Doctor Who Club of Australia

[Greg]

Hi and welcome to the Doctor Who Club of Australia’s Poll of the Month.
Every month we are aiming create a new Poll and publish the results in our club newsletter Data Extract.

We also encourage you to make comment. A selection of the best comments will also be published in Data Extract with the most insightful published comment being eligible to win a prize. (To win a prize you must be a member of the DWCA).

Try to keep your comments concise and spoiler free as possible.

POLL OF THE MONTH: JUNE

Who is you favourite writer on the first two new series of Dr Who and why?

Decisions about the potentially prize-winning entry will be made based on posts included in this thread to 30 June 2007.

To help you out, here are the episode titles and their authors:

Series 1
Rose - Russell T Davies
The End of the World - Russell T Davies
The Unquiet Dead - Mark Gatiss
Aliens of London - Russell T Davies
World War Three - Russell T Davies
Dalek - Robert Shearman
The Long Game - Russell T Davies
Father's Day - Paul Cornell
The Empty Child - Steven Moffat
The Doctor Dances - Steven Moffat
Boom Town - Russell T Davies
Bad Wolf - Russell T Davies
The Parting of the Ways - Russell T Davies

Christmas Special
The Christmas Invasion - Russell T Davies

Series 2
New Earth - Russell T Davies
Tooth and Claw - Russell T Davies
School Reunion - Toby Whithouse
The Girl in the Fireplace - Steven Moffat
Rise of the Cybermen - Tom MacRae
The Age of Steel - Tom MacRae
The Idiot's Lantern - Mark Gatiss
The Impossible Planet - Matt Jones
The Satan Pit - Matt Jones
Love and Monsters - Russell T Davies
Fear Her - Matthew Graham
Army of Ghosts - Russell T Davies
Doomsday - Russell T Davies

Note: A similar poll on Series 3 writers will be held when the series is broadcast in Australia.

[Sulp Niar]

It'd have to be Steven Moffat. So far he's scripted my favourite stories from both series - The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances from Series One and The Girl in the Fireplace from Series Two respectively - and that alone counts for something.

Beyond that really simple statement though, I should probably explain why. I feel that he balances excellent science fiction plots alongside historicals; in The Empty Child, it's the nanobot reconstruction in World War II London, where we see "physical injuries as plague"... gas-masked wearing zombies, effectively. In The Girl in the Fireplace we see a lovely looking fireplace that acts as a window between France and a spaceship in the year 5000. The reasons for the two being linked are often beautifully simple; the "SS Madame de Pompadour" revelation right at the end of the latter story was a shocking twist. And in a series of deus ex machina endings, the ending to The Empty Child was predictable but also perfect. The Girl in the Fireplace's ending had an inevitably about it too, which was depressing beyond belief.

Another reason that I enjoy Moffat's scripts so much is that he brings in the "love" angle that Russell T Davies has wedged into the series but does so in a manner that is much more mature than the lusting teenagers of the other stories. In The Empty Child, it's played as a heroic gentleman romanticism with the dancing metaphor, which, lest we forget, also works perfectly with the WWII setting. In The Girl in the Fireplace, it's a fairytale, as the Doctor visits a girl throughout history and eventually she dies before he gets to stay with her forever. Again, the fairytale motif works with the shifted setting, this time into gorgeous France.

Moffat also knows how to balance the scares and the laughs, too. The Empty Child, seeing as its central "villain" is a gas-masked child, is the creepiest episode of the first series, as something about possessed children and the loss of innocence taps into a very adult terror (yet a creepiness that kids will feel too). In The Girl in the Fireplace, the clockwork robots have almost grotesque carnival masks. Amidst this though, we also get very funny comedy. Lines such as "Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete" (the Doctor making a poor excuse to get out of dancing) in the former story and "Dunno, just made it up. Didn't want to say 'magic door'" are blisteringly funny and smack of parody without grounding the story into farce.

