I’ve somehow managed to go my entire life without really knowing much about Doctor Who. I saw a single episode a while back and it made no impression. But people I love and respect love and respect the show, so I thought I would give it a try.
Everyone said start with the reboot, the Eccleston…
Reblogging because, for some reason, I really REALLY think Ziona will want to read this.
yuppppp when i went back and re-watched torchwood i realized how immensely fucked up that whole thing was. and really, i’ve found that i don’t like the way that sex gets dealt with on torchwood at all, now that it’s something that i look at and study. i still like the series, but a lot about it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
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What I am finding a little bit stunning, even here on Tumblr, is all the people saying, “Well, Owen isn’t really a nice person.”
That really, REALLY misses the point. I get it, he’s not a classic hero, that’s fine. And my impression from this scene is that he’s a scumbag. You could tell the story of him being a scumbag and using a spray that helps him rape and destroy people and make it interesting and maybe even redeeming in some way, if you chose to go that route (I didn’t say it would be easy, but you could—he could face punishment for what he’s done, or he could ask forgiveness, whatever).
The point here is that the people who MADE THE SHOW made the rape spray scene into a gigglefest. They clearly thought this was daring and hilarious. Owen is not a real person. The people who wrote and produce the show made these choices.
The scene, which gleefully posits a double rape, is played strictly for laughs. Does that not strike people as painfully stupid and wrong?
Sadly, the way Torchwood handles sex in the first season comes across as immature and often creepy, as if they thought that shoehorning it in everywhere made for a more “adult” show. The fact that a lot of the same-sex encounters are a result of alien tech/possession/pheromones/etc really undermines their willingness to include them in the first place.
Later on, the show cuts back on the All Sex All The Time and delves deeper into wacky things like characters and their emotional arcs. And it feels like a much more adult show for it.
Oddly enough, Jack Harkness always seems like a much more sexual character on Doctor Who than on Torchwood to me. Maybe that’s because it’s the former that focuses on him being an omnisexual flirt while the latter mostly has him brood a lot.
I still recommend the hell out of Torchwood: Children of Earth. Watch that even if you ignore the rest of the show.
