By DJ Tyrer
Despite my initial fears, whilst viewing burping wheelie bins and the rather boring End of the World, the series was not an abject failure. Much of it managed to reach the standard of 'solid' and it did have some real standout moments. But - yes, there's a but - overall, it has the feeling of an opportunity wasted. It lacked the innovation and quality to really stand-out as a classic - that it stands out from the current crop of TV dramas says less about its quality than about the paucity of good quality TV drama at the moment; just as the fact that it thrashed ITV's ratings was due to tha lack of an even halfway decent challenger from ITV.
Too much felt derivative of earlier series, even pastiche. Although I would have been whining if it had been utterly unlike anything that had gone before, lacking in that essential 'Who'-ness, I didn't want something that just rehashed the series past, SF cliches and the plots of other stories. I wanted something fresh. (If I wanted nostalgia I would watch a video of an earlier story.) hopefully, now that it is back and the need to get people's attention is over, future series will provide that innovation and revive the franchise.
And grabbing people's attention is what it too often felt like - rather like the worst excesses of John Nathan-Turner, Russel T. Davies seemed too often to be grubbing for attention rather than making a classic series good enough to garner that attention for itself. Coupled with that was a feeling that there was an uncertainty as to who the audience was - fans or non-fans? adults of children? - resulting in an awkward mixture that failed to suit anyone quite right; hopefully a clearer vision will inform future production.
Most of all, it lacked the depth and daring of other, more innovative eras. Where is something to rival Faction Paradox? Where een something to compare with the Key to time or the UNIT Years? the Bad Wolf thread could have done this, but fell at the final hurdle, being too vague and unrewarding.
The big tests, of course, is whether viewers return for the Christmas Special and future series. So, will I? Well, to be honest, I'm not exactly jumping up and down with impatience - in fact, I probably wouldn't be too upset if it was cancelled. But - once again with the but - there was enough promise to tempt me back to give it another chance... If the second series can do better then I will definitely be sticking with it. If it is more of the same, then I might just stick in a video of a classic story on a Saturday night and relive the glory days instead.