this is really great and thorough thank you!

unwillingadventurer:

jamisings:

Okay, while I love the First Doctor all of you going on and on about how Moffat “made” him sexist obviously either have never seen a full episode or you’re looking at him through rose colored glasses.

The First Doctor once threatened to spank Susan in the exact same manner he threatened to spank Bill.

The First Doctor did expect women to clean up after him – as shown by how he treated one of the 5th Doctor’s companions.

The First Doctor was created and written in the 1960s when casual sexism was “more acceptable.” (It really wasn’t but people tend to view it that way.) If you go back and actually watch the episodes that survived you’re going to find WAY more sexism than you want to believe.

So, Moffat didn’t “make” the First Doctor sexist, he just made the first Doctor’s sexism more in your face.

We have seen every episode of the First Doctor countless times, including every single recon and we’re pretty sure we’ve been paying attention and not actually been asleep during them. We also aren’t looking at him through rose tinted glasses as we have no loyalty to that era or nostalgic bias having only discovered it in 2010. Our defence of One comes from the butchering of his character to make modern writers seem ‘better’ in comparison. Seriously, One said more sexist lines in that one Christmas episode than his entire three years in the 60′s which is like 130 episodes where we weren’t cringing at how sexist he was.

Yes, he did say to Susan about the smacked bottom but don’t know how you can say its the same. Susan caused a mess, is his granddaughter, and the whole point of that story is that he hasn’t realised she is a woman and not a child anymore. He says something silly that a grandparent might say to someone they still believe is a child. Bill is a grown woman who the Doctor has known for barely any time, he eavesdropped her conversation, told her what to do and threatened to smack her bottom. The Doctor didn’t go around telling Barbara or Sara or the astronaut Carol he was going to smack their bottoms.

No, the First Doctor never went around telling women to clear up after him. That line to Tegan was written in the 80′s and was yet another ‘haha sexist 60′s’ mis-characterisation of One in another multi-doctor special. Yep, we’ve watched every First Doctor episode, never once did he ask someone to clean after him and especially not act as though that was all they travelled with him for! He valued and respected all the women who travelled with him. Evidence for that is in every damn story. (except the first because he’s an alien arsehole before his character development). And that’s another thing the Xmas special was One at the end of his era so he’s the best he should be then.

Yes the First Doctor was created and written in the 60′s (largely overseen by the show’s only ever female head btw) and yes, casual sexism existed and yes once or twice it might have cropped up in scripts but not in the Doctor’s mouth and really compared to other shows of the time it really wasn’t anything terrible. Sexism was actively cut from early era scripts, there’s evidence of it, one by Hartnell himself because he hated a line about women cleaning! And today’s Doctor Who episodes are far from perfect in this regard but does that mean in years down the line Twelve should be mis-characterised to say that the 2010′s were not perfect?

If you go back and watch the episodes that survive which is more than are actually missing then you’ll actually find very little of what you’re suggesting. We’ve watched most of Doctor Who and the First era is one we find the least worrying in terms of sexism. We aren’t pretending it doesn’t exist, for the most part it isn’t there and it certainly isn’t a Doctor proclaiming women are made of glass. If we think something’s sexist we’re aware of it and we’ve seen countless films and TV of the era that highlight this well. This era was much more progressive than its given credit for with extremely well rounded female characters and a complex Doctor who was not simply a walking talking sexist caricature.

So, no Moffat DID make the First Doctor sexist. He did it for cheap laughs because it didn’t even have any social commentary anyway. He did it to say ‘hey look how old the show is and how cool we are now and how look next Doctor is a woman.’ He used the First Doctor as a mouthpiece for what he thinks the 60′s is like which makes no sense seeing as the Doctor is a time travelling alien not a 60′s dude with a pipe and slippers. If he wanted to make a statement he could have used the captain to spew all the sexism. No, he wanted the Doctor to do it because lolz old men being sexist is hilarious and what better than shift the focus from his own Doctor’s and eras sexism?

The First Doctor was written in a time when attitudes were different but to write him wrong and out of character is a disservice to the character and the actor and the writers and creators who made this programme that we’re still watching today. The First Doctor returning should have been a fun meeting between two Doctors instead it was cringe-worthy, wrong and embarrassing. And what for? Some random dialogue that wasn’t funny?

But guess we don’t know anything about the First Doctor era. Suppose we should re-watch it for the 100th time and find out what we missed!