Feminism killed “Doctor Who” - Jack Buckby

The following is my response to Jack Bucky's video entitled: Feminism killed “Doctor Who”

Excellent analysis Jack. 100% agree that The Doctor is flawed and the healing power of women shows what a union of the sexes can bring to life. In a way, the entire show is a metaphor for the human experience. Well, it used to be anyway!

I stopped watching Doctor Who after that 2nd season finale, when Peter Calpaldi was The Doctor: Series 9 (2015). The episode is called, Hell Bent. And as much as I loved Capaldi as The Doctor, the scene where The Doctor uses a weapon and blows the head off a Time Lord, point blank was such a 180 turn from that character for me that I decided never to watch it again. And if you remember, that Time Lord, he shot point blank, was an older man, and immediately regenerated into a woman of African heritage. And the first thing she said was something about being "free of the male ego.". (which I found ironic). On top of that, the the overt feminist agenda of making The Doctor forget about Clara and essentially having her and the other new immortal woman fool him at the end was crap!

And also the entire idea that The Doctor would have become so in love with Clara that he would do the things he did, well, 50 years of Doctor Who and it's Clara who whips him into a simpering wimp? When the 3rd Doctor Jon Pertwee lost Jo when she fell in love with a mushroom scientist, he paused for a moment as he was leaving and in a melancholy tone said, "Ah, Jo.". That is how a guy who lives a long life who is around humans acts. He doesn't start a war with his own people over Clara. And well, I suppose I only find her mildly attractive. I was always one for the taller supermodel types like Amy Pond, Jo, and Leela. But that's just looks. My favorites ever was Romana and Donna Noble because of the rich story arcs they were involved with.

And the entire season 11 had one best opening episodes I ever saw, The Magician’s Apprentice. That was an amazing episode. But, I was not happy that Clara had somehow returned. Only because I felt her existence had been properly explored with the 11th Doctor. My theory, is one of the writers was too wimpy to just ask her out on a date, so he had her cast in the show yet again, thinking maybe they'd fall in love. HaHa!

And really, if the current Doctor Who writers were actually fans of the show and not ridged agenda driven nut-jobs, then the way to make a female Doctor of course would be to bring back Romana. She was the Time Lord student who ran with the 4th Doctor. And well, my story arc for Romana would be that we start the series not knowing the whereabouts of The Doctor. And Romana builds her own TARDIS and begins a season long search for him. So right there you have female empowerment without it being overt feminism. And you do not ruin the entire dynamic of the show. Also, it allows Romana to enlist her own cast of companions. And perhaps this would lead to it's own spinoff series once The Doctor was found. That would have been an exciting story arc.

I did try to watch Doctor Who again with the companion Bill. But the actress they chose had this sullen face with bags under her eyes and I just found her unpleasant to look at. And when the BBC introduced this actress they made a huge effort to make her seem like they didn't use a political agenda to hire her. And they showed how she had acted before....in a non-speaking role in a music video! So right there, knowing how hard it is to get a role and knowing how hard actors work to hone their craft, I was put off by how it was obvious this actress was chosen for a political agenda over her acting ability. And then in a press conference Pearl Mackie said something to the effect that Doctor Who needed to include her because of diversity. And immediately I asked myself "What about Freema Agyeman?". But, I suppose that wasn't the point. The point was that Bill was supposed to be the first gay companion. But, then I also asked what about Captain Jack Harkness who was bi-sexual?

But on top of me finding it hard to look at Mackie with those ridiculous painted on eyebrows, knowing she was picked out of a pool of actors who had to have been far superior to her made me scrutinize her performance. And I found her unconvincing in the 2 episodes I watched when I tried to give Doctor Who a 2nd chance.

The stories I watched were The Pilot and Smile from season 10. But, I think my distaste for Mackie's sullen face, poor acting, along with the overt pro-feminist writing of these 2 shows kept me from watching the rest of the series. Which again, I have to say, I really thought Peter Calpadi was an excellent Doctor. Too bad this life long fan of the show finally gets his dream role and it's tainted with agenda. And really, of all the ethic groups to include as a new kind of Doctor's Companion, the UK has a rich diversity of Asian and Middle Eastern cultures they could have included. Seems to me if they are checking off boxes then, Freema Agyeman, ticked that mark a few series ago. And any ethic group could have been gay.

Like Jack said, the only political agenda Doctor Who ever had was that it was anti-tyranny. Ironic that this series should now be run by people with that mindset.

Anytime I need to think of a strong female character, I always go back to Ripley from Aliens. She was smart and held her own with Space Marines. The feminist take on female heroes is that they are surrounded by idiots and wimpy men. Honestly think Jodi Whittaker could hold her own in a role where she is a dynamic smart hero, but I fear the BBC will surround her with idiot wimpy men to make her stand out.

And BTW, Whittaker would have made a perfect Romana.

(Holy crap! I almost wrote a book about this. See that BBC! People are so passionate about Doctor Who a guy almost wrote a book under another guys video! Grow a spine!)