Sherlock: 1x02 "The Blind Banker"

SHERLOCK REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE TWO: “THE BLIND BANKER”

Sherlock: 1x02: “The Blind Banker” by Steven Moffat

The Summary: (In brief)

Sherlock is called in by an old acquaintance to look into the disappearance of a banker.  It turns out the banker is dead and not just dead but murdered!  More people die under the same unusual circumstances – killed in a way that looks like a suicide with all doors locked from the inside and up too high from the ground to have had someone climb to a window.  Sherlock figures out that it must be a Chinese murderous acrobat who is killing smugglers for a Chinese gang who might have stolen from the gang.  Sherlock tracks down Soo Lin, a smuggler turned ancient Chinese pottery expert, who dies before she can tell Sherlock anything but a few cryptic clues, which Sherlock puts together just in time to save John and his date from being killed by the leader of the gang – General Shan (who apparently answers to Moriarty).

The Women:

Soo Lin, Molly Hooper, Mrs. Hudson, Sarah, General Shan

The Conversations:

None.

Bonuses:

I am loathe to do this with the episodes's rampant sexism, but I didn't make exceptions in the rules...

Modified Bechdel Test 1:

1. Are there two or more PoC with names?  Shan, Soo Lin Yao, and Zhi Zhu

2. Do they speak to each other?  Yes, in the museum Soo Lin and her brother Zhi Zhu talk before Zhi Zhu murders Soo Lin.

3. Is their conversation about something other than a straight white cis-man (SWCM)?  Presumably.  Considering these are their first words to each other in years and their last ever, it is doubtful they are talking about a SWCM.

The Rating: 1.5

The Tally:

Episode 1x02 Total: 1.5

Series 1 Total: 1.5

Program Total: 1.5

Doctor Who: 2x07 "The Idiot's Lantern"

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES TWO, EPISODE SEVEN: “THE IDIOT’S LANTERN”

The old wives’ tale that television turns your brains to mush seems to be more than true in 1953, London.

Doctor Who: 1x07: “The Idiot’s Lantern” Written by Mark Gatiss

The Summary: (In Brief)

The Doctor plans to bring Rose to New York City to watch Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show.  Naturally, they land in London just in time for the coronation of Elizabeth II.  There, they discover that people are being taken out of their homes by the police with bags over their heads, and no one in the neighborhood will talk about it.  Rose notices that everyone in the neighborhood has a television satellite on their roofs despite televisions not being a common household item yet; this will naturally lead to the solution of the mystery later in the episode.  The Doctor and Rose lie their way into the Connolly house, where they pick on the misogynist pig/abusive husband Mr. Connolly and learn that people’s faces have been stolen somehow, including Rita’s mother.  Before the Doctor can figure out what’s happened to Gran, the police come and take her away.  The Doctor runs after the police and Rose stays behind to investigate the television.  While the Doctor questions the police, Rose goes to question the television salesman, who is working for an incorporeal alien called The Wire, which steals Rose’s face.  The Doctor gets more than a little angry when he finds out Rose has been victimized and with Timmy Connolly’s help, they stop The Wire just in time for the coronation.  Rita Connolly kicks her husband out of the house, which was her family’s not his, and all is well in 1953.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Rita Connolly, “Gran,” Aunt Betty

The Conversations:

Mrs. Connolly and Rose participate in conversations together, but it is largely directed by the Doctor and Mr. Connolly.

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

Awesome quotes in this episode but none said woman to woman.

The Tally:

Episode 2x07 Total: 0

Series 2 Total: 4

10^th Doctor Total: 4

Rose as Companion Total: 20.5

Russell T Davis Era Total: 20.5

Doctor Who: 2x05 "Rise of the Cybermen" & 2x06 "Age of Steel"

If you missed Tuesday's announcement, check it out here.

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES TWO, EPISODE FIVE: “RISE OF THE CYBERMEN”

The Cybermen are back… and so is Pete Tyler.  Oh my!

Doctor Who: 1x05: “Rise of the Cybermen” Written by Tom MacRae

The Summary: (In Brief)

The TARDIS, containing the Doctor, Rose and Mickey, falls through a crack in time, and the group ends up in an alternate universe London, where Pete Tyler and Mickey’s grandmother never died.  The Tylers are rich, but without Rose (as a human at least), and Mickey’s alternate universe version is a wanted criminal and leader of a group called the Preachers, who believe the population’s reliance on technology has endangered them all.  This is a legitimate fear as Lumic, who apparently owns everything, has created the Cybermen, an old-school Doctor Who villain.  While Mickey’s getting mixed up with the Preachers, Rose and the Doctor crash the Jackie 2.0’s birthday party, which is promptly attacked by the Cybermen.  With the Preacher’s (alt-Mickey!Rickey, Jake Simmonds, and Mrs. Moore) help, Mickey, Rose, the Doctor and Pete Tyler escape the house – Jackie 2.0 is trapped – but quickly become surrounded by the Cybermen.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler 2.0, Mrs Moore/Angela Price, Gran (?)

The Conversations:

1. Jackie 2.0 and Rose:  The rating: 0.5

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

“You’re the help.” – Jackie Tyler 2.0 to Rose Tyler

Completely thrilled by the fact that both her parents are alive, Rose thinks the universe they’ve landed in is by far a better universe than her own, until Jackie says this to her, revealing that though both Jackies take their tea in the same fashion, they are not the same woman at all.

The Tally:

Episode 2x05 Total: 0.5

Series 2 Total: 4

10^th Doctor Total: 4

Rose as Companion Total: 20.5

Russell T Davis Era Total: 20.5

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES TWO, EPISODE SIX: “AGE OF STEEL”

The Cybermen are back… and so is Pete Tyler.  Oh my!

Doctor Who: 1x06: “Age of Steel” Written by Tom MacRae

The Summary: (In Brief)

Picking up where we left off in “Rise of the Cybermen,” the Doctor, Rose, Mickey and their new team of ragtag heroes are surrounded by Cybermen; the Doctor tries to convince the Cybermen to allow them to surrender, but the Cybermen decide to “delete” the group anyway.  Obviously, they can’t all die, so they manage to escape.  Jackie 2.0 doesn’t and is brought to Cybus Industries’ warehouse to be assimilated.  While running away, Pete Tyler reveals he’s been feeding the Preachers information for months; they split up to get away from the Cybermen, and since “splitting up” is synonymous with “this is how people die,” Rickey, Mickey’s universe double, is killed by a Cyberman.  The gang reconvenes and Jake is rather pissed that Rickey died and Mickey lived.  They quickly split up again to break into the warehouse via three directions.  Rose goes with Pete to try saving Jackie; the Doctor and Mrs. Moore go into the tunnels beneath the warehouse, and Jake and Mickey go to the roof/zeppelin-on-the-roof to stop the signal to the earbuds controlling the people of London to give themselves to the Cybermen for assimilation.  Again, they split up so this time it’s Mrs. Moore (real name: Angela Price) who dies.  Rose and Pete are captured by the Cyberman created from Jackie; the Doctor is also captured.  It’s up to Mickey and Jake to save everyone, which they do.  Rose and the Doctor head off in the TARDIS for their own universe, but Mickey chooses to stay and help Jake destroy the other Cybermen factories around the world.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler 2.0, Mrs Moore/Angela Price

The Conversations:

Rose and Mrs. Moore participate in the same conversations, but they never speak together alone.

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

Nope.

The Tally:

Episode 2x06 Total: 0

Series 2 Total: 4

10^th Doctor Total: 4

Rose as Companion Total: 20.5

Russell T Davis Era Total: 20.5

Announcement: A New Hope

Thank you to everyone who has been patiently waiting for the next update.  Here's the new schedule for the next month, starting on Friday:

Fri 8/9: Doctor Who Episodes 2x05, 2x06, 2x07
Sun 8/11: Sherlock Episodes 1x02, 1x03, 2x01
Tues 8/13: Doctor Who Episodes 2x08, 2x09, 2x10, 2x11
Fri 8/16: Doctor Who Episodes 2x12, 2x13, 3x00, 3x01, 3x02
Sun 8/18: Doctor Who Episodes 3x03, 3x04, 3x05, 3x06 / Sherlock Episodes 2x02, 2x03
Tues 8/20: Doctor Who Episodes 3x07, 3x08, 3x09

In order to get these done, I won't be posting any "For Further Discussion" portions or season analyses until after I'm all caught up.  I will go back and edit the episode posts to include what I'm skipping, and I will post announcements when I do so.

Again, thank you all for your patience.

Announcement

Hi all,
First - you are all fantastic!  I really, truly mean that.
Second - My life right now is quite chaotic.  Due to working triple my usual hours at work and rehearsal for two plays, this blog has had to take the back seat.  I will still be posting but for the next month and a half, it's probably going to be rather sporadic.  When I do post anything, I will always put the link up on my tumblr and you can follow by email to be sure you don't miss anything, but the every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday posting just isn't going to work until I get my life back in order.
Hugs and Hearts,
Farrell

Doctor Who: 2x04 "The Girl in the Fireplace

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES TWO, EPISODE FOUR: “THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE”

18^th Century France is on a space ship.  And a horse.  But continuity isn’t.

