Doctor Who- Stephen Moffat or Russel T Davies?

[SmokeScribe98]

Just wondering what the preferences are of those of you on the forums who watch Doctor Who, favourite doctor, favourite companion, favourite enemy, favourite episode and most importantly whether you prefer Russell T Davies Who (Series 1-4) or Stephen Moffat who (series 5-7)?

 

[advait98]

Well, it's always a hard decision, what, considering that Doctor Who is so wholesomely magnificent on so many levels. But I'll go ahead and try.

My favourite Doctor is undoubtedly the 10th, David Tennant. His personality and dynamicness set him apart, and I do feel that he's a better actor than Matt Smith, at least in this role.

My favourite companion is, well, Amy, I guess. No specific reason, I just like her better than the others.

My favourite episode, now this is a hard one, would be the last two specials of Tennant- The End of Time, for the simple fact that it was Tennant's farewell, and it was quite good, if a bit anti-climactic.

My favourite villain, do I even need to say it? The Master. He's brilliant. I hope he comes back, and if he has come back in the duration of the seventh season, none of you say it, I don't want any spoilers.

I did like Russell T. Davies better than Steven Moffat for his consistent style, and while Steven Moffat is undoubtedly more epic, there's just something about Davies that I like more. I guess I like that old-car smell better.

But Moffat isn't too far behind, and if he never instates a female Doctor (the Doctor is a man, end of story), he may well climb up to the top.

 

[Rinzei]

I'm split between Tennant and Smith. Tennant is amazing and was my first Doctor, but I still really like Smith's portrayal. They were both kooky, zany characters with wonderfully dark moments that really made you feel for them.

In terms of companions, I think Amy+Rory (together) and Donna (in her series, not the special) are my favourite. By the end of their respective seasons, I was really sad to see them go and felt for them.

I have trouble with picking favourite episodes. Like others, I like a lot of the finales. I think Journey's End particularly stands out with me because of that ending - oh, it was heartwrenching! But I loved it. I also liked A Good Man Goes to War, because we finally got some answers after TWO SEASONS OF WAITING, and we also got to see the look on the Doctor's face when he finally realised what he was becoming. Lastly, The Angels Take Manhattan - like I said before, Rory and Amy together are my favourite companions but they really blew me away in this one.

Enemies: The Master - nuff said.

I can't choose between Davies and Moffat just yet - while I do like Moffat's take so far, some of the Clara episodes have been rather cheesy (The Rings of Akhaten did nothing for me - looked like a rip-off of the Star Wars cantina) and I just don't like Clara as a companion at all. So I wouldn't find it fair to diminish his work I did like when I don't like one particular character (albeit a big one) and siding with Davies because of it. So I'll wait to see if either a) Clara evolves as a character or b) the new Doctor blows me away in the new series before making a more definitive choice.

 

[Devor]

I have trouble picking between the Tennant and the Smith eras, for both the actor and the writing. To me, it feels a little like comparing Harry Potter to Tolkein. The Smith era seems to take itself more seriously, and while I respect that, I find the Tennant episodes to be much more fun and rewatchable. The tone difference is tremendous.

With Smith, the plots got more serious, so that the weirdness started to become palpable, and most of the fun came from the soap-banter between Smith, River Song and the Ponds. I really enjoyed that dynamic, and for the most part I think it made for a better show. But disbelief got a bit harder when the show became more serious.

So overall, probably Smith. But my favorite episodes are by far the last six episodes in season 3, leading from House of Blood to Blink to the Master.

One thing I do appreciate about the writing for Tennant - he's arrogant, and a lot of people don't like that. But he's also screwing up constantly, causing most of his own problems. For instance, he offended the queen who wound up starting Torchwood. He brought down the Prime Minister, and opened the door for the Master to go up. I like that dynamic.

 

[CupofJoe]

I may be committing heresy but I don't think Dr Who is very good right now. Matt Smith's Doctor was good and I know it was always light drama but it has become childish [in a recent episode the joke about "Thomas Thomas" showing them the way - seriously? That was painful...].
I liked Christopher Eccleston's Northern Doctor so I'm looking forward to Peter Capaldi's doctor. [I know they won't but] I really hope they use his acting ability to go darker.
I guess they though it would kill the international sales but I was really hoping for a real change in Doctor to someone like Chiwetel Ejiofor.

