Sorry; I'm spamming today, but

[tree_and_leaf]

Further to the mind-bogglingly stupid interview with Russell T Davis snorkackcatcher kindly scanned in, and Mr Davis' truth, universally acknowledged, that two characters of a similar age and appearing on screen together, must be involved in a love story: I just want to say that my new OTP is Ten/ Unexpected Woman Priest from the end of The Family of Blood. OMGtheirloveissoAnglican.

Seriously, though, this lunatic reflection reminds me of how absurdly happy it made me that Paul Cornell wrote that tiny bit part for a woman. Not as a comic lady vicar (see: The Vicar of Dibley) or as a source of predictable, boring, issue-y drama (see: The Archers), or otherwise there to be a WOMAN! priest, but rather simply as a priest, doing her job.

It's probably the most feminist moment of season 3, in its quiet little way.

Comments

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I hadn't seen this... and I just haven't got round to a post on some of the disturbing things RTD says in his New Statesman interview, which didn't do great things for my sense of his integrity.

[tree_and_leaf]

That sounds rather disturbing, but intriguing. I hope you do get chance to write it up.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

While he was at Oxford reading English, he would follow Kylie Minogue in Neighbours.

Russell left Oxford well before Neighbours...

rather simply as a priest, doing her job.

Paul's wife Caroline was working towards ordination at one point.

[tree_and_leaf]

Naughty Russell! That doesn't inspire confidence, somehow.

Paul's wife Caroline was working towards ordination at one point.

I think I vaguely knew that.

Your icon - well, it's probably a fair comment!

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Naughty Russell! That doesn't inspire confidence, somehow.

It could have been a mistake by the interviewer (though she once said in The Observer that her role model as a journalist was Sarah Jane Smith, and I can't believe Sarah would ever have made such a mistake).

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

Sadly, this was pwnd by the very first episode of Hex.

[tree_and_leaf]

Well, I'm not claiming it for The Most Progressive Television Moment Ever (TM), but it was rather nice all the same. I must admit I've never heard Hex

[rivrea.livejournal.com]

lizbee has also pointed out that RTD seems to have a strange idea of "similar age" if one looks at the actual age of the actors in question...

[tree_and_leaf]

Yes, that's particularly sad...

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I don't think RTD would come across as quite so mind-bugglingly stupid if the interviewer weren't so revoltingly fawning. The "This is the ultimate wisdom from the mind of a genius" attitude gives everything RTD says a sigificance that makes what he actually says embarrassingly banal by contrast. And he clearly doesn't mean that everyone who shares screentime with anyone is potentially half of an OTP, just the main characters. And frankly, looking for the sexual tension between main characters is just normal dramatic practice. It wouldn't sound half so silly if it weren't served up as "ZOMG! Revelation!!""

[tree_and_leaf]

I agree that one probably should make allowances for the fact that the interviewer is an idiot (unsurprising given her employer). But there are a few things that disturb me about RTD's statements nonetheless, in particular the idea that Billie Piper (who was 22 at the time) must obviously be read as half of a romantic relationship with Tennant (mid-thirties), where as Catherine Tate, who can only be three years older than him, is apparently unsuitable for a romantic story.

Also, as a die-hard gen fan, I wish we'd get told other kinds of stories occasionally than the romantic. Not that I've anything against sexual tension, but it's not the only kind of relationship that's interesting enough to contain drama.

[sacred-sarcasm.livejournal.com]

Eugh. I sometimes think new Who is so busy on its Gay Agenda (*wink*) that it tends to forget good ol' fashioned feminism.

The 'similar' age thing really bugs me. Tennant (let alone the Doctor!) was getting on for 'too old' for Bille, but oh no, it's old Catherine Tate who's so OLD she can't have a romantic storyline. Or, of course, we could charitably read it as she's mature enough not to be bowled over by the OMIGOD U TRAVEL THRU SPACE & TIME!!!!1! Depends how it's played.

[tree_and_leaf]

Absolutely. Though when I'm feeling really depressed, I wonder if RTD is one of those gay men who don't like women...

Or, of course, we could charitably read it as she's mature enough not to be bowled over by the OMIGOD U TRAVEL THRU SPACE & TIME!!!!1! Depends how it's played.

I have mixed feelings about it, because I think we do need to get back to a model of companion where the 'friends having adventures in time and space' aspect is dominant (I know that's what I loved about the show as a kid). But I find it awfully depressing that they seem to be doing it by going for an actress who is deemed to be too old, even though she's virtually the same age as the male lead. Because apparently, female years count double once over the age of consent.