Doctor Who: 1x04: “The Girl in the Fireplace” Written by Steven Moffat

The Summary:

We open on a bunch of terrified 18^th century French aristocrats and a woman telling her lover that she has some kind of guardian angel who will come save them; she the calls for her protector by yelling into a fireplace and calls him “Doctor.”  Cue the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey landing on a desolate spaceship about 3000 years in the future.  All the crew is gone and the place is a wreck but Mickey is in awe as this is his first time out.  The Doctor discovers that the ship is generating enough energy to punch a hole through the universe and lo and behold – an 18^th century French fireplace on the hull of the ship with a little girl on the other side.  Her name is Reinette and she and the Doctor chats for a moment; the Doctor is puzzled as to why this spacio-temporal hyperlink (aka magic door) is in an abandoned, broken down spaceship.  He manages to get to the other side of the fireplace where he discovers Reinette has lived several months in just a few seconds for him.  A man-sized clockwork robot has been scanning Reinette’s mind and it* attacks the Doctor, who drags it back to the space ship and freezes it with a fire extinguisher that Mickey mistakes for an “ice gun.”  The Doctor tells Rose and Mickey not to wander off after the clockwork robot while he checks on Reinette to make sure she’s all right.  Rose and Mickey immediately wander off, and the Doctor discovers that not only has Reinette grown into a young woman, she’s also the future mistress of King Louis XV.  Reinette calls him her imaginary friend and snogs him thus establishing her in retrospect as the proto-Amelia Pond.  While Mickey (being very Captain Kirk-esque) and Rose are wandering around the ship they notice machinery has been replaced with human parts like eyeballs for cameras and hearts for some kind of wiring juncture.  The Doctor comes back and finds a horse while looking for Rose and Mickey, who have found a mirror that looks into Reinette’s first meeting with Louis.  Rose takes this moment to establish a sort of analogy between Reinette’s relationship with the king and the queen and her relationship with the Doctor and Rose.  A clockwork robot is there to, so the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey run in to save her.  Then, they discover the what and why(ish) of the robots’ interest in Reinette, and the Doctor realizes (sort of taking Rose’s role in their adventures) that the reasons the machinery is human organs and there are no crew members are one and the same.  He orders Rose and Mickey back onto the ship while he looks into Reinette’s mind to figure out what the robots want; she proves her intelligence by using the link to go into the Doctor’s mind.  Rose and Mickey are captured and tied up by the robots while the Doctor “dances” with Reinette, ostensibly to make the king jealous.  The Doctor shows up on the ship just as Rose is trying to talk the robot out of hurting her by threatening it with the Doctor.  He pretends to be drunk but uses this to obfuscate his plan to immobilize the robots with some sort of anti-lubricant, which works for about point-five seconds until a robot not affected sends a signal that the right magic door has been found.  While the Doctor searches for the door, he sends Rose to warn Reinette to expect the attack to happen once she’s thirty-seven.  They share a conversation about the world Rose comes from and the Doctor and the monsters, which Mickey interrupts to get Rose since the Doctor’s found the right door.  Reinette follows Rose onto the ship, and upon hearing her own screams from her future, she shows how clever she is by recognizing she must go back to Versailles in order to live in that moment.  Then cut to the Reinette in the first scene calling for the Doctor but being captured by the robots and being brought to the ballroom, since they need to be close to the magic door in order to teleport.  Despite being terrified out of her mind (presumably), Reinette calms the entire court and beautifully threatens the robots.  The Doctor can’t shut down the magic doors because the robots are there, so the only thing to do is break the door by riding a horse through it.  He saves Reinette and the court, but at the expense of being able to get back to the space ship, which he is uncharacteristically fine with.  But Reinette shows him to the fireplace she’d had moved from her Parisian home, since it wasn’t damaged, she assumes the link might still be there.  The Doctor fixes the fireplace door and goes back to the spaceship, promising Reinette that he’ll take her to see the stars.  He checks in on Rose and Mickey then runs to collect Reinette, but it’s too late, she has died at the age of 43 by the time he gets back.  The Doctor returns to Rose and Mickey and they take off in the TARDIS, the Doctor alone in the console room.  This is the third instance of foreshadowing Rose’s life without the Doctor and the prototype for the Eleventh Doctor’s first episode.

*So normally is there isn’t a gender specified, I try to use the gender neutral pronouns (xie and its associates) rather than “it,” which I consider offensive to sentient beings.  I don’t know how much I support my own use of “it” in terms of the clockwork robots, but the reasoning behind it is this: it is made very clear that the robots are computers with arms (and the other kind of arms) programed to solve problems for the ship; they don’t seem to have true (artificial) intelligence such as for example C-3PO and R2-D2 who go beyond their programming in Star Wars; this makes the clockwork robots more like objects than beings.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Reinette/Madame de Pompadour, Katherine

The Conversations:

1. Reinette and Katherine:  Reinette and her friend Katherine (a woman of color aristocrat FTW!) discuss the failing health of the current mistress to King Louis XV and Reinette’s vying to fill the position.  The rating: 0

2. Rose and Reinette:  Rose warns Reinette that the clockwork people will come for her shortly after her thirty-seventh birthday.  Rose tries her best to explain about the spaceship and what’s happening to Reinette.  They also discuss the Doctor and how wonderful life is with him, despite the terror they have to deal with for him.  The rating: 1

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

“There is a vessel in your world where the days of my life are pressed together like the chapters of a book so that he may step from one to the other without increase of age, while I, weary traveler, must always take the slower path.”

“He was right about you.”

- Reinette Poisson/Madame de Pompadour and Rose Tyler

There’s a clear analogy drawn between Reinette as the mistress of both King Louis XV and the Doctor while both already have a queen – the Doctor’s being Rose.  But rather than creating jealous sniping, Rose and Reinette seem to respect each other and Rose tries to take care of Reinette, checking on her after she follows Rose and Mickey back onto the spaceship.

The Tally:

Episode 2x04 Total: 1

Series 2 Total: 3.5

10^th Doctor Total: 3.5

Rose as Companion Total: 20.0

Russell T Davis Era Total: 20.0

For Further Discussion: But Not Really

My main issue (in terms of women’s representation) with this episode is something I’m reserving for a later episode, either in series 5 or series 7.  But I’d still love to hear your thoughts on issues you see.

If you’re interested in my thoughts on issues not regarding how Reinette and Rose are presented, check out this post I made on Tumblr.

Sherlock: 1x01 "A Study in Pink"

SHERLOCK REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE ONE: “A STUDY IN PINK”

Necessary Note:  I’m sure most of the people reading this are familiar with the idea that fans must be the most critical of the works they love, but just in case, let me just say that I do enjoy Sherlock.  But this blog’s purpose is not to fangasm but critically analyze the representation of women in works I’m a fan of.  And… I think we all know where this is headed.

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson meet, decide to share a flat, and solve serial murders together all in the span of a couple days.

Sherlock: 1x01: “A Study in Pink” Written by Steven Moffat

The Summary:

In contemporary London, a bunch of people are killing themselves for no apparent reason and in the exact same way.  Meanwhile, Dr. John Watson has come back from war with a limp and no means of supporting himself.  His therapist wants him to write everything that happens to him in a blog as a means of readjusting to civilian life.  While walking through town, he meets an old friend from Barts (St. Bartholomew’s Hospital) who he tells of his need for a flat-share.  Said friend had just spoken to another friend looking for a flat-share, and so John is introduced to Sherlock Holmes who has been using the Barts morgue and labs as his own and has been completely ignoring the attempts at flirting from Molly Hooper, who he cruelly cuts down with commentary on her appearance.  Sherlock automatically deduces everything about John immediately (except the gender of his sibling) and decides they must become roommates at 221B Baker Street.  After knowing each other for approximately two seconds, Sherlock invites John to come with him to a crime scene and John accepts.  Sherlock’s a dick, but knows his shit and realizes the woman did not kill herself but was murdered due to the lack of a cellphone or suitcase (she had obviously been travelling).   After Sherlock runs off without John, he’s forced to walk home, but ends up getting a ride and a bribe attempt from Mycroft (who introduces himself only as Sherlock’s archenemy).  Meanwhile, Sherlock quickly finds the suitcase (but not the phone) and keeps it from the police.  Then, he gets John to send a text to the victim’s phone which the killer has; this is in order to lure the killer to a place which Sherlock determined, but why he thought the killer would appear there is not completely clear.  Sherlock and John then chase a cab across the whole city, thinking the passenger is the killer, by taking back streets to cut it off, again why Sherlock thought he knew where the cab was going is unclear – but hey! It’s Sherlock and he was right!  The passenger was not the killer, so Sherlock and John head back home only to find a warrant being executed on it.  Lestrade is using this drugs bust in order to bully Sherlock into being cooperative but this fails since Sherlock realizes the cabbie Mrs. Hudson says is downstairs for him is the real killer.  Sherlock goes with the cabbie to a school of some kind (something like a continuing education/community college in the US, right?) because the cabbie says that if Sherlock calls the police that he’ll never find out how the cabbie convinced a bunch of people to kill themselves.  The cabbie uses a gun to pressure Sherlock into “playing the game” which is guess which pill is the placebo and which is the poison.  Sherlock knows the gun is fake, but decides to play the game anyway in order to sate his ego.  Just as he is about to take the poison (or the placebo, who knows?), a wild John Watson appears!  John Watson uses perfect kill shot through two windows and across a courtyard!  It’s super effective!  Sherlock didn’t see the person who killed the killer, but as he is describing what the person must be like to Lestrade, he realizes it must be John and shuts up to protect him, retracting everything he had already said.  John and Sherlock ride off into the sunset together (note this last bit does not actually happen.  To the chagrin of Johnlock shippers everywhere).

