Terry Pratchett attacks ‘ludicrous’ Doctor Who

Terry Pratchett, the fantasy author whose bestselling Discworld books are set in a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants and a giant turtle, has slammed the BBC's Doctor Who for its "ludicrous" storylines and "pixel thin" science.
 
In a case of one national treasure attacking another, Pratchett has used his guest editing spot on this month's science fiction magazine SFX to lambast Doctor Who for breaking "most of the laws of narrative".
 
Pratchett, who says he has been a fan of the show since his youth, is most upset by what he sees as the BBC scriptwriters' reliance on that hoary old literary device, the deus ex machina - an outside force that arrives inexplicably to solve a problem. While the device gives writers the chance to introduce a last-minute solution into a storyline to save the day – not to mention the plot - Pratchett says it is ruining Doctor Who.
 
"A decent detective story provides you with enough tantalising information to allow you to make a stab at a solution before the famous detective struts his stuff in the library," he writes in SFX. "Doctor Who replaces this with speed, fast talking, and what appears to be that wonderful element 'makeitupasyougalongeum'. I don't know about you, but I don't think I would dare try to jump-start a spaceship that looks like the Titanic by diving it into the atmosphere."
 
Meanwhile the character of the Doctor, currently played by newcomer Matt Smith, is himself becoming godlike, Pratchett complains. Recent series have built him up "into an amalgam of Mother Teresa, Jesus Christ (I laughed my socks off during the Titanic episode when two golden angels lifted the Doctor heavenwards) and Tinkerbell," he says. "There is nothing he doesn't know, and nothing he can't do."
 
Despite these complaints, Pratchett, who is suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's disease, admits that he still can't help watching the popular primetime show. "I might shout at the screen again, but I will be watching on Saturday," he writes. "When you've had your moan you have to admit that it is very, very entertaining, with its heart in the right place, even if its head is often in orbit around Jupiter." ·