Rosa.
I'm afraid I didn't really like "Rosa", the Doctor Who episode that everyone else liked.
Sorry.
I mean, obviously I didn't - look at me: The High Gammon of Gallifray. I was determined not to like it because I'm a racist nerd who hates women. That's what I'm all about, all the time, and that could be the only reason for not enjoying this episode of Doctor Who, because it was brave and noble and hit racism squarely over the head instead of hiding behind quisling ideas like irony and metaphor and subtlety.
There was some subtlety here: Jodie Whittaker's performance was so subtle I forgot she was there. I wondered if her wearing a perception filter might be some sort of plot point but no, she just had nothing to do. She landed without agency in Montgomery Alabama, squared up to an impotent villain even less memorable than she was, and then sat grimacing on a bus. There were occasional stray Doctor Whoisms: pretending to be Banksy, claiming to have lent a phone to Elvis, but it was as though she had just remembered the sort of thing the Doctor used to say and was burping up a pale facsimile of it to remind people that this was still the same guy.
This is the third week where nothing has happened. When you're hearkening back to the first episode where the Doctor jumped off a crane as a treasured memory you know you're in trouble. Do you remember when she jumped off a crane? It didn't seem like much at the time but cling to it. It may be all we ever have - last week she was attacked by flying jay cloths.
Cards on the table: I really wanted a female doctor. I always thought it would be great. The Doctor blithely slides through time, accepted wherever he or she goes: the Cybermen or Daleks or Silurians, presumably aren't bothered about gender: its just the Doctor. Gender shouldn't be an issue in outer space. Even on earth a doctor is not issued with a penis on graduation: its not necessary for the job. The Doctor can and should be female or black or anything. It is, to coin a phrase, about time.
I look on in bemused horror at the bottom third of the internet where the spit-speckled keyboards of Ian Levine's Legion of the Unshriven are in uproar. Brainless mouth-farts about Social Justice Warriors abound. They want back their Doctor, by which they mean a man, presumably any man. They tend to be the same people who think that James Bond can't be black because (public answer) James Bond isn't black in the books (private answer: why are black people getting in everywhere, destroying the safe and predictable continuum of my life?). Well, I hate those guys. They're boring squares who can't accept that things change, that things move on and they may leave you behind. And that's fine. I'm not like this. Which is why I think I'm letting go. Not because the Doctor is a woman but because Dr Who is not very good.
It's three episodes in, I know. And there have been plenty of dud episodes in the past. Oh God, yes. But I never thought that the people making it were trying to make dull, workmanlike, ordinary television. I feel that now.
You cannot deny the power of the story presented in "Rosa". You cannot deny the visceral shock of that slap in Ryan's face, of the ugly language and disgusting attitudes of these small-town mid-century Americans. Its incredibly emotive. And if I had children I'm sure I would have to answer a lot of questions about it, because it does not sugar-coat its message. It puts a lurching feeling in the pit of the stomach and you feel gratitude to Rosa Parks for intervening on behalf of the Doctor and managing the situation. Wait. Rosa steps in and the Doctor contributes nothing? With a brain the size of a planet and an interplanetary sophistication that has seen her sweet talk her way out of endless crises where the fate of the universe hangs in the balance? But she can't handle herself in Alabama. The week before she had been on a planet that had been specifically designed to destroy you at every turn - Australia presumably - but she had been in no obvious peril throughout: the sea is corrosive? Get in a boat. The air's poisonous? Its not too bad. Watch out for the generic robots and the expositional bits of cloth (if The Timeless One doesn't turn out to be a stranded Susan, ready for revenge a la Khan, I'll be...quite disappointed. That would be great, if a bit too Moffat). But here genuine menace comes from a couple of good ol' boys and Krasko, who looks like a Strictly contestant kitted out for a rock 'n' roll jive.
The ironic twist at the end (SPOILERS) where in order to maintain historical equilibrium and kick-start the Civil Rights Movement the Doctor and her companions must conspicuously do nothing is actually a great idea. Or it would have been had it not followed two previous episodes where the Doctor had done precisely bugger all as well. Being ineffectual in the face of danger appears to be her defining characteristic.
Its not for me.
It's not for me.
Its a children's programme, John - why do you give a shit? Geoffrey from Rainbow died a couple of weeks back. Why don't you go and mourn him, you Findus Crispy Pancake loving, Z X Spectrum playing 70's apologist?
