The OP implied that this soapiness was something that was specific to Moffats era, which obviously is not the case. They then went on to state quite clearly in their response to my post, that they believed was something we saw more in the Moffat era than the RTD era, which is quite clearly not case.

Responses in this thread have not, as I said, been about lauding one over the other but pointing out that both have used aspects that could be seen as soapy in their one ways, and that to try and claim it as a recent phenomena is highly flawed.

Let me just throw this out there.

Jackie Tyler talked about Eastenders in front of the Doctor.

Ho hum.

Yes, it's just you.

I agree with this! I really think people who keep referring to soap elements have never watched a soap. What we have is human drama, not the same as a soap. If it was a soap Rose would have been in a full on love triangle with the Doctor and Captain Jack, probably ending up pregnant and then trying to arrange an abortion so she could stay on the TARDIS - and Martha would have been working with the Master to get revenge on the Doctor for not loving her, and the Doctor would have taken to drinking some Time Lord version of alcohol to deal with the pain of losing Rose and probably end up crashing the TARDIS, leaving Martha paralysed and the Doctor declaring his love for her out of guilt. And Amy really would be sleeping with both the Doctor and Rory and hiding the baby from the Doctor because she thinks it might be his. That would be what you call a soap! What we have characters relating to each other and having emotions towards each other! That is what you call drama! It is a way of making the audience relate and care what is happening to the characters. A few subtle references to the Doctor and Rose having a love for each other and a married couple possibly having a baby does not a soap make!

Three episodes... three episodes with aliens... three episodes with clear science fiction... three episodes with aliens, clear science fiction and characters that care about each other...


Not much has changed in 47 years.

Its great TV, its great Dr. Who .So whats the issue????

I still think you must be joking. Apart from the first two companions being in love or having a crush on the Doctor, in RTD's time they also had families, and not particularly likeable ones at that (Wilf excepted) who took up valuable airtime that could have focussed on the Doctor himself who was almost sidelined a few times in favour of people who could have made a brief appearance to show the companions had some kind of background, like in fact Amy's parents did at the very end of last series. All I really want to see is the Doctor and the companion/s of the day fighting aliens and having adventures in time and space.

You would get better CPR in eastenders though

I found a lot of the relationship and family stuff in the RTD era very wearing and am glad it's been toned down, but this post:


makes a very good point about how far removed from a soap Dr Who is/was even at its most Rose-ish. It also made me giggle for several seconds. Loving your work, Kez!

Peoples criticisms of the Moffat era are almost becoming absurd in their incoherent scattershot nature.
It's too American, it's too mystical and Harry Potter-esque, it's too complicated, it's too childish, it's incomprehensible but also too dumbed down, it's overly adult and not aimed at the kids but the daleks are like tellytubbies and aren't scary enough. And now it's too soapy.

Blimey can't people be at least a little consistent?!

No doubt after The Doctors Wife it'll be back to being too hard sci-fi and lacking mass appeal. But then it's also got an actress who has been in Coronation Street so maybe it's too soapy? But it's also a brand new original story which might be too difficult to follow and alienate the family audience but then it's also got an Ood in it so this can only be a sign of a lazy over reliance on past glories and/or budget cuts which indicate the show is due for cancellation. It seems some people are just determined to rain on the DW parade any way they can.

Me? RTD definitely used alot more 'soapy' elements to emphasise the human angle and make it easily relatable to every day situations and environments. Moffat has moved away from this to an extent and toned these things down but has been careful to include familiar reference points such as romance and pregnancy conundrums to ensure the show doesn't scare off the casual viewer who would usually shy away from 'genre' shows. Hes done this well. RTD did his thing well. What's the problem?

Exfoliate!

Thanks you made my point much better.

Yes, exactly! This post made me laugh and nod in agreement.

It shows the difference between a soap, which DW is not, and a drama, which DW is.

For a brief moment I thought this thread was about washing powder. Which reminds me - I saw some Doctor Who underwear the other day with Matt Smith's face on them.

I think your right!

Yes.



.

At least RTD did this "soap" stuff properly and believably, those who like it, were happy. Now it feels like a token "soap" stuff, at least for me. So besides those who disliked it before, it is now disliked also by some of those for whose benefit it is supposed to be there.

RTD had lots of content focussing on the characters, their relationships between each other, and their relationships between them and other members of the human race.

So does SM. Nothing's really changed. Sure, little of SM's run so far has taken place in a normal domestic setting (The Lodger), and even when it does it's sometimes (Eleventh Hour, Amy's Choice) still an unreal version of it, but I don't think that makes a huge difference. It still brings across the theme of the contrast between the everyday and the fantastic, just like it used to.

Thread opener inadvertently reinforces cruel and damaging stereotype about "socially awkward" Doctor Who fans with rant about 'icky relationship stuff' and not enough aliens

You saw Daisy Lowe's knickers?

"I wear pants now. Pants are cool"

Yes it is.


No.


It's known as giving depth to the characters,depth to the storyline, and quite possibly another angle to an ongoing story arc. It's not even stuff that is exclusive to soaps, it happens in many dramas, as it does in real life.

I'm loving it.

Welcome to the forum, btw.

No, it was a River Thong!


*Gets coat, runs like buggery*