The Women:

Molly Hooper, Mrs. Hudson, Sgt. Sally Donovan

            Dead Women with No Lines: Beth Davenport, Jennifer Wilson

The Conversations:

Two women aren’t even in the same scene together…

The Tally:

Episode 1x01 Total: 0

Series 1 Total: 0

Program Total: 0

For Further Discussion: Sherlock Interacts with Women: The Hecate Sisters

"The Hecate Sisters" is a trope that divides women into the Virgin, the Mother, and the Bitch (or Whore when married with the "Three Faces of Eve").

Sherlock Interacts with Molly Hooper (Virgin):  Despite how horrifically Sherlock treats Molly, she’s hopelessly infatuated with him.  She’s shy but she puts herself out there and he treats her like a maid.  (And before anyone tries to defend Sherlock’s actions as not understanding that she is attracted to him or flirting with him, let me remind you that he flirts with her the very next episode in order to manipulate her into doing something for him.)

Sherlock Interacts with Mrs. Hudson (Mother):  Mrs. Hudson is Sherlock’s (and John’s) landlady, and she’s very sweet to both of them, which is lovely in and of itself – she’s a lovely lady.  My problem isn't with the fact that she owes Sherlock a debt for his work on her murderous husband’s case; people are allowed to be thankful to other people, including women to men.  My problem is this scene that keeps happening:

Mrs. Hudson: “Not your housekeeper.”  *Proceeds to clean or cook or make tea for the “boys” because they’re not grown ass men who can do it themselves*

Sherlock Interacts with Sgt. Sally Donovan (Bitch/Whore):  Sgt. Donovan is the only woman of color (person of color in general) and police officer on Lestrade’s team, so it isn't surprising (so unfortunately) that she is immediately villainized (for the simple fact that she is one of two people who don’t fawn over Sherlock) and sexualized (for her affair with Anderson).  What’s the insult Sherlock levels at her?  Oh right, he could tell she was “cleaning” by “the state of her knees.”  Because wittiness makes misogyny ok.

Doctor Who: 2x03 "School Reunion"

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES TWO, EPISODE THREE: “SCHOOL REUNION”

Mickey Smith is back, and he’s not the only Smith this time around.

Doctor Who: 1x03: “School Reunion” Written by Toby Whithouse

The Summary:

Rose and the Doctor are back in modern England posing as staff in a school.  A UFO crashed nearby and now the students have unprecedented test scores, so Mickey’s asked them to investigate.  The Headmaster is super creepy, as is most of the staff, and the Doctor, posing as physics teacher John Smith, finds that the kids are kind of creepy as well with an impossible understanding of physics despite his age.  Rose is working as a dinner lady and has become addicted to the school chips, for which special oil is being used.  Sarah Jane Smith comes to write a puff piece about the new Headmaster, but is actually there to investigate as well.  The kids are overwhelmingly overexcited about their classes, with the exception of Kenny whose dietary restrictions prevent him from eating chips.  At night, the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey break into the school, and Sarah Jane had the same idea, but stumbles upon the TARDIS.  She and the Doctor have a lovely reunion, but Rose is not pleased to learn she is not the first.  The group head to the Headmaster’s office to discover giant bats sleeping on the ceiling.  The Doctor and K-9, who Sarah Jane has kept, figure out that the oil is Krilitane oil so the aliens must be Krillitanes have taken over the school for some nefarious purpose that requires super intelligent human children.  Rose and Sarah Jane initially snipe at each other but realize they’re being ridiculous fighting over the Doctor and they swap stories of how ridiculous he is.  Th next morning in school, the Krilitanes accelerate (possibly) their plans due to the presence of the Doctor and apparently they are using the children’s creativity and imagination to crack the Skasis Paradigm, which will allow them to become god-like.  Kenny attempts to escape, but the doors are sealed, so Mickey and K-9 crash the car through the outside doors.  The three join the Doctor, Rose, and Sarah Jane, and get the students out by triggering the alarm, which also hurts the bat-like Krillitanes, and unplugging the computers.  K-9 sacrifices himself to get everyone out of the school before blowing it up.  Mickey finally asks to be included in the time-traveling and the Doctor consents.  Rose and Sarah Jane have a nice moment of companion solidarity, and the Doctor says good-bye (something he didn’t do the last time) and gives Sarah Jane a rebuilt model of K-9.  This is the second instance of foreshadowing Rose’s departure.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Sara Jane Smith, Melissa, Nina (dead)

The Conversations:

1. Rose and Sarah Jane:  Initially the two are jealous of each other, trying to one up each other’s experiences with the Doctor, but they realize they’re too awesome to fight over a guy.  The rating: 0

2. Rose and Sarah Jane:  Rose asks Sarah Jane for her advice since she’s afraid the Doctor will just abandon her like he did with Sarah.  The rating: 0

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

“THE LOCH NESS MONSTER!”

“Seriously?”

- Sarah Jane Smith and Rose Tyler

I love this switch from competitive sniping to just marveling in how great their lives are as kick-ass time-traveling ladies who don’t need to fight over their experiences to know they’re special.

The Tally:

Episode 2x03 Total: 0

Series 2 Total: 2.5

10^th Doctor Total: 2.5

Rose as Companion Total: 19.0

Russell T Davis Era Total: 19.0

Doctor Who: 1x02 "Tooth and Claw"

Back to our regular schedule tomorrow.

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES TWO, EPISODE TWO: “TOOTH AND CLAW”

Rose and the Doctor fight a werewolf and Queen Victoria is not amused.

Doctor Who: 1x02: “Tooth and Claw” Written by Russell T. Davies

The Summary:

The Doctor and Rose are headed for Sheffield, 1979, but end up in Scotland, 1879, where they meet Queen Victoria and her entourage on the road to the Torchwood Estate, owned by Sir Robert and his wife Lady Isobel.  The Doctor scores himself and Rose, aka “the wee naked child,” an invitation in the carriage train with his psychic paper.  The Torchwood estate has actually been invaded by traditional English monks turned Asain martial arts experts, and Lady Isobel along with all the household staff have been locked in the cellar with something in a cage.  When they arrive, Sir Robert tries to convince Queen Victoria to go on by saying his wife and most of the staff have gone to Edinburgh for holiday.  The Queen doesn’t give a shit besides her late husband Prince Albert loved hanging out with Sir Robert’s father, and she wants to hear the stories her husband used to love.  So, Robert brings them up to the observatory where the Doctor admires Sir Robert’s late father’s love of astronomy and fairy tales, but comments that his telescope is not well made.  Sir Robert’s father’s favorite story was apparently one about a werewolf, and everyone wants to hear it, but Sir Robert is fairly reticent to tell it.  When they all go down to dinner, Queen Victoria sends Rose to get dressed into something proper.  There, Rose finds Flora hiding in a wardrobe and she explains what’s happened.  While they’re trying to get to the Doctor, they’re captured.  Sir Robert finally tells his story about the werewolf and the Doctor catches his clues that the manservant in the room was actually his captor and a worshiper of the werewolf.  Rose wakes up chained with Lady Isobel and the household staff.  The man in the cage is the werewolf – unchanged – and Rose tries to talk to him, realizing he must be an alien.  While the man begins transforming into a wolf, Rose gets everyone to begin their escape, only being assisted at the very end by the Doctor and Sir Robert.  Rose, Sir Robert, the Doctor, Queen Victoria and personal guard run through the house to escape the werewolf, while Lady Isobel and her maids are trapped in the kitchen.  The Doctor locks everyone in a room that the werewolf can’t get into for some reason.  Lady Isobel sees the monks garlanded in mistletoe and realizes the wolf is afraid of it; at the same time, the Doctor figures out that the wood in the room is varnished in mistletoe oil, which the werewolf has been conditioned to have a reaction to.  The women create their own weapon against the werewolf to help Sir Robert, and the Doctor figures out the entire house is a weapon against the werewolf.  Lady Isobel leads the maids in an ambush attack against the werewolf, narrowly saving Rose’s life, and Sir Robert gives his life to hold off the werewolf while the Doctor gets the telescope ready to take out the werewolf.  Just in the nick of time, the Doctor and Rose destroy the werewolf.  In the aftermath, Queen Victoria knights Rose and the Doctor then banishes them.  The Doctor suspects she might have been bitten by the werewolf after all.  The queen then uses the Torchwood Estate to form the Torchwood Institute in case any other aliens ever come to Great Britain.  Although this is only the third ever mention of Torchwood, we learn exactly what it is and what impact it might have on future storylines.  This is also the first major foreshadowing of Rose’s life with the Doctor coming to an end.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Queen Victoria, Lady Isobel, Flora

The Conversations:

1. Rose and Flora:  Flora explains to Rose what happened and Rose offers to get the Doctor involved so he can help.  The rating: 0

2. Flora and Lady Isobel:  While trying to escape Flora and Lady Isobel realize the brothers will not let them.  The rating: 0

3. Lady Isobel and Flora:  The Lady realizes that mistletoe is a defense against the werewolf and instructs the household maids in what to do with it.  The rating: 1

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

“My apologies for my being so naked.” – Rose Tyler (to Queen Victoria)

I just will never be over that line.

