I felt that way about Russell T. Davies, the few episodes I saw of the Tenth Doctor
I think it verged on that sometimes, but it felt like less of a problem to me. Though admittedly I can't say how much of the less-problem-ness is due to me liking Tennant's performance better than Smith's. But I think most of it is because Ten's run addressed a number of questions of the sort that I really dig -- like the bit where he says "I'm going to die" and somebody else says "but you'll do your regenerating thing, right?," and Ten points out that even so, he still dies. Whoever goes walking away after that has his memories, but it isn't him. I also liked the fact that the end of Tennant's run made you see how easily a Time Lord could go from being awesome to being one of the people who nearly destroyed the universe.
I see what you mean about Amy Pond being an enigma for the Doctor, and I can imagine how making that the entire premise for a character results in a very thin character. (I mean, either the audience understands her and thinks the Doctor's an idiot, or the audience has to sit there and be baffled, too.)
I haven't seen "The Name of the Doctor" yet, so I can't speak to what happened there. But I think the strength of the seasons for Eleven -- the ones I've seen, anyway -- has been in the puzzle nature of the metaplot. Moffat, I'm told, is the first showrunner for Who that's embraced making time travel part of the plot, rather than just the device that gets you to where the plot is. But enjoying the intellectual puzzle does not always cover for shortcomings in character development.
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I think it verged on that sometimes, but it felt like less of a problem to me. Though admittedly I can't say how much of the less-problem-ness is due to me liking Tennant's performance better than Smith's. But I think most of it is because Ten's run addressed a number of questions of the sort that I really dig -- like the bit where he says "I'm going to die" and somebody else says "but you'll do your regenerating thing, right?," and Ten points out that even so, he still dies. Whoever goes walking away after that has his memories, but it isn't him. I also liked the fact that the end of Tennant's run made you see how easily a Time Lord could go from being awesome to being one of the people who nearly destroyed the universe.
I see what you mean about Amy Pond being an enigma for the Doctor, and I can imagine how making that the entire premise for a character results in a very thin character. (I mean, either the audience understands her and thinks the Doctor's an idiot, or the audience has to sit there and be baffled, too.)
I haven't seen "The Name of the Doctor" yet, so I can't speak to what happened there. But I think the strength of the seasons for Eleven -- the ones I've seen, anyway -- has been in the puzzle nature of the metaplot. Moffat, I'm told, is the first showrunner for Who that's embraced making time travel part of the plot, rather than just the device that gets you to where the plot is. But enjoying the intellectual puzzle does not always cover for shortcomings in character development.