What’s the difference between Steven Moffat and a Dalek? One is a soulless beast that will destroy everything that you love and rain misery down upon you. The other is a Dalek.

But how accurate is that joke? Sure, we’ve all shed our fair share of tears over the loss of a beloved character, but then it’s all better when they come back in five episodes, or two, or even later in the same one. When comic book writers point and laugh at the lack of permanence to any death, you know there’s a problem. So we pose the question, has Steven Moffat ever killed a character that didn’t come back?

This time around, we look both at episodes penned by Mr. Moffat himself (Blink, Silence in the Library, etc.), and those written by others under his tenure as the DW showrunner. We spend time discussing the unrest among a notable percentage of the fanbase regarding this potential “pulled punch” for the viewer, the importance of death (as well as loss and grief) in a dramatic story, and how the lack of any such finality or consequence can potentially rob a show of ‘weight’.

Notable articles and commentary from around the web regarding Moffat and death

• http://tealeavesdogears.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/steven-moffat-doesnt-understand-grief-and-its-killing-doctor-who/

• http://claudiaboleyn.tumblr.com/post/68451671958/why-cant-steven-moffat-kill-any-of-his-characters

• http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/everybody-lives-the-drama-of-death-44040.htm

Link Dump:

• The Five(ish) Doctors on DVD

• “An Adventure in Space and Time” nominated for a critics’ choice award

• [SPOILERS?] Finale will be a two-parter

• The fanbase creates the perfect “Previously On” trailer for DW since 2005

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