100 Reviews: 43
Sep. 17th, 2012 08:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urthTime for some Scottish werewolf ninja monk action. (Hmm maybe I need to go back to RH to get away from werewolves :) )
Doctor Who: 2x02: Tooth & Claw
I really do like this episode, and I’ll spend some time on that fact, but first I have to pull out an old soapbox. It’s not even one I think people care that much about any more but it’s had such an impact on my attitude towards this episode that it feels wrong to just ignore it.
Dear Fandom, having fun in Doctor Who is not a crime. And if it is, kindly blame the Doctor and Rose equally rather than acting like it’s all THAT GIRL’S fault.
Not that RTD is blameless, he did have that “maybe too much fun” comment back in the day that the naysayers blew out of proportion. I really wish he had never said that, but I’m relatively sure he never meat it to be taken to extremes some elements of fandom took it to. Their behavior and attitudes here may have been less than ideal, bow exactly is it different than any other time not just in their history but the history of the franchise? The person in the wrong here is not Rose or the Doctor; it’s Queen Victoria.
Queen V is actually a really complex character in this episode, but I’ve always felt that the ultimate “moral” if you can call it that, is that she was paranoid and afraid. It thematically connects to TCI, and the idea of Torchwood in general; this thing and anything connected to it is about fear of the unknown and a need for power rather than understanding; it’s all close-minded and small.
Whereas the Doctor and Rose represent the other extreme. Completely open minded to new and crazy ideas, eager to meet and understand all aspects of the world around them, able to offer compassion and yes fun even in the darkest of times and places. Are they perhaps a little ignorant of how they come across to others, especially people on the other extreme? Yeah; they’re pretty dismissive of Jackie in TCI when she reckons they’re mad and go looking for trouble, because they look at the universe with open eyes and hearts (between them they have three).
Okay, I’m actually kind of brain fried at the moment so I’ll call it quits on that subject and bring up a couple more thoughts I had this time around.
This episode is interesting in that it is largely about humans as the bad guys. The monks aren’t alien or even infected as far as we know. Sir Robert’s dilemma of loyalties is a very human problem, and then there’s the Queen’s attitude at the end. With the exception of the monks they’re all sympathetic, and even the monks there’s a sense of inner conflict to what they’re doing, at least in the lead monk but we don’t really get the benefit of learning enough about him to be sure.
On a similar note, this episode showcases one of the things RTD does so well, in the way he writes women. He rights women as people, doesn’t ignore the elements of what it is to be women in this sort of setting in particular, but they’re just as rich and flawed and full of potential as any of the male characters (if not even a little more so in this case just because we actually have a high ration of women to men characters in the developed roles). But chiefly RTD subscribes to the idea that I wish more writerscoughMoffatcough could understand: women are people. This shouldn’t be such a radical notion among writers, but unfortunately it is.
There are elements of this episode that I think would have worked really well I s3, even more so than here. Mainly the story of Queen V and Prince Albert. Imagine how much her loss and grief and desire for a connection with the dead would resonate with the Doctor in s3? This episode had too many other elements to make this really connect with the Time War angst, but in s3 the parallel with Rose would have been obvious. And I often had the feeling like s3 wanted to do something similar to the resolution here but couldn’t quite pull it off; that somehow either by something left behind or inspiring from the other side, or what have you that the Doctor would find he did still have a connection with Rose after he lost her.
Which brings me to the Bad Wolf stuff here. I have mixed feelings on whether I like it or not. Because it definitely carries some implication that the Bad Wolf issue isn’t buried, and yet RTD never actually found a way to bring it back in. Yeah there’s the stuff in Turn Left, but that doesn’t address the question of what of it remained with Rose? Another of the plot threads I think RTD missed the mark on in the end of s4, but we’ll eventually get to my JE (and connected episodes) issues) But is it really any wonder that so many of us kept coming up with ways for it to matter in the future? *Especially* with this episode’s idea of little pieces and clues playing a bigger role than they might appear (both within the episode and the set up for Torchwood)?
Anyway, I definitely like this episode, and I like it even a bit more than I would otherwise just to spite fandom that acts like there’s something wrong with it. I like the fun and am not amused by your attitude fandom.
