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Audioland: Random thoughts on companions, sexism, cybermen. Etc.
The following randomness may contain spoilers for any of the following (which I have listened to over the past two weeks):
Day of the Daleks, Monster of Peladon, The Green Death, Curse of Peladon, The Time Monster, Planet of the Daleks, Frontier in Space, Colony in Space, Terror of the Autons, The Sea Devils, Stones of Blood, Revenge of the Cybermen, Genesis of the Daleks, Brain of Morbius, Robot, Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Invasion of Time, The Invisible Enemy, Carnival of Monsters, The Three Doctors, The Ribos Operation, The Pirate Planet, Destiny of the Daleks, City of Death, Horns of the Nimon, Robots of Death, Androids of Tara, Deadly Assassin, Hand of Fear, Horror of Fang Rock, Image of the Fendahl, Masque of Mandragora, Power of Krull, Pyramids of Mars, Underworld, Battlefield, and Planet of Evil
(um. That's a lot more episodes than I thought it was)
It also contains spoilers for: That Dalek episode from season five of the new series and The Time Warrior.
1. Sarah Jane Smith, you guys. She tried so hard to overcome some really terrible Damsel in Distressing. Srsly. Like, there were times when she'd be fine and then--WHAM. Possessed. Captured. Leered at. Sacrificed (jesus, how many times did that happen?) One begins to wonder if the writers had, er, a thing for Lis Sladen. (also, CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT TIME SHE WAS BLIND AND STILL TRIED TO RESCUE FOUR? Also, leading a rebellion that other time. Or how about that time when she didn't trust the Doctor and proceeded to capture him?)
1a. That said, I'm occasionally annoyed at the way that SF March Madness had votes, like, 60% in favor of her. I think she's great, but I wanted to vote for Zoeand her brains. Though, I'm pretty sure the answer is a combination of "Not Jo", "Not dumb and blonde", "Hot brunette", "She's a feminist!", "My first companion!", "She was great with Three!", "She was great with Four!", "Only seen her in new Who and/or SJA!"
1b. Sarah also seems to get possessed a lot. (I can understand her listing that in her reasons to be annoyed in Hand of Fear)
1c. I think Harry is sort of to blame, too, as, well, he's male. And Four is obviously male, so Sarah's the obvious Damsel in Distress candidate.
1d. Also, her "OMGFEARHYSTERIA" voice (which is used a lot) is intensely annoying. I always end up turning the sound down when I know she's going to be shrieking. Harry doesn't appear to have this voice, sadly (that would be entertaining, though).
1e. I also think she suffers from the writers going "Yay, we made her feminist! Unlike Jo, who was a useless girly-girl!" and then promptly set about making her the Damsel in Distress and possessed a lot. (which is, in fact, a bit unlike Jo, though she came in for her own set of Damsel moments. hrm)
1f. I'm pretty sure several members of the writing staff had mind control kinks during Four's era.
2. Otoh, I find the writing of Jo's seasons frequently frustrating--Jo will be smart, capable, intelligent and brave on her own, but the instant she's around the Doctor, all of that flies out the window. It's all, "Oh, Doctor, what do we do now?" when before she'd been blowing up Daleks, or convincing Federation representatives to not run off like rabbits, or rescuing the Doctor, or some other thing that was useful. To be fair, this happened to other perfectly capable people, too. So there's that, at least.
2a. Jo's hysterical voice is also annoying (also, you'd think she'd get over it after a while, really).
2b. I find it hilarious when they randomly mention Jo's lock-picking skills (usually so that she can pick a lock).
2c. Frontier in Space has a disappointing bit: while Three is breaking out on the moon, Jo is... locked in a cell on Earth doing nothing. Then again, I suppose we get the later bit where she trounces the Master and escapes, so. hrm.
