Dear Steven Moffat,
Thanks to you, I'm watching Doctor Who. I watched Eleventh Hour and my mouth was ajar the whole time. Here was just a television show which was easily worthy of a cinematic release. Some 32 years since I first heard of Doctor Who, I was finally brought into the fold. This means that Matt Smith is my Doctor. As with many of my contemporaries, I started collecting DVDs for Series 1-4 to bring myself up to date. It made your taking over as head writer seem all the more a blessing.
However I have to say that the executive producing thing has taken its toll on your storytelling. We'll never see another The Doctor Dances or Blink (personally I felt The Girl in the Fireplace was what you'd call rubbish, so I don't count that among your gems). There's something inspired about those great stories, a go-for-it spirit, an surge of energy behind what made them possible. Even series 5 was one big inspired story arc, the likes I hadn't seen since Back to the Future trilogy or Buster Keaton's The Cameraman. I don't know if it's having to divide cleverness and plot between Doctor Who and Sherlock, but as marvelous as individual stories have been throughout series 6, the big one with River Song which you orchestrated was forced and contrived. An organized religious order after The Doctor? Yeah right. Sex between humans in the TARDIS imbue offspring with TimeLord DNA? 900+ years you'd think by now he'd have switched gears and lured people in for centuries just to rebuild his race. It's a bit crazy that he didn't know, unless it was made clear that the TARDIS intentionally caused Melody's enhancement, which hasn't been implied in any way. And still there's the question of how The Silence knew in the first place that Amy was carrying a part Timelord fetus? How did they know conception in the TARDIS would cause this if The Doctor himself didn't?
Can't say divvying up mental resources hasn't told on Sherlock. After a great start, Pretty in Pink had a copout ending. Suddenly Sherlock stopped what he was doing like someone holding up a shiney before a crow. No one who doesn't care what people think about them would stop to play ego footsie without bluffing, and he wasn't bluffing. That's too gullible for a walking analytical machine. It was a kink in the chain for the series IMHO.
Anyway, wrap it up. Cut the crap. No contrived endings. Bring back Wilf before Bernard Cribbins can no longer do the role. Let his best friend back in 2009 know he's okay. Forget a multi-Doctor reunion and stick The Doctor in that parallel universe to contend with a deadly and corrupt and overzealous Torchwood and half-human David Tennant, Pete, and Rose (there you have it: a sort of not quite tenth Doctor that won't slam The Doctor's own timeline).
Of course you won't be doing these, even if they serve as closure to the fans and that we see this as one all-encompassing show and deserving of some crossable barriers.
Oh and please PLEASE ask BBCAmerica to stop the hell altering the opening sequence. It's bad enough they take 25% off specials and two parter episodes that they have to further insult our intelligence with namby pamby content.
Thanks and here's to some real juicy storytelling for series 7 and 8! Make it worth the wait for a double series for the 50th. Hopefully - if the planet still exists in 2014 - we're back to starting on Easter.
Showing posts with label BBC America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BBC America. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Review: New Doctor Who 5th Series DVD Set
The New Doctor Who 5th Series DVD offers the best you'll ever see for a TV show. The episodes carry a cinematic quality to them. The plots won't insult your intelligence; only once was a key plot aspect predictible (which is a pretty darn good record). These intriguing stories have brought something very special to the UK: a time for everyone to sit together on a Saturday afternoon and watch as a family.
Despite the merit of these episodes, I am quite disappointed with the boxed set. Having collected Series 1 through 4 plus The Complete Specials for backstory throughout the year, I really expected continuity with regard to packaging and content.
Video Quality - You mean I'll have to buy a Blu Ray player to expect the clean quality I have with my iTunes download of Eleventh Hour? (I bought this when the first Doctor Who Confidential BBC America released on their site showed scenes they themselves cut for broadcast. Think I mentioned last spring their taking a 25% bite out of character and integral continuity from this launch episode)
Cut? They cut the Next Time sequences. Never did before. Sure they're not part of the story but it's still cutting.
Whose bright idea was it to put Time of Angels and Heart of Stone on separate discs? Common Sense Alert: Extras with Eleventh Hour, then move Beast Below to Disc 2 which ultimately pushes Time of Angels to the next disc.
Why was the BBC Proms show omitted? Two prior musical events have been included in sets. Will it be included with Series 6?
No deleted scenes? There are always deleted scenes. One from Hungry Earth leaked out during the summer, which launched a thousand irrational slash fictions.
