this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2023
56 points (83.3% liked)

Doctor Who

2387 readers
1 users here now

A good old fashioned Doctor Who Community

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Some media outlets still use Twitter/X as a source for news and opinion, otherwise I wouldn't go near the site. Seeing some of the replies to a trailer for the upcoming Doctor who xmas special, I wonder why somebody feels the need to actively shit on a show they so clearly dislike:

Like most #DrWho fans, I won’t be watching. #DrWho is dead. The doctor is now black and gay, Sir Isaac Newton is now Indian, and the character of Rose is being played by a man wearing women’s clothing. #RIPDoctorWho #DefundTheBBC #DiversityHire

That quote alone has too many levels of wrong to pick over, but it will never not surprise me how little of the show's humanist messages these people have taken to heart.

Edit: Thanks for the "duh, Twitter" responses. I do think it's low hanging fruit to just blame the platform (which is, inarguably, a dumpster fire). Let's talk about reactionary fans instead, yeah?

top 47 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 30 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

It's twitter. What did you expect? That is just the average twitter user about anything.

[–] YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The few civilized people on Twitter left. It's just assholes now.

[–] littlebluespark@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

There is no Twitter left. Seems anyone even remotely left of the reich has long since pulled out of slopping about in that cesspool.

[–] halm@leminal.space 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's true, but it's really deteriorated beyond its former lows. I assume the sensible voices that used to even it out got the hell out of Dodge when Musk took over.

[–] StarManta@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

There are some who remain there, but only interact with their own “bubble” of people that they’ve cultivated over the years. So whatever sensible people are there wouldn’t be responding to hashtags and getting involved in this sort of conversation.

[–] lurch@sh.itjust.works 25 points 10 months ago (2 children)

FTFY: I guess ~~Doctor Who~~ twitter is now primarily made up of people who hate ~~the show~~?

[–] halm@leminal.space 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I mean, true. But as I posted this to a Doctor Who forum, I don't agree that you "fixed it for me".

[–] lurch@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

Yes, i know and i didn't mean yours was broken or wrong. It was just grim humour at the expense of twitters decline.

[–] MimicJar@lemmy.blahaj.zone -2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

FTFY: I guess ~~Doctor Who~~ twitter is ~~now~~ primarily made up of people who hate ~~the show~~?

[–] MajorHavoc@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Your post needs an extra squiggly on each side to format right on most clients.

https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax

[–] RickyRigatoni@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 months ago

FTFY: I guess ~~Doctor Who twitter is now primarily made up of~~ people ~~who~~ hate ~~the show~~?

[–] citrusface@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] halm@leminal.space 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Always good advice, as I said I'm only viewing tweets (through nitter) to make heads and tails of news items. The link above is also to a nitter instance so you guys don't have to visit twitter either.

[–] CeruleanRuin@lemmings.world 2 points 10 months ago

The bottom line is that Xitter is not an acceptable source for news, much less for gauging popular sentiment about anything.

[–] citrusface@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I gets it my dude. Imo it's not about how you view the content, it's consuming the content at all. It's not that the site is bad, it's just that it seems nowadays everyone involved with Twitter is just kinda shit. Again - my opinion.

[–] halm@leminal.space 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Completely agree. It is mind boggling at this point that serious media still use and cite Twitter as a news source. In a Doctor who context, Radio times are perhaps the worst offenders.

[–] ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip 18 points 10 months ago

Twitter is now primarily made of hate

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 11 points 10 months ago

98% of the sane people left twitter, it's basically 8-chan now

[–] nobloat@lemmy.ml 11 points 10 months ago

I am not on Twitter. I did find the first episode of the specials way too heavy-handed, but I absolutely loved the other two episodes. I love when Doctor Who has progressive messages but I want them to feel more organic and less like a morality tale. I love the appearance of the new doctor and I hope they will not do the preachiness in the same way in the coming seasons.

[–] Crowfiend@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

Just ignore those people. Giving them attention is exactly what they want.

[–] Lmaydev@programming.dev 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

They are clearly just a bigot and twitter is a safe space for them.

People were the same when it was women.

Basically if the doctor isn't a straight, white and cisgender man people lose their minds.

[–] Shareni@programming.dev 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

People were the same when it was women.

Don't forget that Chibnall is just bad, and that letting him showrun the first female Doctor was a horrible idea. Genuine discontent allows for biggots to more easily insert their own agenda and steer the course of discussion.

[–] halm@leminal.space -1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I need to say, Chibnall wasn't bad bad. He just looks that way following runs by RTD and Moffat and, honestly, so would most other showrunners in the scifi/fantasy genre.

He did some middling series with a couple of clunker episodes, that's all. We've just been spoilt for quality in Doctor who post-2005!

[–] Shareni@programming.dev 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

These guys aren't bad at diving, it's just that everyone is better.

[–] halm@leminal.space 1 points 9 months ago

LOL! I'm not even going to watch that video, it looks like it'll end in pain. I did watch the Chibnall seasons however, and I stand by what I say.

Obviously, I know mileages vary on this.

[–] Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Chibnall had 1 good season imho, the last one he did. It felt more structured, it developed the plot every second of every episode. All killer no filler if you ask me. The other seasons he did were not good. They were confusing. Heres the doctor whos been alive at this point for millions of years, they know almost everything there is to know about anything and can work it out if its something new. They almost always have a plan and they almost always are the smartest person in the room.

But chibnall had Jodie spend her first few seasons running around like a headless chicken. I felt so sorry for her. She is a fantastic actor. She just got a bad deal with chibnall at the helm.

