sophie_ali
Cat People
Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, How I Wonder What You're At
Posts: 129
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Post by sophie_ali on Apr 17, 2013 10:09:28 GMT -5
I suppose it's all a question of balance. On one hand you want continuity in the show especially when changing over characters but on the othr hand you don't want the new charatcer to be overshadowed by the past, something hard to balance as Doctor Who has a long past.
I liked the subtle references to Amy and Rory (i.e. her name on the book in the 'Bells of St John) which was better than the overt references to Rose (i.e. 'Oh Rose would have been able to solve it). I don't think the references to Amy and Rory should go on for too long as it did with Rose (they were still making reference to her well into Martha's series)
Out of interest, and you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, what is about Amy and Rory that makes you un-keen about them?
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Post by Beth on Apr 18, 2013 12:07:09 GMT -5
I always felt like Rory was a bit pointless! He just seemed to exist to create a love triangle with Amy and the Doctor, and that annoyed me. I know logically there must have been episodes where he did more than that, but they've just been overwhelmed by the episodes where he annoyed me.
To be fair to Amy, it's more the writers' depiction of her rather than the character herself. She's another in a line of young, white, attractive girls who can come up with the odd quip every now and then and that's supposed to be enough to explain all the sexual tension between her and the Doctor. It also really bugged me how she was the object of events, rather than having any agency in her own right. The whole River Song arc falls into that for me - Amy's thing walking uterus an exists solely to further the plot. It made the whole storyline for me much less effective, and actually made Amy and River much weaker characters.
I have big issues with Moffatt at the best of times, but with Amy and Rory I lost all patience!
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sophie_ali
Cat People
Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, How I Wonder What You're At
Posts: 129
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Post by sophie_ali on Apr 18, 2013 12:54:12 GMT -5
I can understand your point of view here. After she was revealled as River's mother, there were a lot of references to her as a mother/motherhood but not a frequent were the references to Rory as a dad/fatherhood.
What was interesting about Amy was her overt sexuality. We are introduced to her as a kiss-o-gram and she comes onto the Doctor by attmepting to kiss him. She seems quite in control of her sexuality but others have argued to the contrary- that her sexuality removes agency rather than enables it
It will be interesting to see, with your idea of being an object of events verus having agency, what they will do with Clara. At the moment it seems it could go either way but I suppose we don't really know enough about Clara to work out who she is (and who the other two Clara's are in relation to the one travelling with the Doctor at the moment)
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sophie_ali
Cat People
Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, How I Wonder What You're At
Posts: 129
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Post by sophie_ali on Apr 20, 2013 15:46:54 GMT -5
Wow tonight's episode ('Hide') had me on the edge of my seat!
I like the way it subverted the viewer's expectations. It started out as a ghost story but turned out to be about time-travel. Then the bit with the actual monster turned about to be a love story.
Though I found the love story between the two ghost hunters a little confusing. The scientist man didn't want the empath woman to go through with what she was doing but then he would encourage her to go through with it. Maybe it was just a case of him not wating her to put herself in danger but realising they had little other option. I have no idea if that made sense...
I liked the TARDIS' argument/banter with Clara. I'm glad they picked up on the TARDIS not liking Clara thing again. Still not sure why exactly the TARDIS had a problem with Clara in the first place.
Also the space suit the Doctor was wearing- was that the same one the tenth doctor wore in the Satan pit or was is just similar?
But it seems we'll get a more in-depth look at the TARDIS in next week's episode which miht give us more clues or at least more insight into the TARDIS- I like that they're making her one of the characters, she's a subject not just an object.
Still no clearer who Clara is, but her conversation with the Doctor aout ghosts was obviously ironic (and quite philosophical in a way). The empath woman said she was just a 'normal' girl so no new insights quite yet.
I did feel we got more of Clara's responsibility (feeling responsible as a time-traveller for having to see the end of earth and questioning the Doctor about it)
When the Doctor said 'you are the only mystery worth solving' was he was refering to Clara or humans generally?
