h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

For more of this sort of thing, go here: http://www.nyder.com/stuff/whosqueer.html

Notable that much of the stuff from the old series is defensible as either poor writing, unfortunate costume design or possibly just jokes, whereas all the references in NuWho are deliberate and mostly unambiguous.

>>The End of the World: "Lady" Cassandra explicitly references (a) husbands (b) memories of being a boy.

I try not to think about it, but the episode with Peter Kay and the talking, c*cks*cking paving stone has Elton's house now inhabited by "two women who are a bit... severe".

In Midnight, Sky was getting over the end of what was presumably a marriage, and if not then a jolly serious relationship.

In The Doctor's Daughter two of Donna's (female) friends had a baby "together" by IVF.

Waters of Mars, Yuri's brother has a husband.<<

I'm not seeing three examples there. Where are they? Or are you relying on assumptions like you asked me not to do when looking for gay folk in the older series?

Lady Cassandra is debatable as we don't know if she'd had her sex change before she first got married. If I had a sex change and then married, legally it would be a heterosexual marriage.

Pedantry aside, you've failed to answer my main point: that NuWho is actually a fairly accurate reflection of most people's lives and therefore talk of some shadowy agenda is actually pretty silly.

I've been watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (and John Oliver) religiously since I found out it was available on 4oD - and got stuck into the "Ground Zero Mosque" business; what is clear is there is nothing particularly odd about the protests, which have been going on all over the contiguous USA (sometimes even against actual mosques).

What's more saddening is Beck, having ransacked civil rights history last month, preaches from a nationally syndicated pulpit owned by the same Old One that just gave $1m to the GOP who refuse to back free healthcare *even for the people who responded 9 years ago*. What this tells me is the emblem of the event means everything to them, the people who were there zip. I wonder how those crippled with breathing and other difficulties feel about it. It must make them proud to be American knowing that so many people are so exercised by not wanting taxes raised to help them not die, they go out and march on Washington.

I wondered what a map (of the Rock family tree/JFK nut sort) detailing Murdoch's influences might look like, but I imagine it would be unreadable.

"NuWho is actually a fairly accurate reflection of most people's lives"



Sorry, I do know what you meant. But just read that line again and tell me it's not funny.

"talk of some shadowy agenda is actually pretty silly."

Nobody suggested it was shadowy. It's blatant. And given all the stuff at the other end of that link, I think pretending there isn't an agenda is the silly position.

It's hard to know what to compare it to, so I'll try a short list:

Primeval. A primetime Saturday night family show about time travel with extensive CGI and monsters. Probably the closest comparison possible, given that it's also British and is contemporary with Who. How many gay characters? How many gay background characters? How many jokes about people being gay? How many single-sex couples even mentioned, let alone seen?

Battlestar Galactica: harder to compare as it's American and hardly aimed at a family audience, but it's contemporary sf with a large cast. How many main characters gay? How many supporting characters? (I won't ask about jokes because I've seen every single episode, and one of the defining things about that show was its defiant lack of any sense of humour whatsoever. Seriously - in five years, I can't remember a single funny line.)

I'm struggling now as my geek credentials will shortly be withdrawn on the grounds that I don't watch Fringe, Eureka, Supernatural, Medium, Smallville, Chuck or any of the other major sf franchises.

Put simply, then, can you name one other comparable show (other than Torchwood or the SJA) that has the same "realistic" (by your estimation) level of reference to homosexuality? I don't watch soaps - is there a gay character in Eastenders or Corrie? If not, is there at least a reference to someone or something gay in at least every other episode?

I'm honestly curious, because whatever you may think, Doctor Who IS unusual, and I am very, very far from the only one to notice and say so.

If a gay (or black/asian, in many cases) character turns up in a soap their function in the narrative is often expository. Did you hear the heroin addict on The Archers? "so terribly sorry to bother you at this late hour, but I was wondering if I could steal your stereo." They're more plot devices than people. I really hope Snoop gets his part on Corrie, I'd love to see where they go with that. Drop It Like It's Hotpot, as someone said.

If there's anything to make out of DW it's that you can introduce these things without making it fundamental to the story. If these characters' presence weakened or cheapened the writing then you might have a point, but I honestly don't think you do. The presence of people like Peter Kay and James Corden on the other hand...

Chris makes the same point I would have made (and sooner- if not for a three day weekend and then a bear of a day at the office yesterday, which meant this was the soonest I could get back here). There's no reason why a character's sexual orientation need be fundamental to the story. Unless it's a gay-themed movie.

I read a lot of member reviews on Netflix, where I get my DVD rentals, and every day read a number of negative reviews from people moaning about a gay "agenda" just because there happen to be a few gay characters, some of whom may or may not be married and/or with children. Along the lines of "this would have been a good movie if not for the two lesbians", etc. I don't see these people giving negative reviews to films with straight married people and/or parents. If their issue isn't with the institution of marriage itself, or with raising children, then what's the problem? No reasonable person could possibly justify depriving other people of these things because of their inherent characteristics (black, Asian, gay, short, bald, etc).

Though I do have to laugh at people who rent films from the "Gay and Lesbian" category who then complain about the preponderance of gays in the film.

Incidentally, it's been a rare treat posting a gripe journal- I meant to vent a bit but not necessarily start a serious conversation- and having people discuss in depth. Much nicer than on Ask where people tend to pick fights based on your handle regardless of what you've said.

HI, I see your yikesed post is back. Yay!

Glad to know it wasn't f-k-f. In light of some of my comments, that one would just go off about me being anti-American again.

I'm late, but at least I got here... Not that I've anything much to say.

(And yes, I'm also glad it wasn't f-k-f.)

This post has been removed.

Ah. The PY is back.

Sadly this time I didn't see the comment, so have no idea who it was or what they said.

PC, are you really a mod?

The yikesed post was from Tiggy. I read the ENTIRE post. And I can only think of one thing which could even remotely have been considered in breach of the House Rules- and in context, it was really harmless. I hope Tiggy will re-post it (I think the offending bit was probably the word that rhymes with horse feet).

Apparently there are some posters for whom it's the letter of the law that's applied, as opposed to the spirit of the law. It's who you know- I've reported posts with truly vile swear words and those posts have remained untouched, as long as it's an underline who's posted it.

And unfortunately it seems that at least one PY trawls my journal for posts to yikes. I clearly associate with all the right people.

I read it and it the word that rhymes with 'sit' was posted three times in the last paragraph, so that might have been yikesable.... Although having kept up with this thread, there are at least three other posts that are very borderline for the PY ....

Seem they are more interested in whether I post bu**er, or not, these days... Buggrit!

But the word that rhymes with "sit" pops up all the time and it's allowed. I've even used it myself. Possibly in this thread. Hence my confusion at times- certain words are allowed some of the time but not all the time. Stuff like another word for rooster, a nickname for Richard, and another word for cat- these are allowed and postings upheld. I'd think these examples at least are worse than another word for poop.

But all that aside, I hope a couple edits can be made and the post will come back.

You can say shit as many times as you like. Especially, I should like to think, in reference to the Doctor Who episode "Love and Monsters".

You cannot, apparently, refer to homophobes by saying "they don't like..." and then using a word they'd use. Fair enough. Can't be bothered reposting everything else.

Shit.

In that case, I didn't see anything worthy of a yikes.. Buggrit!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2142/2241955445_7d6cdae8f4.jpg?v=0

What was that? Can't access Flickr (and other sites) from work, and people are forever leaving links without any explanation of what's in them!

Oh, and:

"You can say shit as many times as you like. Especially, I should like to think, in reference to the Doctor Who episode "Love and Monsters"."

Damn skippy.