Doctor Who

Shippers are going to ship and it's very easy to read Eleven and Clara's relationship as romantic even if the show says otherwise. Though I am biased since I do casually ship Clara/Eleven. Clara/Twelve though is a bit harder to explain but who am I to judge?

Wait.. he did stick around after that one? Wow it's been so long since I've seen that ep I have no idea.

Also... I hate Shipping, I find it makes no sense, and comes off rather stupid most of the time.. and even I couldn't not see that between them.

I hope Bill is around for longer than a season. I like Martha and Donna, but it irked me that they only got a season.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean Moffat (two pages ago, gosh you folks move fast) but Russell Davies. Moffat's toned things down considerably from Davies' tenure. The only real overindulgence I'd charge Moffat with is possibly over-representing female characters in supporting roles. I applaud his desire to put women in prominent roles, but showing Unit as being pretty much entirely composed of women (except for the grunts) seems a bit silly,

The female companions tend to be largely uncritical of the Doctor, too, and very close to being blindly devoted to him (even the ones who aren't attracted to him, like Donna and Clara). Rory called him out on how dangerous he was to others, and Danny Pink (okay, not a companion, but still) called him out on his prejudices and actually managed to shame the old man a bit.

edited 10th Jul '16 10:27:02 PM by Robbery

In fairness, for Clara it's because she literally gets just as bad as him. And River is constantly calling him out on his shit.

Rose is actually fairly critical of the Doctor in series 1, but he constantly ignores her and never notices when she's right. It's kind of irritating.

Why?

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

Because it strikes me as unrealistic that any such organization would be so gender unbalanced (at least in favor of women, given that military and paramilitary organizations are still very male places, but even then you'd see more women present than there are men present in Unit) unless it was doing it intentionally, and why would Unit do it intentionally? Because it's become so very, very noticeable to the point where one can't help but ask if there's something going on (is there some weird alien threat killing human men that the Doctor is gonna have to fight in upcoming seasons?).

It's not a huge deal, and it doesn't ruin the show. I just find it odd when Moffat has the opportunity to strike a balance that he doesn't choose to do so, and instead chooses to unbalance things in the other direction. Heck, for that matter, I'd like to see another male companion, given that the only one the Doctor's had for more than an episode or two since the reboot is Rory.

Getting back to Davies, I thought it was great that he portrayed homosexual and mixed-race couples whenever possible. He was frequently awfully hard on mothers, though, with Rose and Martha's mothers in particular frequently not coming off terribly well.

edited 11th Jul '16 7:44:14 AM by Robbery

"Be the change you want to see in this world."

I think men should be able to deal with a lot of women in one place for once. God knows we have to cope with the opposite far more often.

This.

Underrepresentation is underrepresentation, regardless of which direction it goes. Trust me, men in professions like nursing and teaching know what it's like to be outnumbered in their workplaces. Like I said, on Doctor Who it's not a terrific irritant, it's just a mite odd. And there's no need to slap me around for pointing it out. It is, as I said, just about the only overindulgence I can lay at Moffat's door.

Personally, I'd love to see the Doctor played by a woman. Preferably as an irritable middle-aged or older woman (ain't enough parts for older women on tv, and the Doctor has been played as an irritable older man often enough).

edited 11th Jul '16 9:26:31 AM by Robbery

Have you ever been round soldiers, in real life? Not just looked at them in Michael Bay movies, when it's a cardinal offence to have ovaries and be in the military? Well, I have, as a matter of fact - and there's copies of various certificates of efficiency floating around in RHQ Scotland to prove it - almost eleven years as a territorial and regular soldier.

There's lots and lots of women. One of the best Sergeant Majors that I've ever had in my long and unstoried career in uniform was a woman. I regularly got my ass handed to me in basic fitness test (read three mile runs in x number of minutes, wearing gym kit and trainers) by women who were basically racing snakes, but I kept up with them in combat fitness tests (read four or eight mile marches in full kit with rucksacks/web gear and rifles, wearing combat boots in one/two hours depending on distance) because I was more built for that kind of thing.

