Doctor Who Fanvid Rec

[eanor]

I'm bringing you a rec for a pretty awesome Doctor Who fanvid. It combines Doctor Who with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, so two of my favourite things come together! :-D And the mash-up really works astonishingly well. I could watch it over and over again. ^^

[Spoilers for Series 3 Finale]Of course, if you like it, go and give the artist some nice comments

Comments

[goldvermilion87]

The vid is killing me. On the one hand DEREK JACOBI and DOCTOR HORRIBLE'S SINGALONG BLOG!!!!!

On the other hand, this may be the Nadir of Doctor Who, and I'm getting all these horrible memories of watching this season...

[eanor]

You really didn't like this season, then? I've just finished season 3 and while I don't think it can compare to the recent Moffat seasons (of which I've only ever seen 5 anyway), I didn't hate it. There were several subpar episodes, but others I really enjoyed. Particularly, I thought Martha was a pretty strong character (well apart from her pining for the Doctor all the time). What was it you didn't like about this season? (Oh, and please no heavy spoilers for seasons other than 1-3 and 5. I don't mind minor spoilers since I can't escape them anyway...)

[goldvermilion87]

Here's my thing -- you say "Martha was a pretty strong character (well apart from her pining for the Doctor all the time)". I think she's awful. We have this thing in our culture where writers are required to write "strong" women so as not to be misogynists (And strong is reduced to "doesn't need a man"). And at the same time they are required to write sappy soapy romance. Put these two things together and you get in the best scenario a character that feels false and in the worst a freakish centaur -- half Juliet half Susan B. Anthony. Martha is the epitome of that so basically I just wanted to smack her most of the time. Donna next season is a _much_ better character, though unfortunately the writing becomes even worse

[eanor]

Okay, finally found some time to reply to you because I really want to discuss your views on Martha. In general I share your opinion that writers always seem to be torn between writing independent female characters and somehow tucking them into cheesy romances all the same. (Side note: But then, isn't that the same problem people struggle with in real life, too??) I didn't see how Martha was a particularly problematic character regarding that problem, though. I'm thinking maybe you disliked me using the term "strong" for her since obviously that's intrinsically connected to the "writing female characters problem" you describe? If that's the case, let me find other adjectives to describe why I liked Martha

[goldvermilion87]

I guess the "doesn't need a man" is the etiology rather than what happens plain and simple. It's why I think Martha does turn into a pining love interest which is so inconsistent with what happened at first.

But I think our disagreement is on a fairly foundational level -- I don't believe you can separate the character from the writers, because the character is what the writers write, plain and simple. I think we agree that Martha was a character with potential and that the writers didn't in any way meet that potential. To me that makes Martha a bad character. It's not her _fault_ that her character changes from a promising one to something utterly inconsistent with her in the first episode, because she's a fictional character. But it's how she was written, and she is what is written.

That's just one example of why I don't like Seasons 2-4, though. They don't finish off storylines or characters well, and I find it irritating. RTD's tenure was mostly good beginnings ending poorly, and Martha is just one more casualty, in my

[goldvermilion87]

In all honesty, I'd never have gone past season 3 except that

1. I was in a really bad place personally speaking at the time, and I was watching TV for hours on end even though I hated it.

2. There was the occasional gem

and

3. labourslamp promised me that it'd be worth it when I got to Series 5. Which it totally was. :-D