Out of 8 episodes so far, two or three have been mildly interesting. The faeries were fun, but only because I have a soft spot for bad-ass faeries. The 20th-century construction of them as all sweetness and light bugs the crap out of me. The resurrection glove, or 'risen mitten,' episode was fairly good in its general level of darkness, and the little bits of angst from Captain Jack about his immortality/undeadness have been interesting, but far too sparse.
And then there's the sex... I love that Jack is omnisexual. As an ultra-sleazy, intergalactic time adventurer, it makes perfect sense. It's hard to quibble about gender if you're doing aliens with four tentacles and feathers. What bugs me, though, is that the sexuality of the characters, at least three of whom are queer, is mostly used for throw-away gags, instead of having some narrative meat (so to speak).
Owen's bisexual disco-boy persona seems to fit him, and his emotional POV of the rape/murder really hit him hard. I have no complaints about Owen as a character, though he is rather fucking annoying as a person. But Gwen's alienchick snog didn't even rate a "wow, why did I do that?", and Tosh's queer/alien affair was really mishandled. Not only do we get the oh-so-very-tired predatory lesbian villain, but the fact that it's the first time Toshiko has been with a woman is barely touched on.
If you want to do a show about the queer end of sexuality and use science fiction as a metaphor, great! Buffy basically did that. I'm not objecting to the sex or the sexuality, but handle it with some sensitivity and some sophistication. The Cybergirl episode is a great example of mishandling. Why, exactly, was she in a titanium bikini? Why would the cybermen, even if they were short on supplies, make her a bra? You'd think that primary and secondary-sex organs would be the first things to get lopped off. Wieners, cooters, and boobs (oh my!) are not exactly useful to that whole 'galactic domination' thing that the Cybermen are all about.
I appreciate the idea of mature science fiction that takes on sexuality, but like a lot of the new Who, it's just not all there in the execution.
Posted by orion at December 11, 2006 4:31 PM