my argument such as returning to single titles for multi-part stories even though originally, in this respect, "Doctor Who" was as it is now, with a new title for each episode.

I'd like a return to different composers for different stories, too, to help make each adventure more individualistic as opposed to the homogenous mass/mess of recent seasons. A lot of what was achieved in "The Caves of Androzani" and "Revelation of the Daleks", for example, was down to Roger Limb's scores!

doppelganger said...

yeah... that'd be cool...

i think it's about letting more folk have a go.... the music is ok in places... i quite like the mournful music they use for Martha.

TimeWarden said...

I don't mind Martha's theme either but new "Doctor Who" uses music a bit like poorer sitcoms deploy canned laughter, to let us know how to react as if we're incapable of feeling for ourselves! Bring back Dudley Simpson's eerie bass clarinet melody from "The Evil of the Daleks"!!