The Chibnall Era's Tone

Different to anything we've had before - and a little bit weirder, if possible.

Well according to BBC Worldwide the the plan is to "grow youth audiences, engage families with young children, and deepen the property’s relationship with existing fans"; two out of three of which fell away over the past few years.

And interestingly there will be over 11 hours of new Who this year, which is way over the 8.5 you get by adding up the previously announced episode lengths.

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The question is how it will do lighter differently to the RTD era. I think the answer to that lies in Broadchurch, and how Chibnall keeps the audience guessing right to the very last moment. I think Series 11 is going to have one story that takes place in the background of the others, and it will be a narrative full of twists and turns designed to completely shock the audience.

Just no more boring long self-aggrandizing speeches from Doctor Who please.

I get what you're saying, but I feel like it could also be a good way to hook the audience if done right. Game of Thrones for instance has done a very good job at sustaining a loyal audience through that kind of heavy narrative arc.

I see no need for a concerted effort to make a "lighter" tone, and I'm not even sure I buy the notion that Moffat's era was darker. But before we get into weird debates, how about we state what we mean by lighter and darker tones?

I don't think it should be either light or dark intentionally. Whatever works best for a given story should be used.

What's "Dark" to me? The Girl Who Waited, The Settling, Prisoners of Fate, Heaven Sent, Father's Day, Amy's Choice, Silence/Forest, All of Dalek Empire, Lucie Miller/To The Death, Most/All of War Doctor, Damaged Goods, Colditz & the later trilogy, Spare Parts, Creatures of Beauty.

"Light"? Sometimes there's comic light: The One Doctor or Dinosaurs on a Space Ship. Or maybe a non-romp that simply isn't bitterly dark, has a few jokes. Kingmaker?




So really, what are we even saying when we want darker or lighter or neither? Does the "dark" involve sadness, death, lack of jokes? Things generally going badly?

On my re-watch of the new series, I hit S4 and S1. There's tons of darkness. The main difference I see between RTD and Moffat isn't about dark v. light, but rather (1) deification in RTD v. flip-flopping between deification and fallibility of the Doctor in Moffat, (2) Moffat either having complex plot arcs with great set-ups and bad landings (S6 for example) or weirdly unnecessary themes (S8 "am I a good man"?).





I say ignore making any effort on lightness v. darkness, but tone down overly complex plot arcs and if he needs to have one, make sure it's plotted from beginning to end before episodes are written. Just focus on good storytelling. Be Big Finish, but on TV, basically.

(And yeah, enough of the speeches).

Sorry, but I disagree with this. The Twelfth Doctor era was darker then the previous revival eras. It's a tougher darker universe that bites throughout with none of the easy answers of previous series with The Doctor wrestling with his morality and sense of purpose then ever before. The life of a companion kills Clara. Bill, an abuse victim who The Doctor encourages to reach her potential is turned into a Cyberman, Danny Pink, a soldier wrestling with his humanity is turned into a Cyberman, Missy violates the dead and tricks them into giving up their emotions, The Doctor a war hero is tormented for thousands of years by his own people instead of being trusted and respected and snaps and nearly destroys everything he tried to save, the renegade Zygons gleefully sacrifice their own people to support their revolution,.  It's hard to imagine stories like Flatline, Murder on the Orient Express, Dark Water/Death in Heaven being told in the Ninth, Tenth or Eleventh Doctor eras. 

Well, this kind of thing is all down to personal preference anyway. The most important thing for me is storytelling in Who. I simply don't mind darker episodes, even a lot of them in a row.

And on the other hand with Moffat, the things you mention that happen to the companions have their good side (and the ones you didn't).

Amy & Rory: Rory keeps coming back to life, ultimately, they get to live their lives out enjoyably and in peace.

Clara: Dies, but then gets sort-of-ressurected. On the one hand, normal biological functions are frozen, so she cannot start a family. On the other hand, she gets a TARDIS and life as long as she chooses. Some cultures have held that to be the greatest gift. (ie, The Hindu Gods grant Bishma that same ability, in exchange for a vow of sacrifice; The Mahabharata). Then, before the moment of her final death, gets her mind transported into a future super-robot and live quite a bit longer.

Bill: Dies, but then gets brought back as a Cyberman. Suffering. But then saved by Magic Space Girl, exists X years traveling the universe in/with a sentient ship that apparently matches the TARDIS in space/time travel, and then before the moment of her final death, gets her mind transported into a future super-robot. Again, she is preserved twice over.

It's a mixed bag. They go through a lot, but they also ultimately get "more" (in some sense or another) life than a normal person. Unlike most original series companions, which were generally improved by the experience without suffering horrific consequences. (Well, one of them blew up and two had their memories erased,  but still...)






I'm still in my rewatch of reboot S1-Tennant Specials, so it'll be a while before I remind myself fully what that was like. I think the last time I saw it all the way through is 7-8 years ago.

I did finish S1 recently, and it overall seemed pretty dark to me. Eccleston seems to me to radiate that war-scarred hero character, even to the point where it seemed like he was covering pain with a jovial attitude much of the time. There were episodes with rather dark themes (Father's Day, the Doctor's preparation to end life on Earth in the second bid to end the Time War in Parting of Ways, and more).




Anyway, like I said, this is all just my personal preference. I just want the story to come first, and whatever tone is appropriate to the story to follow.

Maybe it's my personal experience colouring this (which wasn't family), but.....Bill's relationship with her Stepmother to me read completely as abusive. The worst thing about is that isn't some evil mastermind, she's just a shitty person. In the Pilot, after learning that The Doctor is actually from the University, despite saying the right thing, it's conveyed  in a barely contained scornful tone ("You better work hard at it"). Later in the episode, when Bill expresses concern over her going on a date with her ex-boyfriend when she calls from his phone, she gaslights Bill. (And the guy she is probably some poor guy who she's brought down so he can never think he can find anyone better and she's garbaged to Bill to deal with her own issues after wearing out her friends) In The Pryamid at The End of the World, seeing Bill with a 'friend',  embarrasses Bill insinuating that she tricks drunken vulnerable men into sleeping with her, so she can never be bothered by seeing Penny again. We know that Bill wanted to go to university, but didn't -and it's no wonder with Moria's running commentary through her head. Bill's deeply insecure about herself and it just isn't about her sexuality - it's the result of her abuse. 

The worst thing is that Moria doesn't see herself as a bad person and probably wonders why she doesn't have many friends or an extended social life and takes it out on Bill, whose she's hurt throughout her life. And ugh, let's not go into what her relationship with Bill's Dad was probably like or the ckear disconnect between Bill and her Father. She's a nasty piece self-deluded piece of work. And what I love about Twice Upon a Time is that Bill is finally together with humanity (she had friends, but I can't imagine she felt that close to them) and at peace with herself.