Well, no. Since it returned in 2005 Doctor Who has never been for children. Its status as a children's programme has been a Trojan horse for sticking a lot of very peculiar ideas under the noses of the baked bean eating public. Russell T's iteration was a Sci-fi soap opera juggling gender fluidity, Davros and a gossip over the Garibaldis. Moffat's reign was as convoluted, stringy and strange as those webs made by spiders on LSD. An episode like "Heaven Sent": a weird fairy-tale meditating on mortality and grief and set in an Escher-like castle, itself set in a disc in the Doctor's pocket, is unlike anything else. A genuine surrealist parable, a tea-time nightmare. There was nothing for children in it at all.
And if anyone thinks that Mark Gatiss ever wrote an episode of Doctor Who gleefully and greedily for anyone other than Mark Gatiss...Again, there is nothing for children in "Sleep No More". Arguably its appeal doesn't extend far beyond Mark Gatiss...
That was the programme's problem for a lot of people. It was fucking weird. That's why Chibnall's brand-spanking new era has been trumpeted as a year zero run. He's killing all the canon: all the long-standing baddies, the Time Lords, the Time War, the doctor's PTSD. Gone. He's gone back to Sydney Newman's original ethos: he's here to inform, to educate, to entertain. He's here to make it a children's programme. Capaldi's haunted, damaged, RECOVERING Doctor has no place in this universe (his tenure has been unceremoniously toe-punted into the dumper and held up as an example of everything to be avoided).
The new series looks amazing, gets some extraordinary performances from its actors (Vinette Robinson this week, Bradley Walsh always) but it seems to be have been written by Ollie Plimsoles. An awful lot of effort went into the making of this last episode: the costumes, the sets, even the time-table for the Montgomery Bus Service is apparently correct - which is a frankly extraordinary level of detail. So its a pity the writing was so desperately, thumpingly on the nose.
But then, finally, its really not for me.
I still think Jodie could be great. She's a fantastic actor. We need to spend some time with her, learn about her Doctor. She hasn't had a moment to herself since she showed up. A bit of me-time. Let those quirks shine through. Just give her something to do. Show her some respect, Chibnall. I'll probably keep watching just to see if she gets a chance to do something amazing. She could. But she's barely been in this thing so far.
Sorry.
I mean, obviously I didn't - look at me: The High Gammon of Gallifray. I was determined not to like it because I'm a racist nerd who hates women. That's what I'm all about, all the time, and that could be the only reason for not enjoying this episode of Doctor Who, because it was brave and noble and hit racism squarely over the head instead of hiding behind quisling ideas like irony and metaphor and subtlety.
There was some subtlety here: Jodie Whittaker's performance was so subtle I forgot she was there. I wondered if her wearing a perception filter might be some sort of plot point but no, she just had nothing to do. She landed without agency in Montgomery Alabama, squared up to an impotent villain even less memorable than she was, and then sat grimacing on a bus. There were occasional stray Doctor Whoisms: pretending to be Banksy, claiming to have lent a phone to Elvis, but it was as though she had just remembered the sort of thing the Doctor used to say and was burping up a pale facsimile of it to remind people that this was still the same guy.
This is the third week where nothing has happened. When you're hearkening back to the first episode where the Doctor jumped off a crane as a treasured memory you know you're in trouble. Do you remember when she jumped off a crane? It didn't seem like much at the time but cling to it. It may be all we ever have - last week she was attacked by flying jay cloths.
Cards on the table: I really wanted a female doctor. I always thought it would be great. The Doctor blithely slides through time, accepted wherever he or she goes: the Cybermen or Daleks or Silurians, presumably aren't bothered about gender: its just the Doctor. Gender shouldn't be an issue in outer space. Even on earth a doctor is not issued with a penis on graduation: its not necessary for the job. The Doctor can and should be female or black or anything. It is, to coin a phrase, about time.
I look on in bemused horror at the bottom third of the internet where the spit-speckled keyboards of Ian Levine's Legion of the Unshriven are in uproar. Brainless mouth-farts about Social Justice Warriors abound. They want back their Doctor, by which they mean a man, presumably any man. They tend to be the same people who think that James Bond can't be black because (public answer) James Bond isn't black in the books (private answer: why are black people getting in everywhere, destroying the safe and predictable continuum of my life?). Well, I hate those guys. They're boring squares who can't accept that things change, that things move on and they may leave you behind. And that's fine. I'm not like this. Which is why I think I'm letting go. Not because the Doctor is a woman but because Dr Who is not very good.
