"Partners in Crime" reactions to reactions

[kerravonsen]

It's interesting that my pattern with watching Doctor Who seems to be
1. watch and squee
2. think a bit and read other people's reactions
3. notice all the flaws and get all sad/annoyed

My flist has made a few observations...

*That the Science Reporter was a Person of Colour and that this shows that RTD is racist, because she was cross at the Doctor and Donna at the end, and she was played for comedy, and she "wasn't good enough to be a companion".

I'm not really sure how to react to that.
- they're reading too much into it, she was actually a good character
- no matter what anyone says, RTD isn't going to change or learn from his mistakes, well, not unless someone very close to him calls him on it
- it's a possible interpretation, but I'd rather look on the bright side.

*That RTD is prejudiced against fat people.

Well, of course. Our entire society is prejudiced against fat people. If they can't pick on blacks, women, gays or disabled people, who's left? Fat people, and religious people.
Can anyone tell me if there's ever been a positive portrayal of religion in Doctor Who? Or of a fat person?
I can only think of two:
- K'an Po and his mystic Buddhism in "Planet of the Spiders"
- Foon and her husband in "Voyage of the Damned", but note that they were being ostracised by the other passengers, and I don't think it was just because they had won the voyage as a prize.

*That RTD hates mothers, Donna's mother being an example, Jackie being another.

Well, the main thing I noticed was how similar Donna and her mother were.

*That Donna's grandfather was the newspaper-seller in "Voyage of the Damned"

I hadn't noticed that. I'm not sure whether they're supposed to be the same character or not.

*That maybe the Rose we saw is Evil.

I doubt it. Rose looks sad, not evil. And they would never do that to RTD's Mary Sue.

*That the batshippers are going to be making this season All About Rose, and that Donna will leave.

I hope not. Though it's a reasonable point that it could be difficult to get Catherine Tate for more than one season. Though if next year is only going to be a few specials, they might have her for that, or they might do one-off holding-pattern ones like the last couple of Christmas Specials have been.
And I really don't care what the loony fringe of fandom thinks.

A few more observations:
- the Doctor tossed the sonic pen into a trash bin; someone could find it. I was actually expecting Donna to go back and fish it out of the bin, but she didn't. 8-(
- so, will Donna's mother find the car keys?
- I'm glad that Donna's grandfather knows where she's gone.
- "The Shadow Proclamation" appears to be a group of persons rather than a document. Hmmm. This is the second or third mention of "The Shadow Proclamation", the first being in "Rose", and I'm not sure if there was a mention by Rose in "The Christmas Invasion".
- mysterious!vanishing!Rose is probably only going to turn up in episodes set on present-day Earth. So no Rose next week.
- I wonder if they're going to bring up the Bad Wolf stuff in connection with Rose?

Comments

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Not reading the spoilers, 'cause we haven't even started S4 over here. But before the month is out, I hope to be squeeing along with the rest.

Your pattern is why I've given up reading most meta. Because the shows I love, I really love, and I just go along for the ride and then think about it. I don't need others pointing out the shows flaws, however well intentioned it might be.

YMMV, of course.

[kerravonsen]

Your pattern is why I've given up reading most meta. Because the shows I love, I really love, and I just go along for the ride and then think about it. I don't need others pointing out the shows flaws, however well intentioned it might be.

I avoid forums, but I do like to find out what my flist is thinking. And I don't want to stop thinking, because thinking is part of the fun.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

My flist has made a few observations...

*That the Science Reporter was a Person of Colour and that this shows that RTD is racist, because she was cross at the Doctor and Donna at the end, and she was played for comedy, and she "wasn't good enough to be a companion".

I'm not really sure how to react to that.
- they're reading too much into it, she was actually a good character
- no matter what anyone says, RTD isn't going to change or learn from his mistakes, well, not unless someone very close to him calls him on it
- it's a possible interpretation, but I'd rather look on the bright side.

My reaction is the same as your first one. I liked the reporter, and in fact did wonder if she might even become a Companion at some point in the future. Surely all coloured people don't have to be portrayed as perfect in every respect (which woild surely also be racist)?

*That RTD is prejudiced against fat people.

There seems to be a much stronger case for that. RTD seems to find fat people funny, an attitude that most of us grow out of by the time we are adults.

*That RTD hates mothers, Donna's mother being an example, Jackie being another.