 

[Rinzei]

I may be committing heresy but I don't think Dr Who is very good right now. Matt Smith's Doctor was good and I know it was always light drama but it has become childish [in a recent episode the joke about "Thomas Thomas" showing them the way - seriously? That was painful...].
I liked Christopher Eccleston's Northern Doctor so I'm looking forward to Peter Capaldi's doctor. [I know they won't but] I really hope they use his acting ability to go darker.
I guess they though it would kill the international sales but I was really hoping for a real change in Doctor to someone like Chiwetel Ejiofor.

No, I can definitely see where you're coming from with that. I didn't like the Rings of Akhaten because I thought it was childish (as I said before, that planet looked pulled right out of Star Wars).

Hopefully we'll see some darkness - after all, we still have the whole John-Hurt-Who-Is-The-Doctor-But-NOT-The-Doctor to come. I hear that Peter Capaldi is also going to keep his Scottish accent for the role! Excited to see that.

I can't remember where I read it, but I think during the search for the Eleventh Doctor, they were considering Chiwetel Ejiofor. He's shown he can act across the spectrum as well, so it would have been interesting.

 

[Nobby]

Hmm, do I have to be the only person who can be bothered to say that Matt Smith deserved better scripts?

To me he was as much The Doctor as Pat Troughton (no surprise there) or Tom Baker!

 

[Ophiucha]

Favourite Doctor? It's tough, between Eccleston and Tennant. I love them both, but Eccles didn't get as much time to develop his Doctor and Tennant was the actor when I was introduced to the show (I'm young), so favouritism. I also quite like some of the older Doctors... and I really don't like Matt Smith's portrayal. The actor himself seems like a great guy and I hope he has a great future in acting, but in all the seasons we've had with him I'm still not convinced that he's the Doctor. Excited by Peter Capaldi, though, even though I would have liked to see a female Doctor. He's a great actor, a fair bit older, and he could go a bit darker for the first series he's on, at least.

Companions - too many good ones to choose. River would be a hot contender if she were written better. Donna and Martha are probably my top two, and it's tough to pick between them... I think I'd go with Donna. Very close, though, and Martha had a much better exit from the show.

Writer? Unquestionably Russell T Davies. Moffat is just dreadful at writing long arcs. He ruined his best creation (the Weeping Angels) and god, he's got some brilliant ideas that he just can't execute. Particularly when he tries to give a female character an arc of some sort, it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. He has written some individual episodes that are amazing. Blink, obviously. But Davies wrote the Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords episodes, and that gets him a lot of points. Plus he wrote better companion arcs, and he wrote my favourite Eccleston episode (the final one). Also, Moffat's writing is soured by his bad personality in interviews. It's hard to take a man seriously when he says things like, "I like that Helen Mirren has been saying the next doctor should be a woman. I would like to go on record and say that the Queen should be played by a man." It sort of... lowers his credibility as an intelligent writer in my mind, and every time I watch one of his episodes I just sort of hear that in the back of my head every time he slips up a bit of characterization and think 'mmm yeah, he would mess that up wouldn't he, the moron'. It's like trying to read The Shadow over Innsmouth after you learn that Lovecraft is a racist, you know? Every time he says something you're just like 'ah, yeah, now I get why that would come through here'.

Favourite episodes, all of the above mentioned + Vincent and the Doctor. I'm a fan of art history, so it's hard not to tear up during that one.

 

[Draco99]

The Mr. David Tennant has always been my favourite to be honest.
He has been the most memorable and funny and awesome and cool... Uh back on track, David was an impressive actor and helped captivate what needed to be portrayed - which was pure awesomeness,

EXTERMINATE!

 

[Penpilot]

Well this is going to date me, but I grew up watching Tom Baker was the Doctor, so he's always the one that's automatic when Doctor comes up. But for the new series, I tend to like who ever is the Doctor at the moment, which brings me to saying that I can't really choose. I like everything about the new Doctor Who. It's one of those shows that's always magic for me.