The Tally:

Episode 2x02 Total: 1

Series 2 Total: 2.5

10^th Doctor Total: 2.5

Rose as Companion Total: 19.0

Russell T Davis Era Total: 19.0

For Further Discussion:  Women as Leaders

I just want to briefly say…

Fuck yeah Queen Victoria!

Fuck yeah Lady Isobel!

Fuck yeah Rose Tyler!

We can discuss in the comments if anyone would like.

Doctor Who: 1x02 "New Earth"

Check back in an hour for the review of "Tooth and Claw."

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES TWO, EPISODE ONE: “NEW EARTH”

On the tenth Doctor’s and Rose’s first trip, they go to New Earth, the consequence of the Earth being consumed by the sun, and relive their first “date,” providing some excellent continuity before moving onto new adventures.  Said date includes Lady Cassandra back from the dead and the Face of Boe being… Face of Boe-y.

Doctor Who: 1x01: “New Earth” Written by Russell T. Davies

The Summary:

Rose says goodbye to her mother and Mickey and then she’s off with the Doctor to New Earth.  When they arrive, they are completely adorable and show off the chemistry between Tennant and Piper before it’s down to business.  Someone has sent the Doctor a message on his psychic paper telling him to go to the hospital of New New York, Ward 26.  But while they’re chilling in the apple-grass, someone is spying on them and recognizes Rose as one of her murderers – it’s Lady Cassandra from “The End of the World”!  So, the Doctor and Rose go to the hospital which is run by felinoids,  and they get separated.  This is also the hide out of Cassandra and her companion/servant Chip.  Rose ends up in Cassandra’s basement where she’s immediately confronted with Chip – being intensely genre savvy while also being insanely curious, Rose picks up a piece of rebar as a weapon but follows him anyway.  There, she meets Cassandra, who through reverse psychology or some-such gets Rose in position to take-over her body.  Meanwhile, the Doctor has made it to Ward 26, where he learns the felinoid nuns are far more advanced in medicine than they should be and the Face of Boe is probably the one to send him the message as he’s apparently dying there.  (Novice Haim tells the Doctor that she can hear the Face of Boe singing “such old songs” some times and if he really is the billion-plus year old Jack Harkness, I desperately want one of those songs to be “Sexyback” by Justin Timberlake.)  He calls the now Cassandra-possessed-Rose (further refered to as Cass!Rose) to come up to Ward 26.  When she gets there, she snogs the Doctor then helps him figure out that he should check “intensive care.”  The ICU (ICW? ICD?) turns out to be a laboratory, where the felinoid nuns are using cloned humans (possibly?) to experiment on with diseases and come up with cures for them.  Cass!Rose attacks the Doctor when he figures out (finally) that something happened to Rose and sticks him in one of the pods (which had been emptied out earlier by the felinoid nuns).  She then tries to bribe the nuns (who are the real villains of the story) into giving her hush money.  They refuse, so she lets all the disease-ridden people (and the Doctor) free.  The Doctor saves Cass!Rose in order to save Rose because a single touch from any of the laboratory people would kill them instantly.  They get separated from Chip, and a mad chase ensues with Cassandra switching bodies back and forth between Rose and the Doctor and once one of the laboratory people, who she says simply crave to be held.  They end up back in Ward 26, where they get everyone to help them collect all the medications.  The Doctor with Cass!Rose’s help dumps all the medications into the elevator disinfectant which the Doctor uses to heal everyone through hugs.  While everyone is happy and celebrating, the Doctor remembers that the Face of Boe is dying, so he and Cass!Rose run up to see him, but he reveals he’d just punk’d! the Doctor and wasn’t really dying.  Then, it’s time for the Doctor to deal with Cassandra, who transfers herself into Chip’s body, which is failing.  The Doctor and Rose bring Cass!Chip back in time so Cass!Chip can tell past!Cassandra that she’s beautiful.  This is the second time we’ve seen the Face of Boe, or is it?

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler, Lady Cassandra, Sister Jatt, Novice Haim, Matron Casp

The Conversations:

1. Rose and Jackie:  Rose and Jackie say their goodbyes as Rose leaves for more adventures with the Doctor in the TARDIS.   The rating: 0.5

2. Rose and Lady Cassandra:  Rose and Cassandra recap their past on Platform One and discuss the state of humanity in the future-present.  Chip doesn’t really belong in the conversation, but does interject a couple times, the rating: 0.5

3. Rose and Lady Cassandra:  Cassandra takes over the Doctor’s body, and the two try to figure out how to save themselves from being killed by 1,000 diseases all at once, mostly by talking about what the Doctor would do.  The rating: 0

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

“Good luck.” – Rose Tyler (to Lady Cassandra)

It isn’t much of a quote, but context is all.  Despite everything that Cassandra has done, Rose sincerely wishes her luck in her final moments so Cassandra can feel beautiful one last time.

The Tally:

Episode 2x01 Total: 1

Series 2 Total: 2.5

10^th Doctor Total: 2.5

Rose as Companion Total: 19.0

Russell T Davis Era Total: 19.0

For Further Discussion:  The Lady Cassandra: Meaningful Development of a Villain

No spoilers for future episodes

Doctor Who: 2x00 "The Christmas Invasion"

Ok, so I lied on Sunday.  Things got a bit rough, but we should be back on schedule Friday.  The official Doctor Who review schedule has been updated with these changes and with previous episode review links, if you want to catch up.  One Thursday, July 4th, I'll post two reviews to catch up with the schedule because there's no better way to celebrate USAmerican Independence than writing and reading reviews of British television shows!

We have made it to Series 2 of Doctor Who!  Starting next Sunday, every Sunday for the next six weeks, I will post reviews of Sherlock episodes, rather than Doctor Who episodes.  If you didn’t catch it earlier, I posted statistics for Series 1.

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES TWO, EPISODE ZERO: “THE CHRISTMAS INVASION”

The new Doctor is introduced, and some badass women get things done, and are then punished for it.

Doctor Who: 1x00: “The Christmas Invasion” Written by Russell T. Davies

The Summary:

Jackie and Mickey are going about their lives on Christmas Eve, when suddenly: the TARDIS engines!  They run to find the TARDIS on a crash course, and once it finally lands out stumbles a man they’ve never seen before but is wearing the Doctor’s clothes and seems to know them.  He then collapses in a dead faint.  Rose emerges and explains that the stranger is the Doctor and that he changed somehow.  They get him to bed in the Tyler apartment, and Rose and Jackie take care of him, neither understanding what’s happening.  Rose and Jackie talk a bit, and Rose finds out Harriet Jones won the election for Prime Minister and has made many great reforms as well as supporting a project to send out a probe to Mars.  Rose goes out with Mickey to get some Christmas presents since she hadn’t been expecting to be back for Christmas and has no money.  While out, they are attacked by a brass band dressed as Santa Clauses whose instruments are actually guns and flamethrowers.  They run back to the house.  When they get there, they find Jackie’s Christmas tree has been replaced with a killer Christmas tree.  They lock themselves in the bedroom the Doctor is sleeping in, and Rose tries to wake him up.  It isn’t until she whispers in his ear that she needs him that he wakes up, and defeats the tree just before they’re all about to die.  He stumbles out of the apartment to confront the killer Santa Clauses, who he refers to as pilot fish, and warns Rose there will be something bigger coming.  He passes out again.  Meanwhile, the Guinevere One space probe encounters aliens, and Harriet Jones runs the response team like the BAMF alien fighter that she is.  She reveals that she’s become even more competent since the last time we saw since apparently she’s read up on aliens quite a bit.  Rose, Mickey, and Jackie spend a long night in the apartment waiting for news or for the Doctor to wake up.  The aliens called the Sycorax make contact and demand that they surrender.  Harriet Jones, who rebuffs the USAmerican President’s attempts to take over the situation, sends a reply that’s basically a huge piss-off.  The Sycorax reply by somehow controlling a third of the world’s population into walking to the edges of tall building’s roofs.  The response team figures out that they are controlling the blood of type A positives, as that blood type was in a vial on the placard of Guinevere One.  Harriet Jones asks for help from something called “Torchwood,” since there is no sign of the Doctor.  She then makes an address to the people, and asks the entire world that if they can reach the Doctor to do so and ask for his help.  Rose breaks down while watching it, since it seems the real Doctor no longer exists.  The Sycorax ship breaks atmosphere, and Rose decides to hide Jackie, Mickey, and the Doctor on the TARDIS.  Harriet Jones and part of her team are teleported onto the Sycorax ship, but they recognize the TARDIS’s energy signature and teleport it on as well, without Jackie onboard.  Not realizing that they’ve moved, Rose goes to check on Jackie and ends up stepping onto the Sycorax ship, Mickey hears the commotion, drops the open tea thermos on the TARDIS floor and runs out after her.  Rose tries to threaten the Sycorax with the Shadow Proclamation, which she’s heard the Doctor do many times in the past, but the Sycorax realize she really doesn’t know what she’s talking about.  Meanwhile, the tea drips onto the console and wakes the Doctor, completely revitalizing him.  As the Sycorax are talking in Sycoraxic, the TARDIS suddenly starts translating it into English for all the humans, and Rose realizes the Doctor is awake.  Just as she turns to look, the Doctor exits the TARDIS.  He goes on a ramble, as he tries to figure out his new regeneration’s mannerisms and personality.  He releases the people on the roofs from the blood control then challenges the Sycorax leader to a duel, which he wins, but only after getting his hand cut off (and regrowing it).  Afterwards he commands the Sycorax to leave and gets the humans all back to Earth.  They all celebrate, but Harriet asks the Doctor how many more there are, and he tells her there are thousands of other races and to expect to get used to having visitors.  The Doctor, Rose, and Mickey begin to leave, when Harriet Jones orders Torchwood to fire on the retreating Sycorax.  The Doctor is an ass and dismantles her entire administration, then he picks out a new outfit and “does domestics” with Rose, Mickey, and Jackie by having Christmas dinner with them.  Though this isn’t the first reference to Torchwood (that’s one of the Weakest Link questions in “Bad Wolf”), it is the start to the Torchwood arch.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler, Harriet Jones, Sally Jenkins, Sandra

