I don't always mind unnaturalistic dialogue - mainly in literature, it must be said. But by pretentious I mean the constant referring to of various "themes", like "Is this a metamorphosis?" chucked in there for little reason, and most of the Doctor's dialogue, along with Ace's. It's like a teenaged writer desperately trying to show off how clever he is by throwing as much as he can at the script. And as a teenaged writer who often tries to appear clever, it strikes me as bloody irritating. :-p