And the percentage of females in uniform wearing my cap badge was only increasing at the time I left the forces.

No one is denying that women serve honorably and well, and in increasing numbers, in the militaries of MANY nations. My only point, my ONLY point, was that Unit in Doctor Who seems disproportionately female, and that the only men you see in it seem to be the folks carrying guns, and that Moffet's reasons for this elude me. If this is reflective of the British military, for heaven's sake say so, given that it would go a long way to explaining his reasoning. This is in no way meant to slam women serving in any field, in any capacity, anywhere. Not sure how my comments got read that way. I was implying nothing, disparaging no one, and meant no more than exactly what my words said.

edited 11th Jul '16 11:29:52 AM by Robbery

I thought the reasons were obvious. He made a statement about he realized that in order for there to be more women and people of color on screen one had to make a conscious effort to do so.

And so he did, as the past, like, season or two has shown us. Saw a problem, went to try to fix it. You may see it as him going too far but, there's the answer.

The Blog The Art

Thank you! I'd never heard about that statement, but it does indeed explain the situation.

Seems someone could have said that awhile ago.

I think it's because it's old news to our little in-group and as obsessive fans we figured everyone with a say on the matter would know about stuff like Moffat's interviews.

The Blog The Art

We're the nerds nerds call nerds.

A new Who Back When episode came out today:

This is the one with...

...A Swiss-Army flashlight...
...A literal space walk...
...The worst defense mechanisms ever...
...A hot young vulcan...
...Oh! and Cybermen...

...It's called The Wheel in Space. Here we go...

edited 11th Jul '16 8:19:16 PM by sgamer82

It's a service you provide, which we're grateful for.

Next Nu!Who one's up next week?

Thanks. Yeah, they usually alternate old and new with audio when able. Ponken said in this ep he's going on holiday soon so he's going to try and get the next two New Who episodes and one Classic recorded before then.

Next New ep scheduled is Family of Blood.

Fun fact given that: Wheel in Space is the story where, courtesy of Jamie, the John Smith alias is created.

edited 12th Jul '16 6:35:47 AM by sgamer82

@ Thread: Thanks for the Fifth Doctor recommends, will probably try out Enlightenment and then the two Mara stories before moving on to Caves of Androzani. Or should I watch some bad Davison stuff before going on to that? Feels like Caves will stand out better if I, ahem, take the rough with the smooth.

If you want to check out some lesser Davies material, there's always Marywn Undead (which is still pretty decent,) and Terminus, (which is not pretty decent,) which together with Enlightenment make up the Black Guardian trilogy. But if you really want to get your feet wet, check out Warriors of the Deep, Four to Doomsday, or Timeflight. You can't get any worse than those three short of a Sixth Doctor episode. (BA-DUM!)

Also, I can't believe I forgot about this one, but The Awakening is also a really good one to check it out, and it's Short But Sweet at only 2 episodes as opposed to the usual four, making it as long as your average Who story nowadays. If you can, give it a watch, because it's a heck of a forgotten gem.

edited 12th Jul '16 7:26:03 AM by kkhohoho

Because Murray Gold doesn't do anything by half.

Song of the Sirens

I really miss the stupidly bombastic Murry Gold of the RTD era,watching RTD's a midsummer nights dream was so replenishing

I'm kinda hoping Gold leaves with Moffat. Ten seasons with a complete monopoly on the series' music is unprecedented and, in my opinion, kind of a shitty thing to be doing to the doubtlessly countless other people who'd love to take a crack at this.

(Also, if we're being honest, I kind of want the [in my opinion inevitable] Aivi & Surasshu tenure of Who composing to start already.)

edited 12th Jul '16 4:45:14 PM by Wackd

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

Someone mentioned Warriors of the Deep.

"Yup. That tasted purple."