There's one Doctor Who moment that haunts Steven Moffat to this day...
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Look, we all make mistakes. You make mistakes. I make mistakes. The Doctor makes mistakes.
00:05Still, it's not often you hear the cast and crew actually acknowledge the things that went wrong with the show.
00:10But sometimes, they do.
00:11I'm Ellie for Who Culture here with 10 Doctor Who mistakes confirmed by the creators.
00:17Number 10. Clara being too passive.
00:19Companions are meant to evolve during their time in the TARDIS.
00:22As the 13th Doctor tells her fam in Arachnids in the UK,
00:26you're not gonna come back as the same people that left here.
00:28Rarely has this been quite as true as with Clara.
00:31The Clara of Series 7 is almost a completely different character to the Clara of Series 8 and 9.
00:37This radical reinvention was largely down to the Impossible Girl arc,
00:41which dominated her first run of adventures.
00:43Making the companion the series arc was an interesting idea on paper,
00:47but in practice it created problems, as Stephen Moffat has admitted.
00:50He said,
00:51One of the difficulties with her Impossible Girl story was that she wasn't actually a participant in it,
00:55because she didn't actually know about the mystery.
00:57It was always the Doctor fussing about it.
00:59She was completely oblivious until the very end, so it doesn't change her hugely.
01:03Moffat adjusted in Series 8 and made Clara a much more active character going forward,
01:08though some would argue that he overcorrected.
01:10I would be one of those people.
01:12Number 9. Susan's squandered potential.
01:15As the Doctor's first on-screen companion,
01:17Susan holds a special place in Doctor Who history.
01:19She was also his granddaughter and an alien in her own right,
01:23but sadly, this is something the writers quickly seem to forget.
01:26Following a promising introduction in An Unearthly Child,
01:29Susan was treated more as a human teenager than a Time Lord,
01:32playing second fiddle to the other leads.
01:34It's a great frustration looking back, not least for the woman who played her.
01:38Reflecting on her decision to leave the series,
01:40Carol Ann Ford recalled that,
01:41It had become so repetitive.
01:43For a large part of the time,
01:44Susan was arriving somewhere with her grandfather and the other two,
01:47being told not to get into danger,
01:49having them come and get her out of danger,
01:51then flying off again.
01:52In the meantime, I was watching visiting actors do really interesting stuff.
01:56Ford wanted Susan to be a much more interesting character.
01:58She came to the show as a trained dancer,
02:00acrobat, swimmer, and horse rider,
02:02but was given no opportunity to use these talents in the script.
02:05She was also told Susan would have telepathic powers and a cool wardrobe,
02:09neither of which happened.
02:10Given that was 60 years ago,
02:12it's probably too late to make amends.
02:14Though, who knows what the future holds?
02:16This is Doctor Who, after all.
02:17Number 8. Redacting Wild Blue Yonder.
02:20Speculation for the 60th specials was dominated by the mysterious middle instalment,
02:25Wild Blue Yonder.
02:26This was a deliberate move from Russell T. Davis,
02:28who wanted to take one of the episodes and, quote,
02:30try to reveal nothing about it.
02:32This approach extended to all aspects of promotion,
02:35with trailer clips obscured by static and redacted text,
02:38and three redacted actors in the cast list.
02:41But did it work?
02:42Well, that depends on who you ask.
02:43The secrecy did successfully preserve the plot and the villains.
02:46However, it also allowed fans to get carried away with their own theories,
02:50with many convinced that past doctors and companions would appear.
02:53Even Russell T. Davis is conflicted.
02:55He explained to the official Doctor Who podcast,
02:57this is actually the simplest one of the lot.
02:59That's why I kept it secret.
03:01But I wonder if that's had an unfortunate effect
03:03and made it disappointingly simple.
03:05Ultimately, he had the right idea,
03:07but some of the marketing was still needlessly secretive.
03:09Did Isaac Newton and Mrs. Meridue,
03:11characters who don't appear beyond the pre-titles,
03:14really merit the redacted treatment?
03:16Perhaps we'll be able to appreciate the mavity of this decision one day,
03:20but as it stands, we're not convinced.
03:22Number seven, Hiding the Daleks.
03:24Resolution was a new type of festive special,
03:26not so much a coda to Series 11 as a second finale.
03:30Chris Chibnall would be the first to admit
03:31that Series 11's actual finale was fairly lacklustre.
03:35The version of the Battle of Ranskor Avkolos
03:37that went before cameras was actually a first draft.
