Thursday, October 6, 2011

You've GOT to be kidding me...

So we have the final episode of Series 6 (Christmas Special notwithstanding), and it's craptastic.  The Doctor pulled a switcheroo on everybody, and the oldest question in the universe is the name of the television showSeriously?

The Doctor has a date with death at Lake Silencio, but before he goes he takes a few detours.  One of those is a trip to the room where the Headless Monks -- who were featured in "A Good Man Goes to War" -- keep the heads of their members, to pick up the head of Dorium Maldovar.  The blue-skinned bodiless head tells him the oldest question in the universe, prophesying that "the 11th will fall when the question is asked and answered."  Stuff happens.  River rises from the lake, encased in the astronaught suit against her will, and defiantly depletes her weapons pack, creating a dying timeline in which all of history happens at once.  More stuff happens.  The Doctor gets River to let things play out as they should, and everything turns out okay -- the Doctor having tricked almost everyone by hiding inside the shape-shifting robot piloted by miniature people, which is what Rory, Amy, and River actually saw being shot.

You know, there are times when I really, REALLY can't stand cheap writing, and this is one of them.  After splitting Series 6 in two this year to help reduce production costs, you'd think Steven Moffat would have come up with something more dramatic, better written, and more epic.  But this episode felt more like an afterthought tacked onto the end of a really mediocre season.  And this alleged "slipping back into the shadows" thing, ostensibly to be less visible than he has been for more than two centuries, probably isn't going to last into Series 7, which may not even take place next year but in 2013, when the show reaches its fiftieth anniversary.

BBC, please please PLEASE replace Moffat with someone who knows how to write consistently well.  That is all.

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