Currently reading: This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Let me start off by saying that I’m also very excited for the new season and ugh I hate waiting this long.
Basically…
I’m worried that Amy and Rory’s relationship won’t get the happy ending it so deserves—I’m worried one of them will die, and the other will never recover. I’m worried they’ll never see their Melody again, that they’ll never get their catharsis for losing for, that the audience will never get to see a moment of unashamed, outright emotion on the Ponds’ behalf for losing their daughter, for losing a girl they could have raised as their own, but instead was kidnapped and brainwashed. And though they know she turns out alright, that will never make up for parents not getting to raise their first child.
I’m worried that the new companion will be overly sexualized, that she’ll somehow have to fit the frame of a lover or a mother (not that there’s anything wrong with either of those things, but those two things seem to span the whole of women in Moffat’s era).
I’m worried the right people won’t come back. I’m worried we’ll not see Nine (which I’m not really counting on but still want desperately), Rose, Mickey, Jackie, Captain Jack, Ten, Martha, Donna, Wilf, TenToo, or any of the other characters that made up the whole of New Who so far. I’m worried we won’t be able to celebrate their time on the show as we continue into a new era. I’m worried that the Master will be replaced in the 50th, and though I know he must be one day, I so want John Simm to return so we can celebrate his run as the Master.
Because that’s what the 50th ought to be— a celebration of Doctor Who, a grand ol’ party in the name of those who have fought for the universe and who have given us so much.
I’m so afraid plot and ~special effects~ will be put above characterization and growth.
I know this is a lot, and I’m probably overthinking things but Doctor Who is too important to me and so many others to get fucked up in a season that really represents the history and the beauty of a man, his box, and the people who make him better and who makes better in return.
AnonymousI don’t just mean the characters, but the sex innuendos and jokes in general are like all over the place. And gender roles/sex. I don’t just mean sex as in sexual intercourse, but that what sex a character is dictates their journey thorough DW.
Take Amy. Amy is another character who is very sexualized, though not nearly as much as River. And it’s not just that she’s sexualized, but that her sexuality is sometimes portrayed in a negative light. For example, in the first episode of s5, she’s a kissogram, which is meant to illustrate her loss of childhood/that she’s sort of “messed up.” I know a lot of people have varying opinions on this matter, but for sex workers (not that Amy is a sex worker, but a kissogram is like a milder version) that’s their choice, their livelihood. If Amy makes money by being a kissogram and enjoys it, that shouldn’t be shown as wrong.
Furthermore, s6 is the biggest issue. Again, we have Amy without any agency. She is kidnapped and becomes plot-device/incubator!Amy. Her only purpose is to birth either a weapon (in Kovarian’s viewpoint) or the Doctor’s love interest (in the audience’s viewpoint). Furthermore, she rarely has say in what the Doctor does with her life.
Finally, in the latest episode, the Christmas special, the main character Madge (was that her name…?), her only source of power is because she is a mother; she is able to give birth and nurture children. And that is her daughter’s source of potential power. It’s not about “reducing” women to mothers, as Moffat says, but about women in his stories being, typically, either only sexual objects/love interests or mothers, suggesting that is what they are made for, and serve no other purpose. He rarely has women who exist on their own account, who are living their own lives and are doing what they want to do, without being centered around a man.
AnonymousAs a friend, yes. As a lover, no.
What we saw in “Journey’s End” was a kiss and hand holding. Here’s my interpretation: the kiss was brash, but meaningful. Rose clearly loves the Doctor and chose the one who was able to love her back. She knows this means they’ll spend the rest of their lives together, as TenToo suggests. Some people, I think, are unsure of their ending, that it’s got a The Graduate-like ending in that it’s up in the air. I don’t think so. RTD himself said Rose chose TenToo. And there was a fantastic post going around not too long ago about Rose subtly grazing her thumb over TenToo’s hand as the TARDIS disappears. That is a sign of affection and support.
I think Rose, at the very first, be overwhelmed, but welcoming to TenToo. They’re not going to rush into a relationship. They would love each other, but I think it would take a few weeks until they would be in a full fledged relationship. That’s not to say she doesn’t accept him right away, but that they stick more around the friend level, physically, for a while before they become romantic.
I feel as though people aren’t going to read my reactions to others reactions to my meta, and I’ve had some disagreement on what I wrote, which is fine, but I just wanted to say this:
The Doctor is a hypocrite. He does use violence. But what matters in the manner in which he carries out the violence and/or his reactions to others committing violence. In the Doctor’s head guns are symbolic of every act of violence he’s committed, every person who’s died because of him, etc. What the Doctor hates about guns isn’t just that they’re guns, it’s what they represent.
