Doctor Who and the POA

I’m now starting to feel that the new Doctor Who series has disturbing parallels to the Alfonso Cuarón era of the Harry Potter movies.

When Cuarón helmed the third movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, fans rejoiced. Most fans rejoiced. I did not. The tone of the entire series darkened, most strikingly, visually. Figurative darkening was a necessity, as the source material was becoming more dangerous and entangled, but visually, the movie felt as if it had been shot through fog and the world seemed dim as a result. The sets showed the darkness, too. Everything began to look dilapidated and uninviting, even Hogwarts, which had seemed magical and bright in the previous films. This hazy, dark look continued throughout the films and was the primary reason I stopped watching them.

Steven Moffat, similarly genius in his storytelling, appears to be doing the same to Doctor Who. His Series 3 episode “Blink” is universally considered one of the best episodes of the modern era. As a standalone ep, I agree, it’s striking in its difference. As the tone of a series, it’s depressing and dull. I allowed the thought that Series 5 was a bit less colorful because of the transition to our Eleventh Doctor. I, like all of fandom, was feeling him out along with the new sassy companion. I was pleased. As this season began, we were hit with too many cliches and teases in the first two episodes. Following the convoluted story of the opener, we were treated with two dark, dank episodes that did little to harken back to the glory days of FUN Doctor Who, and I fear we will not return.

My fear is that I am alone in my distaste for the new style. I was completely isolated in the HP fandom as someone who preferred that a children’s story (and regardless of what is said, Harry Potter is a children’s story) remain a bit fantastic and bright. The response to last night’s cheerless episode “The Doctor’s Wife” written by Neil Gaiman has been exceedingly positive. Having several scenes of suffering and misery seems to appease fandom, and on that count we differ. I accept and appreciate darkness in the right fandom (BSG, GoT) but this is still, at heart, a show for younger fans with a fifty year tradition that should be respected.

5,571 thoughts on “Doctor Who and the POA”

  1. Hello there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my myspace group? There’s a lot of folks that I think would really appreciate your content. Please let me know. Many thanks|

  2. Hey there would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with? I’m looking to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a tough time selecting between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design and style seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something unique. P.S My apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!|

  3. Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!|

  4. of course like your web site but you need to check the spelling on several of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling issues and I in finding it very troublesome to tell the reality however I’ll surely come again again.|

  5. Hey! Would you mind if I share your blog with my facebook group? There’s a lot of people that I think would really enjoy your content. Please let me know. Thank you|

  6. Greetings I am so delighted I found your weblog, I really found you by mistake, while I was looking on Yahoo for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say thanks for a fantastic post and a all round thrilling blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the minute but I have saved it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a great deal more, Please do keep up the superb work.|

  7. I every time used to read paragraph in news papers but now as I am a user of internet so from now I am using net for articles or reviews, thanks to web.|

  8. Hello! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this site? I’m getting fed up of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.|

  9. Excellent goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely great. I actually like what you have acquired here, really like what you’re saying and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it sensible. I can not wait to read far more from you. This is actually a wonderful web site.|

  10. I’m gone to say to my little brother, that he should also pay a visit this blog on regular basis to get updated from newest reports.|

  11. It’s appropriate time to make a few plans for the long run and it’s time to be happy. I have read this put up and if I may just I wish to counsel you some fascinating things or tips. Perhaps you can write next articles regarding this article. I wish to learn even more things approximately it!|

  12. hello there and thank you for your information – I have certainly picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise several technical points using this web site, since I experienced to reload the site many times previous to I could get it to load properly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but slow loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google and can damage your high-quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Well I’m adding this RSS to my email and could look out for a lot more of your respective fascinating content. Ensure that you update this again soon.|

  13. It’s awesome to go to see this web site and reading the views of all mates on the topic of this post, while I am also eager of getting familiarity.|

  14. Just wish to say your article is as astounding. The clarity in your post is simply great and i can assume you are an expert on this subject. Fine with your permission let me to grab your RSS feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the gratifying work.|

  15. You’re so cool! I do not believe I have read a single thing like this before. So nice to find somebody with some unique thoughts on this issue. Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up. This site is something that’s needed on the internet, someone with a bit of originality!|

  16. Howdy! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I truly enjoy reading through your articles. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that go over the same subjects? Many thanks!
    #be#jk3#jk#jk#JK##

    ?????? ??????????? ????? ????????

  17. When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get three emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service? Thanks a lot!|

  18. I do consider all the ideas you have introduced in your post. They are very convincing and can certainly work. Still, the posts are too brief for novices. May just you please prolong them a bit from subsequent time? Thanks for the post.|

  19. My partner and I stumbled over here by a different web page and thought I may as well check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to looking over your web page again.|

  20. I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own weblog and was wondering what all is required to get setup? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very internet savvy so I’m not 100 sure. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers|

  21. Great post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am impressed! Very useful information specially the last part 🙂 I care for such info much. I was looking for this particular info for a very long time. Thank you and best of luck.|

  22. Having read this I thought it was very enlightening. I appreciate you finding the time and energy to put this content together. I once again find myself spending a lot of time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worthwhile!|

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *