the van thompson supernova?
so i was digging through google to find some stuff about our favourite cryptid writer stephen thompson and holy shit did i find a gem from 2011.
it’s a review of a doctor who episode “the curse of the black spot” that mostly delves into the mystery that is stephen thompson and his absent authorship of his own episodes. this is all back in 2011. the best bits:
Somewhat reinforcing a sense of non-authorship, [Doctor Who] Confidential writes out the flesh-and-blood writer of this piece, Steve Thompson. Mentioned once in passing by director Jeremy Webb, Thompson is otherwise absent, being neither interviewed nor appearing on camera, and not even being referred to in Moffat’s commentary. (By marked contrast, Neil Gaiman is fronting next week’s making-of; the show looks set to become one long paratextual cue for ‘written by Neil Gaiman!’)
So, where’s Steve Thompson? Why has this empirical writer been forgotten about and cast out into the (Authorial) Silence? (He similarly disappeared from paratexts for Sherlock, where his episode alone had no DVD commentary).
and
What preoccupations and tropes demarcate a Thompson script? We don’t know, and Confidential doesn’t help us find out because all statements about the story’s contents are entrusted to Steven Moffat, who in effect ventriloquises Thompson. And yet Steve Thompson appears to be Moffat’s discovery or protege – entrusted with the second episode of Sherlock, and reappearing here. On Sherlock and Who, Thompson has thus far been a (literally) middling writer – he’s done the stuff that showrunners need to farm out, the bits in the middle, after the important set-up and before the important finale (though Sherlock series 2 seems set to promote him to the finale of all finales, intriguingly). For now, Thompson is working his way up the industry ladder, aided by Moffat’s powerful support and mentoring.
And this makes Moffat’s standing in for Thompson both telling and ironic. Telling because Thompson himself can act as a sign of Moffat’s industrial power – the showrunner’s status being indicated by his very gift of patronage […]. In a sense, ‘The Curse of the Black Spot’ is Mentor Who, with Steven M paternalistically building the TV career of Steve T.
But Moffat voicing Thompson in Confidential is also ironic, because this is surely a script marked by choice Moffatisms. Automated technology carrying on, saving humanity whilst being misinterpreted as evil – that’s textbook Moffat, right out of ‘The Empty Child’/’The Doctor Dances’. Moving from a historical setting to a futuristic spaceship… say hello to ‘The Girl in the Fireplace’. The story’s basic premise seems designed to appeal to Moffat’s sensibilities as a writer; one might even suggest this is pirated Moffat, with Thompson imitating and voicing his patron. Authorship thus self-deconstructs; the protege appropriates his master’s voice in a process of indeterminate doubling. But this indeterminacy – authorship flickering between two states like Amy Pond’s pregnancy – means that piracy cannot quite be fixed or located. Perhaps Thompson (un)consciously appealed to Moffat with his initial story pitch; perhaps Moffat pitched in across the story’s development. Industry discourses can ‘t be trusted to resolve this ontological mix-up, as hierarchies and careers have to be protected and conserved.
[…] Unsurprisingly, Steve Thompson’s Steven Moffat’s Doctor Who represents rather less of the former Steve and rather more of the latter Steven. ‘The Curse of the Black Spot’ devolves into a menu of pastiche pirates with a side order of pastiched, pirated Moffat.
read the whole article here and take from that what you will
T̨̨̡̩̻͖̗͍̙͇̫͇̯̬̤̜H̵͈̼̦̦̟̤͎̜͓̘͎̗̩͎́͟ͅE̵̢̗̣̫̤̞̘͓̰̮̹̮̩͜R̶͔͔̘̫͓͔͈̙͕̙̳̼Ḛ̵̝͉͎̭̫̱̳͉͉̤̲̺̜͟͞ ̷̛̮̪͖̤͍̲͓̼͎̭̖̰͕̪́Į̛͖̻̝̦̭̭͇̟͡S̺̯̟͓̹̞̀̀ͅ ̶́͢͏̩͍̥̝̰͇̹͎͈͈͈̙̪ͅN̵̪̤͈̟̱̙̖̞̝̼͚͇͔͘͢͜͟ͅO̜͈̬̜̗̻̼̮͖̭͕̕͠ͅ ̵͢҉͔͈̬̣̲̬͚̫̗̫͙̰Ş̟̺̘̹T̛̯͔̥̭̣̦́́͟Ę̧̧͎̭̗̝̲̙̖̹̙̻̺̲͟V̨̙͙̦̪̖͎̼́́͞ͅͅE͓͖͔͇̤̹̗̳͢͟͢ ̟̺̲͉̗̬̟͢͢ͅI̶̡̘̲̦̩̺̟͢͠͠ͅN̨͡͏҉͚̮̲̟̜͖̫ ͜͏̠̤͉͕̝̱̭̥͕̥̖̻̻ͅḤ̵̢̡̳͎̫͍̤̜̣̖͚̕͢R̸̢͇̦̳̮͉͟͝͞
“did you almost start to wonder if i was real”
