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.

7,058 thoughts on “Doctor Who and the POA”

  1. We are a group of volunteers and starting
    a new scheme in our community. Your web site offered us with
    valuable info to work on. You have done a formidable job and our
    entire community will be grateful to you.

  2. Thank you for some other excellent article. The place else may
    just anybody get that kind of info in such a perfect method of writing?
    I’ve a presentation next week, and I am on the search for such information.

  3. I’m curious to find out what blog platform you happen to be utilizing?
    I’m having some minor security problems with my latest
    blog and I’d like to find something more safeguarded. Do you have
    any solutions?

  4. Hello there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it’s
    really informative. I am gonna watch out for
    brussels. I’ll be grateful if you continue this in future.
    A lot of people will be benefited from your writing.
    Cheers!

  5. Hey! This post could not be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my good old room mate! He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this write-up to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!|

  6. Excellent post. I used to be checking continuously this weblog and I am impressed!

    Extremely helpful info specially the remaining phase
    🙂 I deal with such information much. I was looking for this particular
    information for a very long time. Thank you and good luck.

  7. You are so interesting! I do not suppose I’ve truly read through anything like that before. So nice to discover another person with unique thoughts on this subject. Really.. thank you for starting this up. This web site is one thing that is needed on the web, someone with a little originality!|

  8. Nice blog here! Also your website lots up very fast!
    What host are you the usage of? Can I get your associate link on your host?
    I desire my website loaded up as fast as yours lol

  9. Very good website you have here but I was wondering if you knew of
    any discussion boards that cover the same topics
    discussed here? I’d really like to be a part of community where
    I can get responses from other experienced individuals
    that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
    Thanks a lot!

  10. Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across this board
    and I to find It truly helpful & it helped me out a lot.

    I’m hoping to give something back and aid others like you helped me.

  11. My developer is trying to persuade me to move to .net
    from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the costs.
    But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on several websites for about a year and
    am concerned about switching to another platform. I have heard fantastic things about blogengine.net.
    Is there a way I can import all my wordpress posts into it?
    Any help would be really appreciated!

  12. Hello, i think that i saw you visited my site thus i came to “return the favor”.I
    am trying to find things to improve my web site!I suppose
    its ok to use a few of your ideas!!

  13. Pretty nice post. I simply stumbled upon your blog and wished to say that I’ve really loved surfing around your blog
    posts. After all I will be subscribing to your feed and I am hoping you write
    once more very soon!

  14. 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!

  15. Good day! I know this is kinda off topic but I’d figured
    I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest authoring a blog article or vice-versa?
    My blog discusses a lot of the same topics as yours and I
    feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you’re interested feel free to send me
    an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Excellent blog by the way!

  16. Hey there, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, superb blog!|

  17. Have you ever considered creating an ebook or guest authoring on other blogs?

    I have a blog centered on the same ideas you discuss and would really like to
    have you share some stories/information. I know my viewers would value
    your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e-mail.

  18. Hello, i think that i saw you visited my site thus i came to “return the favor”.I’m trying to find things to improve my website!I suppose its ok to
    use some of your ideas!!

Leave a Reply

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