So for him to be turned on by River using a gun, is most definitely OOC, no matter if he uses violence or not.
Day of the Moon(6x02)
“Oh, and this is my friend, River. Nice hair, clever, has own gun, and unlike me, she really doesn’t mind shooting people. I shouldn’t like that. Kind of do.”
So, this quote has been bothering me for a very long time, and I want to write it all out of…
The Doctor uses violence when necessary, and he will have other people perform violent acts if needs be, as he does here.
How does the face that he doesn’t use guns make him a better person? How does it even matter? He still has to use violence a good portion of the time to destroy his enemies, so he doesn’t use a gun himself, and your point? He will still destroy you using violence if he has to.
Notice the hypocrisy there?
He won’t use guns, but he will use violence, because that makes so much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.
In the Sontaran two-parter his hypocrisy is addressed because he berates the soldiers for carrying guns, but then, as per his plan, he goes to the Sontaran ship to destroy them and sacrifice himself, but the point is: he still intends to destroy them. No, he doesn’t use a gun, but he intends to go up there and destroy a threat to Earth.
The Doctor’s Daughter shows just how hypocritical he is when it comes to this:
In Army of Ghosts he and Rose have this exchange:
Rose: Doctor, they’ve got guns.
Doctor: And I don’t. And that makes me the better person, don’t you think? They can shoot me dead, but the moral high ground is mine.
and then you go forward to The Doctor’s Daughter where Jenny even questions and states how hypocritical he is when it comes to this
Doctor: There was a war.
Jenny: Like this one?
He laughs at the absurdity of the comparison.
Doctor: Bigger. Much bigger.
Jenny: And you fought? And killed?
Doctor (darkly): Yes.
Jenny: Then how are we different?
The Doctor has no moral high ground when it comes to not using guns or violence. He was a soldier, he fought and he killed during the Time War. He tries to move away from it, he tries to be peaceful, scaring the Sycorax away from Earth and threatening the Atraxi into never coming back, but in the end did he have to use means of violcence those two times?
He fought the Sycorax soldier and killed him because there are no second chances, and in the case of the Atraxi he scared them off by having them watch what he was capable of.
Moral high ground he has? Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
Back onto the subject of The Doctor’s Daughter, what does Jenny do for most of the episode?
She carries a gun because in her mind that’s the right thing to do and it’s what she’s supposed to do, because that’s what a soldier does: they fight, and they kill their enemies.
Notice something familiar there?
They fight: Daleks (Daleks, Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of Daleks, Journey’s End), Cybermen(Age of Steel), The Family (Family of Blood)Sontarans (The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky)
They kill: Daleks (DiM/EoD, Journey’s End), Cybermen (Age of Steel), Sontarans (The Poison Sky)
And those are just some examples off of the top of my head.
The Doctor that kills the Daleks in Journey’s End is not necessarily Ten, but it’s his clone who is right back at the start of it all, kind of the same place he was at in Dalek but a bit more advanced.
The Doctor doesn’t kill the Family, oh no, he gives them exactly what they wanted. He gives them immortality in the cruelest of ways, he makes them suffer while they’re living forever.
See the hypocrisy of it all yet?
And let’s just talk about the times where he is totally fine with people carrying guns, or he at least doesn’t whine about them onscreen -
But first, for the sake of argument, here’s a few people who carried guns in ClassicWho, two of which were his best friends:
And now NewWho (not counting River)
All three of which were in The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End.
Hell, Rose comes running to him with her big gun strapped to her.
Jack and Mickey then proceed to take out Daleks for the rest of the episode.
Not once does he tell them not to, in fact he’s perfectly fine with it, just not his duplicate destroying all of them like he did.
Oh, he was also perfectly fine using the gun in End of Time, just felt the need to point that out. He didn’t take it at first, but when it came down to it he sure as hell was willing to use it. Whether it was on The Master or Rassilon, he was still going to use it on one of them before he shot the machine.
Now what does he do in DotM?
Let’s see: there’s a threat to Earth and he intends to have them destroyed.
So he threatens River on them, because if things go bad and they don’t have a chance to get out of there someone is going to need to kill them so they can get out alive. And River has only used a gun twice to kill, besides destroying his hats, on a Dalek that “killed” him and the 8-9 Silence that were in that room. And the only other time was when the astronaut suit was controlling her movements and she had no choice but to shoot the Doctor, but that wasn’t voluntary so it doesn’t actually count.
