Why I have fallen out of love with the adventures of the Time Lord
As a young boy, every Saturday evening was the highlight of my week as I sat down with my brother and father and watched Doctor Who on BBC One.
The three of us became fans when we stumbled across a repeated episode from Series Two on television on a day where there was not much else we wanted to watch. That episode was 'School Reunion' and it was an enticing introduction to the mad but brilliant alien from Gallifrey. My family and I have been devoted fans ever since as we've watched David Tennant, Matt Smith and now Peter Capaldi all step into the Tardis with a companion in tow.
However, there is now a divide in our household as I no longer watch Doctor Who. My family still enjoy it but I'm just not interested anymore. You might suggest that it has something to do with the fact that I am getting older now and have possibly grown out of it or you might say that life eventually gets in the way and you suddenly forget about the things that you used to hold dear but I would strongly disagree with both points. The reason I don't watch Doctor Who anymore is because I don't think it's any good.
This is a feeling that has been growing inside my mind since series 6 in 2011. I thought that series 5, with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan making their debuts as the Doctor and Amy Pond respectively, was a breath of fresh air. Steven Moffat took over the reins from Russell T Davies which was music to my ears as most of my favourite episodes in the Russell T Davies era were penned by Moffat ('Blink', 'The Girl in the Fireplace, 'The Forest of the Dead'). However, after series 6 I was starting to have doubts. Series 7 started with a bang, killing off Amy Pond and replacing her with Clara Oswald but, sadly, ended with a whimper. Matt Smith eventually made his exit during the Christmas special of 2013 and was replaced by Peter Capaldi, who I thought was an excellent choice. I had hoped that this would lead to more interesting and mature story threads and plots that I felt the show was desperately lacking. However it didn't happen and I finally lost my patience and stopped watching altogether.
One problem I have had with Doctor Who during the Moffat era is that the Doctor has rarely ever been the main character, with more focus and attention paid to his trustworthy companion and their bland love lives. Amy and Rory were a source of frustration to me during series 5 as I never cared that much about their relationship because it felt forced but my frustration lessened towards the couple during series 6 and their last hurrah in series 7; I have to admit that the writing improved considerably in regards to the relationship as it was allowed time to breathe, blossom and grow, and Rory became a much less irritating character and was put to better use as the 'comic relief'. The problem arose again, however, when we were forced to watch Clara Oswald fall head over heels in love with the dull and uninspiring Danny Pink in series 8. As Peter Capaldi had just stepped into the role, we as viewers should have been given a chance to witness our twelfth Doctor and his companion form a close attachment that we can relate to but what we were subjected to was a forced romantic relationship between two characters (Clara and Danny) that we didn't know that well, and we were given no time whatsoever to understand and relate to our new Doctor.
In regards to the twelfth Time Lord, I can't say that I like him very much. Past Doctors have always had a glint in their eyes, a charm that warms us to them. Peter Capaldi's Doctor, however, is quite unlikable. He's everything a Doctor should be but he comes with one fatal flaw; he doesn't care if people die around him as long as he solves the mystery he is investigating. Think about episode 2 of series 8, 'Into The Dalek' when he made no attempt to save a soldier who was about to be disintegrated. He may have had no chance of survival, as the Doctor forcefully explained, but that's not the point. The Doctor loves human beings and has defended them from many foes over the years and will stop at nothing to protect the ones he loves, so to watch him let a person die without making an attempt to try and save them is too jarring a character change for me. Peter Capaldi is a fine Doctor; it's just a shame that he has been let down by forgettable scripts.
And that's where my problem with Doctor Who really lies. The writing is poor. It is bland, forgettable and dull. Each episode tries to outsmart the audience but ends up being too smart for its own good in the process. I cannot remember the last episode that I enjoyed. In the end that's why I stopped watching. My family continue to watch it, and urge me to give it another chance, but I just don't care anymore.
