Dr. Who

[sobrique]

Bastards.
Complete utter bastards.
Can we go kill this guy?

I mean. THEY HAD A BRILLIANT SETUP and dropped a WANKY deus-ex resolution on it.

I mean, really.

WANKERS.

I could think of about 3 alternatives, which would have made a _GOOD_ ending to a Dr. Who episode. But that just ... smelled.

THey foreshadowed it. They came up with a reason for the stuff.
They even tied the tardis into it. That HAD POTENTIAL.

But NO.


Gaaah.

OK, so I almost forgave 'em for the Face of Bo. But only almost.

GAAAH.

So, I'd invite you all, to present your alternative 'not so wank' endings, so we can pretend that one didn't happen.

Comments

[malal.livejournal.com]

You're "re-write the ending of that episode" has remarkable scope to it... ;-P

Hmmm... While I'm generally in favor of proper, on-going plot. I'm not convinced I want more from Dr Who than we're currently getting. I want it to be experimental, and free to go off to weird & wacky things without much connection to the over arching plot.

Of course, it actually takes some writer skill to do that without devolving into "Monster of the week".

I'd also like less stuff to do with modern day earth, particularly anything big. It's really getting to the stage where modern day earth in the Who-verse must have some notable cultural differences. We're not shown the repercussions of all the stuff that's gone down, and it's beginning to feel fake.

[xarrion.livejournal.com]

Any decent ending should have enough scope to go in any number of directions, and leave the viewers guessing what exactly is going to come of it - we're sci-fi geeks, after all - we need to be able to theorise what should happen next ;)

I agree it takes a fair whack of skilled writing to keep it from turning into monster of the week, but I also think Doctor Who deserves - and doesn't have enough of - that type of writing. If the series had been written by that other guy, it may have been something special.

I'm with you on the Earth thing. I can only assume it's only by RTD's conscious effort that so much takes place on Earth, as even with a budget that must be infantessimal compared to Modern Who, Classic Who went to a multitude of places, and could quite happily use the viewer's imagination to turn a cheap set into a hostile planet.

[malal.livejournal.com]

Any decent ending should have enough scope to go in any number of directions, and leave the viewers guessing what exactly is going to come of it

Normally yes, but at the end of season, I want things to be a bit more tidied up & resolved. Only things that should still be going then are the foreshadowing for next seasons over plot, or any over plot that's intended for several seasons (which isn't really Who style, and is also best at a quiet period for the season break).

Or you go for the out & out obvious cliff hanger.

I think RTD does stuff on earth so that the unwashed masses feel more of a connection to the events. Problem is, he also wants to do Epic Plot. These don't work well together. The Big Dalek Invasion at the end of season one could have been good epic, because you can leave with the feeling that the society has been permanently changed by what happened. You can't do that on modern day earth (past earth is difficult as well).

Plus, Modern day earth non-epic is what Torchwood should be about. We don't need two shows about it! (OK, RTD can't be trusted to keep Torchwood non-epic, that's a different issue).

Basically, the Who'verse deserves a better writer than RTD at the helm. I'll concede to let him write some episodes as long as he's got someone better than him to say "No, that's Crap".

Oh, and if we have another Dr Who "Last of the Daleks" episode, I'll scream. We've had four "these are the last of all the Daleks" episodes now, Enough is Enough. You've got one left to kill off, have Torchwood do it, at least it'll be different. Then put them away until such a time as the full race & Gallifrey comes back.

Ditto with the "New Cybermen" They're Gone Now. Don't Bring Them Back. You want Cybermen, bring the old ones out to play. You want re-occurring villains? You have plenty of funky ones from the new stuff I'm sure. Maybe it's time for a truly new arch villain race / person. And two / three seasons down the line, you can bring the Master back for more fun.