River carries a gun because she knows that the situation may call for needing a getaway, she only carries if for protection, and the destruction of his hats, but she doesn’t go off shooting people unless it’s been decided that it’s completely necessary because of the threat level. And a Dalek that has just killed the Doctor and a room full of Silence that have been manipulating human history, and who also experimented on her as a child and forced her into the astronaut suit, are a pretty big threat level.
That’s not a far cry from something Ten would have done, he probably wouldn’t have so blatantly said “She has a gun, don’t make give her the order” but he wouldn’t have objected in the end.
You also have the fact that Eleven has moved on from the Time War, I know what a concept it’s not like he never changes, because he can’t be stuck on repeat like he was with Ten. He’s closed the door on that chapter in his life, if it pops up he deals with it, but he doesn’t really have the need to stay in that state of mind forever. And if he did, it would just get repetitive and boring, the fact that he’s moved on has been refreshing.
But you see that it still lingers, in The Doctor’s Wife he was so thrilled that there was a possibility that there could still be other Time Lord’s out there because he wants to be forgiven for it all.
So there is no reason that this scene is OOC, in fact, it’s really in character. He uses violence to get his way, he’s done it plenty of times before.
___
This is where I start:
I have to disagree, actually. The point is not that the Doctor doesn’t use violence; he does. The point is that being turned on by River using a gun is out of character. I am not arguing that the Doctor is a better person because he tries not use a gun or violence. That scene in DotM was not just referring to River using a gun against the silence, it was about her using a gun in general. The Doctor only uses violence when he’s tried every other way, so the Doctor enjoying River’s gun usage is out of character.
Furthermore, though we see the Doctor use a gun/violence in s1-s4, he is clearly suffering as he does so, often ready to sacrifice his own life in addition to those he has to kill. The manner in which he says that he likes River using a gun is far different from the way he acts in the face of guns in previous seasons.
See, I wasn’t trying to argue that the Doctor can’t be a hypocrite because he can be. But through the Doctor’s own mind, guns are off limits. It may not be very smart, given that he does use violence when necessary, but guns have been embedded in his mind as the symbol of such violence. And the “I never would” line in TDD really solidifies that he believes not using guns is going to make him a better person, not that it actually does.
I would even say that his genocide of the Silence is somewhat OCC, not because he kills them, but the manner in which he does so. Almost every time we see the Doctor kill, we get a sense of his suffering in doing so. With the Sycorax you mention, he kills the leader because it was going to kill him. He spares the rest and yells at Harriet Jones for committing genocide.
I don’t want to address every thing you mentioned because that would take a long time, but I do want to address The End of Time. You say that he was “perfectly fine using the gun in End of Time, just felt the need to point that out. He didn’t take it at first, but when it came down to it he sure as hell was willing to use it.” Well, the point there is that he didn’t use the gun; RTD was able to keep him in character by using another means than killing. That moment is the epitome who the Doctor (specifically Ten) is; he is willing to use violence if he has to, but he suffers in doing so, and he will find any other way.
So, basically… it’s not that River uses a gun that I find strange. It’s not that the Doctor has to use violence. It’s the manner in which he does so. He is clearly more whimsical and, as I mentioned, even turned on there than any other time he sees a gun. The Doctor is a hypocrite. It isn’t about seeing things as the audience does, it’s about seeing things as he does and how he could react. Because, in his mind, guns are this symbol that he has created in his mind that equals all the wrong he’s ever done, all the genocide he’s committed, all the people who have died in his name. It’s not OCC for him to kill, but it is OCC for him to have pleasure in others doing it.
Day of the Moon(6x02)
“Oh, and this is my friend, River. Nice hair, clever, has own gun, and unlike me, she really doesn’t mind shooting people. I shouldn’t like that. Kind of do.”
So, this quote has been bothering me for a very long time, and I want to write it all out of me.
When I’m angry, I doodle.
Tumblr, why won’t you post this right? I give up.
Brilliant
Pretty much. I mean, I think SH has become so popular and so culturally widespread that it’s impossible not to stray from canon somewhat. I’m 100% up for interpretations of SH. Imo, it’s kind of like Shakespeare’s works where you can change the setting, perhaps the sex of a character, costumes, etc, but the foundation of the characterization stay the same. Interpretations and mild alterations will always be valid if they stick to the heart of the canon. And modern versions introduce SH to younger generations, which is fantastic.
I do adore BBC’s Sherlock, but it can also be problematic at times. The gay thing doesn’t bother me as much because that joke has been going around for ages; it’s just become more popularized and with Tumblr fueling it, it’s bound to happen. Sometimes the homoerotic subtext can go overboard, imo, because I believe SH is canonically asexual. Though he isn’t actually romantically/sexually interested in any character overtly, but his relationship with John is almost begging to be interpreted as him being a romantic asexual.