Jackie started off being very annoying, but as her character was developed she became surprisingly sympathetic. It would be nice to have a Companion without a family for a change, though.

A few more observations:
- the Doctor tossed the sonic pen into a trash bin; someone could find it. I was actually expecting Donna to go back and fish it out of the bin, but she didn't. 8-(
- so, will Donna's mother find the car keys?

It seems unlikely.

- I'm glad that Donna's grandfather knows where she's gone.
- "The Shadow Proclamation" appears to be a group of persons rather than a document. Hmmm. This is the second or third mention of "The Shadow Proclamation", the first being in "Rose", and I'm not sure if there was a mention by Rose in "The Christmas Invasion".

I seem not to have been paying enoough attention, as I can't recall having heard the expression even once.

- mysterious!vanishing!Rose is probably only going to turn up in episodes set on present-day Earth. So no Rose next week.

That seems logical.

- I wonder if they're going to bring up the Bad Wolf stuff in connection with Rose?

I wouldn't have thought so, but who knows?

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I didn't see this as making fun of fat people. In fact, this was about fat people being abused and the Doctor putting a stop to it.

My only problem with that is that until the Doctor and Donna started interfering, all the people taking Adipose were actually benefiting. The way I read it, the killing of that first woman and the attempted killing of the million people taking the pills were prompted by the adipose people being found out before they'd finished. I'm left with the nagging feeling that if the Doctor and Donna had left them alone, they would have just made adipose babies from all the available fat and left. After all, that way there'd be no complaints (hell, I certainly wouldn't mind birthing about twenty of those babies myself) and much less of a chance of criminal charges. But maybe I'm wrong and the Doctor knew what he was doing.

[kerravonsen]

Well, it's part of the pattern of unintended consequences that they've pointed out before in New Who, especially in "Dalek" and "Human Nature/Family of Blood"; that the Doctor causes mayhem simply by being there. The problem is, you couldn't expect the Doctor not to investigate, because he would want to find out what was going on, and it's only in hindsight, after he found out that there was sufficient information to know that the Adipose was essentially harmless.

And it was actually Donna who triggered the escalation by fiddling with the pendant, and how was she to know that that was going to happen?

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

You're right, they couldn't know. But I still think a lot of the people they saved were wishing they could've held off doing this saving bit just a little while longer :-D.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping that somewhere in a future episode they'll find a perfectly plausible and perfectly silly use for the hats that Donna brought along.

[kerravonsen]

Meanwhile, I'm hoping that somewhere in a future episode they'll find a perfectly plausible and perfectly silly use for the hats that Donna brought along.

And if they don't, there's sure to be some fan fiction about it... 8-)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Much as I dislike RTD, I'm not sure that the portrayal of the science reporter is racist. She was probably not even written as black; quite a lot of casting these days is colour-blind unless they're matching family members.

Actually, Jackie turned into a rounded character I cared about, but of course that may have been due to other writers.

I didn't notice that the grandfather was the newspaper seller. I wonder if that was deliberate? I hope we see him again because he was wonderful.

I wondered why the Doctor threw the sonic pen away. You'd think he'd keep it as a spare, and besides, it's a very dangerous thing to throw away. I wonder if they'll come back to that with someone misusing it.

i thought Rose looked sad too. I'm assuming she's somehow getting through from the other universe, and she seemed to be really there for a while as Donna saw her, and she was leaning on the barrier. I'll have to look again. I was at first annoyed to see her, then intrigued when she faded away.

Yes, there were things I didn't like (fat people as comedy targets once again being the main one) but I enjoyed the episode and I do like Donna very much. I look forward to more of her not taking crap. ;-)

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

I think calling the portrayal of the science reporter racist is a bit much. The way I saw it, the role, as written, could easily have been played by someone white and male. However, there is always a strong female character in each episode other than the Doctor's assistant, and without her, this episode would lack one. So I figured this was the reason behind making the character female. Making her non-white may have been coincidental, but I my feeling is that it was to "add colour" to a cast that would otherwise be very white, especially with the doctor's assistant going from black to white. Perhaps there was an awareness that allocating a low-status job like journalism to a non-white person could be seen as racist, so they made her a "science reporter" to make her sound smarter.

Of course, this could all be another one of those explanations that make more sense than what actually happened.