It's three episodes in, I know. And there have been plenty of dud episodes in the past. Oh God, yes. But I never thought that the people making it were trying to make dull, workmanlike, ordinary television. I feel that now.
You cannot deny the power of the story presented in "Rosa". You cannot deny the visceral shock of that slap in Ryan's face, of the ugly language and disgusting attitudes of these small-town mid-century Americans. Its incredibly emotive. And if I had children I'm sure I would have to answer a lot of questions about it, because it does not sugar-coat its message. It puts a lurching feeling in the pit of the stomach and you feel gratitude to Rosa Parks for intervening on behalf of the Doctor and managing the situation. Wait. Rosa steps in and the Doctor contributes nothing? With a brain the size of a planet and an interplanetary sophistication that has seen her sweet talk her way out of endless crises where the fate of the universe hangs in the balance? But she can't handle herself in Alabama. The week before she had been on a planet that had been specifically designed to destroy you at every turn - Australia presumably - but she had been in no obvious peril throughout: the sea is corrosive? Get in a boat. The air's poisonous? Its not too bad. Watch out for the generic robots and the expositional bits of cloth (if The Timeless One doesn't turn out to be a stranded Susan, ready for revenge a la Khan, I'll be...quite disappointed. That would be great, if a bit too Moffat). But here genuine menace comes from a couple of good ol' boys and Krasko, who looks like a Strictly contestant kitted out for a rock 'n' roll jive.
The ironic twist at the end (SPOILERS) where in order to maintain historical equilibrium and kick-start the Civil Rights Movement the Doctor and her companions must conspicuously do nothing is actually a great idea. Or it would have been had it not followed two previous episodes where the Doctor had done precisely bugger all as well. Being ineffectual in the face of danger appears to be her defining characteristic.
Its not for me.
It's not for me.
Its a children's programme, John - why do you give a shit? Geoffrey from Rainbow died a couple of weeks back. Why don't you go and mourn him, you Findus Crispy Pancake loving, Z X Spectrum playing 70's apologist?
Well, no. Since it returned in 2005 Doctor Who has never been for children. Its status as a children's programme has been a Trojan horse for sticking a lot of very peculiar ideas under the noses of the baked bean eating public. Russell T's iteration was a Sci-fi soap opera juggling gender fluidity, Davros and a gossip over the Garibaldis. Moffat's reign was as convoluted, stringy and strange as those webs made by spiders on LSD. An episode like "Heaven Sent": a weird fairy-tale meditating on mortality and grief and set in an Escher-like castle, itself set in a disc in the Doctor's pocket, is unlike anything else. A genuine surrealist parable, a tea-time nightmare. There was nothing for children in it at all.
And if anyone thinks that Mark Gatiss ever wrote an episode of Doctor Who gleefully and greedily for anyone other than Mark Gatiss...Again, there is nothing for children in "Sleep No More". Arguably its appeal doesn't extend far beyond Mark Gatiss...
That was the programme's problem for a lot of people. It was fucking weird. That's why Chibnall's brand-spanking new era has been trumpeted as a year zero run. He's killing all the canon: all the long-standing baddies, the Time Lords, the Time War, the doctor's PTSD. Gone. He's gone back to Sydney Newman's original ethos: he's here to inform, to educate, to entertain. He's here to make it a children's programme. Capaldi's haunted, damaged, RECOVERING Doctor has no place in this universe (his tenure has been unceremoniously toe-punted into the dumper and held up as an example of everything to be avoided).
The new series looks amazing, gets some extraordinary performances from its actors (Vinette Robinson this week, Bradley Walsh always) but it seems to be have been written by Ollie Plimsoles. An awful lot of effort went into the making of this last episode: the costumes, the sets, even the time-table for the Montgomery Bus Service is apparently correct - which is a frankly extraordinary level of detail. So its a pity the writing was so desperately, thumpingly on the nose.
But then, finally, its really not for me.
I still think Jodie could be great. She's a fantastic actor. We need to spend some time with her, learn about her Doctor. She hasn't had a moment to herself since she showed up. A bit of me-time. Let those quirks shine through. Just give her something to do. Show her some respect, Chibnall. I'll probably keep watching just to see if she gets a chance to do something amazing. She could. But she's barely been in this thing so far.
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