The bigger issue is with Adler. I really loved Lara Pulver’s Irene and the majority of her story. However (besides the sexual orientation/sexuality problems that existed), I find it just plain wrong that she had to be saved by Holmes mainly because it made her into a damsel in distress, which she decidedly was not. Conan Doyle’s Adler beat Holmes; she was one of four people to ever do so. And, as the drawing suggests, it made Holmes rethink his views on women. It effectively shut him up about women being inferior. Pulver’s Adler doesn’t get the chance to dramatically change Holmes’ view of the opposite sex.
So, yeah, I’m a big fan of different versions of SH, but when it comes down to it, some things, I believe, should be kept the same.
I’d like to point out a few things about Guy Ritchie’s interpretation of Sherlock Holmes:
I wonder what exactly the meaning behind this quote is. Perhaps it’s just suggesting that Mycroft is by nature nurturing. And although he does care for Sherlock, it can hardly be said that he’s anything more than brotherly. Interaction between Sherlock and Mycroft are so often tense with that “sibling rivalry”, as John said, scattered throughout.
So, maybe it means something more. Sherlock, obviously, is cold and not very sociable. These are all theories, but might it be said that that can be traced back to his childhood. In the Conan Doyle books, Holmes’ childhood and family life (other than Mycroft) are rarely mentioned, if at all. One can also assume that Sherlock does not handle children particularly well (as supported by his dialogue with the little girls in ASiB), which suggest that he may have not been a child for very long. This quote brings up the idea that Mycroft had to take over the “motherly” duties of the household because maybe their mother wasn’t there. In a modern interpretation, it’s very possible that she may have abandoned the family or was never there in the first place. However, I think there is evidence for something slightly more sinister.
Consider both Mycroft and particularly Sherlock’s choice for occupation. Mycroft is a high power, dealing with his nation’s well-being. Sherlock is a consulting detective, determined to seek justice. Though he may be a “sociopath”, he most definitely has a clear set of morals. So why choose this particular path? Maybe it had to do with a mother’s absence (unlikely). More possibly, at least in my mind, some tragedy occurred in the family.
It’s not a new theory (in fact it’s been suggested many times, most famously in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution), that Sherlock’s mother committed adultery. Furthermore, the idea of the murder of his mother by his father often accompanies the former theory. This does explain some things. Take for instance Sherlock’s aversion to women. Yes, he is often categorized as asexual, but an asexual person does not, by definition, dislike the other sex. Sherlock tends to dismiss women, particularly John’s girlfriends and Molly. His lack of trust in women could have stemmed from his mothers infidelity. And, as for his father’s crime, what better profession to choose than one that stops such things occurring?
This is becoming word vomit and lots of theory, so I’ll just leave it at this. Like I said, it’s only a theory, but so much is packed into this lovely photoset.
AnonymousBasically…
When Rose was the Bad Wolf and she was dying, the Ninth Doctor kissed Rose, a “genetic transfer” if you will. So the Doctor has Rose’s DNA on his lips when he regenerates into Ten. We already know that Ten picks up some of Rose’s habits, such as her accent, the tongue flick, her humor, etc. It’s also kind of canon that the Doctor tried to regenerate into something Rose would like.
So if Rose carried over so much in the Doctor, and the Doctor had Rose’s DNA on him when his biology was rewritten, it’s quite possible that it stayed with him.
And then, in “The Doctor’s Daughter”, a tissue sample (including his Rose-tainted DNA) was taken to created Jenny. Et voila! Jenny is the Doctor and Rose’s daughter.
Not to mention they share a similar appearance (dark hair dyed blonde, curves, etc).
In my headcanon, Jenny is most definitely Rose’s daughter.
AnonymousI quite liked the episode in general. There’s some great character development and the relationship between Donna and the Doctor is just brilliant. There’s a deleted scene where Donna says “We remember” or something along the lines of that, which I wish would’ve been kept in. And Martha’s off, doing her own thing, saving the Hath, which is great.
We learn more about the Doctor’s family, and his feelings regarding that, which I personally love because we don’t get to hear about that often. DT plays it beautifully. He’s hurt and he can’t let Jenny in because that would mean he would be a father again and he can’t quite handle that. But, of course, because of some help of his companion, the Doctor accepts her because, well, he’s the Doctor.
The end is my favorite too, when Jenny dies. Obviously she couldn’t stay. I could tell from the beginning, and especially after he accepted her because the Doctor just can’t have nice things. The line “I never would” is perfect. The first time I watched, I flippped shit because I thought he was actually using the gun and that goes against every principle that he’s developed through his Ninth and Tenth regenerations.