03:39He told Doctor Who magazine in 2022,
03:42I really attacked Resolution,
03:44so hopefully I made up for it with that one.
03:46Many would agree,
03:47but there was one thing that fans took issue with,
03:49the fact that the Daleks were completely absent from the marketing.
03:53Instead, promotion focused mostly on Jodie Whittaker's scarf.
03:57This allowed the reveal of the Dalek to be a surprise,
03:59but it also meant that the episode potentially lost whole swathes of viewers
04:03by not showing it off ahead of broadcast.
04:05Even Chibnall concedes that this might not have been the best strategy.
04:09He said,
04:09We were torn between keeping it a secret or not,
04:12and I'm not sure that we got that call right.
04:14Thankfully,
04:14Revolution of the Daleks put the villains front and centre in the marketing.
04:18It was a have-your-cake-and-eat-it approach,
04:20allowing the defence drones to make a splash
04:22without detracting from the episode they appeared in.
04:24Win-win.
04:25Number 6,
04:26Four to Doomsday's Froggy Failings.
04:28Four to Doomsday saw the Fifth Doctor go up against new foes,
04:31the Abankans,
04:32but not everyone was convinced by how they came across it on screen,
04:35cast and crew included.
04:37Stratford Johns, who played their leader, Monarch,
04:39had initially leapt at the chance to play an evil space frog,
04:42feeling that it would help him overcome typecasting.
04:45But when he was presented with a solid mask to wear,
04:47Johns refused, on the grounds that it would limit his performance.
04:50In one interview, he recalled phoning the director and saying,
04:53If you've got ideas like that,
04:54why don't you get another fat actor?
04:56If nobody can recognise me, there's no point paying my money.
04:59As a compromise, a thin latex mask was agreed upon.
05:01But even then, Johns was disappointed,
05:03believing he looked unrecognisable.
05:05Meanwhile, writer Terence Dudley had different reservations about the Abankans.
05:10Having envisaged the creatures as completely frog-like,
05:13rather than humanoids with frog heads,
05:14he was dismayed with how they were depicted,
05:16later describing the story as a, quote,
05:19Travesty.
05:20Sadly, Dudley died long before It Takes You Away was broadcast,
05:23but on that basis,
05:24we're sure he would have been delighted by the Solitrax Ultimate Fall.
05:28Johns, not so much.
05:29Number 5,
05:30Series 9,
05:31Stale Opener.
05:32In a show that's been going as long as Doctor Who,
05:34it's important to offer jumping-on points for new viewers,
05:37usually by introducing new leads.
05:39In recent years,
05:40almost every series has abided by this logic,
05:43and in fact,
05:43on only four occasions,
05:45has a main cast been carried over in its entirety.
05:48Series 6,
05:48Series 7,
05:49Series 9,
05:50and Series 12.
05:51Series 6 and 12's openers had different unique selling points
05:54by way of overseas shoots.
05:56Series 7's first chapter also featured scenes shot abroad,
05:59plus every Dalek ever.
06:00And it also technically saw new companion Clara make her debut,
06:04which leaves Series 9 as something of an outlier.
06:07The trailers had quite literally promised the same old,
06:09just the Doctor and Clara Oswald in the TARDIS,
06:12with no new characters to look forward to.
06:14Even the return of Davros wasn't publicised in advance.
06:16Siva Moffat has since admitted that this was a mistake,
06:19recalling that,
06:20I feel as though I slightly fumbled it by not having a new thing.
06:24This is one of the reasons Series 10 ended up being so new,
06:27despite being Moffat's last.
06:28It's also why he opted to introduce Bill in the pilot,
06:31rather than the 2016 Christmas special.
06:34Number 4,
06:34RTD's shelved sequel.
06:36Russell T. Davis' first era as showrunner saw at least one classic villain return each year.
06:41In 2005, we had the Autons and the Daleks.
06:44In 2006, we had the Cybermen.
06:46In 2007, we had the Macra and the Master.
06:49In 2008, we had the Sontarans and Davros.
06:52And in 2007, we had Rassilon and the Time Lords.
06:55But as RTD has since lamented,
06:57he never wrote an out-and-out classic series sequel,
07:00as Chris Chibnall did for the Silurians,
07:02and Steven Moffat did for the Great Intelligence.
07:04I'd have run the old episodes on BBC3 all week,
07:07then shown the sequel on the Saturday,
07:09he said in 2020,
07:10citing 1977's Image of the Fendal as a story ripe for revisiting.
