‘There are no Asian actors, so we have to fill the roles with white people’ is very much one of these self fulfilling things. If you fill all the roles with white people, naturally there won’t be any Asian actors available…
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Well Flip-Flop is somehow accidently antisemitic, at least according to the writer, Jonathan Morris.
No clue how that ended up happening.
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Sometimes you can be too close to something to spot it and then when you step away or someone points it out, it’s suddenly much clearer.
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Might as well bring up “The Power of Kroll” while we’re listing off these episodes…
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Very true. I was thinking more along the lines of, if you intimidate Asian actors out of joining the profession and keep them financially oppressed and thus less likely to join the creative industries, naturally there won’t be any Asian actors available.
I think it goes along with the larger shift in fandom, as also seen in the escalation of affection for s17. For a long time, Who fandom was populated disproportionately by people who grew up during those years, hence why they thought Tom Baker was the best Doctor, Philip Hinchcliffe was the best producer, Sarah and Leela were the best companions, and so on. (Of course, Tom was the best Doctor, and Philip was the best producer, but the point stands.)
I actually just watched a featurette on Graham Williams’ era in which a former DWAS president suggested that part of why DWAS members were hostile to Graham’s and especially Douglas Adams’ lighter approach was that DWAS originally advertised in a horror magazine, so their member base was heavily skewed toward horror fans. Which is a related but distinct phenomenon.
As fandom has expanded, more people with different tastes are encountering those stories, diluting the influence of the section of fandom that loves them. And expanding the influence of millennials, who are more social justice-minded when it comes to fandom.
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Absolutely (except the last point. 
I’ll never get on board with Tom in pole position). I have long rallied against the received wisdom that fandom has had to battle against because the ‘rules’ of how to like Doctor Who were laid down by a select group of people in the late 70s and 80s - people who had a hugely selective memory we have discovered now all of Doctor Who is at our fingertips.
Indeed, but it is those social justice-minded fans who I think need to be slightly more humble in their declarations and remember that, as I say, in 50 years time a new generation will be condescending them for their values and attitudes. I consider myself pretty open-minded for Generation X but my kids who are both Generation Z think I’m a dinosaur already!
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Oh, he’s not my favorite Doctor, but I acknowledge that he is the Doctor.
JNT was 100% right when he said “the memory lies,” and I think it’s so funny/revealing that people got angry about that. (Including Ian Levine, who had worked for him!) But I’m now off topic…
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No idea what’s wrong with The Power of Kroll?
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The nearly naked Swampies that worship a giant squid and sacrifice people to it are kinda problematic?
Not a particularly great serial, either…
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I mean, both Castrovalva and to a greater extent Kinda use the aesthetics of “primitives” that definitely borrow from non-white cultures and some of the Kinda come awfully close to brown face with the bronzer some of them have on. Even tho Kinda is a critique of colonialism, it doesn’t mean it’s exempt from enacting racist tropes.
So out of a total of 7 stories, 4 of them are known to employ racist tropes which is more than half. I’d qualify that as “chock full”
I’m not writing off s19 as irredeemable garbage or whatever, but it’s important to acknowledge the problematic elements, not downplay or handwave them off etc
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Okay, so not a discussion about the Toymaker in The Giggle, then. Different ball-dropping altogether.
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Generally speaking (not only regarding Doctor Who), sometimes characters in stories do things I find wrong or even abhor. Sometimes they are not the villains of the story. Sometimes that is clearly intentional to make me think. Sometimes these are therefore good stories, and at the same time, I sometimes really do not like them.
Sometimes a story is progressive (or at least well-meaning) for its production time and years later is seen as impossible or best to be canceled. Personally, in these cases, I prefer the practice of putting a disclaimer in front of a film, episode, or book explaining why it’s problematic, giving me the opportunity to come to my own conclusions. And, yeah, there are stories so out of sync with my values I actually would not read/listen to/watch.
Sometimes I think , upon meta-reading what they did, a writer of a story just dropped the ball. Sometimes they did what they intended to do, and it’s just that I, with my different set of values, find it awful.
Sometimes…
I guess for me it comes down to my way of seeing stories. Of course, I enjoy stories that reflect my own worldviews / are in sync with my mindset. Consuming these stories is pleasant.
At the same time, nothing new is learned by getting one’s worldview confirmed. So I try to get a good mix of stories. More of the kind where I just like how the characters act (or at least unpleasant characters lose in the end). But also some I disagree strongly with, to challenge myself and grow in my thinking (if only to be better able to articulate my own view of the world). In this regard I think Doctor Who is in itself a good mix / fit.
Well, a long-winded way of saying it’s complex and relative, and it’s good that it is complex and relative because that’s the reason stories allow us to explore the possibilities of the world and grow without actually having to live through the (awful) experiences ourselves.
Just my 5 cents.
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Now I’m a bit curious because I can’t see any problem here.
The Swampies were forcibly removed from their home planet and are clinging on to their culture and their ancestors’ ways - I always thought that that was a very good backstory for a suppressed society.
And the squids were brought with them from their planet and suddenly one grows to that size? I’d consider forming a religion right then and there as well 
They are a different culture, maybe loincloths are the hight of fashion
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Interesting points but definitely not ones I agree with in terms of Castrovalva or Kinda.
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It wasn’t Doctor Who that dropped the ball, though, it was the Toymaker.
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