The Conversations:

1. Rose and Jackie:  Jackie brings Rose a stethoscope and they talk about the Doctor’s condition and how he has changed.  The continuing conversation becomes about Harriet Jones, who is the new Prime Minister.   The rating: 0.5

2. Rose and Jackie:  Rose tries to get Jackie to leave the apartment then notices the Christmas tree has changed.  Because Mickey is present for the conversation, the rating: 1

3. Rose and Jackie:  Rose breaks down in Jackie’s flat after Harriet Jones’ speech.  The rating: 0

4. Rose and Harriet:  Rose leaves the TARDIS to find herself on the Sycorax’s ship, and greets Harriet, who asks after the Doctor.  The rating: 0

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

“Did more than that – stopped World War III with her.” – Rose Tyler (to Jackie Tyler, about Harriet Jones)

Nothing’s better than one badass woman admiring another badass woman.

The Tally:

Episode 2x00 Total: 1.5

Series 2 Total: 1.5

10^th Doctor Total: 1.5

Rose as Companion Total: 18.0

Russell T Davis Era Total: 18.0

For Further Discussion:  Harriet Jones, Prime Minister

Spoiler Warning for Series 3 and end of Series 4.

Doctor Who: Series One Statistics

Check back tonight for “The Christmas Invasion.”

I don't know yet how these end of season/series analyses are going to work, so feel free to leave me any suggestions.

DOCTOR WHO SERIES ONE STATISTICS

The series started out great, but ended on a bit of a sour note for women.

Series One/Ninth Doctor Tenure Averages:

First Half of Series (1x01-1x06)

Average Number of Named Women Per Episode: 3.5

Average Rating Per Episode:  2.25

Average Number of Qualifying Conversations Per Episode: 1.125

Second Half of Series (1x01-1x13)

Average Number of Named Women Per Episode: 3 (eliminating Bad Wolf as an outlier for this half of the season we get 2.7)

Average Rating Per Episode: 0.43

Average Number of Qualifying Conversations Per Episode: 0.22

Total For Series One/Ninth Doctor Tenure:

Average Number of Named Women Per Episode: 3.25

Average Rating Per Episode: 1.34

Average Number of Qualifying Conversations Per Episode: 0.67

Rose and Other Women:

In Series 1, Rose had 16 conversations with 6 different women, which equals to about 1.23 conversations per episode and spread across 13 episodes that leaves only 0.46 unique women (excluding Rose) per episode.

Doctor Who: 1x12 "Bad Wolf" & 1x13 "The Parting of Ways"

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DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE TWELVE: “BAD WOLF”

It all led up to this.

Doctor Who: 1x12: “Bad Wolf” Written by Russell T. Davies

The Summary:

The Doctor wakes up in a closet, not knowing how he got there, and a young woman named Lynda helps him by explaining that he’s been transmatted to a Big Brother house in the distant future (200,100 to be precise) in which house-mates who are voted out are disintegrated.  Rose is also transmatted into a game – The Weakest Link and Anne Robinson is now the Anne-Droid.  At first, she thinks it’s just a silly game until the Anne-Droid disintegrates the first contestant deemed The Weakest Link.  Jack, too, wakes up in a game show – this time a makeover type show, which he loves since he keeps getting to be naked on television.  The Doctor figures out that if he gets evicted from the Big Brother House, he will not be disintegrated because something or someone very powerful got through the TARDIS defenses to get him there; meanwhile, Rose is getting more and more terrified that she’ll be disintegrated next and Jack stops having fun when the androids doing him makeover decide he would look better without a head.  The Doctor escapes, bringing Lynda with him, and he realizes he’s on Satellite 5, where he, Rose, and Adam had been hundred years before.  Lynda explains that after the Doctor ditched clean-up duty, all the news shut down and caused total chaos until the game shows took the news’ place and everyone became complacent.  Kinda an awesome commentary on how television makes us complacent, but a bit unrealistic, since social media had to have grown exponentially in 198,000 years (of course, Facebook had just been developed at this point and Tweeting/Tumblring the Revolution was not yet a thing).  Oh yeah, and the whole thing is being run by… The Bad Wolf Corporation!  Dun dun daaaa!  Jack, with a couple guns, finds the Doctor and Lynda, and together they all go find Rose, who is about to be disintegrated.  They seem to arrive just in time, but as Rose and the Doctor are running to each other, Rose is disintegrated.  The Doctor gets a teensy bit upset, and the three go up to Level 500 to take over the Game Station.  There, thanks to well-timed solar flare interference, the Controller (a woman whose been hooked into the computer since she was 5 years old) explains that her masters are trying to destroy the human race and she called him there for help.  Her “masters” then disintegrate her.  And surprise!  It’s the Daleks!  And they’re not disintegrating people, they’re transmatting them to their ships to convert them into Daleks.  They open communications with the Doctor and reveal that they are holding Rose Tyler hostage so the Doctor will not intervene.  Instead, the Doctor tells Rose he’s coming to get her.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Lynda Moss, Crosbie, Fitch, Colleen

The Conversations:

Five named women and no conversations?!

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

Oh, bother

The Tally:

Episode 1x12 Total: 0

Series 1 Total: 16.5

9^th Doctor Total: 16.5

Rose as Companion Total: 16.5

Russell T Davis Era Total: 16.5

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE THIRTEEN: “THE PARTING OF WAYS”

In which Rose becomes a goddess then has her power stripped away in a non-literal women-in-refrigerators way.

Doctor Who: 1x13: “The Parting of Ways” Written by Russell T. Davies

Due to how long this review is, I'm cutting it here.  No spoilers for anything beyond Series 1.

Doctor Who: 1x11 "Boom Town"

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE ELEVEN: “BOOM TOWN”

The Slitheen wearing Margaret Blaine is back in action.  And someone finally mentions that the phrase "Bad Wolf" has now been in seven episodes.

Doctor Who: 1x11: “Boom Town” Written by Russell T. Davies

The Summary:

Rose, Jack, and the Doctor land in present day Cardiff to refuel the TARDIS using radiation leaks from the closed rift; Mickey arrives to give Rose her passport and visit with her.  Meanwhile Margaret Blaine, one of the Slitheen from Aliens of London/World War III, survived Mickey’s attack on 10 Downing Street.  She has become Lord Mayor of Cardiff, and apparently no one noticed that she was the MI-5 agent-person in Downing Street at the time of the missile attack, but from what I know of Cardiff exclusively from BBC shows, this is not all that surprising.  So, Margaret Blaine, whose name is actually Blon Fel-Fotch  Passameer-Day Slitheen (from here referred to as Blon), has initiated a project to build a nuclear power station in the heart of Cardiff and is killing off everyone who recognizes that the plans for the station are faulty and will result in a meltdown worse than Chernobyl (with the exception of reporter Cathy Salt, who Blon spares after hearing her talk about her fiancée and unborn child and who did not see Blon’s true form).  The Doctor finds out while having lunch with Jack, Rose, and Mickey; the four go to confront her, and after a few minutes of hijinks, they capture her. She reveals her plans for the project, called Blaidd Drwg, which is Welsh for “bad wolf” and the Bad Wolf meme is finally commented on by the Doctor and Rose.  Blon had been planning on imploding the Earth or some such and riding the shockwave out of the solar system on an extrapolator, which Jack thinks they can wire into the TARDIS to boost its refueling.  They take Blon as a prisoner onto the TARDIS with the intention of bringing her to Raxacoricofallapatorius to be dealt with by her own people, who Blon claims will execute her.  While Mickey and Rose go on a date and plan to get a hotel room and while Jack wires the extrapolator into the TARDIS, the Doctor takes Blon to have her last meal, where there is much pleading, sass, and attempted murder.  Mickey reveals that he’s dating someone else, an old coworker of Rose’s.  But something goes wrong with the extrapolator and the TARDIS and the rift begins to open, interrupting everyone’s dates.  Rose runs off, leaving Mickey, and the Doctor and Blon run to the TARDIS as well.  Once everyone’s there, Blon reveals that she had a back-up plan that the extrapolator carried out on the TARDIS.  Defending itself, the TARDIS opened up and showed Blon the Heart of the TARDIS, which turned her back into an egg, thus saving the word.  Rose runs back to find Mickey, but he has left and she seems resigned to the end of their relationship.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Margaret Blaine/Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen, Cathy Salt

