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Idiom
Registered: 04/08/08
Posts: 722
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 Tuesday, January 13 2009 @ 04:38 PM EST |
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| [Quote by: DarthSkeptical] I'd rather see forum threads with a hundred vitriolic responses posted within the space of an hour after the announcement of a new actor, than ones with 10 positive posts over the course of a day. |
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Personally, I find pre-judgement boring. For me i's the students I know who turn round and say: "Nah. Don't wanna read Shakespeare or poetry cos it's boring! It's got nothing to teach me!"
Yeah, everybody is enitled to any opinion. They're even entitled to believe they have rights over a TV programme. However, the intelligent, open-minded response would seem to me to wait and see and then express an opinion or a judgement founded in fact or experience. |
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seanhuxter
Registered: 08/27/05
Posts: 825
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| Tuesday, January 13 2009 @ 04:58 PM EST |
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I haven't been following any of this backlash, but I have a secret for some of the fans:
(Shhh... gather round... Peter Davison is not Tom Baker either! And Christopher Eccleston isn't Patrick Troughton! And furthermore, David Tennant isn't Jon Pertwee! Oh... and as a last point... David Tennant isn't god!)
There. I said it.
Each Doctor is different. I remember the backlash when it was announced Chris Eccleston would star in the new series, and how crappy that was going to turn out.
And remember when we heard that, of all people, Billie Bloody Piper!!! was going to play the companion????
Yeah, folks needs ta chill, generally.
Sean.
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One solid hope is worth a cartload of uncertainties.
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Linquel
Registered: 03/22/06
Posts: 729
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| Tuesday, January 13 2009 @ 07:20 PM EST |
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| [Quote by: Doctor Whoovie]However, Steven Moffat commands much respect from me some of the best revived who we have seen, excellent comedy series etc. If we take him at his word (from Doctor Who confidential) that Matt is the Doctor (given the appropriate script) then I for one am willing to wait and see before making my judgement. |
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That about sums up my thoughts, as well. I'd be lying if I said I had no concerns about Matt Smith, considering I haven't seen anything he has done. But Steven Moffat has written some of my favorite episodes and if he thinks Matt is the best choice I'll back his choice. I may have to go check out some of those OG posts, though. I'm a little curious now.  |
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I'm going "Full Circle" and putting my avatar back to what it was when I first joined. :)
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Idiom
Registered: 04/08/08
Posts: 722
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| Wednesday, January 14 2009 @ 03:03 PM EST |
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| [Quote by: DarthSkeptical] American fans, in particular, have spent an insensible amount of money supporting the cause. More money by far than the typical British license payer, because, we potentially pay (or have paid) our local PBS station a sum of money specifically earmarked for the presentation of Doctor Who. |
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A strange argument. And flawed. Doesn't the money you've paid to a PBS station, go to that PBS station. Sure some of that cash then goes to the BBC, but the general coffers - not straight to the Doctor Who Production Dept.
Do any of us have ights over art? We pay to see a film, enter a gallery, read a book - but do we have the same rights as a customer in a fish and chip shop?
We can express opinions, sure. But cotrolling the content of art?
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FixerMX
Registered: 09/12/07
Posts: 48
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| Wednesday, January 14 2009 @ 05:33 PM EST |
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| [Quote by: DarthSkeptical]While I agree that tone is important, I found the linked article about entitlement fascinating in its hypothesis but flawed in its conclusion. People emphatically do have a right to feel entitled, a right even to be angry, overjoyed, or, like you and me, fairly unemotional about the pick. |
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I think people have the right to feel however they want about anything. Whether it's a healthy or productive feeling is a subjective call and depends on the situation. You can probably tell where I'm going from there. 
| [Quote by: DarthSkeptical]The way I see it, Doctor Who is a product. It's a good in which we fanboys and girls have invested a lot of money. |
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So I can understand feeling attached to a product. My trusty Titanium PowerBook is beginning to break down, and I'm going to have to take it to the woodshed and shoot it someday soon, and I'm a little...verklempt...about it... (sniff)
There. Sorry.
