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variousqueerthings · 5 months

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DINOSAURS! ON A SPACESHIP!

it's the episode Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and I feel like it's the best and the worst of this era in one 45min package, so let's see what it gets right and what it gets wrong

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 2/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored): 5/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 8/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 5/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 7/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 9/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 1/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 8/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 2/10

FULL RATING: 53/100 (if I can count….)

A note: this episode was written by Chris Chibnall and what the hell dude?

OBJECTIFICATION: so where this episode loses me is its near-constant sexual harassment of Queen Nefertiti, who is portrayed as a sultry sexual temptress in the very first scene (trying to get in the Doctor's pants -- there is no context), reacts to misogynistic commentary from a random Edwardian Gameshunter that's in this episode for no reason as if she's turned on, and is then threatened pretty explicitly with sexual assault from the episode bad guy

she then also definitely has sex with the aforementioned Gameshunter, even though - and I cannot stress this enough - almost all his dialogue is truly vile

he's introduced making a sexist throwaway comment to the Doctor about how he'd run off after their last adventure (what is the Doctor doing with a man like this??? idk) and "I had two very disappointed dancers on my hands… not that I couldn’t manage" and right upon meeting Amy and Nefertiti, delivers this banger of "I don’t take orders from females"

seriously why is he in this episode and why would the Doctor be friends with someone like him???? it's an unfathomable choice

all of this is doubly uncomfortable, because he is An Edwardian White British Big Game Hunter From Peak Coloniser Era and she is A Black Woman (who, again, is mostly portrayed as domineering but in a sultry "I want to be tamed" kind of way)

Nefertiti upon getting captured by the bad guy says some shit again about how no man will speak to her like he is, and he pins her to the wall (btw, I will note this in politics, but important to say he is an elderly man walking with a massive space-cane, very much disabled villain Trope) with his massive space-cane and says this in the most leery tone: "I like my possessions to have spirit. It means I can have fun breaking them. And I will break you in with immense pleasure"

of course she gets saved and "takes back" her power by later on defeating him by tripping up his cane, and then her last scene is her with her hair undone coming out of Edwardian dude's tent in [idk the Sahara I guess?] with the big space gun he had

PLOT-POINT: OKAY so originally I was writing here that Amy's story ended in The God Complex and that it was a good ending, and that this felt like they were rehashing old concepts that were already done with

However I do think there's something interesting in Amy being... fine... she worries about the Doctor and would like it if he checked in from time to time so she knows he's not dead or smthin, but at the end of this story Amy and Rory are like "actually we'd like to go home now pls" and the Doctor respects that wish and takes them back and sends them a postcard from his next port of call

so yeah, I think Amy's internal life does matter here, even though I do think her narrative could have all ended on The God Complex and this part of it so far has yet to justify itself (we shall see though!), and I changed my scoring to reflect it. but why isn't it highe-

QUEEN NEFERTITI THAT'S WHY!!! so consistently throughout this episode, we have Amy being quite a capable, fun person and we of course know her and her relationship with her husband and where she is at this point (forget the last episode)

Queen Nefertiti is brought into this episode in order to make a series of sex "jokes," get her kidnapped by the bad guy, and threatened with sexual assault. what does she want? she wants to F***! what's so interesting about her as a historical character? That She Was Sexy! what does she feel about things in the episode? That She's A Powerful Sexy Woman Whom No Man Will Tame And Is No Man's Possession

how did this... do this??? it feels like M*ffat gave Chibnall the note to put in one of his sexual fantasies and Chibnall rolled the dice and landed on Nefertiti on a whim OR WORSE, that he thought she'd pair up well with a British colonialist

it's literally The Thing that makes this episode -- otherwise kind of lowkey a banger -- one that I would never ever recommend, and it's very very disappointing that this kind of racism and sexism was in any draft of the story, let alone the one that got filmed and show on TV

COMPLEXITY: It's got Dinosaurs! and they're pretty great! and it all connects together pretty well -- some Silurians who were trying to escape what they thought was the impending doom of earth and brought different parts of species with them, like an arc, and at some point during the cryosleep journey a malicious exotic trader who literally killed all of the Silurians in order to sell off the dinosaurs

except he can't steer the ship and so it plotted a course back to earth and now it's crashing and they need to find a way to stop him and it!

the only downside is that they didn't make a link between "malicious exotic trader" and "edwardian big game hunter" because the latter absolutely should have been a villain to even mildly justify his presence in this story

Amy even (rightly) says, in answer to him grandstanding about his apparent historical importance: Men who hunt defenceless creatures just don’t impact on history