07:15He said,
07:16Of course, it's entirely possible that Return of the Fendal,
07:29or another sequel,
07:30will become a reality in Russell's second era.
07:32The Fendal could even be the boss,
07:34or the one who waits.
07:35You heard it here first, folks,
07:37just in case it happens.
07:38Number 3,
07:39The Sitcom Snog.
07:40Series 5 is rightly heralded as one of Steven Moffat's best,
07:43but there's one scene that sticks out like a sore thumb,
07:46the end of Flesh and Stone when Amy kisses the Doctor.
07:49It's not the first time the companion has kissed the Doctor,
07:51but in most other cases,
07:52the circumstances were different.
07:54There was a plot reason,
07:55as was the case for Martha and Donna,
07:57or an implied romance with the Doctor to begin with for Rose and Astrid.
08:01Flesh and Stone gives her something different,
08:02a companion forcing herself onto the Doctor,
08:05in her bedroom,
08:06on the night before her wedding,
08:07to another man.
08:08It wasn't exactly a great scene to begin with,
08:10but it's aged terribly.
08:11Neven Moffat agrees,
08:13citing it on more than one occasion as his single biggest misstep.
08:16I played it for sitcom-style laughs,
08:18he admitted to Doctor Who magazine,
08:20and it doesn't work.
08:21Brilliant episode up till that point,
08:22and then I screw it up with sniggering sex comedy.
08:25It rankles me to this day,
08:27he said in another interview,
08:28because it's just wrong.
08:30I'd say this is one to fix in the novelisation,
08:32if he ever does one.
08:33Number 2,
08:34The Plasmaton Problem.
08:35There's nothing worse than an unconvincing monster,
08:38and the Plasmatons rank as one of the most unconvincing of all.
08:41They were envisaged as powerful, amorphous henchmen,
08:44and the whole point of the costume was to hide the human shape.
08:47But they were blatantly just men in suits.
08:49No thought was given to the actors' eyelines either,
08:51so they couldn't move independently,
08:53save for the odd bit of lumbering.
08:54As the big bads of the Fifth Doctor's first finale,
08:57they failed spectacularly,
08:59a fact the man himself is under no illusion about.
09:01They were just nothing at all,
09:03Peter Davison recalled.
09:04It was just one more indignity that was heaped upon the story.
09:07It was a real symbol that the BBC had run out of money.
09:10What can we do for these Plasmatons?
09:12Let's just make them lumps of polystyrene.
09:14It's a trend that continued in the Fifth Doctor's other finales,
09:17with the execution of Chameleon and the Magma Beast
09:20also leaving a lot to be desired.
09:22However,
09:22The Case of Andrazani featured one of the show's most enduring villains
09:26in the form of Shara's Jack.
09:27Every cloud, I guess.
09:28Number 1,
09:29Matt Smith's Regeneration Regrets.
09:31When Peter Davison was cast as the Doctor,
09:33Patrick Troughton advised him to do no more than three seasons in the part.
09:37It's an unwritten rule that generally sticks,
09:40as was the case when Matt Smith exited after Series 7.
09:43Stephen Moffat has since revealed that Series 8 was pitched as an 11th Doctor run,
09:47with many of the same elements present,
09:49the Doctor questioning if he was a good man,
09:51and some other characters,
09:52i.e. Missy,
09:53trying to tempt him to a darker path.
09:55It's not known how far these plans got,
09:57or how late in the day Matt Smith confirmed his intentions.
10:00Whatever the case,
10:01there was a feeling that the time of the Doctor
10:03was a slightly lacklustre end to the 11th Doctor's era,
10:07and that certain plot points were wrapped up rather hurriedly,
10:09and the man himself would seem to agree.
10:11Was it the best episode it could be,
10:13Smith said in an interview?
10:14I don't know.
10:14Maybe, maybe not.
10:15I was proud of the body of work up to that point,
10:18but I think everything can always be better.
10:19Is this him throwing shade at the time of the Doctor,
10:22or something more?
10:23An admission that he should have stayed for that fourth series after all?
10:26Either way,
10:26he seems less than satisfied with his Doctor's ending.
10:29Well, you know how to fix that, Matt Smith.
10:31Come back in a cameo roll.
10:33Come back in a cameo roll.
10:35Did anyone else hear that?
10:36And there you have it.
10:36Make sure you also check out
10:3810 times Doctor Who reused footage,
10:40and hoped you wouldn't notice.
10:41In the meantime,
10:42I've been Ellie for Who Culture,
10:43and in the words of Riversong herself,
10:45goodbye, sweeties.