Finally, I feel that Moffat writes extremely well for the Doctors. In The Empty Child, the Doctor is by turns funny and grim; witness the scene where he answers the phone on his TARDIS for an example of this. He is mostly grim for the story, which plays to Christopher Eccleston's strengths, but allows moments of childishness too which again is pulled off well. For David Tennant's Doctor, Moffat scripts him as fast-talking as the other writers, but never has him talk about irrelevant things that often he does in stories such as Doomsday (to perhaps unfairly point the finger at). Moffat writes in the Doctor's eccentricity in a much more believable way - the unfairly aligned "drunk" scene demonstrates the Doctor playing the fool so that he can sneak up on the clockwork robots and outwit them, which is something we haven't seen since the days of Tom Baker.

So yes, for those reasons, and probably more I've forgotten, Steven Moffat is my favourite writer of the first two series so far. This may change for Series Three, but the others will have to write extremely well to top him.

[obsecration]

I'm pretty much in agreeance with what Sulp Niar said previously. My favourite story is The Girl In The Fireplace.

[dave]

Steven Moffat is my favourite TV writer, bar none - mainly due to the quality of the series Coupling, but his work on DW has been outstanding, and I wish he'd been the one to resurrect DW, and not RTD. He should write more two parters. In fact, he should just write more eps in general.

[charlie]

I find it hard to choose between Moffat and Davies. Moffat writes great sci-fis, captures the characters, makes it interesting and entertaining, But Davies writes heaps and directs and everything else. A very commendable effort on RTD's part. But in the end I prefer quality over quantity. ie IT crowd > blackbooks

[SharazJek]

That was a tough one, because although my favourite story was The Unquiet Dead, due mainly to the setting, I was more entertained by the scripts of Steven Moffat in both series 1 & 2, if that makes any sense.

He deserves to be winning the sci-fi awards he's been getting the last couple of years.

[Dazzler]

Out of all the writers, I've found that I enjoy Steven Moffat's writing the most. Russell T. Davies also wrote some very scripts so I had a hard time deciding. But the ones Moffat did struck me as very emotional stories and pulled off with humour and charm to make really memorable Dr Who episodes.

[phase5]

Not at all surprised by the results of the poll, with which I agree with totally.

[Tegan]

I agree, Steven Moffat is yet to write anything less than a brilliant script.

Moffat for PM I say! And that can be either or both Britain and Australia.

[montypython]

I like Matt Jones the most. The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit were full of action and mystery. They were full of twists and turns and the compulsory chase-through-the-ventilation-system (even though it wasn't a ventilation system) scene that always brings thrills. The idea of the devil being imprisoned and the fact that the idea of his existence is what keeps him alive was very interesting.

It was good to see Rose taking some control as opposed to standing there and screaming. And yes, I do love that he gave Rose and the Doctor that adorable kiss on the helmet, he almost made the Doctor admit his love to Rose, he said he believed in her, and they had that cute hug.

[uhumanite]

Personaly I've enjoyed all of the new series, Steven Moffat has done a great job and I'm a massive Mark Gatiss supporter but I'm breaking the trend set and voting for Russel T Davies who not only co produces, comes up with the "shopping list" for all the stories but also writes a large portion of quality scripts per series and truly did reimagine WHO and make it into the success it is today.

We might not agree with everything he does but I find him one of the big reasons for the series success.

[Sulp Niar]

I agree with everything you said about RTD, he is brilliant in those respects. He's just not my favourite writer, that's all.

[ADAMK]

I agree that RTD deserves heaps of praise for being the creative force behind the successful revival of the show and he has also crafted a number of fine stories too!

Still I voted for Steven Moffat for his wonderful contributions, particularly TGITF which I think is one of the finest DW episodes of all time!

[Chickmacgyver]

This is a hard question, but I would say Paul Cornell. Father's Day is still my favourite story for me on so many levels -- emotion, tension, pace, the interaction between Rose and the Doctor, and the wonderful mind bending moments of time interference that Dr.Who can deal with so well. It is one of the stories I can quite happily go over many times and find new things each time.

Father's Day is very closely followed by The Girl in the Fireplace, penned by Steven Moffat, as a second favourite. It is also another story with wonderful time bending concepts. Hmmm... I am starting to notice a trend!!