Outtakes - not many. An official teaser video covered most of them; there weren't too many more. Some of them weren't even outtakes. Granted one of the previous sets thought Cybermen prancing around in a park was an outtake too, but we'd have hoped they grew up by then.
Video Diaries - If you blink you'll miss them. Seriously, David Tennant's were far superior, particularly in the Series 2 set, where he took you through genuine impressions and a fascinating view of how a series is constructed. Wasn't it about 90 minutes of content? I think the camera they gave him to use was better as well. The interesting thing I found from this year's video diaries is that the set for the previous TARDIS resides near the new one - with the frames rebuilt. But that's it really.
Meanwhile in the TARDIS - exclusive skits. Well, they're not exclusive. The two sequences circulating on the Internet are the only two they have to offer. All the hype about adventures in and seeing more areas of the TARDIS was BS. They were clearly shot later and at the same time. One generates a gaping continuity glitch (Amy's revelation that The Doctor is an alien and not human occurs AFTER this in the next episode).
The Doctor Who Confidentials are a bit of a letdown. The Internet clearly reveals that DWC often had more content. A great example was the one for Big Bang. While we got some footage of them shooting the wedding, most of that minisode was devoted not to the making of the an epic production but following Smith, Gillam and Moffat to The East Village to host a screening of Eleventh Hour. Meanwhile a viral video reveals that the UK covered shooting the fez-blasting sequence. Which would YOU rather see on a making-of show? Just how much HAS been kept from us in America with the average Confidential piece taking 10-16 minutes? BBC was a big fail here, giving us nothing more than the teasers available on their site in inferior quality.
What should they have included beside the Proms? Content exclusive to the BBC UK site; you'd think it was exclusive because they were going to release it to us. This would include games, which are not unusual as DVD extras (the one regret of Tennant Era sets was they didn't include Attack of the Graske).
Karen Interviews Matt / Matt Interviews Karen - notable content from BBC UK which I saved off YouTube. Entertaining and insightful sessions with Smith and Gillam. The first thing you'll say to yourself is "She's very Amy." Would have liked these in high quality and included. Well, I'm including one of them here:
Would anybody else have liked to see the entire readthrough for Eleventh Hour? A short sequence in the first DWC was very intriguing.
A major letdown were the commentaries. First of all, the packaging and DVD menu give no information on who is commenting on which episode - have you ever heard of such a thing? A bit insulting; gives us an idea of exactly what the BBC thinks of us. Second, the two times I set to commentary and started an episode, there was no episode. There was audio of it in the background and a shot of Moffat, Wenger, and Willis sitting uncomfortably side by side against a wall. No actors included in comentaries? Also: why would they use in-vision if these didn't feature Smith and Gillam? Use audio for behind-the-scenes people. And as much as I am a fan of Steven Moffat's work, he IS a behind-the-scenes person. Common sense here if not common courtesy with fair warning and an indicia on or in the packaging. The only time in-vision was utilized previously was for Series 2 Doomsday with Billie Piper and David Tennant. These were the people you WANTED to watch during Rose's final episode. That and Tennant's video diary entry of Rose's farewell shoot were priceless accounts. Ditto for audio commentary with End of Time pt 2 featuring David Tennant, John Simm (the Master) and director Eros Lyn. In fact, for most audio commentaries in series sets 2-4+S, some notable performer was present.
Ultimately? Yes, for the episodes, this is a fantastic set to own. If you bought all the episodes on iTunes and just want it for the extras, then it's very eh; if you like scraps, go for it. If you're a completist fanatic then no one can stop you and a review may be irrelevent for you to read.
If you've got the UK version, I'd really like to know what was different about what you got in your package. Were your Confidentials the length of full episodes? Did the BBC forget we had 1 hour versions on the Complete Specials set? I'd love take out a moment of nitpicking and compare durations of DWC episodes. Let's bust those suckers for restricting content on their site not for any international regulations but to cover up what they intentionally deprive USA - and Canadian fans (aren't they region 1 too?) of.
Despite the merit of these episodes, I am quite disappointed with the boxed set. Having collected Series 1 through 4 plus The Complete Specials for backstory throughout the year, I really expected continuity with regard to packaging and content.
Video Quality - You mean I'll have to buy a Blu Ray player to expect the clean quality I have with my iTunes download of Eleventh Hour? (I bought this when the first Doctor Who Confidential BBC America released on their site showed scenes they themselves cut for broadcast. Think I mentioned last spring their taking a 25% bite out of character and integral continuity from this launch episode)
Cut? They cut the Next Time sequences. Never did before. Sure they're not part of the story but it's still cutting.
