Something I would like to discuss with you guys

[miss_s_b]

An excerpt from my review of last night's episode:

Doctor Who is fantasy, and nothing else in it is realistic, so why the *naughtywords* does the sexism have to be? We can suspend disbelief long enough to believe that a guy can travel through time and space in a blue wooden box (which should be concrete anyway), and that every three years or so he completely changes size, shape, and personality but is still the same person, and that's fine, but a female pirate would be pushing it too far?

Now, the writer of this week's show is particularly bad for this sort of stuff, I admit, but it is a problem with the show in general, and indeed, television in general.

And I am genuinely interested in why some subjects are easy to suspend disbelief on and others aren't, at least in the minds of TV production crews and writers, and Who ones in particular.

Opinions?

Comments

[gehayi]

3) No, it IS possible, I've been a CPR Instructor with the American Red Cross... it's easier to do/tell about CPR than it is to sword fight. What was unbelievable is that Amy DID give up - and the Doctor and TARDIS did NOTHING >:(

Someone else got really, really mad about the bad CPR and Amy giving up.

4) But he knew the stuff in the TARDIS, he named them. It wasn't completely believable, no, but there was at least the throw away line about "everything being the same from ship to ship" that he said.

The problem is, I've seen the Brigadier and Unit personnel and a doctor in the British navy all baffled by the TARDIS control room, and I'd expect 20th century military equipment to be a LOT closer to the TARDIS than an 18th-century pirate ship.

So I didn't really buy that throwaway line, either.

I think that the writers aren't really sure what to do with Rory and Amy. They treat her, alternately, like the traditional damsel who has to be rescued and as the savior. They don't seem to realize that the two roles don't mesh very well. And Rory--well, it's hard to put a man in a damsel condition, but they don't want to make him too awesome because then he's competing with the male lead, and of course no one is supposed to be as awesome as the Doctor. Since Rory can't be the savior and since Western society has a tough time conceiving of men as needing rescue--well, the writers probably hit on him dying serendipitously and have just repeated it ever since.

[jhumor]

That other person is right - it is messy, and it's not easy, but you CAN learn it with a few basic instructions. Though, I will submit that Rory didn't REALLY instruct Amy beyond "just like telly" which IS a load a crap.

3) I'm glad he went into such detail, because I just kind of was all... "There's so much wrong with this, I don't even know where to start, so I'll just brush it off as horrible TV CPR."

4) Being in the military doesn't mean you have knowledge of sailing though. And it all depends on perception. The difference is: Everyone else was so baffled by "bigger on the inside" and trying to sort that out in their heads, that they didn't really LOOK at the controls or what the Doctor was doing. Avery DID. He noticed what the Doctor was doing and in his head, was able to piece it together. I don't know... I was able to buy it - at least more than Amy sword fighting or the CPR bit. But it's my small gem in an episode that I enjoyed until I thought about it, so maybe I'm just not willing to go there :P