You make some good points, especially the one about the attractiveness of Ncuti. However, what you said about Rogue I disagree with every fiber of my being.
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I really hope someone more articulate than me can make a really interesting deep dive and analysis video into the politics and his attempts at progressivism because I think thereās a lot that can be discussed there
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āOh, helloā¦ā
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My issue with Rogue isnāt so much the LGBT aspects, which are fine IMO (although I do roll my eyes at Rogue himself feeling like a bit of a Captain Jack knock-off, and I also donāt really buy how quickly he and the Doctor fall for each other). The thing that prevents it from being my clear favourite of season 1, and potentially the entirety of Fifteenās era, is that itās the episode where the RTD1 version of the character starts to creep back in (with the whole bit about him wanting to see the Chuldur suffer when he thinks theyāve killed Ruby). Itās a small thing in the grand scheme of things (Interstellar Song Contest is a far worse example), but given Fifteen is supposed to be a āpost-rehabā Doctor, it was immensely disappointing to me that he almost immediately goes back to the kind of traumatised, vengeful god characterisation of Tennant and (to a lesser degree) Eccleston and Smith. We had that characterisation for nearly ten years, it was worked through and resolved naturally across series 1 to 10, and itās absolutely not something I want to see again in future incarnations for a long time, if ever. To be honest, itās probably the thing that holds Fifteen down in the lower half of the Doctor rankings for me, which is an immense shame. If we do end up getting Billie, I hope itās ditched ASAP. I like my Doctors to be, if not necessarily happy and positive, at least not actively cruel and tortured.
Sorry, rant over 
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I didnāt like Rogue 
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thank god come and join me on this floating door
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If I wanted to watch a saccharine and forced romance story, Iād watch one of those TV adaptations of a YA novel. But I actually really donāt want to do that. I appreciate why people liked Rogue but it was not at all for me
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RTD basically lied to everyone, plus makes it up as he goes along plundering his own old scripts.
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While I do agree that some of this was a problem, it is something that has been a problem with other showrunners as well. Amy got exactly the same treatment as you described. It does not excuse it, but it is not an RTD problem that actors get sexualised; it is an industry problem.
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Iāll send you a framed copy of my Rogue piece once I hit the Fifteenth Doctor. Iāll leave it off here because I respect the opinion of Rogue enjoyers and our friends on the site but I have a lot to say about it
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This is so fair and I respect you for saying it.
Initially I thought you meant, like, you were going to slap the Fifteenth Doctor. And I was like, wow, I like him, but, respect.
(Surely that sentence should get a prize for āmost commas per word.ā)
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Oh, I havenāt forgotten the āenigma wrapped in a tight skirtā, although thereās something to be said that Moffat is so unabashedly horny for basically everyone in his era that if wraps back around into being, well, still sexist, but also charmingly deranged. Moffat will, I think, also be one of the first people to tell you that his era and his television in general could be read as sexist.
Russell has shot himself in the foot for me unfortunately because heās spent the past three or four years making a lot of show and noise about inclusivity, positivity, messaging, lots of very big non-diegetic statements about the showās ethos, but then if you take a close read at the way his show is written or produced, the dissonance between what comes from his mouth and his pen are far more jarring, for me at least. Moffat has never felt to me like he was trying to hide or obfuscate who he was, or what the show was under his tenure. He also, I think, reliably hired more writers. RTD2 has been Russellās show entirely, his Flux, if you will, which means there have been a lot more opportunities for him to show us what he feels about it rather than tell us. Quite often, thereās a gulf between those things, and his treatment of his Doctors gets to the heart of that point for me.
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That one specifically is confirmed to have been a Gaiman original to give some credit to Moffat
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As I said in my post, I do think the romance was a bit forced, but Iām willing to overlook it because I think the episode is very enjoyable, and also because it actually makes Fifteen being gay a focus (something which none of his other episodes will ever really do, now). Rogue isnāt a character I particularly enjoy, but I appreciate the story he allows the episode to tell.
One day, if Iām feeling brave, I might make a post about how I donāt really like the LGBT characters and representation in RTDās series compared to some of the rest of the show/expanded media, but Iām feeling too tired to open that particular can of worms today.
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DT suffered a bit from this as well, honestly. Thereās a reason Ten has so many kissing scenes.
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Very well said, and canāt say I disagree with any of it.
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Why am I NOT surprised by this at all.
Stares ruefully at the box of Gaiman that I have deeply complicated feelings about
At least itās not difficult to have uncomplicated feelings about that line, itās one of the worst things the show has ever broadcast
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Really unsurprised in light of the past yearā¦
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I agree that it is good to see unashamed and unambiguous queer stories on DW, and even that it is delightful to see the Doctor themself engaging in that. Rogue just isnāt how I want to see it done. Swipe Right, was to me, a much more successful way of telling a story about the Doctorās queerness without it seeming like a Netflix special about teenagers. Though I appreciate this says more about my loathing for that kind of romance genre than anything else
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I see what you mean, but I think that it is better to try and fail, and I genuinely feel like RTD has tried. It is, in that aspect, a step in the right direction. They may not have been used perfectly, but I have never seen this many trans persons and wheelchair users in a show of this type before, and that is a good thing.
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