Who and victims - an overused term.

[bunn]

Yes, I liked the new Doctor Who a lot. And yes, the series ending was really good, and I did enjoy it, and I'm really looking forward to the Christmas special.

But... (you knew there was going to be a but, didn't you...)

The documentary before and after kept going on about Rose's mother and Mickey being 'victims' of the Doctor. It annoyed me. And we were clearly supposed to think that the state of Earth and the gruesome Gamestation (excellent name, wonder if it had that odd smell of BO and cheap carpet that today's Gamestations tend to have) were the Doctor's fault for irresponsibly swanning off a hundred years earlier.

Victims my arse! *Rose* is the one who decides there is more to life than chips, Rose is the one who doesn't want to go home, Rose makes her own decisions. Mickey has even been offered the chance to go with her on the Tardis, and bottled it. They are about as much 'victims of the Doctor's lifestyle' as the families of people who emigrate are 'victims of air travel'.

I didn't buy the idea that the Doctor was responsible for the Dalek invasion either (though that was less clearly stated, and you could just take it as the Doctor feeling understandable guilt, rather than the writers portraying him as guilty).

100 years of history on an entire planet, and the involvement of a notoriously devious and intelligent species with every incentive to keep quiet - and the entire thing is the 'fault' of some guy who put the TV stations temporarily offline?

Bah! Bah! and thrice Bah!

Comments

[na-lon.livejournal.com]

Hm... While I watched the documentary, I didn't mind. But reading your entry I think I know what you mean.

In terms of the series, I had liked the fact that they didn't just forget about Mum and Mickey, but I wouldn't have used the term 'victims' unprompted. I also liked the idea of there being consequences to the Doctor's actions, but agree with you that it was difficult to 'buy' the whole Dalek invasion because of lack of news thing.

To me it feels almost like they managed to diminish the effect of the show by putting labels on bits of it and by pontificating about stuff in a way that seemed calculated to show people how clever and mature and educational the show was, when actually it was an enjoyable show and doesn't need to be more than that. Hm. Don't know if that still makes sense.

*stops procrastinating and gets back down to moderating*

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I would like to think that the whole 'lack of television caused civilisation to crash' plot is a black joke - but I'm not 100% certain it was meant that way.

Without the documentary I wouldn't have thought of Mum & Mickey as victims at all. I'd have thought of them as passive, fearful, unimaginative, maybe even pitiable - not victims. Maybe I should just not watch the documentaries next time!