Death to Hype

Following fast on the heels of that last post about an overhyped whiner who couldn't play a solo I can't copy and whose most far-reaching action was his own suicide, which prevented music as a whole from moving on from more overhyped whining with pathetic solos, comes a piece on why hype is a bad thing. (The previous sentence fulfils my required quota of Yahtzee-esque dialogue.)

See, rather than trot out Cobain's corpse for yet another thrashing, I'm going to use as an example someone who a) is still alive and b) I respect. In this case that someone is Mr. Steven Moffat, best known as the guy who made the phrase "are you my mummy" downright creepifying. (The previous sentence fulfils my required quota of Whedony dialogue.)

My first introduction to Mr. Moffat was on the bonus disc of the phenomenal and classic Doctor Who serial, City of Death, where he essentially said that Douglas Adams was a terrible script editor. A wonderful idea man, but a horrible nuts-and-bolts guy to keep the idealists in line. (Irony will shortly ensue, so remember that phrase.)

I remember thinking "well, who the hell are you to say that about my literary hero?" And then I saw "The Empty Child," and my question was answered. Even his Season 28 thing, "Girl in the Fireplace," while nowhere near as good as the other episodes he's written, was hands-down the best episode of the disaster that was Season 28. (Well, okay, maybe "School Reunion," but I'm trying to make a point here.)

I remember mentioning to Tom, who used to write for this blog, that it would be a wonderful thing if they made him the head writer for the show. And then about a week after I said that, the announcement broke that yes, indeed Mr. Moffat would be the head writer when the show returned in 2010. And there was much rejoicing. And then the irony I mentioned earlier kicked in. (Did you remember it like I told you to?)

After hearing the new theme and seeing the new title sequence, I'm now of the impression that Mr. Moffat is more like Mr. Adams than he'd care to admit. The new theme/titles are not encouraging, and suggest to me that, just like Douglas Adams in Season 17, George Lucas with the Star Wars prequels, Gene Roddenberry with the first Star Trek film, James Cameron with Avatar, AC/DC with For Those About to Rock, and really anybody with the thing they did after their masterpiece was in the can, I could go on for hours, Mr. Moffat has no one to tell him when to stop. This is a problem with having too much money/control. Idea men should never have that much. (This sentence fulfils my quota of paragraph-ending sentences in parentheses.)

Long story short, hype leads to people being put on pedestals, and people on pedestals never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever live up to expectations. (Ever.)