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stunt_muppet at 12:21pm on 16/11/2009 under doctor who, fanfics, homework-fleeing ten-minute lj break, rants, things i want to write, writing
stunt_muppet at 12:21pm on 16/11/2009 under doctor who, fanfics, homework-fleeing ten-minute lj break, rants, things i want to write, writingYou know, I think I just managed to include fanwanky denials of Timewyrm: Revelation in one of my fic drafts without even meaning to. Huh. Apparently my NA nerd-rage is just that powerful.
(No, I wasn't writing an actual fic, because I still have, ahem, things to finish not to mention schoolwork out to here, but I ticked out a draft on my cell phone just before bed last night. Forcing myself to write things might actually be working!)
I have a feeling though, that this renewed bout of NA nerd rage is up to the fact that I've spoilered myself for The Waters of Mars and
...and I'm done. Okay. That was perhaps more rant than I planned. The main thing I wanted to say was, on those occasions when I'm not panicking about Yuletide, would anyone be willing to brainstorm/idea-bounce with me about the additional chapters I've drafted to Made Up Your Mind? I'd like to know if they work thematically or if I'm being a pretentious wanker again and should stop.
Also I would really like a quick beta for my (late, woe)![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
dw_femslash fic - mostly for SPaG, but I'd also like to know if it's tonally all over the place or moves too slow.
So, um, a little help, flist?
(No, I wasn't writing an actual fic, because I still have, ahem, things to finish not to mention schoolwork out to here, but I ticked out a draft on my cell phone just before bed last night. Forcing myself to write things might actually be working!)
I have a feeling though, that this renewed bout of NA nerd rage is up to the fact that I've spoilered myself for The Waters of Mars and
New Who has apparently decided it wants to be the NAs, what with the Darkness! and Death! and Moral Ambiguity Which Isn't, Actually! and the Doctor as Vengeful Petulant God of Time! and...yeah. Given my powerful, almost violent hate for some of the NAs, I think I'll be sitting the rest of this series out and hope that Moff Tiem pleasantly surprises me.
I know, I know, people are crying out "James Bond Doctor!" and "he'll be too swaggery! he might start, like, kissing girls and things!", but tbh, I kind of figure that was Moffat writing for Ten, who now canonically has more hubris than body hair. Perhaps he'll take a different tack for Eleven.
Besides, at least Moffat recognizes that Who is, at heart, a family show, and that it might not be a smart idea for the hero of a famly show to be a self-pitying megalomaniacal unsympathetic cockwad who people would rather kill themselves than follow.
Look, I'm not saying you can't have moral ambiguity. I like moral ambiguity. But Ten doesn't really even do moral ambiguity - he does Fits of Petty Cosmic Rage followed by Feeling Really Bad About It. There's no sense that either option he has could be the "right" one from a certain perspective; there's "lubelesly boning the laws of time" and "letting everyone die while you walk away", no in-between (which would be relatively easy to write - couldn't he have dropped everyone off at a different time or on a different planet so they wouldn't affect Earth history? And that's still leaving their families behind, so you can have your angst and ambiguity about whether that's really better than dying!).
It's like the "moral choice" system in video games, which I have a problem with. You can either sell your worldly possessions to give to orphans or you can wear the entrails of kittens as a fashionable scarf - actual ambiguity doesn't feature very highly. Making your 'hero' a torturer and killer, drunk on his own moral authority, doesn't make him ambiguous or interesting; it just makes him unlikable and unsympathetic. It's pure Nineties Darker and Edgier, and one Superboy-Prime was more than enough.
This probably makes me sound like a very stupid person who can't handle adult storytelling or whatever, but by this point I've ceased to give a shit. Call me immature if it makes you feel better.
I know, I know, people are crying out "James Bond Doctor!" and "he'll be too swaggery! he might start, like, kissing girls and things!", but tbh, I kind of figure that was Moffat writing for Ten, who now canonically has more hubris than body hair. Perhaps he'll take a different tack for Eleven.
Besides, at least Moffat recognizes that Who is, at heart, a family show, and that it might not be a smart idea for the hero of a famly show to be a self-pitying megalomaniacal unsympathetic cockwad who people would rather kill themselves than follow.
