#was Saward an edgelord? Absonoodly!

[rassilon-imprimatur]

Taste is taste, and this might be a little too mean, but something I’ve finally put my finger on regarding how annoyed I get with the acting like The Happiness Patrol is the only blatant anti-Thatcher sentiment in classic Who is, like... 

Why do you think Warriors of the Deep is the way it is? Terminus? With those nightmarish production fall-throughs, the worker strikes, the anger and froth and cynicism that can’t help but lash out at the Doctor a little bit. Resurrection of the Daleks puts the literal societal decay caused by Thatcherism on the forefront. That serial was the 1984 Olympics showcase for fuck’s sake, you think they didn’t know how grim and grisly and nasty it was? The stumble into the mess of season 22, mean-spirited and indulgent as it is, makes perfect sense? 

And it makes me wonder if the widespread sweeping of Saward’s tenure under the rug under “grimdark” (ugh) write-off truly is because someone isn’t jumping up and down with a big neon sign screaming “THIS IS POLITICAL” in text? 

#I'm all over the place with Who and my focuses lately but I'm currently unemployed and with my parents #so when not job hunting I don't have a lot else to do lmao #so you all must face those consequences #I've really come around to The Dark Knight Returns and the like on this front as well #Taste is taste by all means and certainly there's a much longer conversation to be made of political art in capeshit lmao #but there's a REASON pop culture in the 80s could get so gnarly my dudes #There's a reason all these 20 to 30s creators were being edgelords. #By all means don't like Saward Who all you want! Taste is taste! #But don't act like those stories being so violent and mean and angry isn't topical or without reason. #Also I dunno buck up. People could stomach a little more violent fiction. #was Saward an edgelord? Absonoodly! #It's fascinating! #Warriors of the Deep is a MESS of trying to marry misremembered Pertwee nostalgia with Earthshock and I adore it #The Doctor so casually showing Tegan that the Cold War never ends a century on and it's treated just as grimly #as Frontios when he shows her what awaits humanity when the sun finally swallows the Earth #SHIT SUCKS the season #it kills the Dr Who for fucks sake look at Caves #this isn't knocking The Happiness Patrol btw it's just not really one of mine #and I think the fact that it's as subtle as a brick to the groin sours my digestion of people going on and on about the allegory.