Children and their Fathers: A Doctor Who theory post before the season finale

[mhalachaiswords]

I'm delurking here today to talk about the anvils Moffat has been lobbing at us all season. Namely, Dads.

Cut for spoilers for all the episodes that have aired up until now in season 6 of Doctor Who. No spoilers for next week - let's keep it that way!

Comments

[danel4d]

You missed the Ganger who ended up becoming the father of his son after his original died ;-)

But yeah, it definitely seems to be a theme in this series.

[mhalachaiswords]

I think I missed that ep. So basically yeah, one more father anvil lobbed at us :P

[ccmom]

I've missed most of the second half of this season, but did manage to catch parts of closing time and I'll have to agree with you. Father's are definitely the big hitters this season. I've got high hopes for Rory. *crosses fingers*

[jujuberry136]

Stormaggedon was awesome, I loved his conversations with the Doctor.

Don't forget the Ganger!Father - yet another anvil about doing anything for your child. So clearly Rory needs his time as Awesome Dad, if only to make sure that final anvil gets used.

Gah, the Doctor as the father whose children are dead always makes me sniffle. He's gotten so *good* at avoiding the whole "I was a father, grandfather but then the Time War happened and I killed them all" thing - look at the difference between 9 and 11. *sniff*

[devohoneybee]

I hope you are right and this is intentional and leading somewhere, rather than a serious blind spot about mothers and the agency of women. RTD's characters had mothers, but they were often seen as annoyances and impediments(Jackie, Martha's mom) and only grudgingly as a source of strength. In this season, I have so adored River as a character who seems the Doctor's equal, and who is "Dr." River Song in her own right... only to have that autonomy and equality undercut by her whole life seeming to revolve around him -- even to being the reason she got her degree.

Have to say, though, that Stormaggedon is AWESOME, and Matt Smith's baby chemistry was too adorable for words. Is he unique among Doctors in speaking Baby, I wonder?

As for Rory having a big moment approaching: yes, PLEASE.

[ffutures]

And of course the Doctor is an absentee father - his daughter is somewhere out there, having adventures and probably applying for child support...

Good theory anyway.

[mhalachaiswords]

But doesn't the Doctor think Jenny died? IIRC, she only started to regenerate after he TARDIS'd off....

[sonic_guile]

That's how I remember it.