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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be getting increasingly pissed off with Doctor Who's sexist attitude?

101 replies

FairPhyllis · 28/04/2013 02:35

In Doctor Who this evening there was an exchange where the Doctor is trying to get Clara and the TARDIS to get on nicely together. He puts the TARDIS into 'basic mode' for her. She is slightly put out and asks him if he's done that because she's a girl. He says no of course not. Then we get a shot of him grimacing - we're clearly meant to understand that what he said is a fib.

Really, Doctor Who? Really? A 'ha-ha girls are rubbish with machines' joke that would disgrace a 70s sitcom?

There have been other snidey snide Woman!ZOMG moments and really depressing treatments of female characters for a while now. Well, I say 'characters'. Clara seems to be cut from the same 'sassy woman who thinks the Doctor's just fab' cookie cutter that Amy was.

AIBU in thinking that this isn't really good enough for a flagship children's show? Do the (all-male) writers not think girls (and women) watch it too?

OP posts:
Original poster
FairPhyllis · 28/04/2013 21:25

Cross post. I hadn't seen that Bechdel analysis of DW before - very interesting.

OP posts:
BoneyBackJefferson · 28/04/2013 21:38

MrsFionaCharming
But there have been episodes in the past where there have only been the Dr and companion.

I know that its comparing Moffat with RTD but if you take the show as a whole there have been episodes where the gender of some of the characters/creatures is unknown.

harryhausen · 28/04/2013 21:47

I hate it when people say the Dr should be a woman next.

He's a timelord. There are (or were) female timelords. This one just happens to be male. The 'Dr' is not a job title like 'M' from James Bond. If he regenerated into a woman he would be having a sex change.

Sorry to jump in, but the endless quipping about "when's there going to be a female Dr Who?" really annoys me.

I like SM. His episodes in the RTD era were the best. His writing on Sherlock is utterly brilliant. However, many episodes in this series and some of the last have left me thinking "eh?" - and I'm no sci-fi newbie. I like Matt Smith too, but often I can't catch what he's saying. I can't put my finger on what's not working for me.

I really don't see the 'sexism' though. Sorry.

MrsFionaCharming · 28/04/2013 21:55

I don't know, in the episode where the Doctor, Amy and Rory get summoned to the 'House' that uses Time Lords as parts, the Doctor tells them about a time lord who had the same tattoo in every regeneration as without it 'he didn't feel like himself, or herself'. So obviously they can regenerate into a different gender. Possibly Time Lords don't have a gender binary in the same way that humans do?

IntheFrame · 28/04/2013 22:20

OK but Dr Who should be for the children people. Scary monsters (the ghost story had those), some in jokes/knowledge, a bit of weirdness and an ending where the Doctor is right but at some expense.

Convoluted plots that refer to stories that are beyond most 8 years old or making up stuff so it's fits is rubbish. The whole Pond baby thing was a bit lost in our house because 8 year old's don't give a monkeys - babies appear randomly in their world anyway.

We both liked the scary thing's in the ghost story and then liked that a) they weren't scary once the Doctor had worked them out b) that even a scary monster wants love. Simple. Effective

tethersend · 28/04/2013 22:25

I think he should regenerate into a bear.

Dereksmalls · 28/04/2013 22:38

My friend's DF told me his theory about who Clara is. I didn't believe him at first because he can be very arrogant and I don't like to admit it when I think he is right but I think he could be on to something. Should I say or would you rather I didn't and it could be all bollocks anyway

treas · 28/04/2013 22:56

Dereksmalls lets hear the theory - go on don't be a tease.

Could not stand the relationship between Rose and the Doctor - it started ok but then they started to write making her so blooming clingy.

Don't think they gave Martha's character a chance - rumoured that DT took exception to her popularity after Rose.

Donna wasn't interested in the Dr romantically.

Loved Amy and Rory and am enjoying Clara.