2d. I find some of the more recent stuff involving Jo (the audios I've heard, anyway), a bit annoying, as they've regressed her back to being stupid and inept and generally useless. FFS, people, even in Terror of the Autons, she wasn't useless. *mutters*
3. I find the sexism in Three's era easier to dismiss/ignore than the sexism in Four's era. I'm not even sure how to explain it, but it's just--Three's sexism is very obvious and you can put up with it/ignore it, because it's there, but it's not there to be insulting (save one or two bits, like that asshat in Sea Devils who patronizes the poor Navy woman). Four's era is... more insidious, I guess? In a "LOL, women think they're equal? HAHAHAHAHAHAH, NO." way that feels a bit like it's meant to be undermining every woman on screen.
3a. And as an adjunct, I sort of find both those eras less annoying than the current era. And even Moff's is better than the SJA episode where Jo and Sarah (two amazingly competent, intelligent women) couldn't manage to save themselves with the most obvious means imaginable. No, no, they weren't that bright. The Doctor still had to save them.
4. In other news, can I talk about HOW AMAZING ZOE'S BRAIN IS in Legend of the Cybermen, and how that is almost my favorite BF audio? Well it is, and it is. And ZOE FOREVER. ahem.also, Alice/Zoe femslash, fandom
5. Revenge of the Cybermen, though. SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT. I remember loving it as a small child, and listening to it, I kept making faces of annoyance and sadness. a. The CYBERMEN SOUND WRONG. wtf, they sound HUMAN. Fail. b. Sarah spends the entire serial either locked up, tied up, unconscious, infected, tied up and being hysterical. (Harry Sullivan, I blame you). c. Voga is an awesome concept, though, as is the isolationism. d. OK, so, the Kellerman plot of how he had to murder 47 people to trick the Cybermen and such was a bit "...." inducing, but it was also a bit terrifying (then again, the point was to MAKE THEM GO BOOM, so his friends would've been dead anyway). e. NGL, Four's "Skulking about the galaxy" speech is still hilarious--also, WAY TO RUB SALT IN THE WOUND, YOU ASSHOLE. Being as he's the one who wrecked their home planet in the first placeprobably more than once, that bastard.
6. Three would have been right in there with Eleven, bashing on Daleks with bats during the WWII episode. He hates the Daleks. I'm sorry, I know that was an odd tangent. But he does! Four hates them less? Like, I think Three would totally have blown up the incubation chambers without worrying about it (and Eleven might have a Crisis Moment as Four did. It's very confusing).
7. BETAN/SAM ANDERS RESISTANCE LEADER CROSSOVER OTP. ahem.
8. I should go find a disc to rip the episode from. Or maybe I'll just re-listen to something tomorrow.
9. However, now that I'm reminded, CAN I TALK ABOUT HOW FLAWLESS ROMANA IS? Like, seriously. I'm pretty sure Romana 1 could do anything she wanted to me, and I would enjoy it. I love her smugness and her brains and that she's learned as time's gone on--and yet I still love and adore Stones of Blood and Pirate Planet and Armageddon Factor.
9a. I find it fascinating that the sexism in the writing that bugged me with Sarah Jane doesn't bug me as much with Romana? Maybe because she has more equal footing? idk. Or maybe there's less?
9b. Romana 2 is fabulous and wonderful as well, but in a different way (I look forward to Creature From the Pit in this adventure, ngl. AND MEGLOS. And Full Circle, even with the possession, and--) I'll stop there.
10. Horror of Fang Rock is still my favorite Four and Leela story. IDK. I love lighthouses and creepy murder mysteries, and superstitions, and rich people being stupid, and lasers. And tying into old-canon-continuity, too. BUT. Leela stripping off in front of poor Jim. Awww.
10a. Talons is surprisingly not as awful as I'd remembered, but it does stretch on a bit longer than it needed to.
10b. Robots of Death does not translate well to audio-only (body language is important!), however, it does well enough.
