Zarius said:
All very interesting. Great to hear viewership and sales are up despite the very vocal naysaying on the old inter web.
I can not believe this weekend is the main series finale already!?! 10 episodes already? And still I am not certain how I feel about this latest incarnation? I do not think it is bad show. It has had some very nice moments. I find Whittaker very enjoyable, though I do not feel she has really owned the character yet. And while I understand the stand alone (no season arc) format is great for pulling in (and hopefully keeping) new viewers uneducated in Who, the lack of an underlying driving/building narrative has made many of the aired episodes very forgettable to me and may be why I am shocked we are at the end already.
I watched an interesting analysis of this season of Who, in which the reviewer proposed that perhaps it is the lack of allegory and whimsy in this new version that has ruffled long time Whovians? This series certainly seems to have gone out of its way to try to feel more grounded in terms of production design, episode scoring, cinematography and narrative. And for me, the strongest stories are been the ones that dealt directly with real world history -- Rosa Parks, Demons of Punjab and Wichfinder. While I for one, am happy the Fairy Tales Moffat era has come to close, I think like many fans of the classic age, I was hoping for a return to Harder Science Fiction, rather than a real world problem solver procedural that this season sort of feels like to me.
When I think back on this season, somehow this show that is about All Of Time and Space, feels smaller.
While I do not think we need a return to the always epic, messy rollercoaster madness of the Smith/Capaldi years, it would be nice to get some sense of wonder and grandeur that existed in the Tennant or Classic age. I mean, even the TARDIS feels smaller. Except for a few tight close up shots around the door and console, I have no sense of its interior design or size.
As I said before, I think its still an enjoyable, if somewhat forgettable, new season. And like many New Doctors first seasons from the classic era, it seems to be struggling to find its own unique voice while battling to keep old and news fans happy.
I dunno. Change is good. Change is bad. Don't change too much. You didn't change enough.