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: there's some cute stuff with Rory's dad and I can forgive him being introduced in this episode and never before, because it's actually showing him as active in the episode, and gives you an insight into why Rory is the kind of man he is (in a good way)

there's the aforementioned showing how Amy and Rory have kind of grown past the Doctor -- I kind of wish forever that Amy and Rory were more grounded as characters (especially Amy) but at least there's a father-in-law now. I say this because grown past the Doctor into... what? what is their life about? we still don't really know (well, lies, Rory is still nursing, which is great)

it's mainly this set-up -- that the Doctor is going to be increasingly lonely -- that the narrative serves, but it does do it by actually showing Amy and Rory being happy together

COMPANIONS MATTER: they kind of do, yeah. Amy is very competent over on her side of things, in a way I wiiiish we'd seen way back in s5 already, and Rory is the emotional tie to his dad, which makes sense

it is a very "too many characters in one episode" feeling on the whole, but that's because of Nefertiti and the Big Game Hunter, both of whom didn't need to be there, because the bad guy could have stolen the Doctor (I know, I know, the mysteriouuus Oswin has somehow "deleted" all record of him, but could have still scanned him as an unidentified alien or whatever) or the Tardis? and then had Brian and Rory figure out the solution which is what they do anyway and they all team up to save the Doctor or the Tardis....

point being, yes, but there was room for even more, easily

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: actually not! he does make the decision to let evil guy get blown up, and you know, there's trajectory here, there's precedent so to speak... how one feels about it, ehhh it's up to you, but it's not out of character for this Doctor to do

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: not much of any of that in here -- Silurians again ofc -- and there doesn't have to be

“SEXINESS”: HA. bad. ties into the above points about Nefertiti, truly heinous. introduced trying to have sex with the Doctor/seduce him against the Tardis, and it's sooort of hinted they may have already had sex before??? unclear

also here's some dialogue for you:

Coloniser Dickhead: Egyptian queen or not I shall put you across my knee and spank you [Nefertiti here replies that she will kill anyone who tries, I didn't manage to transcribe it] Coloniser Dickhead: You’re a firecracker [Amy responds to this asking the two of them to stop flirting??????????????????????????????????????????]

later on Nefertiti asks Amy of the Doctor has a queen. Amy asks her isn't she married, to which she responds "male equivalent of a sleeping potion." Coloniser Dickhead then replies that she needs a real man with a Big Weapon, while cocking a massive laser gun

AMY THEN SAYS THAT HE'S A WALKING INNUENDO, BUT LAMPSHADING YOUR OWN SHITTY UNCOMFORTABLE WRITING DOESN'T MAKE IT BETTER OR META??? IT JUST MEANS YOU KNOW IT'S FUCKING STUPID!!!

and of course after her whole adventure being a Sexy Damsel who gets threatened with sexual violence, she's last seen coming out of Coloniser Dickheads tent with a huge gun and a "come-hither" demeanor, but get it... get it she's holding the gun now, so she... idk she doms or whatever, Sexually Confident Girl Power Get That Racist Sexist Mediocre Fuckwit

maybe she's just pretending to seduce him so she can shoot him

(he CANONICALLY kills big animals, presumably the kinds that they sell the tusks of for ivory or can hang the fur of in living rooms or whatever and it's CANONICALLY framed as bad, what is his purpose in this?????????????)

one minor shitty one with Amy (also with this guy????) is they're surrounded by dinos and need to slow them down by stunning them while other shit is happening and he says: Dinosaurs ahead. Lady at my side. Ship about to blow up. not sure I’ve ever been happier

to which Amy simply grins and goes: shut up and shoot

WHAT! IS! HIS! PURPOSE!?!?!?!?!!!!!!

INTERNAL WORLD: it's a fun spaceship that really gives little tidbits to its passengers and their journey (not too much, because they're all sadly dead, and everyone is reconstructing events best they can). nothing complicated, but enjoyable

POLITICS: so we've got a disabled villain, we've got an Edwardian Gameshunter (as a good guy), and we've got some of the most overt objectification of a Black woman I can remember seeing on this show... not a great look for an episode where the plot is simply about none of this, it's just... set dressing on top of what is actually happening

the episode just simply... I mean, look no episode needs to do these things... but this episode didn't even need two of these characters!

if you wanted to bring in Queen Nefertiti, why not do something about her history? about her reign? about her in any meaningful way? why was she here, other than for the sexual content?

why was Coloniser Dickhead here other than to be the perpetrator of most of that harassment and then get rewarded for it? what did we learn about Games Hunters in Edwardian times? what did we learn about British colonisation? and if nothing, what did he bring to the table in any other way? (not everything has to be a learning opportunity after all, but there has to be a reason for a whole fucking character to exist in a thing)

FULL RATING: 53/100 (if I can count….)

this episode could have had such a high ranking for its genuinely fun plot, and for giving us an interesting (if so far unnecessary, but We Shall See) denouement on Amy's and Rory's storyline

as it stands the rampant racist sexism makes it one I just wouldn't recommend unfortunately

#im watching nu!who #im watching eleven who #dinosaurs on a spaceship #the measurement #season 7

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