A short clip from the longer presentation, “Doctor Who Regenerated”
Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal Poly Pomona Faculty from the Department of Interdisciplinary General Education is back by popular demand with a new lecture on Doctor Who and Television!
This time, the Doctor will focus on a deeper look of the themes of the writers behind “Doctor Who.” Above and beyond race and gender, they include social justice and the power of childhood.
Subscribe to Dr. Welch’s YouTube Channel
Transcript:
Stephen Fry. What does he have to do with Doctor Who? He’s never guested on the program. He’s never done anything like that. However, I disagree with him, which is why his picture’s there.
He said, when he described Doctor Who in the media — and he was talking about Doctor Who and Merlin actually — “They’re very good children’s programs — don’t get me wrong — they’re wonderfully written, but they are not for adults.”
And I disagree. I think that Steven (Moffat) disagrees. I think that he believes fairytales and fables have things to teach grownups and so he treats his characters in that fashion. So, as much as I love Stephen (Fry) and all the many things he has done, I disagree. Now, Steven (Moffat) says this to us in almost every one of his episodes. This is when they are discussing “We’ll see you again…”, this is the second appearance of the Weeping Angels. “I’ll see you again when the Pandorica opens.” And the answer from the Doctor is, “That’s a fairytale.” And according to River Song, “Aren’t we all?” That’s a lovely little Ohhhhhh. That’s how I see the world. All of us are part of a story and we have the power to make the story that we want to make. Which I think is Steven’s message. So, we see that often in his work.
“Natalie Lopez at the CalPoly University Library invited me to do a presentation for National Libraries Week on Doctor Who and Culture so that’s why a group of Whovians from both CalPoly and CSUF gathered in the Special Events room on April 16th. It was wonderful to look out over a sea of t-shirts and other Doctor paraphernalia present among the crowd as I pontificated about what makes Who great – mostly giving me a chance to present a case for the fact that writers make Doctor Who and therefore writers make culture.”