Moffat Claims In The Forest Of The Night’s Science “Checked with scientists”

Christian Cawley is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.


Fuelling rumours that the job is becoming all too much for Steven Moffat (don’t you think he looks tired?) the Doctor Who showrunner has taken time out from his busy Doctor Who Series 9 pre-production schedule to pass comment on the results of a recent Radio Times poll which requested votes on Doctor Who Series 8.


The writer and producer’s evident hardwork seems to have dulled his senses, however, as he made the outlandish claim that the science for Frank Cottrell Boyce’s Series 8 episode In the Forest of the Night was “checked”.


Speaking to the Radio Times, Moffat said of the poll: “I think I’d give a shout out to an episode that I think will grow in stature over the years because it’s so beautifully and elegantly written, In the Forest of the Night.” He – perhaps arrogantly – continues, “there were people who thought it was maybe scientifically inaccurate – they’re wrong, I checked with the scientists – and any piece of television that includes the line of dialogue ‘catastrophe is the metabolism of the universe’ as a part of popular entertainment has to be… a beautiful episode!”


With that science “checked” we can now tell you that:



It’s possible for fully grown trees to spring up overnight
That those trees are fireproof (despite being wood, one of the most combustible substances on Earth)
That floaty fairy lights send messages to disturbed children

What a truly amazing world we live in. This knowledge – presumably locked away until now and known only to esoteric gurus – has been brought to us by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Steven Moffat. We should clearly be indebted to them both for eternity for explaining these scientific phenomena – checked by scientists, remember – with such precision.


It’s one thing to defend an unpopular episode, but quite another to make spurious claims as to its scientific viability. If Frank Cottrell Boyce is indeed “a tremendously lovely man” (and we’ve no reason to doubt this assertion) then perhaps rather than prolong the suffering over 45 minutes of visually appealing but ultimately odd Doctor Who, wouldn’t it be better to just put it behind us?


So, Steven Moffat, why not tell us: which scientists did you check with, and why did they not want a credit on the finished episode?


The post Moffat Claims In The Forest Of The Night’s Science “Checked with scientists” appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

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Published on December 19, 2014 00:44
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