10 Things I Hate About Who. Part Two: Stupid Publicity Gimmicks

I have made no effort to disguise my growing disdain for NuWho.  I was concerned I was speaking to an empty theater so to speak, but to quote the Face of Boe, "You are not alone".  On one of the Facebook pages I belong to (Classic Doctor Who Fans Who Dislike New Who), I have come across a series of thoughts by Mr. Paul Berry.  We in the group were so genuinely impressed by his series that I urged him to publish them. 

Ethan White of Sixstanger00 has requested permission to upload them on his YouTube page.  I don't know if Mr. Berry has but hope he does.  I for my part asked for permission to reprint them on this site. 

Mr. Berry has graciously allowed me to republish them as he posts them, and here is the second of a ten-essay series.  It is reprinted as written with the content exactly as it appears.  The only alterations made are for any grammatical/spelling errors, spacing for paragraphs, and perhaps a few afterthoughts which will be noted after the photos. 

I hope readers enjoy and share them.  I also hope readers will debate these matters, for I believe in a healthy debate.  However, I find Mr. Berry's comments and thoughts quite well-thought out and worthy of a greater audience. 

With that, I present Part Two of this series: 10 Things I Hate About New Who. 

 

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10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT NEW WHO

2) STUPID PUBLICITY GIMMICKS


Okay every series needs publicity; you can't blame the BBC for actually pushing the series, but it crosses the line when it actually starts to effect the drama of the show. Various elements in the new series have been introduced purely to get people talking and gain inches in the tabloids, not because they were good ideas.

The first one that springs to mind was the Tenth Doctor's supposed regeneration at the end of The Stolen Earth; anyone with any sense would have known that David Tennant hadn't really left the series, but it was enough to get speculation going and people in a frenzy, all free publicity for the series. This wouldn't have been so bad if the idea had been followed through in some interesting way, but it was quickly copped out as the 10th Doctor unsurprisingly regenerated into himself. It cheapened regeneration all for the sake of generating a bit of chatter.

A few months later Davies was at it again, this time by revealing that the year's Christmas episode would be called The Next Doctor. I think David Tennant had announced he was leaving at this point. Davies was deliberately trying to get people to believe that the next Doctor would show up in the Christmas episode; once again plenty of free publicity and tabloid inches. Fast forward a few months and again massive copout when David Morrisey's Doctor is revealed to be just an ordinary human.

We then have the recurring gimmick of making us believe a character is going to die. I think Rose was the first when the end of Fear Her had her revealing that we were going to hear the story about the day she died, and of course she didn't and that was no bad thing. But why mention it at all? Why not let the story stand on its own merits?

A few years later they were at it again, making a big thing about Donna Noble dying; once again she didn't. In 2011 the 6th series launched with the gimmick that one of the main characters was about to die, and Moffat of course pretended to kill the Doctor off. Only he was about the only character no one would actually believe could be dead. Lo and behold he wasn't dead after all; it was a robot duplicate.

We also now seem to have a recurring gimmick of making you think Clara has left the Doctor once and for all, only for her to pop up again in the next story; again BBC Wales are just playing with Jenna Coleman's probably imminent departure and trying to generate speculation. All this would be fine if it weren't interfering with the drama of the show, but Clara's coming and goings are now just getting irritating.

Then of course there are the titles used purely for effect and to get people talking, not because they are good titles. I've already mentioned The Next Doctor, but add to that The Doctor's Daughter, The Doctor's Wife, Let's Kill Hitler, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and probably a few more as well.

The fact is good drama should sell itself; if a show is good and is popular with its audience it shouldn't need to rely on cheap tactics like BBC Wales constantly do. To me that displays a lack of confidence in the product they are putting out.

NEXT TIME: 3) IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?

 

 

I do know that the term "The Doctor" has been used far too much in the revived series.  Take a look at the titles post-Rose:  The Doctor's Wife, The Doctor's Daughter, The Next Doctor, The Name/Day/Time of The Doctor, The Doctor Dances, Vincent & The Doctor, The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe.  Compare this to the original series, where "The Doctor" or "Doctor Who" appeared exactly three times in twenty-six years.  With the First Doctor it appeared twice: Episode Five of The Chase (The Death of Doctor Who), Episode One of The Gunfighters (A Holiday for The Doctor), and the Third Doctor story Doctor Who & The Silurians. 

 

It got to be a point of parody.  NuWhovians insist that the Name/Day/Time of The Doctor make up some sort of trilogy which justifies the use of The (Blank) of The Doctor, but if one watches the three episodes back-to-back, they don't even match what came before.  It became so idiotic that for the Twelfth Doctor, I decided to mock this trend by calling every review The (Blank) of The Doctor. 

 

I think a lot of these gimmicks appeal only to NuWho fans, who don't know the history of Doctor Who (but pretend that they do) and thus are genuinely unaware. Take Tenth's supposed Regeneration Part One.  When David Tennant appeared to begin regeneration, we got a 'handy' solution to the problem, and we're left with the idea that the Doctor can basically regenerate to his prior self.  That's never happened before, but for those who know little to nothing of regenerations, it makes sense...sort of.  I'm sure it made for a fantastic cliffhanger, but we're left with a lot of nonsense.  The HAND absorbed his regeneration energy?  Why didn't he do this before to stop himself from fully regenerating?

 

That now lead to a more complicated situation.  At first we were assured it was NOT, repeat NOT a regeneration.  Now it is.  So long as it gets a Twitter trend I guess...

 

It was a silly publicity stunt, as was the entire "The Doctor will die by the shores of Gichee-Gumee...I mean, Lake Silencio".  No matter how much NuWho tries to make me worry, I know that you can't kill off the main character.  Apparently, Moffat can't kill anyone off.  I've written about his bizarre phobia of death, but no matter how often Doctor Who WANTS me to get excited about something with these 'shocking' plot twists, the only things I feel are disgust, anger, and now genuine disinterest.