Stephen Moffat has appeared on Radio 5 live this morning and attacked ‘fans’ for spoiling the plot details for Doctor Who. After a press screening, a full and detailed account of the first two episodes of series 6 were posted online. Moffat didn’t mince his words when he said
You can imagine how much I hate them. It’s only fans who do this, or they call themselves fans. I wish they could go and be fans of something else.
Of course he is going to be angry about this, but didn’t he ask for this himself when he had a press screening for the episodes? Isn’t that just inviting spoilers to hit the net? Doctor Who is a very popular sci-fi show which asks more questions than it answers, so obviously there are going to be a number of sites dedicating themselves to the show. Including spoilers. There is always going to be someone out there to spoil the fun for everyone else, but why invite them in? If Moffat was so keen on keeping the episodes secret, he would never have allowed people to see the episodes before they were aired. Doctor Who has a very strong and loyal fanbase, it is shown in a prime slot on Saturday evening TV, and Moffat has proven himself to be a writer worthy of Who, so why does he think it needs press screenings? I think he is being incredibly harsh about the people who spoiled it.
To be fair, he has written on twitter how horrible he does sound, so I will forgive him that. But it is probably better not to bite the hand that feeds, Mr. Moffat.
I love Doctor Who. I have done since its regeneration in 2005. I have never watched old episodes of Who, not because I haven’t wanted to, just because the opportunity has never arose, it isn’t intentional. I loved it from the first episode, it was unlike anything that was TV at that time, and still is. It was fun, energetic, young, vibrant. All those good words. Christopher Eccleston was a marvellous Doctor and the ‘villian of the week’ style of the show made you feel like you were never quite committed to it, but of course, by the end of the series you were completely committed and a generation of new ‘Whovians’ were born. When Russell T Davies’ (RTD) writing started to get a bit samey and predictable, I think we all felt it was time for a breath of fresh air, and thats exactly what we got from Doctor number 11, Matt Smith.
I have nothing bad to say about Matt Smith, he is simply an amazing Doctor. When Moffat was brought in to replace RTDas head writer in 2009, he completely re-invented the show to the point where it is now almost unrecognisable from the Eccleston and Tennant years. The problem I have with the new invention is this. It has ceased to be an adventure show. Before Moffat and Smith, the stories were simple, one episode story arcs that would start at the beginning of the episode and finish at the end. Villian of the Week with an undercurrent of something else playing off in the background (Bad Wolf, Harold Saxon, ‘there is something on your back’) Now, I don’t know what it is. It seems to resemble a show like Lost rather than Doctor Who. Who shot the Doctor?! Who is the woman with the eye patch?! Is Amy pregnant?! Why did River say that at the end?! Who is the little girl and WHY is she regenerating?! All these questions were asked in the first and second episodes and were left unanswered. It really bugs me. Its confusing for me, how on earth is a small child supposed to get their heads round this? I’m so sick of the argument that it isn’t a kids show. Well, that maybe true but it is still a family show and children will watch it. Stephen Moffat, I think has got too big for his boots. His success is well earned. Towards the end of the RTD era, the Moffat penned episodes were the best and Sherlock is one of the best detective shows in amongst a wealth of detective shows on TV at the moment. But he needs to remember that not only can he write a poor episode, but other people aside from Doctor Who fanatics and conspiracy theorists watch the show and maybe they don’t like their heads being tied up in knots by convoluted plots and unfathomable characters. Matt Smith is still awesome though.
Sew It Begins 