I shouldn't read about fandom things in non-fandom spaces...

[white_hart]

Because I was so utterly bowled over by the last couple of episodes of the latest series of Doctor Who, I have been reading all the discussion of them I can find. Including in the Doctor Who group on Ravelry, which was probably a mistake as it's full of casual viewers and people who think there's too much about gender and it should just be about the adventures, and someone who (a) appears to think that Steven Moffatt is "pushing" non-heterosexual characters because he's gay himself and (b) followed that up by responding to someone who said that RTD was gay and they hadn't been aware that Moffatt was (presumably because he isn't) with "RTD doesn’t make a big deal out of it like Moffat". I'm sorry, are we talking about the same RTD here? Russell T. "Gay Agenda" Davies? I'm quite used to seeing charges of misogyny levelled at Moffatt while no-one mentions the misogynist beam in RTD's oeuvre, but this is a new one on me...

Comments

[legionseagle]

That's going to come as a bit of a shock to Sue "Secretly a Man and When We Say Secret..." Vertue and her mum Beryl, isn't it?

[white_hart]

It is rather. Presumably no-one who wasn't gay would even consider including gay characters in a TV show...

[legionseagle]

Presumably that was why he created Jack Harkness.

[legionseagle]

By the way, I really liked that Nardole was given the "become a legendary creator of a colony and saviour of these people" role.

[white_hart]

Yes. Having been really doubtful about Nardole to start with, I ended up liking him a lot and was very happy to see him have such a good ending.

[miss_s_b]

I resent the amount I grew to like Nardole, because I detest Matt Lucas and I don't want to have to re-examine that.

[nineveh_uk]

When it comes to Doctor Who, you should probably avoid reading about it in fandom places, too. Never have I known such a popular programme that so many people are determined to criticise the life out of while still watching (NB I distinguish this from the fun kind of critique and conversation).

[tree_and_leaf]

To say Doctor Who fandom is a snakepit is unkind to snakes.

[legionseagle]

"It's a sanctuary for basilisks. The kind of basilisks other basilisks have excluded on personality grounds."

[miss_s_b]

Agreed. Snakes are lovely.

[sir_guinglain]

RTD once suggested there are a thousand malign fans, making things difficult for everyone else.

[tree_and_leaf]

Gosh. That's a bit mind-boggling.

[sir_guinglain]

I missed this earlier. Fascinating. I always try to be nice about Doctor Who because there is always something in it that I love, and I love what different contributors bring to it. There's a lot of vileness, though, and lots of people wanting to stir it up because it seems to be the only way they can express their affection for the programme. It feels like a form of PTSD transference, if such a thing exists; if you were a child in a traumatic situation and you thought this series was the one thing which would never change while everything else was collapsing around you, and then you grow up and find that not only do you change, the programme does too, it might feel like an impossible betrayal which you take out on everyone else.