On the brink of a brand new chapter in the life of the Doctor, and his mysterious almost-companion-turned-companion Clara “Oswin” Oswald, with “The Bells of Saint John” this Saturday, DarkMedia had the privilege to sit down with lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat, as he talked about the past, present and future of Doctor Who, Clara and the Doctor’s dynamic, what makes a companion a companion, and all the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey details in between.
On whether or not he’s trying to tell us we’re too tied to technology, with “The Bells of Saint John”: I’m trying to make a really good adventure about the Doctor, really. What the Doctor always does is grab hold of whatever is omnipresent in your life, and turn it into a monster.
On the “Spoon Heads” (the featured monsters in “The Bells of Saint John”): (It) suffices to say, wi-fi covers every civilized computer. So, if anything got into the wi-fi, it would be a problem for us all; a new way to invade us. But, beyond that, the Spoon Heads are for Saturday.
On his favorite episode of Doctor Who: I always say my favorite episode is ‘next Saturday’s episode’, and that’s probably always true. It’s probably always true that the next one is the one on is the one I’m most focused on and most excited about. (But) “Bells” is a great episode, I think “Cold War” is a terrific traditional episode…we’ve got some new Cybermen. I change my mind all the time about which my favorite is, and it’s always invariably the next one.
On what makes Doctor Who universal, as its popularity rapidly grows in the United States: Accessibility, in a way. You can start watching Doctor Who (with) incomplete history; you don’t have to catch up with the rest of it. It’s a man who’s in trouble, in time and space, in a box bigger on the inside. That’s as much format as we have. You can join at any time and reach a hold of it. And, dare I say, I think it’s one of the great pieces of television entertainment there’s ever been. That’s why we latch onto it; it’s terrific. It’s simple to understand, but it’s hugely entertaining, and every so often it completely re-invents itself to feel at home in a new era. It always feels at home in the present day, because it always adapts itself. We, after all, are outliving our leading men.
On why Jenna-Louise Coleman was the right choice for the Doctor’s new companion: She’s terrific. She’s a terribly, terribly good actress. You can be as beautiful and as charming as you like, if you’re not a terrific actor they mean nothing on the screen. She looks great, she has great comic timing, she moves like she somehow belongs next to Matt Smith (Doctor Who). When the two stand together, it’s an instant team. They have enough in common, and yet have enough sharp contrast…it’s instant poster when you stand them together.
On the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, and whether or not it will live up to the hype: We’ll deliver a good show…more on that later. But we’ll deliver, I’m pretty confident.
On Clara, her previous incarnations, and if/when she’ll remember them: Well, I would know the answer to that question and certainly wouldn’t give it to you (laughs). You will uncover the mystery of Clara in the next eight episodes. All will be made clear, and you’ll get your answer that way.
On why the companion is such an important element of the storytelling in Doctor Who: It’s the person to whom the story happens. A hero is somebody who saves the day, is extraordinary, and you stand back and admire: the Doctor. But for the story to have an emotional connection, it has to happen to somebody. The Doctor, himself, has to happen to somebody. And, so, very often in Doctor Who, the companion is sort of the main character – not the hero – the person whose story it is, and how this experience changed them.
You never see how the Doctor began his journey; you’ll probably never see how he ends it; you’ll probably never know why he embarked on it. But we know all those companions – who they were before they met the Doctor, we know why they ran away with him, and we know exactly how they ended up. Those stories are complete. The Doctor is the enigma that enters their lives and changes them. The story is always about the person who changes the most, rather than (being) necessarily about the person who affects those changes.
On writing for established characters (Doctor Who and Sherlock): You have to handle characters like Sherlock Holmes and The Doctor, the ones who were given to you fully formed, you have to treat those characters (I’ll get into trouble for saying this) as if they’re your own. Otherwise, you’re not writing them properly. Treat it like you own it. It’s not an heirloom; even though you know in your heart it’s not really yours, you have to behave as though (it is).
On what’s been his favorite monster to write on Doctor Who: I’m tempted to say the Weeping Angels, because I’m standing looking at one in my back garden, but the one I got the most kick out of might have been The Silence. I loved the gimmick of the fact that you couldn’t remember them; finding ways to employ that, finding ways to make that frightening. The Weeping Angels are, of course, by far, the most popular I’ve invented, and will always be the most popular ones I’ve invented, but they’re a bugger to like because they don’t move. And it’s always really hard to work out how you’re going to do a chase scene this time.
On why the Doctor goes through periods without a companion: If you were told that the way to heal yourself, the way to make yourself a better person, to function better, was to permanently endanger another human being, you might be hesitant too. He’s aware that he causes damage to these people, or can cause damage to the people he travels with, and puts them in terrible danger. He’s also aware that a relationship or friendship, for him, is postponed for a reason. And it’s not even postponed that long. He knows that he will outlive them; they will die, and he will be roughly the same age. So, I think those two factors make him very, very hesitant about taking someone on board. And also the fact that he’s the Doctor. Do you imagine, trying to tell the Doctor something? Trying to put him right, trying to explain something to him – and have him believe you? He, generally speaking, does know better than you, (and) he always thinks he does. So he’s a hard man, I think, to invite.
On how he sees the character of the Doctor’s companion: I think when you start with the character who’s going to become the companion, who’s going to go on the TARDIS, you can’t think the word “companion”. You can’t think they know…you have to think this is somebody who (a) would fly away in that TARDIS, and (b) the Doctor would want to fly away in the TARDIS (with them). He doesn’t like everybody, he’s a difficult man to deal with. So, it’s not anybody that he actually forms a friendship with. I don’t know what sort of person would run through those bloody doors. I’m always aware that people would run the other direction, probably including me. So, you have to imagine somebody who’s ready to say, “Yes”…to running away with a clearly insane man with a time machine. That is your starting point, with that character: (at) what point in their life are they, what decisions have they made, what has worked out, what hasn’t worked out…that leads them to respond positively to a casual request from a lunatic in a bow tie.
On the dynamic between the Doctor and Clara: You need someone who challenges the Doctor; you need someone to scare the doctor into a new life, into a new relief. Amy had done it in one particular way. The thing with the Doctor, the Doctor’s always the remote, inaccessible, mysterious one, and the companion is always the sloppy friendly one. Whereas, this time, Clara is the slightly difficult to get to know one who’s probably going to be slightly difficult to hug. The Doctor is haunted by her, and has met her twice before…or so he thinks. She’s the insolvable mystery, and the enigma, and he’s the one chasing after her. It’s a reversal of the normal Doctor/Companion dynamic, which I’m rather enjoying.
Congratulations to Doctor Who on their Peabody win today! (Via BBC America) Seemingly immortal, 50-years-old and still running, this engaging, imaginative sci-fi/fantasy series is awarded an Institutional Peabody for evolving with technology and the times like nothing else in the known television universe.
“The Bells of Saint John” will premiere on BBC America this Saturday.
Stay tuned for all the latest Doctor Who coverage, and much more, right here on DarkMedia.com
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