Jenny coming back to life is fine, but it wasn’t necessary imo. It’s great that she lived, but I don’t really expect the Doctor to ever find out that she’s still alive.
I have some specific theories about Jenny being Rose’s daughter too, which I can explain if you like, but there’s another reason I like the episode.
Plus Donna’s sass is at all time high. And so’s her kindness.
AnonymousWhen I say the Doctor is dependent on Rose, it’s usually in reference to the fact that they’re dependent on each other. But yes, the Doctor is relatively dependent on Rose. By that I don’t mean that the Doctor seeks Rose’s approval for his actions or that he needs her to do anything.
What I mean is, is that the Doctor needs Rose. And he’s aware of that. Rose acts as the Doctor’s moral compass and even life source. She makes him happy, tells him off when he’s doing something wrong, and shows him that his life is worth living. Rose as a “savoir” like character is mostly exemplified in series 1, with the Ninth Doctor, but Ten was born out of his love and need for Rose, so it’s natural that he too is dependent on her.
The Doctor cannot leave Rose, or let Rose leave for that matter, because he needs her so badly. We see how he is affected by Rose’s absence in s3 and s4. It’s remarkable how much happier he is in s2 compared to s3.
So yes, the Doctor is dependent on Rose, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t or has moved on or that everything he did was centered around her. It just means that, in both s1 and as the Tenth Doctor, Rose was necessary for him to live properly. He can survive without her, but he was better with her until he found others.
cottonmouthsI’ve very adamant about Holmes not having any romantic interests, not just Irene Adler. However, I think she’s the most plausible in becoming romantically attached to him.
The reason I don’t want Holmes to be in any kind of a relationship is because I believe that is incredibly out of character for him. I’ve read every Sherlock Holmes story by Conan Doyle and in those he comes across as asexual. I’m not saying that the modern interpretation can’t alter that a little, but I have less than amiable feelings towards Holmes being involved in that area. In the stories, he states that he’s resigned himself to be a bachelor for life, mostly because those kinds of feelings interfere with his work. He has a very strong aversion to women (which some scholars believe is a result of his childhood/they have this theory that his mother was killed by his father for committing adultery).
Either way, Holmes is not a a sexual being at all. Yes, he does have “feelings” for Irene, but they’re not romantic feelings. He admires and respects her and calls her “the woman” because of her superior intelligence and for the fact she was the only woman who defeated him.
Additionally, Adler will be the first woman who will play a major role in Sherlock. Sarah and Mrs. Hudson are quite minor, so that’s been alright. But judging by DW, I’m uncomfortable with Moffat writing women, seeing as they (a lot of times) become overly sexualized, which I would prefer not to happen again.
AnonymousI love the dynamic between Nine and Rose and I wholeheartedly ship them. After all, that’s where my OTP sprang from. I think Chris is highly underestimated as the Doctor, but he did so much to bring the show back, and to make the audience fall in love with him and future regenerations.
The story behind Nine/Rose is just gorgeous. Nine doesn’t care whether he lives or dies. He’s in very dark place and is going through the motions when we first meet him, rather than enthusiastically traveling. He doesn’t think he can ever be loved again (or deserves it for that matter) and he hates himself. The Ninth Doctor couldn’t forgive himself for his contribution to the Time War.
But Rose changes that. She saves him. He falls in love with her much faster than Rose falls for him, but he doesn’t think he should be allowed to love her, and he certainly represses it because he thinks he’s not worth it. As series 1 progresses, Rose teaches the Doctor that his life is always worth living. She influences his moral compass, too, which will stick with him for the rest of his life no doubt. Rose concretes his hatred of guns, and his lack of violence as a defense.
Nine becomes absolutely attached to Rose. He needs her desperately. Rose gave the Doctor companionship he didn’t know he needed.
And finally, when Rose becomes the Bad Wolf, the Doctor realizes she loves him too. As the Bad Wolf, Rose can see everything: all of time and space. She sees the Time War and what he did in it, and she forgives him, which completely stuns him. Rose sees all the people he’s killed, the civilizations that have been lost because of him, and she accepts it. She moves on from it, and teaches him to do the same. She sacrifices herself on his behalf; Nine didn’t even know he was capable of being loved so dearly, but he finally sees that he is.
Without Nine/Rose, there would be no Ten/Rose, and no TenToo/Rose. There would be no Doctor/Rose. Never had a companion become so close to the Doctor, and never had he needed one so badly. They loved each other honestly, and continued to do so through regenerations and parallel universes.
I honestly believe that Rose will be the basis for which all future companions will be compared.
