Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat is adored by fans worldwide. So why does one Hypable writer believe that Moffat’s best work on Who was as a writer, and not a showrunner?
This is not a popular opinion, but it is just that – an opinion. Thinking critically about a show does not diminish your love for it. Doctor Who fans regularly split over the divisive issue of Russell T. Davies vs Steven Moffat, but this column is really about Steven Moffat the writer vs Steven Moffat the showrunner. And, it must be noted, the column relates specifically to Doctor Who, and not any other projects Moffat may be involved in (read: Sherlock).
1. The “timey wimey” excuse
First introduced in “Blink,” the handy throwaway explanation of time as “wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey” has come back to haunt Doctor Who fans. The idea of timelines, seen in both “Blink” and “The Girl in the Fireplace,” really came to the forefront with the introduction of River Song in “Silence in the Library”/”Forest of the Dead”. The beauty of being simply a writer was that these episodes were mixed in with many others, minimising the repetitive use of the device.
Still, this is Doctor Who, and a certain amount of timeline jumping is both expected and appreciated. Yet what was once a clever nod to the complicated nature of time has recently become an out for every writer. Both seasons 5 and 6 were solved with a hit of the ‘Reset the Universe’ button, and even as recently as “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS,” the manipulation of timelines was used as a Get Out Of Jail Free Card for a writer who was obviously in a corner.
2. Overcomplicated story lines
Aside from the idea of a ‘quick out,’ the other problem resulting from the overeager use of timelines is the overcomplicating of stories. This is not a problem in a one-off episode, but when even the most dedicated of fans spend hours trying to work out the various timelines of different Doctor Who characters, the joke has gone too far. What worked for River Song doesn’t necessarily work for every character, ever.
During Amy and Rory’s run in the TARDIS, we were routinely attempting to work out what order the episodes were in for the companions, based on the briefest of clues. This was not only tedious for the dedicated fan, it was entirely unfair to the casual viewer who doesn’t spend hours searching for answers on Tumblr. Looking for hidden connections between the episodes should be fun and fulfilling for those fans who choose to participate, but it should never be necessary to enable understanding of the show itself.
3. The lack of season-long arcs
The episodes of Steven Moffat’s era, much more than in Davies’, have been disconnected from one another. Occasionally in seasons 5, and often in season 6, there was often very little to connect the episodes together, and so far in season 7 there has been almost nothing. Granted, season 5 was noticeably better, with the cracks in the wall appearing in each episode in a much more “Bad Wolf” manner, clear to both the dedicated and the casual viewer.
From season 5, it has gone downhill. In season 6, we had the Silence (let’s choose to ignore the fact that the Doctor encouraged the human race to commit genocide), the Doctor trying to escape his own death, the introduction of the Gangers and the robots of tiny people, but a cohesive connecting thread between all the elements was lacking. And recently? Season 7 so far has been the most disconnected of all, with the way too subtle references to Rose and the occasional outburst of “who is Clara, anyway?”
4. Minimal character development
The lack of a cohesive season long arc also impedes on the possibilities for character development. Amy started off as a very promising character, a kiss-o-gram whose ability to changes roles paralleled with the Doctor’s. Too bad that plot point was never mentioned again. Amy in season 5 was an entirely different person from Amy in season 6 as in the latter she had her family back, and yet the character remains exactly the same.
Then there’s River Song, who has the most warped character development ever to be seen on television. She starts off as a brilliant match for the Doctor, who travels on a timeline opposite to his. She ends up as a time-travelling stalker, completely in love and obsessed with the Doctor, who has no purpose without him. And poor Clara has seen no development at all. To make it worse, the scenes in the latest episode which may have changed that were all wiped from her brain, which is a shame.
5. Cardboard cutout characters
This is the inevitable outcome of no character development: one-dimensional characters, who are often little more than plot devices. At the moment, Clara fits this category perfectly. Her entire reason for being with the Doctor is that she is a mystery that must be solved, and we have seen little to nothing of her actual personality. Does she have one? Who knows.
Then there was poor Amy, The Girl Who Waited and the character who began with the most hope. While we saw flashes of brilliance in “The Eleventh Hour” and “Vincent and the Doctor,” Amy otherwise occupied the role of the typical sassy sidekick to a T. It became even worse once it became clear that River was Amy’s daughter, at which point Amy is reduced to merely the device that connected River and the Doctor once more.
6. Repetition, repetition, repetition
The problems listed above would not be so obvious if we didn’t see them week-in and week-out. Almost every episode is now solved with a reversal of time or a clever “timey wimey” moment, all in a typically overcomplicated fashion. From Amy, to River and now Clara, we are yet to see a fully formed character who can act as an equal to the Doctor. And speaking of the Doctor, his own characterisation is often questionable – for example when did he become okay with guns?
Of course all this may change with season 7. However currently, while Clara’s three incarnations have created a lot of fan theories, she remains little more than another plot device. Until Clara is given some actual backstory, personality or motivation, she is in danger of following in the footsteps of her (very similar) predecessors. Similarly, if there is any kind of overarching plot to be had in season 7, it would be great to see it sometime. Anytime, really.
Steven Moffat as a showrunner:
The majority of these issues are not things a writer of a single episode has to deal with. It is the responsibility of the showrunner, not the writer, to make sure that each episode ties into the overarching plot of the season and contributes to each character’s development. When a single episode is slightly overcomplicated, we don’t mind, but when we need Tumblr to navigate through a season, it is an issue. It is only now that Moffat must tackle the whole season that these problems have become abundantly apparent, and sadly so.
Doctor Who is a fantastic show, and it is not one that I will stop watching. But there is no question that I now watch with a little less excitement and a little less emotion, ever since Steven Moffat took the reins.