@oblique (again)
I like what you said about pace, and am interested in your thoughts. I don’t watch much TV, but when I do, I feel like there’s some unwritten rule that scenes can’t last more than ten seconds, and I often find it offputting.
I think this Dr Who series is slower-paced and I like that a lot. Much as I adored Matt Smith, I’m…[Read more]

@oblique
Hee hee, I was banging on about the cleverness of Dr Who the other day, and my friend sent me this link to some overly-academic Mr Men reviews. His point is well-made 🙂
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A1SM813W6H36YA/ref=cm_pdp_rev_all?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview

Is that what we’re doing, in your view? Over-analysing…[Read more]

@Oblique    I agree that After Gap Who has often felt rushed to me as well. Personally, I prefer the more leisurely pace of old (but I know that not everyone would agree with me on this!) But I do think that Moffat and the other writers are well aware of the fandom’s love of picking things apart and looking for clues, and I’m sure that many of th…[Read more]

@oblique
I’d be interested to know your thoughts about Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Are they both just children’s books written only for children with the sole purpose of commercial gain? Or can they be read at a number of levels? Are they in fact a bit clever?
x

@bluesqueakpip

Also, @oblique, setting aside that you appear to have moved the goal posts, you seem under the impression that the BBC is quite happy for a writer to rock up with a script and just head on down to Cardiff to shoot it.

That is not how the BBC works.

A good friend has had two, soon to be three, Afternoon Plays on Radio 4 – I…[Read more]

@Oblique

Hmmm… do you not like this game we’re playing?

Anyway, you appear to make three assumptions. One is that the writers/production team never plan things out in detail – and we know from interviews that they do plan the more complex stuff out. For example, River Song’s arc took up an entire whiteboard in the production office. They have…[Read more]

@Oblique and @Pedant, Just to add, Moffat is the kind the writer that pays a lot of attention to detail. Of course not all details are significant or even those that are are often just reflections of what is happening. The significance that we read into things is by no means the reason it is there. Meaning is always going to be very subjective,…[Read more]

@Oblique

The trouble with the writing is exactly that geoffers: ‘they do throw in too much stuff, just for effect here and there.’ And yes, they are professional writers and they should be making every minute count in the time they have to tell the tale.

 

They’re far too complacent about their successes

Ah, the old lazy writing meme given a fre…[Read more]

@Oblique –

They’re far too complacent about their successes

I’ve not heard any interviews where Moffat or any of the creative team sound complacent.  The fact that Moffat’s scripts “unpack” to the detail they do suggests to me that there’s a lot of thought gone into all his work. Different writers write in different ways – some build fr…[Read more]

@Oblique – Karen Gillan remarked that whenever she thought Steven Moffat had put in a line just for fun, it turned out to be a plot point three or four episodes later. 😉

Yes, there’s sometimes padding. However experienced a scriptwriter is, you’re never quite sure that time on the page will equate to time on the screen. It’s more usual to go…[Read more]

@Oblique – re: post 31905 – to every last detail? of course not. (and they do throw in stuff just for effect, here and there.) but with a general, overarching story in the background? absolutely. they are professional writers, and i (at least) believe they do a stellar job. i also believe moffat may have had some of this stuff in mind for years, now…

Only two episodes in and I think Capaldi’s Doctor is – to borrow 9’s word-of-choice ‘fantastic’. I know we haven’t seen much of him – and I have nothing against Matt Smith’s portrayal – but I thought the whole episode was thoroughly entertaining from start to finish. I like this new, grumpier, colder Doctor – as many have said I’m not used to the…[Read more]