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: 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: 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