The line about 'experience makes liars of us all' was a good one. (Doctor Who does come up with some great sound-bites like that)
On a slightly more shallow note, I really like Clara's fashion sense (especially the dress we saw in the preview for the next episode)
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Post by Beth on Apr 21, 2013 5:39:24 GMT -5
What was interesting about Amy was her overt sexuality. We are introduced to her as a kiss-o-gram and she comes onto the Doctor by attmepting to kiss him. She seems quite in control of her sexuality but others have argued to the contrary- that her sexuality removes agency rather than enables it Yeah, I fall into the latter camp on that. I think Amy had the appearance of being in control of her sexuality but in the latter part of their arc especially it removed her agency. I think one of the episodes that really epitomises all of the problems with Amy for me was The Girl Who Waited. Everything about that episode, from its title to the 'choice' Rory makes at the end annoyed me. I did love last night's episode though! After what has, for me, been a really rocky start to the series I thought Hide was great. It was fun, it was romantic without being over the top, there were some really nice lines in there, and they made more of the TARDIS. (I have decided/realised that I'm so over young, white, female companions though. It's nothing particular against Jenna Louise Coleman, or Clara, but I really, really want to see someone else travelling with the Doctor.) One thing that did have me wondering though, which kind of ties in with this point you make: size=2]I did feel we got more of Clara's responsibility (feeling responsible as a time-traveller for having to see the end of earth and questioning the Doctor about it) [/size][/quote] Did we ever see Clara agree to go travelling with the Doctor? Or is he turning up at the house every morning at 7 ready to take her on another adventure and drop her home at the end of it (I actually quite like that idea!)? It may well have been explained in one of the episodes where I switched off, but I thought that was left unresolved? size=2]When the Doctor said 'you are the only mystery worth solving' was he was refering to Clara or humans generally? [/size][/quote] I took it to mean humans generally, but I think it could be interpreted either way. size=2]The line about 'experience makes liars of us all' was a good one. (Doctor Who does come up with some great sound-bites like that) [/size][/quote] I really liked that line too. |
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sophie_ali
Cat People
Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, How I Wonder What You're At
Posts: 129
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Post by sophie_ali on Apr 21, 2013 8:11:12 GMT -5
I think sometimes how they wanted to portray Amy was quite ambiguious. Sometimes she appeared as a self-confident woman, very in control of her sexuality (e.g. 'The 11th Hour'), other times she seemed closer to being objectified (e.g. 'A Town Called Mercy' where she is solely defined as being a mother). Maybe that's an issue with having lots of different writers- that aspects of a character can be a bit fluid/blurred (we've discussed something similar with Howard in the Big Bang Theory)
Also, the fact she (as an adult) was introduced as a kiss-o-gram was potentially stepping into dangerous terriroty. I think they handled it quite well and I don't think it was mentioned much apart from the 11th Hour. In the end I think she became a writer/journalist didn't she?
Could you expand on this? If you have the time then I'd like to hear some more of your views on this episode
I agree, the romance was played out quite subtly which was nice. I also like the comparison of the relationships between the two humans, the two aliens, between generations of the family and between the Doctor and the TARDIS. It's great that the TARDIS is developing more of a personality like we saw in 'The Doctor's Wife'
We've seen her say 'come back tommorow' (in answer to him asking her to come travelling) and then we've had a scene of her waiting on the stairs of her house and hearing the TARDIS turn up. But the last two episodes have only showed Clara rock up with the Doctor wherever they've travelled too so it's been left hanging a little bit. I like your idea of him picking her up every morning ;D (I'm going to pretend that's how it happens now)
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sophie_ali
Cat People
Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat, How I Wonder What You're At
Posts: 129
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Post by sophie_ali on Apr 28, 2013 4:59:06 GMT -5
So 'Journey to the Centre of the Tardis anyone?'
I have to say, I really like TARDIS based episodes and how the TARDIS has a persona of her own (i.e TARDIS tantrum). Also, the Doctor's library was so awesome!
The relationship between the Doctor and the TARDIS is quite interesting. Often the focus has been on the relationship between the Doctor and his companion(s) so it has been overlooked a little. I liked the Doctor's line about how the TARDIS has always looked after/out for him- reminiscent of the line in the Doctor's Wife about the TARDIS taking him where he needed to go, not always where he wanted to go.
What did people think about the Doctor's line about setting the TARDIS to basic and Clara asking whether he did that because she was a girl- sexist or a just a quip about gender?
I know some will say it was sexist but I would disagree.
1) His response will only implied as he gives her a 'look' rather than saying 'Yes' or 'No'.
2) He later describes Clara as 'feisty' which is a positive description- despite a quip about gender, the overall depiction of Clara is quite positive
3) The TARDIS is female. The relationship between the Doctor and the TARDIS seems quite matriarchal. I noted above that he comments that she looks after him. He might be a Time Lord but she exists across all time- more powerful than him?
4) There have been gender quips before. In 'Let's Kill Hitler', Amy asks the Doctor why River is flirting with him one minute then trying to kill him the next. His response is 'Well she's been brainwashed...plus she's a woman'. I would again argue this is not sexist per se, but rather a quip about gender. Amy picks him up on this comment so it doesn't go unnoticed. This links back to my point about Clara: the overall depiction of River Song is quite positive.
I guess it boils down to when does a comment/quip about gender become sexist? Is the writer's intention shared with the audience? (e.g. the writer thinks they're making a quip but the audience regards it as being sexist). How does it fit into the overall picture?
But on the whole, it was really nice to see a TARDIS based episode and them making use of the TARDIS as both a character and a setting.
ETA: I also really liked the subtle references to past- very nice given it's the 50th anniversary
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