11. Battlefield, ngl, best ever. Also, HELLO PERSONAL WEAKNESS WITH THE HOLDING HIM AT GUNPOINT BIT, oh, Bambera/Ancelyn. Unf.
I think I'm done. *falls over*
Day of the Daleks, Monster of Peladon, The Green Death, Curse of Peladon, The Time Monster, Planet of the Daleks, Frontier in Space, Colony in Space, Terror of the Autons, The Sea Devils, Stones of Blood, Revenge of the Cybermen, Genesis of the Daleks, Brain of Morbius, Robot, Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Invasion of Time, The Invisible Enemy, Carnival of Monsters, The Three Doctors, The Ribos Operation, The Pirate Planet, Destiny of the Daleks, City of Death, Horns of the Nimon, Robots of Death, Androids of Tara, Deadly Assassin, Hand of Fear, Horror of Fang Rock, Image of the Fendahl, Masque of Mandragora, Power of Krull, Pyramids of Mars, Underworld, Battlefield, and Planet of Evil
(um. That's a lot more episodes than I thought it was)
It also contains spoilers for: That Dalek episode from season five of the new series and The Time Warrior.
1. Sarah Jane Smith, you guys. She tried so hard to overcome some really terrible Damsel in Distressing. Srsly. Like, there were times when she'd be fine and then--WHAM. Possessed. Captured. Leered at. Sacrificed (jesus, how many times did that happen?) One begins to wonder if the writers had, er, a thing for Lis Sladen. (also, CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT TIME SHE WAS BLIND AND STILL TRIED TO RESCUE FOUR? Also, leading a rebellion that other time. Or how about that time when she didn't trust the Doctor and proceeded to capture him?)
1a. That said, I'm occasionally annoyed at the way that SF March Madness had votes, like, 60% in favor of her. I think she's great, but I wanted to vote for Zoe
1b. Sarah also seems to get possessed a lot. (I can understand her listing that in her reasons to be annoyed in Hand of Fear)
1c. I think Harry is sort of to blame, too, as, well, he's male. And Four is obviously male, so Sarah's the obvious Damsel in Distress candidate.
1d. Also, her "OMGFEARHYSTERIA" voice (which is used a lot) is intensely annoying. I always end up turning the sound down when I know she's going to be shrieking. Harry doesn't appear to have this voice, sadly (that would be entertaining, though).
1e. I also think she suffers from the writers going "Yay, we made her feminist! Unlike Jo, who was a useless girly-girl!" and then promptly set about making her the Damsel in Distress and possessed a lot. (which is, in fact, a bit unlike Jo, though she came in for her own set of Damsel moments. hrm)
1f. I'm pretty sure several members of the writing staff had mind control kinks during Four's era.
2. Otoh, I find the writing of Jo's seasons frequently frustrating--Jo will be smart, capable, intelligent and brave on her own, but the instant she's around the Doctor, all of that flies out the window. It's all, "Oh, Doctor, what do we do now?" when before she'd been blowing up Daleks, or convincing Federation representatives to not run off like rabbits, or rescuing the Doctor, or some other thing that was useful. To be fair, this happened to other perfectly capable people, too. So there's that, at least.
2a. Jo's hysterical voice is also annoying (also, you'd think she'd get over it after a while, really).
2b. I find it hilarious when they randomly mention Jo's lock-picking skills (usually so that she can pick a lock).
2c. Frontier in Space has a disappointing bit: while Three is breaking out on the moon, Jo is... locked in a cell on Earth doing nothing. Then again, I suppose we get the later bit where she trounces the Master and escapes, so. hrm.
2d. I find some of the more recent stuff involving Jo (the audios I've heard, anyway), a bit annoying, as they've regressed her back to being stupid and inept and generally useless. FFS, people, even in Terror of the Autons, she wasn't useless. *mutters*
3. I find the sexism in Three's era easier to dismiss/ignore than the sexism in Four's era. I'm not even sure how to explain it, but it's just--Three's sexism is very obvious and you can put up with it/ignore it, because it's there, but it's not there to be insulting (save one or two bits, like that asshat in Sea Devils who patronizes the poor Navy woman). Four's era is... more insidious, I guess? In a "LOL, women think they're equal? HAHAHAHAHAHAH, NO." way that feels a bit like it's meant to be undermining every woman on screen.
