Academic Doctor Who Poll

[neadods]

So, there's someone in Australia who's working on a Chicks Dig Timelords-style book, only it's about race and Doctor Who. And I have been known to have opinions on the subject. (In fact, one of the links on the website under "This is the kind of thing I want" is to Mickey, Martha, and the Message that Doesn't Belong on Who.) About a week ago I was directly approached to either expand the essay into something longer or give permission to reprint the original blog post.

Given those two options, I'll take Door A: there's more to be said after Martha's first season, and certainly I never mind giving my opinion, especially in print.

On the other hand, as I started to rough draft the essay and realized how much ground I have to go back over and episodes I'd have to rewatch even for just 5000 words, my overwhelming reaction was "BLAAARGH!"

So:

[Poll #1787327]

Comments

[neadods.livejournal.com]

BLARGHH is more about fast forwarding/rewatching so many episodes to get specific instances of the kind of thing I'm trying to cite, such as Rose or Donna getting praise (hugs, "you're the best" etc.) where Martha got only statements of fact. ("You saved my life" no matter how proudly said, is not the same as praise.)

On the other hand, I wasn't going to go much past The End of Time aside from an aside; Moffat made a great stride forward in showing a race-change regeneration (making it quite clear that the Doctor does not have to be white) but on the whole, seems to have ducked the issue by avoiding casting characters of color much at all, which is Not The Point.

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

This may explain more about my writing than it ought to, but my usual technique in that case is to say a lot about a few representative instances, rather than trying to be comprehensive.

I picked A (although of course you should do whatever seems best to you!), because I suspect that a lot of people still don't Get It. And because I *still* get angry about the way Ten lapses into that beautiful "goodbye" speech for Donna in the S4 Sontaran episodes, easy as breathing, and the whole thing is played for a big joke, because the Doctor, he's always making sappy speeches like that...except, you know, for the woman who walked a destroyed earth for a year, and put up with his racist doppelganger for three months in 1913, and had to work in a shop to support him in 1969. Whatever, no big deal.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Y'know, if I keep talking about this, people will bring up all the points that I need to mention in the comments and I won't have to rewatch the episodes at all. :) I'd forgotten that Martha was the only one to have had to physically/psychically support the Doctor, repeatedly and for relatively long periods of time.

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

Heh, that is an excellent side effect!

Yeah, that's so Martha's thing--she's a doctor and a caretaker; she gets his hearts started again and holds him up when he's broken ("42" is one of those episodes I love as meta for their relationship, because he can say he's scared with her, which is why I can't just hate them like I want to). But then it goes all wobbly, because she never gets the credit or concern she ought to have after doing all that.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

She's the only one to have left the TARDIS not because she was scared to keep traveling or because she never wanted to travel in the first place, or even because she felt she'd traveled enough and wanted to move on on her own. She *specifically said* the first time she left that she was doing it because she felt unappreciated. This the season right after we'd gotten through with "Rickey the Idiot" who was willing to leave his own dimension to essentially make sure he could never run back to a disinterested Rose. Two companions of color leaving because they felt unappreciated two years in a row. Dude!

(This thing really is starting to write itself.)

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

I know--"He never looked at her twice." Argh. She says to his face that he basically made her feel like second-best all the time, and he just stands there, like, "oh well."

And it's so frustrating that Mickey basically went from "It's always gonna be the Doctor, and never me" to "It's always gonna be Rose, and never me." By the end, he wants the Doctor to choose him every once in a while, too, and he can't even get that. (I don't know if you remember that bit in the second S2 Cyberman episode--I'm failing at titles, clearly--where the Doctor finally acknowledges Mickey, and Mickey's so happy...and then the Doctor gives Rose this huge goodbye hug, and Mickey's face falls. That still makes me so mad.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

and then the Doctor gives Rose this huge goodbye hug, and Mickey's face falls. That still makes me so mad.)

That's one of the eps I have to rewatch, because I want to compare Mickey's goodbye scene here and later (after the All Companion TARDIS Team) to the kind of farewells the other companions get.

Basically, that the Doctor devalues Mickey is *right there on screen* and the fact that so many other people fall all over Martha doesn't really make up for the Doctor... not. He's the frikkin' hero!

[tempestsarekind.livejournal.com]

I like the fact that Mickey is most concerned to say goodbye to Jackie. :) But that's about all I do like, there.

Oh, I know. I mean, not that I blame anyone for falling all over Martha, but...it's actually kind of a weird move to make. Like RTD thought he had to short-circuit the idea that Martha wasn't "worth" the Doctor's affection by showing that other people liked her--but that doesn't make up for Ten being a jerk to her, which is the actual problem.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Mickey was amazingly kind and generous to Jackie, considering how she treated him when Rose disappeared.

but that doesn't make up for Ten being a jerk to her, which is the actual problem.

Exactly! And right on the heels of Ten and Rose making it so clear that Mickey wasn't part of their mutual admiration society.