The Conversations:

Cathy and Blon: Cathy Salt questions Blon, disguised as Margaret Blaine, about the nuclear power station project and the apparent danger the workers have faced and the apparent danger everyone will face if the station is built.  They end up discussing much more personal things like Cathy’s fiancée and pregnancy and Blon’s lost family.  The rating: 1

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

“I’m all on my own.  I had quite a sizable family once upon a time – wonderful brothers.  Oh, they were bold!  But all of them gone now.” – Blon Slitheen as Margaret Blaine (to Cathy Salt)

Blon spends most of the episode trying to convince the Doctor that she change, but the Doctor doesn’t believe her and since the Doctor knows best (in most cases), we’re generally inclined to agree with him.  But the exchange between Blon and Cathy is sincere – and I love when women are open with each other in media, since we’re usually depicted as hating each other – and gives a nice set up to Blon’s redemption in the end.

The Tally:

Episode 1x11 Total: 1

Series 1 Total: 16.5

9^th Doctor Total: 16.5

Rose as Companion Total: 16.5

Russell T Davis Era Total: 16.5

Doctor Who: 1x09 "The Empty Child" & 1x10 "The Doctor Dances"

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE NINE: “THE EMPTY CHILD”

The creepiest monster of the week in New Who to date – and surprise, surprise it’s a child.  Plus the introduction of everyone’s favorite über-suave time-traveler Captain Jack Harkness.

Doctor Who: 1x09: “The Empty Child” Written by Steven Moffat

The Summary:

The Doctor and Rose follow an alien object with a mauve alert (the universal version of the red alert) to London in 1941.  They quickly become separated, without realizing they’re in the middle of the Blitz because apparently the Doctor forgot to check that they weren’t landing in the middle of a war before getting off the TARDIS.  Rose goes to follow a small child calling for his mother from a rooftop, where she climbs the cable to a barrage balloon and accidentally sets it loose, while she still hanging onto it.  Meanwhile, the Doctor gets mistaken for a comedian when asking an underground cabaret whether anyone had noticed something large falling from the sky into the middle of London.  While Rose is flying above London, wearing a Union Jack t-shirt, in the middle of an air-raid, the Doctor receives a phone call on a phone in the TARDIS that is not actually a phone.  A young woman tells him not to answer, but the Doctor does anyway.  The little boy on the other line asks for his mother.  The woman has disappeared, but the Doctor decides to find her and ask for more information.  Rose is still hanging off a barrage balloon, but is spotted by an (apparently) American officer called Jack looking at her through binoculars.  After making it clear he’s involved with another male officer, he runs off “to meet a girl.”  Said girl turns out to be Rose, who he saves with his invisible spaceship that he had parked next to Big Ben.  Rose is reduced to her hormones upon setting eyes on Jack.  The Doctor crashes a dinner stolen from a family in a bomb shelter and being hosted by the mysterious young woman, Nancy, for a bunch of orphans.  The Doctor says he approves of her tactics, then asks the children for information on the cylinder.  Before he can get any information, the little boy shows up (and is clearly wearing a gas mask), and all the other children run away.  Nancy claims the boy is empty and that the Doctor should not touch him.  She leaves, and the Doctor opens the door for the little boy, but he’s already gone.  Jack introduces himself as Captain Jack Harkness, and he and Rose flirt.  Jack is a time-traveler and knows Rose is too, though he mistakes her for a professional Time Agent.  The Doctor tracks Nancy down again, and she explains that the bomb “that was not a bomb” crashed near Limehouse Green Station, and that he should talk to “the doctor.”  Jack and Rose flirt some more and dance and Jack uses the obviously compromised Rose to get her to purchase the cylinder (a Chula warship); she has him find the Doctor first.  The Doctor goes to Albion Hospital to talk to Dr. Constantine, who tells him that the child was the first of many and the entire hospital is full of gas-mask people and the little boy is in fact Nancy’s little brother.  Dr. Constantine then grows a gas mask out of his face.  Rose and Jack meet up with the Doctor and they’re attacked by the gas mask people.  The episode ends on a cliff-hanger.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Nancy

The Conversations:

Nope

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

L’sigh

The Tally:

Episode 1x09 Total: 0

Series 1 Total: 13.5

9^th Doctor Total: 13.5

Rose as Companion Total: 13.5

Russell T Davis Era Total: 13.5

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE TEN: “THE DOCTOR DANCES”

In which everyone is reduced to their sex organs.

Doctor Who: 1x10: “The Doctor Dances” Written by Steven Moffat

The Summary:

The Doctor saves the trio of time-travelers by commanding the gas-mask people (who are all asking for their mothers) to go to their room.  Nancy is also being cornered by the little boy, her brother Jamie in the house she was previously stealing from.  All the gas-mask people, including Jamie, go back to their beds after the Doctor’s command.  But it’s too late for Nancy, as she gets caught by the owner of the house.  Meanwhile, Jack explains that he’s just a conman and that the Chula warship is just a junk ambulance.  He and the Doctor argue about whether Jack is responsible for everything.  Nancy meanwhile is being a badass, blackmailing the owner, Mr. Lloyd, with his blackmarket food (and also possibly that he’s in a sexual relationship with the butcher, which is not as cool) into giving her more food and wire cutters.  The Doctor, Rose, and Jack explore the child’s room and discover that he’s inhumanly strong; then they remember that the Doctor sent the child to his room, and Jamie is there, asking for his mother.  They get out using Jack’s sonic blaster, which disappears the wall and reconstructs it once they’re out of the room.  This doesn’t really slow the child down and the gas-mask people are back.  The Doctor and Jack then get into a family-friendly, sci-fi dick measuring contest by comparing their respective sonic instruments until Rose remembers that she’s clever and can figure shit out and disappears the floor beneath them then reconstructs it above them once they’ve fallen through. (Sorry for the run-on.)  They hide in a storeroom, and before they can figure out how to get out of the situation, Jack teleports.  Meanwhile, Nancy brings the food to her “charges” in the rail yard and explains that the child is coming for her, so as long as she’s with them, they’re in danger.  She leaves.  Back in the store room, Jack explains over the radio, because his ship can hack into anything with a speaker grille (just like the child can), that he went to his ship and is working on getting them teleported there as well.  The child’s voice comes on and Jack blocks it by playing Moonlight Serenade.  Rose explains that she and Jack danced to the song, and the Doctor becomes jealous, explaining that he too dances, an obvious metaphor for sex.  The Doctor then tries to dance with Rose, but is cock-blocked by Jack teleporting them onto his ship.  Rose and Jack comment on the sexual tension between Rose and the Doctor, and Jack gets some backstory.  Back to Nancy, who’s broken into the site where the Chula warship is being guarded, she is quickly caught by the guards and handcuffed to a table right next to a guard who is about to turn into a gas-mask person.  The Doctor, Rose, and Jack arrive on the scene and Jack goes to flirt with the guard Algy.  The Doctor reduces the wide-world of human sexuality and sexual orientation to “dancing” with as many beings as possible.  But Algy and all the other guards are turning into gas-mask people, and the Doctor, Rose, and Jack run into the site to escape them.  The Doctor finds Nancy singing a lullaby to the gas-mask guard she was caged with to keep him asleep; the Doctor sonics her handcuffs and gets her out.  Jack tries to break into the Chula ambulance to prove his innocence but ends up setting of the alarm that brings all the gas-mask people to it.  Rose and Nancy go to fix the fence where Nancy broke in, and they have an awesome moment of woman to woman bonding.  The Doctor finally figures out that the Chula ambulance is equipped with nano-genes, which heal anything but don’t know what humans are supposed to look like, so when they tried to heal Jamie they got it mixed up and started “healing” everyone they came into contact with in the same way.  Nancy is then revealed to be Jamie’s mother not his sister – and ok I love mothers but considering how reductionist this whole episode has been about sex, sexuality, and gender roles this reveal is just kinda “ugh” – then in a heartwarming moment, Nancy tells Jamie that she is indeed his mother who he has been calling for and the nano-genes recognize her biology as correct and everyone is saved.  But a bomb is about to fall on them, so Jack teleports to his ship and saves them all by taking the bomb into space, but he cannot diffuse it entirely or escape the ship so he prepares for death when the TARDIS materializes in the ship to save him.  The Doctor and Rose are dancing, and everyone flirts and dances and the episode ends.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Nancy

The Conversations:

Rose and Nancy: Rose lets Nancy in on the secrets that not only are the Doctor,  Jack, and her time-travelers from the future but also that England and its allies win the war against Hitler.  The rating: 2

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

“Nancy, the Germans don’t come here.  They don’t win.  […]  You know what?  You win.” – Rose Tyler (to Nancy)

Yes, the Doctor and his companions regularly save the world, but it’s when they give hope to someone who has lost it completely is when I think they shine.  And the importance of this is shown just a couple minutes later when Nancy, despite having spent most of her time bonding with the Doctor, calls for Rose when the gas-mask people start breaking through the gates.