3a. And as an adjunct, I sort of find both those eras less annoying than the current era. And even Moff's is better than the SJA episode where Jo and Sarah (two amazingly competent, intelligent women) couldn't manage to save themselves with the most obvious means imaginable. No, no, they weren't that bright. The Doctor still had to save them.
4. In other news, can I talk about HOW AMAZING ZOE'S BRAIN IS in Legend of the Cybermen, and how that is almost my favorite BF audio? Well it is, and it is. And ZOE FOREVER. ahem.
5. Revenge of the Cybermen, though. SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT. I remember loving it as a small child, and listening to it, I kept making faces of annoyance and sadness. a. The CYBERMEN SOUND WRONG. wtf, they sound HUMAN. Fail. b. Sarah spends the entire serial either locked up, tied up, unconscious, infected, tied up and being hysterical. (Harry Sullivan, I blame you). c. Voga is an awesome concept, though, as is the isolationism. d. OK, so, the Kellerman plot of how he had to murder 47 people to trick the Cybermen and such was a bit "...." inducing, but it was also a bit terrifying (then again, the point was to MAKE THEM GO BOOM, so his friends would've been dead anyway). e. NGL, Four's "Skulking about the galaxy" speech is still hilarious--also, WAY TO RUB SALT IN THE WOUND, YOU ASSHOLE. Being as he's the one who wrecked their home planet in the first place
6. Three would have been right in there with Eleven, bashing on Daleks with bats during the WWII episode. He hates the Daleks. I'm sorry, I know that was an odd tangent. But he does! Four hates them less? Like, I think Three would totally have blown up the incubation chambers without worrying about it (and Eleven might have a Crisis Moment as Four did. It's very confusing).
7. BETAN/SAM ANDERS RESISTANCE LEADER CROSSOVER OTP. ahem.
8. I should go find a disc to rip the episode from. Or maybe I'll just re-listen to something tomorrow.
9. However, now that I'm reminded, CAN I TALK ABOUT HOW FLAWLESS ROMANA IS? Like, seriously. I'm pretty sure Romana 1 could do anything she wanted to me, and I would enjoy it. I love her smugness and her brains and that she's learned as time's gone on--and yet I still love and adore Stones of Blood and Pirate Planet and Armageddon Factor.
9a. I find it fascinating that the sexism in the writing that bugged me with Sarah Jane doesn't bug me as much with Romana? Maybe because she has more equal footing? idk. Or maybe there's less?
9b. Romana 2 is fabulous and wonderful as well, but in a different way (I look forward to Creature From the Pit in this adventure, ngl. AND MEGLOS. And Full Circle, even with the possession, and--) I'll stop there.
10. Horror of Fang Rock is still my favorite Four and Leela story. IDK. I love lighthouses and creepy murder mysteries, and superstitions, and rich people being stupid, and lasers. And tying into old-canon-continuity, too. BUT. Leela stripping off in front of poor Jim. Awww.
10a. Talons is surprisingly not as awful as I'd remembered, but it does stretch on a bit longer than it needed to.
10b. Robots of Death does not translate well to audio-only (body language is important!), however, it does well enough.
11. Battlefield, ngl, best ever. Also, HELLO PERSONAL WEAKNESS WITH THE HOLDING HIM AT GUNPOINT BIT, oh, Bambera/Ancelyn. Unf.
I think I'm done. *falls over*
no subject
I hadn't been following SF March Madness, but re: #1A, I would also assume there's an element of Lis Sladen's death last year? That and people are more familiar with her because of New Who.
no subject