Anyway, I'm a Mac fan, a Team Fortress 2 fan, a Doctor Who fan, and so on. I've spent a lot of money on them, and so on. But on any of these I'm a minority shareholder. If one of the products breaks, or the creative team takes a direction I'm unhappy about, of course I'm going to feel upset. But have I been wounded or screwed? If I'm a subscriber to a massively multiplayer game, maybe. If it's a casting change to a fifth series of a show that I've paid no license fee for and have only bought up to the fourth series box set, I don't think so.
Let me be clear: I love the RTD era and am nervous about the transition away from it; Moffat will likely improve on some things but also get away from some of the stuff that I really liked. But in the unlikely event I hate Series 5, it will not have changed Series 1 through 4 in the slightest. I still have them.
| [Quote by: DarthSkeptical]American fans, in particular, have spent an insensible amount of money supporting the cause.We're very much entitled, given how much financial support we've given to say whatever we want about any aspect of Doctor Who. |
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American fans are still a tiny, tiny fraction of the worldwide Doctor Who audience, though. And I'm one of those fans who never contributed to public television in the old days (too young) and never spent a dime on Doctor Who merchandise of any sort until the revival. So I think you're overgeneralizing about the importance and investment of American fandom. It's a sliding scale.
| [Quote by: DarthSkeptical]To put it plainly, we are the customers. We are, quite simply, always right. |
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Yes, but what about when the customers disagree? Everyone has the right to their opinions about Matt Smith, "Journey's End," and the Series 4 theme arrangement, but the fact that we're a big, diverse audience suggests, to me, that a strong sense of humility is appropriate when defending one's relatively tiny (IMHO) ownership stake in a global phenomenon.
| [Quote by: DarthSkeptical]I think what fandom has to worry about is the point at which these voices of outrage are silent. When we're all conforming to a polite party line. Because dissent, especially loud, immediate, unfiltered dissent, means that people care. I'd rather see forum threads with a hundred vitriolic responses posted within the space of an hour after the announcement of a new actor, than ones with 10 positive posts over the course of a day. |
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If the dissent could be a bit more Zen, maybe I'd agree with you. From my perspective, the healthiest state of affairs is when you love something to love it completely while trying to see it clearly. When it turns sour, try to fix it or walk away from it, but don't let anger, resentment or frustration consume you. Maybe it applies to relationships to TV programs as well as people.
There's a Randy Pausch -- the "Last Lecture" professor from Carnegie Mellon who suffered from pancreatic cancer -- quote in his book about realizing that the grocery store self-checkout machine had double charged him for $15. He was mad, but it would have taken him another 15 minutes or so to sort it out with management, and he could afford the $15, and, y'know, he just had a few months to live, so why spend the time? He left the grocery store without looking back.
I'm trying to be more like him. Even if I did shout at my television over parts of "The Doctor's Daughter." I got over it. Mostly.
Sorry for the soapbox; I'll get down now. |
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BongMong
Registered: 02/26/06
Posts: 46
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| Monday, January 19 2009 @ 08:56 AM EST |
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British types can contact Points of View or the BBC and try to get a response. There usually is one, if enough share the same opinion then there is often an impact on the show.
Non-British types? Well, you can complain to the BBC (but won't get very far I should imagine) or to your own TV station. If your TV station get's enough complaints they'll probably cancel DW on their station, so I don't advise it. Still, that's the choice for overseas customers, buy it and watch it or don't. Unfortunately, if you're not British, it's a case of hand-me-downs, you have to hope your relations had good fashion sense because you'll have to make do with what's already been chosen.
Of course, you could always petition the US Government to join in with the Licence Fee. What an amazing organisation the British/American Broadcasting Corporation could be... |
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--
BongMong :)~
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