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Lalwendë · 07-16-2007, 02:19 PM

Now this has got me to thinking about Doctor Who again...there's a family show aired on Saturday at tea-time, on the BBC, and so obviously it must not offend at all costs. Yet it must also have the ability to scare the pants off the viewers and send them scurrying behind the settee. The creators of Doctor Who, specifically Terry Nation, pulled this off in great style by creating the Daleks and the Cybermen.

Both are sexless, ageless, classless, raceless (etc) enemies. In fact their very difference from everything we take as 'human' (emotion, warmth, etc) makes them even more frightening. I think it was in the second of the new series of Doctor Who when the Cybermen first rise again in the parallel world, they have a little speech about how they will 'upgrade' humanity and that if all humans become Cybermen they will forever be free of social divisions such as race, gender and poverty. It was quite chilling - like Political Correctness taken to an absolute and absurd extreme. Of course then there are also the Daleks who don't even have a humanoid form to make them that bit more alienating.

I think Tolkien pulls this off in his own way by portraying Orcs in the main as this mass of dehumanised beings - certainly in his battles. Yet he plays with our heads by then showing us Orcs chatting about retirement - and they do similar things in Doctor Who, trying to make us feel emotional about the remnants of humanity in a dying Cyberman or showing a lone Dalek's feelings. Is that 'messing with your head' bit an essential?

07-16-2007, 02:19 PM	#27
Lalwendë A Mere Boggart Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: under the bed Posts: 4,737	Now this has got me to thinking about Doctor Who again...there's a family show aired on Saturday at tea-time, on the BBC, and so obviously it must not offend at all costs. Yet it must also have the ability to scare the pants off the viewers and send them scurrying behind the settee. The creators of Doctor Who, specifically Terry Nation, pulled this off in great style by creating the Daleks and the Cybermen. Both are sexless, ageless, classless, raceless (etc) enemies. In fact their very difference from everything we take as 'human' (emotion, warmth, etc) makes them even more frightening. I think it was in the second of the new series of Doctor Who when the Cybermen first rise again in the parallel world, they have a little speech about how they will 'upgrade' humanity and that if all humans become Cybermen they will forever be free of social divisions such as race, gender and poverty. It was quite chilling - like Political Correctness taken to an absolute and absurd extreme. Of course then there are also the Daleks who don't even have a humanoid form to make them that bit more alienating. I think Tolkien pulls this off in his own way by portraying Orcs in the main as this mass of dehumanised beings - certainly in his battles. Yet he plays with our heads by then showing us Orcs chatting about retirement - and they do similar things in Doctor Who, trying to make us feel emotional about the remnants of humanity in a dying Cyberman or showing a lone Dalek's feelings. Is that 'messing with your head' bit an essential? __________________ Gordon's alive!