Might be nice if they introduced an alien companion or how about the Dr'd daughter Jenny (Georgia Moffat)

Dereksmalls · 28/04/2013 23:14

Fuck, my friend's DH's theorising was obviously partly based on Internet research and I have been hit with an extreme wave of paranoia that if I reveal his theory and if he does a bit more googling then he might find this thread and see me insulting him. Bollocks, I really have to lay off the booze.

Original poster
FairPhyllis · 28/04/2013 23:31

Clara is ... the Rani! you probably didn't hear it here first

OP posts:
Original poster
FairPhyllis · 28/04/2013 23:33

That's a joke btw, before some totally humourless person says I've spoiled it for them.

OP posts:
WhereYouLeftIt · 29/04/2013 00:04

We've been toying with the idea that Clara is actually Susan, The Doctor's granddaughter ...

SolidGoldBrass · 29/04/2013 02:35

Clara is Kenny from South Park and I keep watching it to see what she's going to get killed off of each week. Annoying squeaky bint.

I really am going off the series these days. I wish they would just STFU about love and romance all the time. Practically every episode with Rory and Amy had this sledgehammer 'I really REALLY love YOOOOOUUUUU' as the punchline, then the fabulous River Song got turned into All About Loving Him and now the Doctor's chasing Clara round with his cock in his hand. More monsters and fewer lingering looks, please...

Fecklessdizzy · 29/04/2013 11:23

Grin @ Solidgold

Oh no! They've killed Clara! Totally works for me ...

gordyslovesheep · 29/04/2013 11:46

She can't be a time lord she doesn't regenerate ...she is the same every time ...she can't be real she has to be a projection or from another reality

PeachActiviaMinge · 29/04/2013 11:48

DH also thinks Clara will turn out to be Susan.

mumsneedwine · 29/04/2013 12:08

Completely off topic but I loved seeing 'Rory' and the Doctor (Tennant) back together in Broadchurch.
My daughters find Clara a bit sickly. They cried buckets when Rose left.

MummytoKatie · 29/04/2013 12:28

I'd like to see more of the whole "Clara is a genius" stuff. They seem to ave forgotten.

Pendeen · 29/04/2013 13:05

However bad things get, surely no one in their right mind would want the truly awful Davies back?

DadOnIce · 29/04/2013 14:53

I don't remember a "Truly Awful Davies". Who was she? Is she any relation to Russell T Davies, the very talented and clever screenwriter who brought Doctor Who back and saw it through 5 years?...

Pendeen · 29/04/2013 16:50

Never heard of a "very talented and clever screenwriter" with that name...

marjproops · 29/04/2013 17:57

in the frame-totes agree 100% with you.

Doctor who was made for children a-la cbbc age,and its got a bit too adulty.

fair do's they want adults to like and watch it but its a FAMILY show, 80/20 for children/adults IMHO.

Dawndonna · 29/04/2013 18:31

David Tennant didn't do Rory/Amy.
(Haven't seen Broadchurch, am waiting to watch all together).

DadOnIce · 29/04/2013 19:32

Pendeen - you really don't appreciate RTD's work then. None of it at all? Within or outside Doctor Who? I'd suggest you are in a very small minority. Never mind.

edam · 29/04/2013 21:30

Very interesting re. the Bechdel test. It's the kind of insidious sexism that happens without the people responsible being consciously sexist - clearly it doesn't even occur to Moffat that female characters may do interesting things or be interesting in their own right.

I once ran an interview with the author/illustrator of the Topsy and Tim books. Her husband used to do the words and she's now carrying on without him. She said he naturally wrote the stories with all the active interesting stuff around the boy twin - she swapped the names around and the stories worked fine with the girl getting to do some interesting stuff. Grin

Donna was my favourite companion - she and No. 10 had such a great relationship as best mates. Rose and Donna both grew hugely as characters - it's too early to say for Clara but it doesn't look promising so far, given death tends to inhibit character development.