Look, I'm not saying you can't have moral ambiguity. I like moral ambiguity. But Ten doesn't really even do moral ambiguity - he does Fits of Petty Cosmic Rage followed by Feeling Really Bad About It. There's no sense that either option he has could be the "right" one from a certain perspective; there's "lubelesly boning the laws of time" and "letting everyone die while you walk away", no in-between (which would be relatively easy to write - couldn't he have dropped everyone off at a different time or on a different planet so they wouldn't affect Earth history? And that's still leaving their families behind, so you can have your angst and ambiguity about whether that's really better than dying!).
It's like the "moral choice" system in video games, which I have a problem with. You can either sell your worldly possessions to give to orphans or you can wear the entrails of kittens as a fashionable scarf - actual ambiguity doesn't feature very highly. Making your 'hero' a torturer and killer, drunk on his own moral authority, doesn't make him ambiguous or interesting; it just makes him unlikable and unsympathetic. It's pure Nineties Darker and Edgier, and one Superboy-Prime was more than enough.
This probably makes me sound like a very stupid person who can't handle adult storytelling or whatever, but by this point I've ceased to give a shit. Call me immature if it makes you feel better.
...and I'm done. Okay. That was perhaps more rant than I planned. The main thing I wanted to say was, on those occasions when I'm not panicking about Yuletide, would anyone be willing to brainstorm/idea-bounce with me about the additional chapters I've drafted to Made Up Your Mind? I'd like to know if they work thematically or if I'm being a pretentious wanker again and should stop.
Also I would really like a quick beta for my (late, woe)
dw_femslash fic - mostly for SPaG, but I'd also like to know if it's tonally all over the place or moves too slow. So, um, a little help, flist?
apathetic
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I know he said this a couple weeks ago, but previously he has stated that he doesn't care if in the past it was considered a kids' show...he will write what he wants, how he wants, and if mums feel it's too scary they don't have to let their families watch. This was in response to comments about Blink being too frightening for children...I'm trying to find the original interview.
Anyway, I have always found Moffat's comments to be dismissive re the history of DW. He seems to want to take Who in a more adult direction, "family show" be damned. I think if he wants to make a more adult sci-fi show, he should create his own.
Fits of Petty Cosmic Rage followed by Feeling Really Bad About It
So you haven't watched it yet? I don't guess it's spoiling anything to say this is EXACTLY what happens in the last 10 minutes. Just...weirdly bi-polar.
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which seems more like taking doctor who in an "adult direction": a show with scary statue monsters that are inevitably defeated by a brave and quirky hero, or a show where the brave and quirky hero goes batshit insane with his own hubris and makes people kill themselves?
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I was just pointing out that The Moff's comments from a couple weeks ago are a 180 from his previous statements about his intent for the show.
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anyway, even if he did say, "fuck the rest of doctor who; i do what i want!" when he was writing blink, he may indeed have rethought that position since actually becoming the show-runner.
sorry, i don't want to come across as a RTD-hater or a crazy moff-lover (they both have their weaknesses and strengths, although i think moffat is generally a better writer), i just don't understand where this idea that moffat wants to make doctor who an adult show and will ruin rusty's fun-loving children's hour has come from. it's all over fandom and it makes no sense.
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But certainly, he might have had a change of heart since taking over. I'm very willing to watch and enjoy the new series.
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...I had not heard about that. :( Dammit, Moffat, I keep giving you the benefit of the doubt and your interviews keep blowing it.
I based my statement mostly on a previous interview, where someone had asked him about what he thought of Wall-E and whether he was surprised it got the acclaim it did. He responded that childrens' programming didn't have to be simplistic and unsophisticated; childrens' shows could be complex and meaningful. Which is a point I very much agree with, so I was willing to grant a point in his favor.
I certainly don't think Moffat is going to be a shiny new screenwriting god. He slags off on the old show more than I'd like, since it means a whole new set of viewers have to unlearn the "old Doctors = ineffectual and too posh, old companions = helpless ankle-twisters with no character" mantra. And he's expressed some uncomfortable views about women and gender in general. But I'm hoping he can keep most of those out of his writing. Really, really hoping.
I'd been spoilered for the last 10 minutes of the special, hence why I brought it up. The thing is, dark!Doctor makes sense given Ten's characterization throughout the rest of his series', and it's nice that they're actually acknowledging that his hubris is a bad thing rather than giving him a pass on it. But I hate dark!Doctor as a whole so much that I can't enjoy the conclusion of it.
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I'm willing to give it the basic sp&g-pick if you like...
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