But as i say. The final jodie season was top notch as far as im concerned.

[–] halm@leminal.space 1 points 9 months ago

Interesting, I felt there were a lot of problems with "Flux", mostly because it was so clear that it was intended as a full season but was scaled back to a shorter run. There are so many loose threads, yet I agree it has some standout single episodes in there.

I think there are narrative points to the Doctor not being depicted as the smartest person in the room in the earlier seasons. For one thing, all of S11 had new villains so she was as much in the dark as the viewers. You can tell she takes much more charge when she faces known opponents like the Daleks, the Master and the Cybermen.

And finally, assuming the Doctor "knows almost everything about anything" makes for really dull storytelling. That's why I liked how every time the 12th Doctor pretended or thought he knew everything, somebody would call him out and deflate his ego. For all Chibnall's faults, I really liked that Whitaker's Doctor was still in awe and enthusing about the unknown, novel species and phenomena she encountered.

All that is definitely not saying seasons 11-12 were perfect or even great, and I appreciate your esteem for "Flux" even more because I don't share it completely.

[–] halm@leminal.space 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Basically if the doctor isn’t a straight, white and cisgender man people lose their minds.

Oh, for sure. The funny thing is how they feel the need to bolster their position by claiming that "all" or "most" viewers share their bigotry. And that's not just Twitter, you see the same on r/DoctorWho when people need to convince themselves that {female Doctor bad|Timeless Child ruined Who|Chibnall is the great beast} 🙄

[–] Lmaydev@programming.dev 2 points 10 months ago

This is super common among racists. You'll often hear them say "I'm just saying what everyone is thinking" or "I just have the balls to say it" that's how they justify it to themselves.

[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Isn’t that the same as the Star Wars groups? Most of them only like two or three of the movies and bitch about the rest.

[–] SgtAStrawberry@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

I have seen the same thing in a lot of fandoms unfortunately, so nothing new really.

[–] frankPodmore@slrpnk.net 4 points 10 months ago

That is not a real fan, or a real opinion, or even a real person. Pure trolling. Don't give them the oxygen.

[–] blackstampede@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago (4 children)

I haven't kept up with the series and I'm probably not going to start again right now, but is the doctor canonically gay? Like did he regenerate gay, or is the actor just very obviously gay and they don't address it otherwise?

[–] TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

So the new actor, Ncuti, is IRL "gay"- David Tennant is not, he has a wife and children and there's a whole Doctor Who story behind that too. But the Doctor has never been "straight", at least not for NuWho ( but there was some serious flamboyance in the classic series too). Jack and the Doctor kiss in the first season of NuWho and 13 fell in hard like with Yaz, her female companion. Plus there are scattered remarks throught the show that would make one question the Doctors sexuality if it mattered.

The Doctor is essentially omni-sexual. They fall in love with a personality not genitals or species.

[–] blackstampede@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I had always assumed he was omni-ish. That's why I was wondering if they had made some definitive statement.

[–] TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

I don't think they need to, but I don't recall anything definitive other than Donna's comment about the queer never being too far from the surface. I think they intend to bring it out a little more with 15 though because every actor gets to put some of themselves in to the Doctor.

[–] Pronell@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's a right wing troll.

The doctor is often manic and playful. I know nothing about the actor but nothing about the performance seemed 'gay'.

That aside, Rose is a new character, not the old Billie Piper Rose, making the rest of thus idiot's take completely unhinged.

I hadn't watched and since Matt Smith and personally just wanted to see Tennant and Donna Noble together again.

[–] blackstampede@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Same, actually. I'm glad Tennant is coming back.

[–] Pronell@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

I wanted to see the rationale and was not at all expecting to see the new Doctor at all as again I'm like two Doctors behind at the moment.

But it's still the same old RTD style Doctor, both Tennant and Gatwa.

[–] Shareni@programming.dev 3 points 10 months ago

Wasn't he in just for the specials?

[–] halm@leminal.space 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

is the doctor canonically gay?

...and if they were?

No, it has not been writ in stone that the Doctor is now "gay". Ncuti Gatwa is queer although not public about what that entails afaik. In a recent special, David Tennant's Doctor did (somewhat to his own surprise) note that another man was "hot", but Donna commented that his queerness "was never that far from the surface, mate".

When it comes down to canon, the Doctor is a millennia old, time travelling alien that changes face every couple of years. If viewers are able to accept that and the other wild concepts of the show, they shouldn't have any trouble coming to terms with down-to-earth, real life things like the Doctor not being totally straight.

[–] blackstampede@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

I mean, I'm curious, that's why. But thanks for answering the question.

[–] littlebluespark@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago

is the actor just very obviously gay

🤞🏼Please see the ridiculousness of this notion, please oh please.

[–] freewheel@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

"duh,X" but hear me out. The signal to noise ratio on Twitter has always hovered around 50%. Ever since the upheaval, anyone with any sense has already left the platform. It's fully expected that on any topic, the toxic responses will be louder than reason.

[–] RoseRose56@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I'm still watching doctor who, and I have to say that I love it, its the only show that keeps the story original without rebooting with 100 series. edit: judge on your own, dont only read others stuff on twitter and go with it. Bots can be used easy now days to change opinion on something.

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

threads doctor who tag is delightfully wonderful :)

i grew tired of twitter doctor who when thirteen was announced and the misogynists came out. ;__;

[–] halm@leminal.space 1 points 9 months ago

I'm still not convinced a bunch of the "Chibnall bad" discourse wouldn't have been less harsh with a male actor as the Doctor 😕