To think Dr Who writers are losing it.

[peasontoast]

Just because they had some fantasy about DW and his assistant doesn't mean they should force it on everyone else. I watched tonight with my 10 year old and the final scenes made me really cringe.

[taffetacat]

Agree with Mint but it was pretty eww, a bit overdone. In fact, I find a few of Amy's lines a bit eww, last week "Oh I do like a squaddie " etc

Perhaps I am getting old

< Mary Whitehouse frown >

[LutyensWantsAFryUp]

Tbh I'm really tired of the assumption that if a woman and a man are doing stuff together then there must necessarily be some sort of sexual tension between them. Rose, Martha, now Amy. Have they heard of a thing called platonic friendship?

The scenes of Amy jumping the Doctor made me squirm, and I was watching it alone! And I'm certainly not a Victorian prude normally.

[WhereYouLeftIt]

"Have they heard of a thing called platonic friendship?"

That would be The Doctor's last companion, Donna.

[LutyensWantsAFryUp]

Yes Donna. I really enjoyed her role as assistant, it was so simple with no snogging and jumping each others bones. Also how they had to explain in each episode that "no, we're not together". Still that's just one among the various nubile assistants who all seem to have a thing for the Doctor! Eww

[peasontoast]

It just seems to part of a trend for DW to get more and more schlocky and further away from its roots as kids tv and they are obviously trying to get the Dad vote in the crudest easiest way. Wouldn't be quite so hard to take if at the same time they didn't keep trumpeting on about what a fantastic writer stephen thingy is.

[JaneS]

I thought it was great, but I've only started watching this last series so I didn't grow up knowing it as kids' TV. I thought the weeping angels were so scary, I'd be far more worried about them for children than about the kissing. Do you think maybe these two episodes should have been shown at a different time to show they weren't for children then?

[peasontoast]

No, I think they should stop trying to shoehorn sex into a show where it doesn't belong because it comes across as crass, creepy and unsuitable.

[Commons3ns3]

writers do wat they told its the storyliners that need floggin :P

[JaneS]

Peas, did you think it was creepy/ unsuitable because you're used to thinking of it as a kids' show, or because you thought the plot didn't want it?

I'm asking because I can't imagine anyone wanting to show their children that episode anyway, it was so scary, so it seems to me that the kissing is a bit irrelevant.

Are the other serieses good/ very different?

[peasontoast]

yes Red, the other series had some really great episodes and tho' there was a sort of sub-plot of an unspoken love between the doc and his assistant (billie piper) it was deliberately unspoken so it didn't jar the way this new strand does. It was so obviously bolted on at the end to try to hook in the adult/teen audience and even if it probably went over a lot of kids heads it just depressed me to see it at all.
The scariness is what the kids all love and what kept me glued to DW when I was a kid (you must have grown up in the inbetween years?)

[JaneS]

Ah, ok!

Annoyingly, I grew up with no TV, so I miss all these cultural references. The only thing I remember is Dad making us watch Great Expectations (it was literature, you see). It scared me silly and gave me nightmares for years, so I expect I am a bit cautious in what I think is really scary for children. I'm sure if we'd been allowed to watch TV as a normal thing, it would have been fine!

It is a shame when childrens' shows become overtly sexy. IMO it is in any case so much more romantic when any involvement is unstated.

Will have to catch up on the other serieses now!

[BritFish]

doctor who was originally 'family' viewing, not kids tv, there is a difference
and it ended up into a cult sci-fi classic before it was revived.
traditionally there's been a LOT more flesh on show than we've ever seen in the new series, one assistant was introduced in a bikini.

doctor who isnt just for kids, it's for adults too, which is why is such great family entertainment.
Shrek and Chicken Run are two great films for kids, but have great references and innuendoes in them for an older audience as well.
thats why its FAMILY not KIDS tv.

just thoght as some of you might not know it apart from your DC's watching it you might not know that.

