As the British sci-fi television show Doctor Who approaches its fiftieth anniversary and the airing of a special anniversary episode on November 23, 2013, Whovians have had enough of head writer Steven Moffat's ridiculous shenanigans. Mr. Moffat has just finished his third series as head writer, and with each passing year, his overall story arcs become less and less about telling new and interesting stories, expanding upon decades of established canon, about one of the most brilliant and beloved characters ever created. Instead, Mr. Moffat increasingly uses his plot lines to arrogantly flaunt the fact that he and he alone controls the destiny of the Doctor and the show that he has inherited.

To be fair, Mr. Moffat is a talented writer in some respects; he penned several fan-favorite episodes during the time that Russell T. Davies was head writer, including "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances," "The Girl in the Fireplace," "Blink," and "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead." However, when Mr. Moffat is allowed to run amok with his ideas unchecked, he seems to suffer from delusions of grandeur, assuming that fans will appreciate and laud every "groundbreaking" piece that he hacks away from the canonical foundation that has allowed Doctor Who to continue for so long.

The fiftieth anniversary special is already in production, but Mr. Moffat seems incapable of heading up a fitting tribute for this momentous occasion. According to him, "It is important you don't turn [the anniversary episode] into a fanfest. We can't make this all about looking backwards." What exactly, then, is the point of a fiftieth anniversary celebration if not to allow the fans the chance to look back at how the show began and honor those who have contributed thus far to its overwhelming success? Astonishingly, none of the five surviving Doctors from the twentieth century have been asked to appear in the special. Sylvester McCoy, who portrayed the Seventh Doctor, lamented, "All of us want to do it, just for the fans - because that's what they want. But we've heard nothing - Tom Baker's heard nothing, Colin Baker, Peter Davison, Paul McGann…none of us have heard anything." Christopher Eccleston, who played the Ninth Doctor was asked to take part and declined, so only the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors, David Tennant and Matt Smith, will be appearing in the episode. Clearly, if Mr. Moffat did not write episodes for your Doctor, then you don't deserve to be a part of the celebration of a half century of Doctor Who.

However, Mr. Moffat has engineered a plot line for the fiftieth anniversary episode in which John Hurt portrays a "forgotten regeneration" of the doctor, which occurred between McGann's and Eccleston's characters. According to an unnamed source quoted on British publication The Sun's website, "John will play the real Ninth Doctor. Christopher Eccleston has always been thought of as the Ninth Doctor but now that John has been revealed as the Ninth Doctor, it shuffles Eccleston’s Doctor to be the Tenth Time Lord, Tennant the Eleventh, and Smith the Twelfth. It also means the Doctor’s time is running out as he can only regenerate twelve times." Gallingly, Mr. Moffat is willing to jerk around everything that has happened since the show began anew in 2005 in order to virtually ensure himself the glory of writing the certain plot twist that allows the Doctor to regenerate more than twelve times.

Mr. Moffat truly seems to believe that it is acceptable to do whatever he wants as head writer. At a recent talk at DePaul University in Chicago, former Doctor Who writer Robert Shearman explained how Mr. Moffat will tell him of an idea for the series, Mr. Shearman will tell him that he cannot go through with it, and Mr. Moffat will simply reply, "Yes I can!" True Whovians are utterly weary of Mr. Moffat's unchecked showboating, which seems certain to foment the destruction of the series about which we care so deeply. By signing this petition, we are declaring that enough is enough. We demand that the concept of “the real Ninth Doctor” be pulled from the fiftieth anniversary special; that the twentieth century Doctors be given the respect that they deserve on such an occasion; and that Steven Moffat begin honoring the canon that came before him or be replaced as head writer.

Without the devotion of Doctor Who's fans, there would be no fiftieth anniversary to celebrate. Mr. Moffat, the show's production team, and the BBC would do well to listen.