Smiles, Izzy

[montypython]

Okay, can someone please explain to me what was so good about GITF? I admit it's got some funny lines and an interesting plot, but it's so contradictory! The Doctor told Rose in School Reunion that he wouldn't leave her behind, and what happens the very next episode? He also doesn't seem extremely upset to be stranded, but in The Impossible Planet he's whining about the loss of the TARDIS. Also, Reinette told the droids "I have seen your world and have no intention of setting foot there again", but when the Doctor asks her she seems quite happy to go. Did he even realise it might mess up history if Madame de Pompadour disappeared off the face of the Earth?

So, to quote Pauline Hanson, please explain!

[Sulp Niar]

Most of the Doctor problems you mentioned here are probably more the series' script editor's fault, not Moffat's alone, so I don't think you can really blame The Girl in the Fireplace for being the starting point of contradiction. And School Reunion, which you mentioned, was a lot more contradictory (mainly in the presentation of the Doctor/Sarah Jane relationship). As for losing the TARDIS, I think you can tell from Tennant's performance that he's sad about it, but even though it'll take him ages, he could still live for aeons and finally find the TARDIS in the future. In The Impossible Planet, being stuck on a planet orbiting a black hole, it truly does look hopeless (from his point of view) about getting back the TARDIS.

When Madame de Pompadour says "I have no intention of setting foot there again", I've always figured that, as much as she was disturbed by the future world, she was more just refusing to go with the droids. But I'll admit that it's not particularly consistent.

And I don't think removing her would have hugely changed history. For a start, the Doctor blatantly doesn't know she's going to die (which is odd, now that I think about it. You can say that's a plot hole maybe), as his shocked expression shows. He can always return her back to the right point of history after a series of adventures. And he removed someone from history before - Katarina, in the old series. All this "changing history" lark is odd anyway, considering he's allowed to take Rose (which is surely changing history), so this never really bothers me.

I'll also freely admit that there's an anti-Doctor/Rose bias here. I prefer the fairytale love of the Doctor and Madame de Pompadour to the smug teenagers of the Doctor and Rose. I'm sorry, but I just do.

[dave]

I agree with you Sulp Niar, but also, GITF is an almost perfect bridge between School Reunion and Rise of the Cybermen. GITF addresses the way the Doctor's relationships with humans are quite ephemeral - I don't find it contradictory at all that he's happy (or perhaps, rather, content) to stay with Reinette, as he's always had people - often attractive young women - coming into and out of his life at regular intervals. Regardless of how special Rose might think their relationship is/was, it wasn't much different of that between the Fourth Doctor and SJS (according to School Reunion, that is).

GITF also contains a sub-plot of people being incorporated into machines, a great lead-in to the following Cyberman two-parter...and it contains creepy mechanical men as well. It's one of the most finely crafted TV stories its ever been my privilege to watch, actually.

I must also state that I found Reinette a much, much more believable love interest for the Doctor than Rose, and that I also have an anti-Rose bias. Reinette had so much Rose didn't - a great deal of culture and intelligence for starters - that despite not liking the idea of a non-platonic relationship between the Doctor and any human, I could accept it for this story.

GITF is a masterpiece. It is so well written it leaves me gobsmacked. As said, it's a perfect bridge between what precedes and comes after it, as well as a touching love story, a good sci-fi yarn with a great payoff, and it's often funny to boot. What's not to like?

[montypython]

[dave]

It's odd, MP, but you seem to have ignored the real meat of the replies you got to focus on the use of the word 'smug' and then extrapolate your own love of Dr/Rose fanfic and how popular it is. So you've not actually challenged anything either of us said about why GITF is a good story, and it seems you really don't like it simply because the Dr apparently falls in love with Reinette and seems content to stay with her, leaving Rose.

I have no idea how or why you think the use of 'smug' is in any way a reference to you: it seems obvious to me it's a reference to the way the Dr and Rose behaved for the majority of season 2.

Also, if The Impossible Planet contradicts GITF, which came before TIP, then it's TIP that's got the problem, not GITF. The fact the Dr seemed more content to stay with Reinette in France than with Rose in the future speaks volumes to me...and I like what those volumes say. But then, I never understood how a 900 yr old could fall in love with someone like Rose. She just seemed rather immature to me. Reinette seemed a much better match for the Doctor, IMO.

Do you actually have any criticisms about the writing of GITF, other than seemingly being disgruntled that the Dr apparently fell for someone else? After all, this is a poll about writers.

[charlie]