The Tally:

Episode 1x10 Total: 2

Series 1 Total: 15.5

9^th Doctor Total: 15.5

Rose as Companion Total: 15.5

Russell T Davis Era Total: 15.5

For Further Discussion: Sexuality: Sexualization and Erasure

Spoilers for DW Series 1, Torchwood, DW episodes 4x09 & 4x10, and DW Series 5-7

Doctor Who: 1x08: Father's Day

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE EIGHT: “FATHER’S DAY”

And this is when we cry all the tears.

Doctor Who: 1x08: “Father’s Day” Written by Paul Cornell

The Summary:

Rose convinces the Doctor to take her to see her father before his death when she was just a baby on November 7, 1987.  Although the Doctor is hesitant because of timey-wimey stuff, he brings Rose first to see her parents’ marriage ceremony then to sit with her father while waiting for the ambulance to arrive on the day he was hit by a car.  On the first try, she is unable to move except to run away while her father dies alone on the street.  Despite his reservations, the Doctor brings her back one more time, but instead of waiting, Rose runs out and saves her father from being hit.  From her mother’s stories, Rose knows that her father was on his way to a wedding, so she convinces him that she too is on her way.  Pete brings Rose and the Doctor to his and Jackie’s apartment so he can change.  There Rose admires all of her father’s things which she’s only seen in storage, and she and the Doctor argue.  The Doctor storms out taking Rose’s TARDIS key with him.  Pete takes Rose to the wedding with him, and Rose learns her mother has been lying to her about Pete; he has apparently stepped out on Jackie and is somewhat of a failure of a businessman.  Jackie accuses Rose of being his latest mistress, and Rose is visibly shaken by this revelation.  Meanwhile the Doctor has discovered the TARDIS is just a phone box and some monster is eating people.  Toddler!Mickey runs to the church saying monsters are attacking people and the Doctor runs to Rose saying they need to get into the church before monsters attack them.  Weird vulture-flying-mouth-things, called Reapers, begin picking off wedding guests while the rest seek refuge in the church, which is old enough to keep the Reapers out for a short time while the Doctor figures out how to fix everything.  The Doctor lectures Rose since her saving her father’s life is probably what caused this.  While the Doctor thinks, Rose pouts, Jackie glares, and everyone else freaks out, Pete figures out that Rose is his daughter and she saved his life when he was supposed to be dead – obviously Rose got her attitude from her mother and her cleverness from her father in a pro-nature argument that doesn’t make me want to puke.  The Doctor warns Rose not to touch the baby version of herself, but when trying to prove to Jackie that Rose is their Rose, Pete shoves baby!Rose into Rose’s arms, thus letting the Reapers inside the church.  The Doctor sacrifices himself to protect the others, and Pete realizes that without the Doctor the only way to save everyone is to fix Rose’s mistake and die.  Pete runs out in front of the car that was originally supposed to kill him, and Rose gets to sit with her father at last.  Her memory is modified to include the new version of events, though Jackie didn’t remember Rose and the Doctor being there.  This episode is the sixth instance of the Bad Wolf meme.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Jackie Tyler, Sarah Clark

The Conversations:

1. Rose and Jackie: Jackie tells toddler!Rose about her father Peter Tyler and how he died.  The rating: 0

2. Rose and Jackie: Jackie repeats her story to toddler!Rose, incorporating the hanges in the timeline.  The rating: 0

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

“He was always having adventures.  Oh, he would have loved to have seen you now.” – Jackie Tyler (to Rose Tyler)

As always, gotta love the Jackie-Rose dynamic, especially how wonderfully Jackie is always doing her best to protect Rose and raise her to be the best she can be.  I think this episode really shows the roots of Jackie’s and Rose’s relationship and why Jackie fears Rose’s relationship with the Doctor so much because while she’s trying to recast Pete in a better light in her memories, she still lives in fear that Rose is going to turn out too much like him and will die like him.

The Tally:

Episode 1x08 Total: 0

Series 1 Total: 13.5

9^th Doctor Total: 13.5

Rose as Companion Total: 13.5

Russell T Davis Era Total: 13.5

Doctor Who: 1x07: "The Long Game"

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE SEVEN: “THE LONG GAME”

Doctor Who shows what sci-fi is made of with an episode long indictment of news corporations and the influence of big banks. 

Doctor Who: 1x07: “The Long Game” Written by Russell T Davis

The Summary:

The Doctor brings Rose and Adam to the year 200,000, the middle of the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire, onto a space station called Satellite Five, where the news for the entire empire is broadcast.  The Doctor helps Rose pretend to know way more than she actually does to impress Adam, and basically the entire episode is one adorable Doctor-Rose moment after another.  The Doctor quickly figures out that the empire is not nearly as great and bountiful as it’s supposed to be, and he quickly finds a couple of ambitious journalists to help him figure things out.  While Rose and the Doctor investigate, Adam plots with some very heavy handed foreshadowing.  The Editor figures out someone should not be on Satellite Five, and instead of immediately noticing the non-employees who are just sort of standing around, he discovers that Suki is actually Eva, a self-professed anarchist and freedom fighter.  He “promotes” Suki to the Floor 500 (the apparent executive level, that is actually where they murder the employees they promote and set them to work as super-computers).  Adam wanders off to be greedy to the point of stupidity, and the Doctor, Rose, and reluctantly Cathica investigate Floor 500 and why the empire is set-back so far.  They get their answers when the Editor realizes the Doctor and Rose don’t belong and brings them up to Floor 500.  The Editor, and by extension the entire civilization, work for the Jagrafess and its investors.  The Editor interrogates the Doctor and Rose while Cathica sneaks in and figures out how to stop the corruption of Satellite Five.  Meanwhile, Adam is an idiot and nearly gets them all killed by creating a temporal paradox because he lets the Editor get his hands on information on the TARDIS and the TARDIS key.  Cathica destroys the Jagrafess and Suki’s dead body holds the Editor down so he is killed as well.  The Doctor and Rose leave Cathica to get everything sorted and bring Adam back to his parents’ home in 2012 England.  This episode is the fifth instance of the Bad Wolf meme and the set-up for the meme’s arch.

The Women:

Rose Tyler, Cathica Santini Khadeni, Suki Mcrae Cantrell (Eva Saint Julienne)

The Conversations:

Plenty of conversations between women but none exclusively between women.

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

Nothing stand-out-ish… again.

The Tally:

Episode 1x07 Total: 0

Series 1 Total: 13.5

9^th Doctor Total: 13.5

Rose as Companion Total: 13.5

Russell T Davis Era Total: 13.5

For Further Discussion: What Science-Fiction is Good For

No spoilers beyond this episode

First, let me just say that although this is another episode without a single conversation to pass the Bechdel Test, it’s still stand-out with women.  The Doctor is more like a facilitator to the real plot-solvers in the episode – Suki and Cathica, women whose roles and characterization have nothing to do with their genders. 

This episode is a prime example of what makes sci-fi/fantasy so fantastic; it gives us a chance to discuss real issues in society without alerting those that would censor it.  The entire episode is about news as business with big banks behind it all, and the main villains are called the Editor and Editor-in-Chief, and I seriously cannot get over how in love with this episode, and return to the morality play structure, I am.  Although morality and philosophy are part of every episode of Doctor Who so far, it’s these stories that I love when it comes to all sci-fi/fantasy and these stories that I think are some of the best stand-alone stories in Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: 1x06 "Dalek"

And we’re back to the regularly scheduled programming.

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE SIX: “DALEK”

For the first time in New Who, we meet the Daleks – the Doctor’s most hated enemy – and it is awesome. (But maybe not for equal representation)

Doctor Who: 1x06: “Dalek” Written by Robert Shearman

The Summary:
The Doctor and Rose follow a signal for help to an underground compound in Utah in the year 2012, which is the past now but was the future then. They discover that they have landed in a private alien museum/collection owned by a personification of capitalist greed by the name of Henry van Statten. The Doctor rather idiotically shows off and proves himself to be an alien expert. Van Statten then forces him to go, without Rose, to confront the alien he’s been torturing with hopes of learning what it is. Said alien turns out to be a Dalek, which looks rather silly with its weapons being a whisk and a plunger but is actually rather terrifying and sends the Doctor into a crazed frenzy. Meanwhile, Rose chats up Adam, the technology expert working for van Statten who really knows nothing about aliens and thinks Rose is completely ignorant. Rose gets Adam to spy on the cell van Statten takes the Doctor to, but instead of seeing the Doctor scream about how much he hates the Daleks, she sees one of van Statten’s employees torturing the Dalek. The Doctor has been taken to another cell to be tortured once van Statten figured out he was an alien. Rose convinces Adam to take her to the cell so she can help the poor alien. The Dalek tricks her into touching xim* which revives xim to full strength. A bunch of people die, like whoa, including almost Rose, who only survives because she tainted the Dalek into treating her like xir commanding officer. Using her power over the Dalek, Rose helps it realize that it wants something more than to kill, which shouldn’t be possible; at the same time, the Doctor has become obsessed with killing the Dalek. Eventually, the Doctor convinces Rose to convince the Dalek to blow xirself up, which is presented as merciful since the Dalek’s changes are torturous to xir nature. In the end, the Doctor and Rose, with Adam, disappear into the TARDIS once again. This episode marks the fourth instance of the Bad Wolf meme and the first episode in which no women interact only between themselves.

