A Darker Tone for Season 6

[Vampyros Adric]

A couple of things strike me about this weeks (and indeed next weeks) episode. Firstly, as was mentioned in another thread by Peri-Peri, the trailer for next week looks very dark and scary. Added to that we have the 'need' for next weeks story to lead into the hiatus cliff hanger which make it doubly perilous I think.

My question is this; has the tone been noticeably darker this season? The instinctive answer is yes. But then there has always been a wonderfully dark undertone to Nu-Who. The Satan Pit, 42, Midnight, The Waters of Mars - these were all very dark stories. Has this season really taken it up a notch or has it always been this way?

[hannahcole93]

Er definitely been taken up a notch! All the other ones you mentioned weren't really scary in my opinion, but the ones this series definitely have a creepy feel to them! Not really this one for me, but Curse of the Black Spot seemed pretty dark I thought...

Yeah definitely taken it up a bit!

[chrissymarieb]

I think that the big difference this season is that the show actually started off on a very dark note with what happened to the Doctor.  That act, so early in the first episode, set the tone for the rest of the season.  Had that happened later or if there was more levity in the opening episode I am not sure that I would consider this season any darker than some of the others.  Not sure if that made sense, but I hope it did

[Vampyros Adric]

That does make sense and I think I agree with you. TIA/DOTM started quite darkly so that set the tone as opposed to Rose, New Earth, Smith & Jones, Partners in Crime & TEH all of which were quite breezy and upbeat.

[Twisted-Sister]

They have definately started as they mean to go on. Seeing the Doctor die within ten minutes of the show being on the air definately made the audience aware that this series was going to be very different in tone. I like that it has got darker. It has a more grown up feel to it

[Aneurin]

I like it. Its dark enough so that people might stop calling it a kids show, but not too dark as to alienate the family audience.

[Peri-Peri]

I like it. Its dark enough so that people might stop calling it a kids show, but not too dark as to alienate the family audience.

Definately. They seem to have found a great balance with the stories this year. Not too scary, not too breezy. There is a nice darkness to the plots that has been missing in some earlier stories and there is something for everyone. They need to keep this up as they continue forward

[Amuro]

The Rebel Flesh is no darker than Satan pit, really. I just think that the much more lighter elements (new earth, etc) have been removed. This has mostly been successful I think. The Doctor's Wife was very whimsical but managed to still have a more serious tone than the lighter Tennant era eps. The Curse of the Black Spot, however, seemed to have a lot of the elements of the more silly past episodes, but was presented as a serious episode. This wasn't a good mix for me, and I hope that if they want to do a 'romp' episode they should allow the tone to match the subject matter.