This is something I've wanted to write for a while now. Ever since the 11th doctor regenerated I've been very hopeful for how the 12th will be especially after the one bit he did get in "Time of the doctor" Still very off kilter (complaining about his kidneys being the wrong color) and it seemed very Doctor while being unique for the 20 seconds we saw at least. Then Steven Moffat did an interview and for the first time I started getting nervous. He said that this is going to be a very different doctor from the last two and to be fair change is neither good or bad it's just change but then he used one word to describe the 12th and I immediately started to sweat a little; "Gritty"
I've learned to beware of this word. You see I'm a fan of the more colorful and cheerful stories not that they can't go into dark places but making a story morose and depressing and have a completely dark or yes gritty story usually ends up being uninteresting to me since if I don;t think it's gonna be happy at the end of the story why would I play it? Not that a bitter sweet ending is bad it's just if the tone gives away the ending...well without spoiling anything who actually though the last of us was gonna end with humanity being restored or someone actually being happy?
But how does this get into series 8 you may ask and what do morose and gritty have to do with each other? Well after the first trailer with the doctor asking clara if he's a good man and her responding that she doesn't know I was a bit nervous still very excited. I was always the one pumping excitement for the 11th just snapping but to be fair it was more because of the size of something like that happening as well as the Duality of the happy and silly 11th with a darker side. Take the captain run away scene from "A good man goes to war" very unnerving but it still was the doctor. what I'm worried about isn't doctor who having a doctor with a dark side. What I'm worried about is the doctor becoming a super serious and monotone gritty adult series rather then the more light hearted at times and dark at times show that can be enjoyed by anyone.
I love doctor who because it's positive even if it does become dark the message always ends up positive and the main reason I hate a lot of modern media is because of what they've done to zombies and how the main theme of it seems to be "zombies suck but humans are always worse because they're jerks" It's a purely negative message and no matter how many stories try to use the "but we're still good at heart" bit to make it positive the main thing they beat you over the head with is human's are dicks.
One of my favorite two parters in doctor who is "The hungry earth" and "Cold blood". They give the message that people aren't perfect they make mistakes but all in all aren't bad people they just have hard decisions to make. When in any modern zombie film game or otherwise do you refer to the bandits as anything other then bandits or enemies?
I know it sounds like I'm just complaining about depressing stories....and admittedly it's something I've wanted to get out of my system but it comes around. The doctor isn't a fully dark or serious character he has those sides and maybe that's what they want to get across but a fully dark and not a good person doctor is gonna be a tough sell.
That being said we do have quite a few reason to be optimistic. First of all it is under the watch of the same team that did the 11th's tenure and those are some damn good episodes so there is that. As well again the infamous kidney line makes me think he's still got that off kind of goof to him. As well think back to the 10th doctor's first episode. Aside from the awesome lion king joke he was fairly dark. They could easily have made a trailer similar to the "Am I a good man?" trailer for the tenth and at times the eleventh.
So do I think a dark doctor would be objectively bad? Not really but I know quite a few people would have issues if he got too edgey. The doctor isn't aggressive and if they go too far with that then we'll have a lot of issues with older fans and a lot of the newer fans alike. Some people may like something darker and him having a realization about his methods of old and honestly again I was always on the "doctor going nuts" train too but it all depends on how they do it. Again doctors have dark sides and in fact one picture they used from filming with the doctor in a jungle wearing a rubber glove brandishing a scalpel made me laugh quite a bit.
I don't think this series is gonna destroy the franchise or come even close. But I am worried of it becoming too dark or falling into tropes that come with that darkness or....Grit as it were. I have full faith in Capaldi and Moffat to make this a great season but it's the niggling feeling that me and most people feel and that I can't blame them for that gave me the reason to write this....that and I really wanted to bitch about negative stories and how much I hate them.
I know it sounds like I'm just complaining about depressing stories....and admittedly it's something I've wanted to get out of my system but it comes around. The doctor isn't a fully dark or serious character he has those sides and maybe that's what they want to get across but a fully dark and not a good person doctor is gonna be a tough sell.
That being said we do have quite a few reason to be optimistic. First of all it is under the watch of the same team that did the 11th's tenure and those are some damn good episodes so there is that. As well again the infamous kidney line makes me think he's still got that off kind of goof to him. As well think back to the 10th doctor's first episode. Aside from the awesome lion king joke he was fairly dark. They could easily have made a trailer similar to the "Am I a good man?" trailer for the tenth and at times the eleventh.
So do I think a dark doctor would be objectively bad? Not really but I know quite a few people would have issues if he got too edgey. The doctor isn't aggressive and if they go too far with that then we'll have a lot of issues with older fans and a lot of the newer fans alike. Some people may like something darker and him having a realization about his methods of old and honestly again I was always on the "doctor going nuts" train too but it all depends on how they do it. Again doctors have dark sides and in fact one picture they used from filming with the doctor in a jungle wearing a rubber glove brandishing a scalpel made me laugh quite a bit.
I don't think this series is gonna destroy the franchise or come even close. But I am worried of it becoming too dark or falling into tropes that come with that darkness or....Grit as it were. I have full faith in Capaldi and Moffat to make this a great season but it's the niggling feeling that me and most people feel and that I can't blame them for that gave me the reason to write this....that and I really wanted to bitch about negative stories and how much I hate them.
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