Lies, Damn Lies

Fan fiction

Fan fiction is an oft mocked thing. The internet is full of it, and it ranges from weirdness to, I am sure, quality. Creating a story in someone elses' world might seem odd, but its not that strange. It can be fun to be constrained in your story telling, and you may well enjoy the world someone else has created, and want to tell your own stories within it.

I present you with- television. Most American drama's are written by a team of writers, which means, in a way, that some of them are writing fan fiction. They are creating stories in someone elses world. They can help make it theirs, of course, but they are still a little detatched.

The question about making it your own world is an interesting one. Russel T Davies did a lot of things to Dr Who. He started by making the doctor the very last of the time lords, with his race extinct, the rules were suddenly changed. Earth soon became a knowledgable place, while before it had existed in ignorance. Many speculated that he might push a reset button on his work, but he certainly did not do that.

In fact he did worse. It was probably clear he was going to bring back the time lords, because Davies has been about nothing if not escalation of the scales at stake. Yet he made them sociopathic loonies who appeared for about ten minutes. By doing this he has pretty much destroyed the time lords. There can be no plots about the beauracratic Gallifrey, because Davies wanted a bit more excitement than another trial for the Doctor (and perhaps that would be retreading old ground, but hell, he did it with the daleks and cybermen, it would be nice to see a foe that the Doctor willingly submitted to). They're basically gone now. To bring back the time lords as a narrative force would be rather difficult for any writer, and would involve a HELL of a lot of flim flam.

This is a little frustrating. Because while Davies did restart Dr Who, its not his, and now, while Moffat has control, he must work within the parameters Davies decided would be fun. Oh well.

[Incidentally, on a complete tanget, a thing I'd like to see would be the notion of galactic history continuing without the Doctor. There were entire wars between the daleks and the rest of the galaxy which the Doctor just knew about, with the Doctor being involved in a smaller story about their resurgance by using human minds. The Doctor doesn't have to make the entire universe tick]

Labels: rant, television

posted by Mr K @ 9:00 am