Next time:
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wigbee71583 requested some Buffy, so I might do a couple episodes of that.
See I can take requests, what would you like?
Doctor Who: 2x02: Tooth & Claw
I really do like this episode, and I’ll spend some time on that fact, but first I have to pull out an old soapbox. It’s not even one I think people care that much about any more but it’s had such an impact on my attitude towards this episode that it feels wrong to just ignore it.
Dear Fandom, having fun in Doctor Who is not a crime. And if it is, kindly blame the Doctor and Rose equally rather than acting like it’s all THAT GIRL’S fault.
Not that RTD is blameless, he did have that “maybe too much fun” comment back in the day that the naysayers blew out of proportion. I really wish he had never said that, but I’m relatively sure he never meat it to be taken to extremes some elements of fandom took it to. Their behavior and attitudes here may have been less than ideal, bow exactly is it different than any other time not just in their history but the history of the franchise? The person in the wrong here is not Rose or the Doctor; it’s Queen Victoria.
Queen V is actually a really complex character in this episode, but I’ve always felt that the ultimate “moral” if you can call it that, is that she was paranoid and afraid. It thematically connects to TCI, and the idea of Torchwood in general; this thing and anything connected to it is about fear of the unknown and a need for power rather than understanding; it’s all close-minded and small.
Whereas the Doctor and Rose represent the other extreme. Completely open minded to new and crazy ideas, eager to meet and understand all aspects of the world around them, able to offer compassion and yes fun even in the darkest of times and places. Are they perhaps a little ignorant of how they come across to others, especially people on the other extreme? Yeah; they’re pretty dismissive of Jackie in TCI when she reckons they’re mad and go looking for trouble, because they look at the universe with open eyes and hearts (between them they have three).
Okay, I’m actually kind of brain fried at the moment so I’ll call it quits on that subject and bring up a couple more thoughts I had this time around.
This episode is interesting in that it is largely about humans as the bad guys. The monks aren’t alien or even infected as far as we know. Sir Robert’s dilemma of loyalties is a very human problem, and then there’s the Queen’s attitude at the end. With the exception of the monks they’re all sympathetic, and even the monks there’s a sense of inner conflict to what they’re doing, at least in the lead monk but we don’t really get the benefit of learning enough about him to be sure.
On a similar note, this episode showcases one of the things RTD does so well, in the way he writes women. He rights women as people, doesn’t ignore the elements of what it is to be women in this sort of setting in particular, but they’re just as rich and flawed and full of potential as any of the male characters (if not even a little more so in this case just because we actually have a high ration of women to men characters in the developed roles). But chiefly RTD subscribes to the idea that I wish more writers
There are elements of this episode that I think would have worked really well I s3, even more so than here. Mainly the story of Queen V and Prince Albert. Imagine how much her loss and grief and desire for a connection with the dead would resonate with the Doctor in s3? This episode had too many other elements to make this really connect with the Time War angst, but in s3 the parallel with Rose would have been obvious. And I often had the feeling like s3 wanted to do something similar to the resolution here but couldn’t quite pull it off; that somehow either by something left behind or inspiring from the other side, or what have you that the Doctor would find he did still have a connection with Rose after he lost her.
Which brings me to the Bad Wolf stuff here. I have mixed feelings on whether I like it or not. Because it definitely carries some implication that the Bad Wolf issue isn’t buried, and yet RTD never actually found a way to bring it back in. Yeah there’s the stuff in Turn Left, but that doesn’t address the question of what of it remained with Rose? Another of the plot threads I think RTD missed the mark on in the end of s4, but we’ll eventually get to my JE (and connected episodes) issues) But is it really any wonder that so many of us kept coming up with ways for it to matter in the future? *Especially* with this episode’s idea of little pieces and clues playing a bigger role than they might appear (both within the episode and the set up for Torchwood)?
Anyway, I definitely like this episode, and I like it even a bit more than I would otherwise just to spite fandom that acts like there’s something wrong with it. I like the fun and am not amused by your attitude fandom.
Next time:
wigbee71583 requested some Buffy, so I might do a couple episodes of that.See I can take requests, what would you like?
