Re: Davies on online fandom

"Stephen Wilson" <sr.wilson@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"MHW" <pablo9us@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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I know it's not a new quote, but any thoughts on this?

RTD isn't making new Dr Who that caters to every member of fandom. For a
start, that wouldn't even be remotely possible. There are so many people
out there with their own visions of what Dr Who is, or should be, all
about. Then, if he did listen to the diehard fans, Dr Who would become a
series that would be watched by such a small minority, it wouldn't last
long. On top of that, the diehard fans are simply that - fans. Fans always
think they know best. They're very good at criticising, but would not be
able to produce a professional product.

No, if RTD paid any attention to fan opinion he'd very quickly get
initially overwhelmed and would ultimately get quite depressed if he took
every opinion to heart. So he's quite wisely taken the decision to avoid
the message boards and simply make the programme the way he wants it to
be. You end up with a less schizophrenic product, and although it won't
make everyone happy, it is at least the vision RTD had for it, and remains
that way.


Everyone knows that you can't make everyone happy all of the time.
That doesn't mean that all external input can be ignored and that fans can
be generalised in the way you have described.
Even what you refer to as "die hard fans" in actually fact will consist of a
wide spectrum of views, maybe a lot of it quite sensible, maybe some of it
completely off the wall.

Whoever was going to bring back the series was always going to have to make
it according to their own agenda, quite rightly so. It's also true that to a
certain extent you have to set yourself up as a sort of litmus paper for the
psyche of the intended audience and have to go for a large audience rather
than a specific genre of geekdome. However IMHO, there is a certain
arrogance in RTD to the extent that he will ignore *everyone* else. From off
the record remarks from production staff invovled in the series there have
even been comments like 'out of control' to describe him, and 'he's given
too much of a free reign'.

The man will not delegate anything. Perhaps the problem is that he actually
*is* one of those die hard fans you refer to, except that he is
unfortunately one of the ones with the off the wall mentality.

Don't get me wrong, I am so glad the series is back. It's just that I don't
much care for RTD's storylines. They are devoid of any plot whatsoever. He's
interested in characters, the interaction between them and visuals. Plot is
unfortunately relegated to fourth place, when it should be first.

--
Simon

.

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