Steven Moffat On The Pros & Cons Of Online Fandom

In a recent press conference to promote BBC America’s broadcasts of the upcoming series of Doctor Who, showrunner Steven Moffat turned his attention to the online fandom of the show.

In comments transcribed by The Mary Sue, he first noted the negatives:

I think trying to assess Doctor Who’s audience from its online community would be like trying to assess world affairs from the comment sections below newspapers. I had this conversation, – name-dropping, Gale Anne Hurd – about you can’t mistake Twitter for the voice of the audience. I warn you now, Jenna. So – I’m aware of it. And it can be a difficult thing.

But he then discussed the positives, including a fan creating a concept for an opening title sequence that impressed him so much it will serve as the basis of the real thing in the next series:

So I suppose when we talk about Doctor Who fandom online, that’s what we should be talking about. Not all the random madness and hate-filled nonsense that goes on but we should be talking about the extraordinary creative response that there is to Doctor Who that we give them a show and they give us our show back, sometimes better.

Check out The Mary Sue for the full piece.