Watching "Dr Who" as an American...or seeing yourself from the outside
One fun thing about Dr. Who is you get to hear American-jokes, like this one:
The Doctor: ....I just walked into the highest security office in the United States, parked a big blue box on the rug. You think you can just shoot me?
River stepping out of the TARDIS: They're Americans!
But one more serious thing I've noticed--and it's subtle--is that race seems less important on "Dr. Who" than on comparable American shows that I've watched. At some point while watching Dr. Who, I realized I'm used to characters being black for a reason. The reason might be subtle, or minor, but it's there. If not for plot or character reason, then some sort of deliberate attempt to maintain racial diversity in characters.
I think this first occurred to me watching "Vampires of Venice", in which a couple of the main episode characters are black for no apparent reason. And when I thought about it, I don't get the feeling that the casting call for Mickey said "black" in it. Donna's husband--a throw-away character--is black, again for no discernible reason. It's possible that what race means for a character in the UK is different enough that I just don't get it, though. There is some stuff I know I don't get (eg, "Scottish girl in an English village" doesn't have any resonance with me--I can make guesses, and they might even be right, but that's not the same).
The Doctor: ....I just walked into the highest security office in the United States, parked a big blue box on the rug. You think you can just shoot me?
River stepping out of the TARDIS: They're Americans!
But one more serious thing I've noticed--and it's subtle--is that race seems less important on "Dr. Who" than on comparable American shows that I've watched. At some point while watching Dr. Who, I realized I'm used to characters being black for a reason. The reason might be subtle, or minor, but it's there. If not for plot or character reason, then some sort of deliberate attempt to maintain racial diversity in characters.
I think this first occurred to me watching "Vampires of Venice", in which a couple of the main episode characters are black for no apparent reason. And when I thought about it, I don't get the feeling that the casting call for Mickey said "black" in it. Donna's husband--a throw-away character--is black, again for no discernible reason. It's possible that what race means for a character in the UK is different enough that I just don't get it, though. There is some stuff I know I don't get (eg, "Scottish girl in an English village" doesn't have any resonance with me--I can make guesses, and they might even be right, but that's not the same).