Amy's a horny 20-something, the Doctor is an attractive [not for me personally, ha!] mysterious time traveller. im glad that Amy Pond is in it, if you argue about her character being a bit sexy then yeah, sorry i think you're being a bit of a cold fish.
family entertainment means that you're not watching an ultra-clean, sexless, lifeless, frankly boring and unnappealing piece of telly.
it's for the whole family, innit.

also, anyone who complains about a bit of kissing being too sexy, id just advise thinking about your own reaction to sex and violence on tv.
loads of characters get killed off in doctor who, and we've had some bloody scary aliens, and a lot of violence. i consider violence more offensive than sex personally, as sex is something everyone is involved in at some point or another, whereas violence isnt?

its quite interesting really, we are so desensitised to violence because of the traditional male protector image, and of course, actual war. but because sex wasnt freely talked about until all us slutty women got the Pill, it's still a taboo subject. i meet many women my age who are still shocked at young women on tv coming on to men, and they are called sluts, whereas a man does it and its okay.
i think some people dont even realise the double standard there is regarding sex and violence.
also, amy pond reminds me of my daughter. funny, fiesty and beautiful. and i think we're all still so protective of our daughters, and dont want them to be influenced, or behave in a way that might cause other people to think [wrongly] about them.

as long as we dont get a fully fledged sex scene, dont see whats the problem. there's more eroticism in the One Show

[peasontoast]

Wow...no TV...must admit when the new Doc started and DD was only about 6 then I was pretty shocked at the violence/implied violence and used to try to turn it off but of course she was hooked and said it didn't bother her. I used to watch the old DW from behind a cushion even tho it was usually just some preposterous monster baddie in a latex mask and even then I had nightmares after but DD seems fine about it all...Btw Red I think the best ever DW episodes were the 2-part 'silence in the library': not violent, but really scary so that's my recommendation

[JaneS]

Ah - yes, DP has shown me silence in the library! According to him it is the only one worth watching - very scary and also very good. I work in a library rather like that, so particularly enjoyed it.

I haven't quite made my mind up - as adult-ish TV I thought this episode was all quite clever but I do see it would be tough if your children had been watching something more tame and then there was that episode. Thinking about it, I think when she says she's not thinking so 'long term', she might mean she's not expecting 900-odd years (rather than, she wants casual sex). But I do see that the pushing-about-the-bed might be more than tricky for a child to understand!

[Kaloki]

I have to go against the trend here, Amy Pond is my favourite sidekick so far, she's a lot more interesting than the others. And the final scene made me laugh.

[BritFish]

Silence in the library is excellent!
also, billie piper grabbed david tennant and snogged him when he was in the role
[sob, now hes gone...]
i wouldnt be showing a child the violence and scary stuff if i wasnt prepared to let him know that shock horror kissing and sexytimes happen.
surely you wouldnt let a child who didnt know about sex watch doctor who anyway? i think knowing about sex is probably the level of maturity you should start at if you're worried.

and also, might be a great topic starter for some parents who feel too akward to start 'that' talk!

and again, it scares me, and its violent.

double standards dun dun dunnn.

on a better note, how good was the original weeping angels episode?

and how bad are the kid-ified rainbow daleks?

[JaneS]

BritFish, that's what I was trying to say! I think the scaryness is well beyond the sexiness - the first weeping angels episode is amazing!

Do you think it makes them less scary in the last one, that we see them move?

I don't like the rainbow/smartie daleks either. But I don't have much else to base that on. Damn my parents for not showing me TV before!

[BritFish]

i think it's less scary now ive watched the Confidential on it. im constantly searching for gaps in the makeup or costume!
but yeah, i do think it makes them less scary. and because there was so little going on the first time we saw them, it was really tense, whereas now the episodes were 'busier' and there were too many people involved to really feel that fear again!

the rainbow daleks are such a bad idea. daleks are meant to be scary, making them a brighter colour wont make them more appealing to children or more special or whatever they were trying to pull!

and i've only watched a few of the old episodes...i've never found the daleks scary. especially not since the gas mask child in the first new series...

[skihorse]

YANBU

And I would suggest you don't watch "Antiques Roadshow" this evening as the Beeb have decided it needs sexing up and is moving in a whole new direction!

[JackBauerIsZonerrific]

In all honesty I think it would have felt very weird if she hadnt tried it on.

She is visited by mysterious stranger as small child, waits years and years obsessing over him, he comes back and rescues her from scary monster, disappears again, comes back the night before her wedding and takes her on wild adventures showing her he is good and funny and clever and then saves her life by making her trust him and believe in him. And then they end up in her bedroom...

Would have been very odd if she'd just said 'See ya then' and gone off to get married.

[EricNorthmansmistress]

I thought last night's episode was great! Doctor Who has moved on since the 70s as the world has, what used to be hinted at now doesn't need to be, so why not have her try it on with him? DT's Dr was more serious than MS, and he and Rose were far more angsty, plus they were actually in love. The Dr and Amy have a chemistry and it's a bit frivolous and fun. Amy is a bit of a minx and why not?