David Tennant's Bum
Er, I guess I need to get back to that Doctor Who meme I started. This last week or so, I've been very scattered. Guess I'll try to get to it before bed.
Anyway, speaking of Doctor Who, I received my copy of Chicks Unravel Time in the mail today (along with some tins of sardines and a set of Susanne Somer's Thighmaster and Buttmaster -- don't judge me!). I'm hoping to dig into it more in the coming days (or even when I'm at frolicon next weekend), but so far I started to read the essay entitled 'David Tennant's Bum'.
The subject -- at least in the title -- is something I'm rather fond of and though I'm shirking the tone set up by the publishers by not reading it from the beginning (they purposely chose the order of the essays), I thought it would be a fun starting point.
Well, maybe not.
I'm finding myself twitching with all of the accolades being heaped on the Tenth Doctor in the essay. I mean, overall I do like him as a Doctor, but to praise him for things like how he doesn't balk at or belittle intelligence in others (*cough*Martha*cough*) makes me side-eye it a bit. In fact, it's an essay that is only a few pages long, though its taken me hours to read it through (I'm still not done), because I have to sit the book down and Be Annoyed for a few minutes about how, no, actually the Tenth Doctor let me down as a fan in many ways and while I'm a huge-huge-huge fan of Tennant himself, I really do think that the writing failed his character in the Tenth Doctor and how Ten, at the end of the day, was really quite an ass*. Yes, he had his good moments, and honestly I try to edit the bad ones out in my head, but now that I'm in the era of a much nicer, much more accepting Doctor in Eleven, Ten's shortcomings are all the more glaring to me.
Back when I watched his tenure the first time around, I (mostly) ignored some of his issues, hoping that he would learn from them eventually, that he would grow past the incessant emo man!pain (though admittedly Tennant is ever-so-pretty when he angsts, even if it was a bit overdone) and ill-treatment of most everyone who was not!Rose. That somehow he would be My Doctor again. And in my head!canon he did become that (in the realm of fan fiction fix-it fics, of course), but ultimately it is profoundly sad for me that I never saw that resolution on-screen, that he went out in the end even worse than he ever was (he was frankly dead to me after the ranting at Wilf during his childish tantrum and I just chose to believe the bizarre events of 'The End of Time' were just some sort of fever dream of his). And even the utter glory of David Tennant's bum -- as perfectly shaped as it is -- can't fix that.
* Yes, yes. I know the Doctor has always been a bit of an ass, sometimes in more instances and incarnations than others, but I hate how the show tries to tell me that the Tenth Doctor isn't one, when he clearly is. For example, I watched 'Smith and Jones' again the other night (arguably one of my all-time favorite episodes) and I hate the moment where he rudely dismisses the other medical student with Martha when the hospital is now on the Moon. 'Not her, she'd hold us up' is not something My Doctor would say. I'm so happy for the return of 'You know in 900 years of time and space, I've never met anyone who wasn't important before.' That's my Doctor speaking.
Anyway, speaking of Doctor Who, I received my copy of Chicks Unravel Time in the mail today (along with some tins of sardines and a set of Susanne Somer's Thighmaster and Buttmaster -- don't judge me!). I'm hoping to dig into it more in the coming days (or even when I'm at frolicon next weekend), but so far I started to read the essay entitled 'David Tennant's Bum'.
The subject -- at least in the title -- is something I'm rather fond of and though I'm shirking the tone set up by the publishers by not reading it from the beginning (they purposely chose the order of the essays), I thought it would be a fun starting point.
Well, maybe not.
I'm finding myself twitching with all of the accolades being heaped on the Tenth Doctor in the essay. I mean, overall I do like him as a Doctor, but to praise him for things like how he doesn't balk at or belittle intelligence in others (*cough*Martha*cough*) makes me side-eye it a bit. In fact, it's an essay that is only a few pages long, though its taken me hours to read it through (I'm still not done), because I have to sit the book down and Be Annoyed for a few minutes about how, no, actually the Tenth Doctor let me down as a fan in many ways and while I'm a huge-huge-huge fan of Tennant himself, I really do think that the writing failed his character in the Tenth Doctor and how Ten, at the end of the day, was really quite an ass*. Yes, he had his good moments, and honestly I try to edit the bad ones out in my head, but now that I'm in the era of a much nicer, much more accepting Doctor in Eleven, Ten's shortcomings are all the more glaring to me.
Back when I watched his tenure the first time around, I (mostly) ignored some of his issues, hoping that he would learn from them eventually, that he would grow past the incessant emo man!pain (though admittedly Tennant is ever-so-pretty when he angsts, even if it was a bit overdone) and ill-treatment of most everyone who was not!Rose. That somehow he would be My Doctor again. And in my head!canon he did become that (in the realm of fan fiction fix-it fics, of course), but ultimately it is profoundly sad for me that I never saw that resolution on-screen, that he went out in the end even worse than he ever was (he was frankly dead to me after the ranting at Wilf during his childish tantrum and I just chose to believe the bizarre events of 'The End of Time' were just some sort of fever dream of his). And even the utter glory of David Tennant's bum -- as perfectly shaped as it is -- can't fix that.
* Yes, yes. I know the Doctor has always been a bit of an ass, sometimes in more instances and incarnations than others, but I hate how the show tries to tell me that the Tenth Doctor isn't one, when he clearly is. For example, I watched 'Smith and Jones' again the other night (arguably one of my all-time favorite episodes) and I hate the moment where he rudely dismisses the other medical student with Martha when the hospital is now on the Moon. 'Not her, she'd hold us up' is not something My Doctor would say. I'm so happy for the return of 'You know in 900 years of time and space, I've never met anyone who wasn't important before.' That's my Doctor speaking.