The Women:
Rose Tyler, Diana Goddard, de Maggio

The Conversations:
…

…

Ahem.

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:
:-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-(

The Tally:
Episode 1x06 Total: 0
Series 1 Total: 13.5
9th Doctor Total: 13.5
Rose as Companion Total: 13.5
Russell T Davis Era Total: 13.5
Series 1 Half-Way Point Episode Average: 2.25 points/episode = One and a quarter conversations between only women without mention of men per episode

For Further Discussion: Compassionate Women are Wrong

This is the second episode in which a woman who acts out of selflessness and compassion unleashes something murderous. One of the major characteristics of the Doctor is his compassion – he always wants to give whatever/whomever he encounters a chance and hates to resort to violence. This has turned out both badly and well for him, but so far, when women do this, it turns out horribly. It’s probably too early to call foul and claim there’s a pattern, but it’s something I’m definitely going to be looking out for this in future episodes. As it stands now, it looks almost like an indictment against sentimentality, which is typically attributed to women over men



PS. De Maggio is awesome and I wish Rose became friends with her rather than with Adam.

Doctor Who: 1x04 "Aliens of London" & 1x05 "World War III"

[Note to Self: Have episodes in queue so when emergencies crop up the blog can still be updated.]

Welcome to the fourth episode review for Fandom Approved, Bechdel Tested.  I’ll be starting with a rewatch of Doctor Who.  In each review, there will be spoilers for the episode reviewed and all previous (obviously); any spoilers for future episodes will be highlight-to-read or under a “Read More” bar.

Come back at 3:30 today for the regularly scheduled episode review: “Dalek.”

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE FOUR: “THE ALIENS OF LONDON”

Doctor Who: 1x04: “The Aliens of London” Written by Russell T Davis

The Summary:

The Doctor once again gets it wrong when landing the TARDIS; instead of returning Rose to twelve hours after the events of the pilot, he returns her to twelve months after the events of the pilot.  Her mother, Jackie, has been obviously desperate in searching for her missing daughter.  Rose and the Doctor try to explain it off as “just traveling” and that Rose meant to call but forgot.  But then, an alien spaceship crashes through Big Ben and into the Thames!  While trying to escape dealing with the “domestics” between Rose, Jackie, and Mickey (who had been accused of murdering Rose), the Doctor figures out that the crash landing was faked, as was the “alien” thought to be the pilot.  Meanwhile, the Prime Minister (either a Tony Blair fill-in or Tony Blair himself) has gone missing, and some random people in the British government are put in charge.  Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North, continuously tries to get into see them but is put off.  She is the first to discover the acting Prime Minister and his lackeys are the real aliens.  When Jackie discovers that the Doctor is in fact an alien, she calls the police.  Instead of taking the Doctor into custody, the police escort the Doctor and Rose to Downing St to help decide the best actions for Great Britain to take.  The Doctor figures out that the people in charge are the real threat until it’s too late and everyone’s getting electrocuted while Rose and Harriet Jones are trapped in a room with another alien and Jackie is being attacked by yet another.  This episode has the third reference to Bad Wolf.

The Women:

Rose, Jackie, Harriet Jones, Margaret Blaine/Blon Fel Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen, Dr. Toshiko Sato    

The Conversations:

1. Rose and Jackie: Rose appears in her living room, thinking she’s been gone for only twelve hours, when for her mother, it’s been a whole year.  They reunite with tears on Jackie’s part and confusion on Rose’s.  The rating: 2

2. Rose and Jackie: After talking with the police, Jackie drags Rose into the kitchen and pleads with her to explain what happened.  The rating: 2

3. Harriet and Rose: Knowing that the acting Prime Minister is an alien and that the Doctor is an expert on aliens, Harriet offers to keep Rose company and asks her if the Doctor can help them.  The conversation is completely about the Doctor, the rating: 0

4. Harriet and Rose: Harriet brings Rose to the council chamber, where she explains what happened with the aliens.  The rating: 1

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

“Did you think about me at all?” – Jackie Tyler (to Rose Tyler)

I love the whole Jackie-Rose relationship and Jackie’s worry and love for Rose in these scenes are just heartbreaking.

The Tally:

Episode 1x03 Total: 5

Series 1 Total: 13

9^th Doctor Total: 13

Rose as Companion Total: 13

Russell T Davis Era Total: 13

DOCTOR WHO REWATCH: SERIES ONE, EPISODE FIVE: “WORLD WAR III”

Doctor Who: 1x05: “World War III” Written by Russell T Davis

The Summary:

Picking up where “Aliens of London” left off, the Doctor is being electrocuted, Jackie is being attacked, and Rose and Harriet are being pursued by an unmasked alien.  The Doctor rips off the name tag that is electrocuting him and sticks it on one of the aliens, which magically electrocutes all the aliens at once, allowing Rose, Harriet, and Jackie to escape.  Jackie and Mickey hide from the aliens in Mickey’s flat while Rose, Harriet, and the Doctor lead two chases around Downing St which eventually collide and end with the three trapped, but safe, in the Prime Minister’s cabinet room.  Using a conference call with Jackie and Mickey, the Doctor manages to figure out the best way to defeat the aliens one-on-one: vinegar given that they’re prone to calcium decay.  Though that saves Jackie and Mickey, it can’t work on the large scale, so the Doctor must figure something else out.  He, Jackie, and eventually Harriet debate whether to launch a missile at Downing St to kill all the aliens (something that was actually Rose’s suggestion several minutes before).  Harriet Jones, being the only elected official in the conversation, takes responsibility and commands Mickey, who has hacked into the Royal Navy’s system, to launch a missile at them.  Rose gets the idea to ride out the blast by hiding in a cupboard, the walls of which are lined with three inches of steel.  They indeed manage to survive, and Harriet Jones immediately becomes a media darling, explaining everything that happened to the public.  At home, Jackie tries to make peace with the Doctor and Rose by cooking for them, but the Doctor gets Rose to run off with him before tea.  While Jackie begs Rose to stay, Mickey tells the Doctor that he’s too scared to go with them but doesn’t want Rose to know.  In the end, Rose and the Doctor disappear in the TARDIS, leaving Jackie and Mickey standing in the street.

The Women:

Rose, Jackie, Harriet Jones, Margaret Blaine/Blon Fel Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen

The Conversations:

1. Rose and Jackie: At the end of the crisis, Jackie decides she must accept the Doctor into her life if she wants to keep Rose around, so she plans with Rose to cook tea for them all.  The rating: 0

2. Rose and Jackie: Jackie begs Rose to stay with her, promising to make changes to make life better for them, but Rose explains that she is not leaving because of Jackie but because the universe is too beautiful to stay away from.  Though the Doctor is not actually discussed, he and Mickey are standing nearby and the conversation is obviously about the Doctor, the rating: 0.5

The Woman to Woman Quote of the Episode:

“I’ll get a proper job; I’ll work weekends; I’ll pass my tests, and if Jim comes around again, I’ll say ‘no’” – Jackie Tyler (to Rose Tyler)

“If you saw it out there, you’d never stay home.” – Rose Tyler (to Jackie Tyler)

Have I mentioned yet how much I adore the Jackie-Rose relationship?  Even though she understands she can’t keep Rose with her, she still desperately tries.  And Rose, instead of blowing her off, does her best to comfort and explain things to her.

The Tally:

Episode 1x05 Total: 0.5

Series 1 Total: 13.5

9^th Doctor Total: 13.5

Rose as Companion Total: 13.5

Russell T Davis Era Total: 13.5

The Education of an Ignorant American:

So, this is my interpretation of Jackie Tyler, and I’m just wondering how correct it actually is.  Please let me know in the comments.

As I understand it, Jackie and Rose live on an “estate” which is similar to the American system of public/subsidized housing, or “the projects.”  Now, in American media, there are certain clichéd, offensive, and downright untrue ideas presented about the people who live in this type of housing.  Here are just a few… Idea one: people on welfare are lazy, unemployed-because-they-choose-to-be leeches.  Idea two:  poor, single mothers are sluts and terrible mothers.  Idea three: people are only in the situation they are in because they choose to be.

And at first, Jackie seems to be a big ball of these stereotypes, but as she’s developed further, she obviously subverts some of them, but others are preserved, mainly the amount of men she seems to be/have been involved with and her lack of employment.  And I don’t know exactly how I feel about all of these factors, but I do want to know, at least, how similar a British interpretation of her lifestyle is.

For Further Discussion:  Motherhood in Doctor Who

No Spoilers beyond these episodes