[ SECRET POST #2625 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2625 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 040 secrets from Secret Submission Post #375.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 2 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

09. http://oi60.tinypic.com/30kua02.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

In Doctor Who? A lot of the writing is just bad. Thanks, Moffatt. You're great in single episodes, but not when you're writing a non-stop non-sitcom tv show.

[(Anonymous)]

RTD was pretty bad at times too.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with this.

[silverr]

Brilliant and creative ideas can be completely hobbled by mediocre writing .. so no, I don't think it's you.

[(Anonymous)]

Ehhhh. I can't stand Moffat's DW, either, but it's not so much the writing (dialogue's mostly OK); it is his sheer ADHD-roadrunner-on-amphetamines-plotting (or startling lack thereof) that really drives me bonkers.

I mean. It's a solid hour of "...AND THIS HAPPENS!" with zero coherence, no engagement with the characters (such as they are), or any remotely intriguing follow-through on the bazillion and one ideas that litter the episode like roadkill all the way through.

Story structure! His writing needs structure, scaffolding to hold up the cloud castles! Somebody needs to beat Moffat over the head with a clue-by-four while screaming, "Beginning! Middle! End!"

[(Anonymous)]

Rest easy, op, the writing is just that bad.

[(Anonymous)]

With Doctor Who its bad writing. You have to be willing to handwave a lot to watch that show.

[(Anonymous)]

It also helps to have an attention span longer than a mayfly with ADD. Some of the arced plotlines are long.

[neonlovechicken]

I've only asked myself this: how is it still on air? It seems like an unwritten rule that the show must not end or something, every year tumblr starts coming up with ideas for the new Doctor and I'm always wondering HOW. I don't think there's something else in tv that comes close in terms of length? Not even soap operas I think?

Not that I'm an expert in tv, far from that, but I have always wondered about this show.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't get it either :/ But suggesting that it should end usually results in rage, so...

[(Anonymous)]

Well it was off the air for a long time, in terms of the new series it's coming up on it's 8th year, which is still relatively small compared to classic who.

It can and has ended before, the new series basically brought new life into it, and fans of the series have gotten used to it being back again.

Don't ask me why it works, it just does. It helps that actors and writers are always changing, it's similar to a soap in that way where you are following the same basic plot and same basic characters but they can keep it going by changing the actors every few series.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, it wasn't on air between 1989 and 2005... plus the series/seasons aren't that long (compared to US shows).

[meredith44]

I don't think there's something else in tv that comes close in terms of length? Not even soap operas I think?
Soap operas definitely do. Not so much in terms of years, but in terms of episodes, they very much eclipse the length of DW. GH for example has essentially run five days a week/52 weeks a year since 1963. Their most prolific actor has chalked up over 1700 episodes and he has only been there since 1993.

Not that I'm saying soap operas are the greatest at coming up with ideas or anything, but....

[fauxkaren]

If you're talking about some of Moffats plots then it's the writing. I could not explain to you what exactly happened in The Time of the Doctor if you paid me.

[(Anonymous)]

Doctor Who doesn't really need to be objectively well written, it's a television show for families and it's meant to be fun. So if a Doctor Who episode is creative and entertaining, then I consider it a "well written" episode.

I think it's important to keep in mine the standards a show has set in what it's supposed to be and what it presents to you, that's how you judge if the writing is good or bad.

[(Anonymous)]

You're not dumb, a lot of it is kinda nonsensical. I actually enjoy that about it! Shows that are super tightly plotted puzzle-piece masterpieces kinda stress me out because I DO miss things, and you can't skip an episode without messing yourself up, and spoilers can kill your enjoyment...DW is more like abstract or impressionistic art, where you can kinda interpret your own 'deep' meanings into it if you want. The 'season-long arcs' in the moffat era are more like Easter Eggs to me; I came for action and some feels and crazy aliens and the Doctor saving the day, if I can go "HEEEEY it's that thing from that other episode!!" it's just gravy for me.

Doctor Who is my fun id show.

[philstar22]

Considering it is Tennant's image in the secret, I'm amused that the comments focus on Moffatt's writing instead of RTD's.

Is he skiing, or is he in a gay porn?

[elephantinegrace]

I thought The Name of the Doctor sucked, which nobody on my LiveJournal appears to agree with, and saying that I thought the second Neil Gaiman episode was boring got me flamed off of Tumblr for about a week. So, you know, you're not alone in wondering if you're just bad at following plots or if there's no plot.

(PS, yes, the comment title is a reference to Bo Burnham.)

Let me help, OP.

[(Anonymous)]

It's not you, it's Moffat.

[rbhudson]

No, it's the writing. Fuck Moffat, etc.

[cbrachyrhynchos]

Too many episodes have impossible situations resolved by two minutes of bafflegab and waving a sonic screwdriver at them.

[kathkin]

I had this reaction to Logopolis (Fourth Doctor's final serial). Took me like two rewatches to determine that it was the writing that was bad...

[tenlittlebullets]

If you're talking recently-aired episodes... yeah, the writing's been going downhill, and it's been doing so in a way that's basically "I have a convoluted plot idea that's too clever by half, but I don't have the time or energy to develop it, so here, you do the work of figuring out what I was trying to do and piecing together a story out of it." Which can easily make you feel dumb for not wanting to do Steven Moffat's job for him by forcing it to make sense.

IDK, there are eras of Classic Who (some of my favorites, in fact) where I'd say "both, the answer is both"--Seven's last two seasons and Christopher H. Bidmead's entire run have the same problem of tossing out ambitious storylines that are missing a lot of exposition/plot-flow/ideas-fitting-together glue and make the viewer feel dumb for having a hard time connecting a bunch of crazy ambiguous dots. But the difference between that and the current run is that the various component parts have substance and are rich in thematic idea porn or mathy/sciencey idea porn, they just aren't fitted together very well. Whereas it seems like Moffat is having an increasingly hard time with the fleshing out phase between ideas and story substance. s25/s26/Bidmead-era scripts often feel like they're still a few drafts away from the final product, but the past two seasons have felt more like outlines spruced up with witty banter. There's less to latch on to.

[ladysugarquill]

The writing is... peculiar. Very few times I'd say it was bad, and I think often it's absolutely awesome, but it has its peculiarities.

Just relax and enjoy the fun :)