Chris Jordan gives his thoughts on the news of Steven Moffat's departure, and on his tenure as showrunner.
Earlier this evening, BBC announced
that after series ten, Doctor Who showrunner
Steven Moffat will be stepping down from the show, and will be
replaced by Broadchurch
creator and occasional Doctor Who screenwriter
Chris Chibnall. Moffat has held the creative reins of the beloved
sci-fi show since series five, meaning that his tenure will amount to
a full six seasons, plus the epic 50th
anniversary specials which were almost a mini-season in themselves.
He was the creative force behind the entire 11th
Doctor era, and across the entire decade of the new series he has
given us some of its most beloved episodes, starting with series
one's iconic The Empty Child.
He also just gave us one of new Doctor
Who's
best series ever in 2015. As always, there will be great anticipation
and nervousness to see what the show will be like without him, and
with someone else in artistic control. But honestly... the time is
right for a change. It's time for Moffat to step down, and he's smart
to do so.
Moffat
has done a lot of great stuff for Doctor
Who,
there's no doubt about that. But let's be honest... he's also a
pretty uneven showrunner. While he's given us plenty of great
scripts, his season-long story arcs are a mixed bag, and some of his
seasons have been much stronger than others. Series five and nine
were absolutely brilliant, and series seven was very good. I loved
series eight, and thought it was nearly as great as five and nine,
but there's no denying that it is a massively polarizing season, and
Dark Water/Death
In Heaven
will probably go down in history as the most divisive thing that the
new series has ever done. And series six was a pretty messy:
needlessly convoluted, and occasionally self-indulgent. It got too
timey-wimey for its own good, and ultimately felt like Moffat was
trying too hard to out-clever himself, and tripped over his own plot
twists. He has the odd distinction of having given us arguably new
Doctor Who's
best season (five) and arguably its weakest (six), if you give series
one some slack for its serious growing pains. If that's not a perfect
portrait of unevenness, I'm not sure what it.
And
then there's the matter of his characters: he's created some truly
great ones, but at other times it seems like he forgets how to come
up with proper characterization, and leaves characters more or less
as general archetypes until their actors fill them in with
personality and detail. Amy was a great character from the start, as
was River. Rory and Clara, on the other hand, were basically just
vaguely-defined sketches for half a season each, until with some
major actor input the show's writing team finally figured out who
these people should be. Both Rory and Clara turned into excellent
characters, with Rory in particular growing into a surprisingly
strong and emotionally resonant lead in his own right, but it took a
while to get there.
I
am absolutely not trying to bash Moffat, although I know in certain
slices of Doctor
Who fandom
it is rather trendy to do so (though honestly, it's always been
trendy to bash the current showrunner and say that the old one was
better, at least since the Philip Hinchcliffe/Robert Holmes team
stepped down in the 1970s). He has done a lot of great work for the
show, and has given us seasons, story arcs, and characters which are
among my favorites. But his work has always been a bit uneven, and
while he has presided over a generally great era, that greatness
stopped feeling really secure or guaranteed after the missteps of
series six. I either loved or at least really liked just about all of
series seven through nine, but I always had a vague feeling of “this
is going great – I really hope that Moffat doesn't stumble again
and mess it up.” I don't think he ever has, although plenty of fans
would say that that's exactly what happened with Dark
Water/Death In Heaven.
But at the very least we've had a few close calls.
Which
brings us to series nine. Series nine was absolutely brilliant. It
was just one flawed episode away from being an absolutely perfect
season: a string of fantastic episodes adding up to form a compelling
and emotionally powerful thematic arc about the ramifications of the
Doctor and Clara's freewheeling through time and space. It was the
best season that Moffat has done since his first as showrunner, and
it contained some of the best writing he has ever done for the show.
After a few stumbles, he's back at the top of his game, and the show
is absolutely at the top of its game. Which is what makes this the
perfect time for him to leave. It would be a huge mistake for him to
overstay his welcome, and stick around until he has another shaky
season; he shouldn't leave because he is no longer wanted. Instead,
he should leave while his era is at its finest; go out on top, after
two or three (depending on what you thought of series eight) very
strong seasons. This is assuming, of course, that series ten is as
great as series nine, but after that fantastic season I have every
confidence. Hopefully this will allow Moffat to end his reign on
Doctor Who as
a showrunner who ran into a few rough spots, but ultimately was
great, and did more than enough really good things for the show to
outweigh the occasional flaws.
Where
will Doctor Who
go
from here? It will be fascinating to see, as always. Chris Chibnall
will make an interesting showrunner, even if he does not seem like an
obvious choice. Broadchurch
is of course a critically-acclaimed show (at least its first season),
but he's only written a handful of Doctor
Who episodes,
and they've been a mixed bag. Interestingly, he wrote more episodes
for Torchwood
than Doctor Who,
and most of those episodes were quite good. Even if he hasn't proven
himself as one of the greatest Doctor
Who writers,
though, the excellent first season of Broadchurch
shows that he knows what he's doing as a showrunner. I would have
preferred Toby Whithouse, who has written some of the Moffat era's
best episodes, but I think the show should be safe in Chibnall's
hands. Plus, we know we still have some cool things ahead of us in
series ten – specifically, at least one episode (probably a
two-parter) directed by Peter Jackson. We can safely assume that
Jackson's episode will be Moffat's farewell, and knowing Jackson it
should be an appropriately epic sendoff. I do have one other hope,
though... I really hope that Peter Capaldi does not leave with
Moffat, and sticks around for a fourth season. He's such a great
Doctor that three seasons with him just does not seem like enough,
and I'd love it if he stayed to bridge the gap. Whatever happens,
though, it is clear that we have an exciting time ahead of us on
Doctor Who. If
series nine left any doubt that series ten will be one to look
forward to, this news means that it absolutely will be essential
viewing.
-
Christopher S. Jordan