@stormageddon

I reckon that could be a good idea for the 50th anniversary. Although I think it would be good to see RTD return in some form for the 50th anniversary as, to be fair, he did bring back the show so he should at least be invited to write for the SM era. I do believe SM has asked him a couple of times to return to write for series 6 but he declined. And I agree with the point of SM writes good stories but he is not a brand producer and, sorry to say, DW is a brand at the end of the day.

RTD, JG and PC had the best production team and everything had a great visual look to it. Now everything seems a bit too dark and emo-esque.

@Pirko
Great points well made ! I cant dissagree with anything there !

@Steve
Seeing as you didn’t enjoy the christmas special though it is meant to be a lightweight episode which no-one seems to get what would YOUR idea be of a Chrismtas Special?

@Stormageddon
every one nos i prefer russle t davis to stephen moffat n e way stephen moffat said hes waited all his life to write for doctor who and for someone to wait that long i dont think he pulled it of like RTD had thats just my oppinion

@Steve

I completely agree! I’ve been wanting to point out that Sherlock is Moffat’s natural child and Doctor Who is the stepchild he got stuck with when the marriage ended!

Personally I don’t the RTD would come back but there has got to be at least one other person out there that can step in and give Doctor Who the attention it deserves!

@shawn
I agree to a certain extent, however when you look at the RTD era as a whole, the “Stand out” stories are all written by the Grand Moff

@Stormageddon
i need saying hes not a good story teler just not good at being head writer of the show hes changed it why to much its now darker not nearly the same amount of daylight hours its all mostly set at nite i just dont like these points

@shawn
Thats a very good point and one I’d not thought about but even his eps during the rtd era were set at night or in the dark…Hmm I wonder if that will be a theme of the coming series as this is meant to be “The Dr in the shadows” season ?

@Pirko
Visually, under Moffat, the show is unquestionably better. The direction, the lighting, better. Of course, that not may be dow purely to him, there are other producers and people involved, but the look of the show has definitely hopped up a few notches. Then again, I imagine Moffat is partly behind that, because it’s the same way with Sherlock; it looks fabulous.

@Grace
No, moffat has always wanted to write Who, it’s not something he’s been lumbered with, it’s something he dearly wanted.

@Steve
What is this ’soap’ stuff? it’s exactly the same thing that was tossed at RTD when he was in charge. All BOTH did was increase the role of the companion, made them more real and central, and doing that brings with it these other elements that people wrongly scoff at as ’soap’. If they’re soap, then almost every drama is ’soap’.

@Stormageddon
i never thought about the doctor going back into the shadows linking to the moffat era being so dark thats an interesting point u made

@Grace Justin Richards! The guy is brilliant. Understands Doctor Who very well.

@Patrick My idea of a Christmas Special? Certainly not something that could form part of the regular series. My idea would be what Doctor Who has lacked over the last year. Excitement, entertainment, adventure. All those things that SM just doen’t seem to understand!

@Steve
I think he understands them, I’ve seen The Empty Child, and The Impossible Astronaut.

@TWWL Babies in the TARDIS? Love affairs left right and centre. Really? The Doctor suggested as MARRIED? (I know it was not the real Doctor but the suggestion is there!) Does Doctor Who need this? There is nothing wrong with the increased presence of the companion, if anyone did that it was Elizabeth Sladen. If there is one thing RTD is NOT guilty of it is turning Doctor Who into East Enders in space!

@TWWL I agree as a one of story teller during the season but as an overall Lead Writer, nope, he has lost his way and increasing the hearts and minds of Doctor Who fans built up by RTD.
I am not a fan of RTD at all. In the end his method of writing was a bit like marmite but he never lost sight of the series goals.

@TWWL I forgot to add to my last comment – “I agree as a one of story teller during the season but as an overall Lead Writer, nope, he has lost his way and increasing the hearts and minds of Doctor Who fans built up by RTD.
I am not a fan of RTD at all. In the end his method of writing was a bit like marmite but he never lost sight of the series goals.” – This is demonstrated by the lacklustre response on this Rate and Discuss which has yet to top 100 comments.

@Steve
I’m not much of a fan either of RTD to be honest. Looking back at his era especially series 3, I’m glad he went and I think it was good timing. We needed a new everything; new Doctor, companion, head writer etc etc ok Series 6 wasn’t particularly exciting as such but there were a couple of pretty good episodes such as the opening 2 parter, A Good Man Goes to War, The Girl Who Waited, Closing Time and The Wedding of River Song (I’ve no idea what you make of these episodes that I’ve mentioned) but I’m sure in Series 7 we will get fun and better episodes especially as Moffat said the first episode would be quite similar to Top Gun.

@ Steve…

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

My fear is that by the time Moffat wises up and hands over the reigns to someone that understands the true success behind Doctor Who: telling a sensational story not telling sensationalistic stories–the fiftieth might be the finale!

*grins*

As a long-time fan, I find this discussion very amusing. *Every* producer and script editor has been reviled and adored in roughly equal measure. Steven Moffatt is no Russell T Davies — the reverse is also true. They are different men, and their creations are different as well. RTD is no John Nathan Turner. John Nathan Turner was no Graham Williams. Graham Williams as no Philip Hinchcliffe. Philip Hinchcliffe was no Barry Letts — and so on, all the way back to Verity Lambert. I am satisfied with what all of these producers have done; it is different, but that’s part of what makes it good. Variety. Part of me would like a return to the old way of doing Who — where there was an executive producer and a script editor. In the old days, the script editor had as profound an influence as the producer — the Hinchcliffe era would not have been the same were it not also overlapped the Robert Holmes era. Today, we don’t hear much about the script editors — and in fact, in the revived show, there isn’t a designated script editor. Various episodes are assigned various script editors, rather than single editors who could see it through entire seasons. The job of maintaining uniformity has, therefore, fallen on the executive producer. Perhaps this is reasonable given how much the format has changed — 13-episode seasons with perhaps 9 or 10 stories, as compared to 26-episode seasons with perhaps 6 stories, and with stories now being commissioned farther in advance.

In any case. The series has changed a great deal in nearly fifty years; I don’t think anyone should be surprised it is continuing to change, nor afraid simply based on the fact that it *is* changing. Like the Doctor himself, it is always changing, and this is a great part of its strength.