Dark Season and Doctor Who (Is modern telly rubbish?)

[neilalford]

I watched the first three episodes (the first story) of Russel T. Davies' first sci-fi series "Dark Season" last night and found myself comparing it to his recent Doctor Who episodes.

The show definitely has a very Dr Who feel to it, even the title sequence is similar and the main character shares a lot of the Doctors traits, curiosity, logic, a certain amount of superiority and a tendency to just wander in wherever they fancy and starting to poke around at things. Basically you can see the influence of Dr Who right through the show.

However what really struck me was the "maturity" of it compared to some elements of the recent Who series, there were jokes but they were generally fairly subtle (and even occaisionally intelligent), no fart gags, no out of place pop culture references etc. the whole thing just came across as far more intelligent and adult than the bulk of the recent Who series (with the exception of most of Steven Moffats scripts and The Impossible planet\Satan Pit)

So has TV gone downhill so rapidly in modern years that a new show aimed at a family audience and shown in a mainstream evening timeslot has to be dumbed down considerably compared to a 15 year old program that was quite clearly aimed at kids? (4:35 kids TV slot)

Not trying to slag off Dr Who here, I watched the new series religiously and thoroughly enjoyed most of it, but it certainly had a tendency at times to slip towards childishness, something that was markedly absent from Davies' kids show!

Oh, and going back to Dark Season, I'd definitely recommend giving it a look, I enjoyed it when I was younger but was expecting to be disappointed watching it now, however I really enjoyed it, I'd only meant to watch one episode last night but ended up watcing the whole story as I got hooked. Plus you get to see a younger and considerably curvier Kate Winslet (I still would :n0rty: ) and in the second story Servalen as well!

Also, does anyone happen to know if the freelance vivisectionist in Spaced is meant to be a deliberate homage to Mr Eldritch in Dark Season? There's certainly quite a resembelance!

[new]

The big difference between the two is that Doctor Who is aimed at the main stream audance where as Dark Skys is aimed at an audance that would like sci-fi in the first place.

There are strong arguments against some of the "childishness" humour on the new Doctor Who.
I have to say when it is used its usually over in a flash & then we are on to something else anyway, so if the joke does not appeal to me it does not bother me. I also watch it with my children so I appreciate that they enjoy it anyway.

We could go on & on about how the new Who compares to the classic Who (or other classic sci-fi), but times have changed & for Who to be a hit it has to have this broad appeal.
It just cannot be made just for the sci-fi/old Doctor Who fan who loved the classic Who. It just would not get its audance & then the BBC could not justify spending so much money on it to make it.
I really cant see the show being any more succsefull than it is now if it was done in a different way.
As a family tea time show it is 2nd to none & it deserves its huge success that it has achieved. One of the reason's that Who died a slow death in the 80's is that at times they forgot the drama, & just concentrated on the sci-fi aspect.
They did try & put more drama back into the show in its final McCoy season, which really improved the show, but by then its main stream audance had gone & it was too late.

Of course the knock on effect of this is that people are watching a sci-fi show & enjoying it. Hopefully this will cause the stigma of sci-fi to be dropped from the main TV audance minds & we should get some more coming through in the next year or two.

[Harsin]

Sit yourself down and watch something like The Wire or some other quality HBO output if you have a hankering for mature television.

[neilalford]

The big difference between the two is that Doctor Who is aimed at the main stream audance where as Dark Skys is aimed at an audance that would like sci-fi in the first place.

I'm not certain I agree with that, Dark Season (not Skies) was aimed at a general kids audience and is not hugely "sci-fi", in fact I'd say it's probably less sci-fi than Doctor Who (any version), no aliens, no spaceships, just some top secret technology left over from post WW2 research and a few mysterious characters.

So it's not the sci-fi (or lack of) aspect of it that I'm really commenting on, just the general feel of the show, found it strange that a kids show from a writer would feel so much more mature than a show aimed at a much wider audience and wondering about the reasons, is it that TV (or society in general) has been significantly dumbed down in the intervening years, a change in writing style or maybe just a feeling that if it's sci-fi it must be for kids and therefore the occaisional childish moments.

It seems an interesting comparison to look at two very similar shows from the same writer made 15 years apart and demonstrating a difference in attitude that seems at odds to their target audience.

Oh, but I agree about the final series of McCoy's Doctor Who, cracking stuff and almost good enough to make me declare McCoy as my favourite Doctor, if that sort of talk wasn't grounds for a lynching in Dr Who circles!

[neilalford]

Sit yourself down and watch something like The Wire or some other quality HBO output if you have a hankering for mature television.

I watch plenty thanks.

Not saying there aren't intelligent and mature shows out there (though "out there" generally seems to mean "from America" these days), though we will loose one of the greats this Friday when The West Wing finishes. Just commenting on what I thought was an interesting comparison.

[new]

I'm not certain I agree with that, Dark Season (not Skies) was aimed at a general kids audience and is not hugely "sci-fi", in fact I'd say it's probably less sci-fi than Doctor Who (any version), no aliens, no spaceships, just some top secret technology left over from post WW2 research and a few mysterious characters.

Whoops! I did mean Dark Season. but my fingers don't often type what I want them to :doh:

I would disagree that Dark Season was aimed at a "general kids audience", & although not sci-fi with aliens it seams to be aimed at that sort of audience that that would appeal.
Its hard to think that a school girl who liked Grange Hill, Top of the Pops, Black Beauty, or a 30+ year old female would have been in RTD mind when he did Dark Season.

Where as the new Doctor Who is trying to attracted the sort of person that would watch Eastenders, as well as another person that would watch Buffy, as well as another person that would watch Blue Peter, as well as another person that watches Power Rangers etc.

To put this into perspective the final episodes of Army of Ghosts/Doomsday where watch by the following members of my family:
In our house:
Me (39 year old male)
Wife (27 year old female)
Daughter (8 year old female)
Son (5 year old son)

On top of this in other house holds:
My 65 year old mother
My 90 year old Grandmother
My 15 year old nephew
my 12 year old niece

Out of that lot my wife, son,mother & Gran all cried at the end, & my wife still cant believe she cried & was so moved by a Doctor Who episode.

So you are talking about a programme with a broad enough appeal to attract and move an age group of 5 - 90 years old of both males & females, as opposed to Dark Season's "sci-fi aware " (cant really think of a better term, but hope you know what I mean here) children's TV audance. Dark Season would be fined tuned to hit its audance of 10-16 year olds. Most of this audance will also not want to be associated with any "kids stuff" & want to watch a programme that appeals to like more "mature" things. As you were (& still are) more tuned into this target it will hit its mark with you more than the current series of Doctor Who, which is trying (& doing very well IMO) to hit a larger target.

[thescrounger]

The thing about Doctor Who is that it would only need a few tweaks to make it much much better. I don't mind so much about plot holes, I can let my imagination fill them in, what bothers me the most is the way the atmosphere and style is quite often sabotaged by terrible acting and rubbish gags.

[Hernster]

Plus you get to see a younger and considerably curvier Kate Winslet (I still would :n0rty: ) and in the second story Servalen as well!

She was the only reason I bought this. :n0rty:

Thanks for the informative review on this too. :)