Whose bright idea was it to put Time of Angels and Heart of Stone on separate discs? Common Sense Alert: Extras with Eleventh Hour, then move Beast Below to Disc 2 which ultimately pushes Time of Angels to the next disc.
Why was the BBC Proms show omitted? Two prior musical events have been included in sets. Will it be included with Series 6?
No deleted scenes? There are always deleted scenes. One from Hungry Earth leaked out during the summer, which launched a thousand irrational slash fictions.
Outtakes - not many. An official teaser video covered most of them; there weren't too many more. Some of them weren't even outtakes. Granted one of the previous sets thought Cybermen prancing around in a park was an outtake too, but we'd have hoped they grew up by then.
Video Diaries - If you blink you'll miss them. Seriously, David Tennant's were far superior, particularly in the Series 2 set, where he took you through genuine impressions and a fascinating view of how a series is constructed. Wasn't it about 90 minutes of content? I think the camera they gave him to use was better as well. The interesting thing I found from this year's video diaries is that the set for the previous TARDIS resides near the new one - with the frames rebuilt. But that's it really.
Meanwhile in the TARDIS - exclusive skits. Well, they're not exclusive. The two sequences circulating on the Internet are the only two they have to offer. All the hype about adventures in and seeing more areas of the TARDIS was BS. They were clearly shot later and at the same time. One generates a gaping continuity glitch (Amy's revelation that The Doctor is an alien and not human occurs AFTER this in the next episode).
The Doctor Who Confidentials are a bit of a letdown. The Internet clearly reveals that DWC often had more content. A great example was the one for Big Bang. While we got some footage of them shooting the wedding, most of that minisode was devoted not to the making of the an epic production but following Smith, Gillam and Moffat to The East Village to host a screening of Eleventh Hour. Meanwhile a viral video reveals that the UK covered shooting the fez-blasting sequence. Which would YOU rather see on a making-of show? Just how much HAS been kept from us in America with the average Confidential piece taking 10-16 minutes? BBC was a big fail here, giving us nothing more than the teasers available on their site in inferior quality.
What should they have included beside the Proms? Content exclusive to the BBC UK site; you'd think it was exclusive because they were going to release it to us. This would include games, which are not unusual as DVD extras (the one regret of Tennant Era sets was they didn't include Attack of the Graske).
Karen Interviews Matt / Matt Interviews Karen - notable content from BBC UK which I saved off YouTube. Entertaining and insightful sessions with Smith and Gillam. The first thing you'll say to yourself is "She's very Amy." Would have liked these in high quality and included. Well, I'm including one of them here:
Would anybody else have liked to see the entire readthrough for Eleventh Hour? A short sequence in the first DWC was very intriguing.
A major letdown were the commentaries. First of all, the packaging and DVD menu give no information on who is commenting on which episode - have you ever heard of such a thing? A bit insulting; gives us an idea of exactly what the BBC thinks of us. Second, the two times I set to commentary and started an episode, there was no episode. There was audio of it in the background and a shot of Moffat, Wenger, and Willis sitting uncomfortably side by side against a wall. No actors included in comentaries? Also: why would they use in-vision if these didn't feature Smith and Gillam? Use audio for behind-the-scenes people. And as much as I am a fan of Steven Moffat's work, he IS a behind-the-scenes person. Common sense here if not common courtesy with fair warning and an indicia on or in the packaging. The only time in-vision was utilized previously was for Series 2 Doomsday with Billie Piper and David Tennant. These were the people you WANTED to watch during Rose's final episode. That and Tennant's video diary entry of Rose's farewell shoot were priceless accounts. Ditto for audio commentary with End of Time pt 2 featuring David Tennant, John Simm (the Master) and director Eros Lyn. In fact, for most audio commentaries in series sets 2-4+S, some notable performer was present.
Ultimately? Yes, for the episodes, this is a fantastic set to own. If you bought all the episodes on iTunes and just want it for the extras, then it's very eh; if you like scraps, go for it. If you're a completist fanatic then no one can stop you and a review may be irrelevent for you to read.
If you've got the UK version, I'd really like to know what was different about what you got in your package. Were your Confidentials the length of full episodes? Did the BBC forget we had 1 hour versions on the Complete Specials set? I'd love take out a moment of nitpicking and compare durations of DWC episodes. Let's bust those suckers for restricting content on their site not for any international regulations but to cover up what they intentionally deprive USA - and Canadian fans (aren't they region 1 too?) of.
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