Category: Education

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.

View the entire presentation

Subscribe to Dr. Welch’s YouTube Channel

Transcript:

Now, I laugh because I think between these two writers, it’s all about heart. It’s all about being interested in the emotions of these characters. That’s what writers do. The best stuff is not about the fancy monsters and the explosions and all that stuff. It’s about watching human beings learn to feel and be comfortable with their feelings. That’s what both of these writers, I think, do very well. Inside the trappings of everything else that they are trying to do, I think that really shows up and, I think, that is the last things I intend to say about the two of them.

“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.”

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.

View the entire presentation

Subscribe to Dr. Welch’s YouTube Channel

Transcript:

Now the other thing I think Steven does a really interesting job of is looking at the world through children’s eyes and treating children as very important creatures. Now, especially in a show originally geared for children. he’s now using the children a major, major characters. Obviously, when we meet Amy Pond, we meet her at the age of 7. We don’t meet her as a grownup. He does that marvelous time travel hopping that no other writer did before. I do believe  Steven plays with the concept of the show much better. He allows this — if you could time travel wouldn’t you go back and tell yourself not to date that jerk? Why would you not use the…really? So he allows his characters to do this, but it’s significant in the very first episode that Matt Smith is introduced to us, he meets Amy as a child and he promises the child that he will take her on a trip around the world and to see the universe. Then, it’s his own miscalculation that he shows back up and she’s already 24 years old, but he plays with the necessary considerations that should be made to children. And I think that is a very interesting aspect of his writing.

“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.”

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.

View the entire presentation

Subscribe to Dr. Welch’s YouTube Channel

Transcript:

Now the other thing I think Steven does a really interesting job of is looking at the world through children’s eyes and treating children as very important creatures. Now, especially in a show originally geared for children. he’s now using the children a major, major characters. Obviously, when we meet Amy Pond, we meet her at the age of 7. We don’t meet her as a grownup. He does that marvelous time travel hopping that no other writer did before. I do believe  Steven plays with the concept of the show much better. He allows this — if you could time travel wouldn’t you go back and tell yourself not to date that jerk? Why would you not use the…really? So he allows his characters to do this, but it’s significant in the very first episode that Matt Smith is introduced to us, he meets Amy as a child and he promises the child that he will take her on a trip around the world and to see the universe. Then, it’s his own miscalculation that he shows back up and she’s already 24 years old, but he plays with the necessary considerations that should be made to children. And I think that is a very interesting aspect of his writing.

“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.”

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.

View the entire presentation

Subscribe to Dr. Welch’s YouTube Channel

Transcript:

The other fable that Steven plays with, rather interestingly, is the concept of the fairytale marriage — the fairytale wedding. First of all, he gives us the first married couple to travel in the TARDIS, which was a really, really, really, really cool thing to provide and it’s a really interesting marriage. We’re going to have Amy. We’re going to have Rory. First of all, what does he call Rory? What’s Rory’s name? Rory Pond. But that’s Amy’s last name. That’s not his last name, but once they get married the Doctor continuously refers to him as Rory Pond and when Rory argues about that he says “Give it up. That’s true. That’s who you are.” And Rory accepts it. You’re right. As a matter of facet it really doesn’t matter who changes their name and why does she have to change her name. It’s a ridiculous old habit. So, that’s one. So Steven has been hit with the idea that he is a misogynist and I see some evidence of that, but then I see this other argument against it and so I find it a very interesting dance that he seems to be playing. But by giving us Rory and Amy, he’s showing us a working marriage where the woman happens to be more dominant than the man. She’s more adventurous. She’s more — they’re of equal intelligence, but really Rory should be smarter than her because he’s trained to be a nurse. She really has no formal training. She didn’t go to college. She had all the crazy stuff happen because she saw the Doctor when she was a little girl. So I think its very interesting the balance that he strikes here and also the fact that Rory is always strong emotionally for Amy and that’s the power that he has in that relationship and that’s Steven Moffat’s of what a real mariage should be. Interestingly enough, he and Sue Vertue, who helped produce these episodes and produces Sherlock with him — that’s his wife. So, they are of equal importance in their particular professional worlds. She has the power to greenlight his work and to make it come to fruition — to protect his work from the network. So he gets the vision he wants. They’re a very important team. So, I tend to see that there is more — oddly enough — feminism in Steven Moffat than is necessarily always recognized. Mostly because of them. 

“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.”

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.

View the entire presentation

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.”

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.

View the entire presentation

Subscribe to Dr. Welch’s YouTube Channel

Transcript:

When we get around to thinking about Stephen Moffat, I think that one of Stephan Moffat’s major themes is he sees the world as a fable — as a story being told in which we are portraying characters that may or may not have control over where our story goes. I have Dickens up here because his quote was “In a utilitarian age, of all other times, it is a matter of grave importance that fairy tales should be respected. Everyone who has considered the subject knows full well that a nation without fancy, without some romance, never did, never can, never will hold a great place under the sun.” So, fairy tales and stories have been very important to civilization across time. And in Moffat’s reign, I believe he shows that. He gives that to us often, often, often.

“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.”

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.

View the entire presentation

Subscribe to Dr. Welch’s YouTube Channel

Transcript:

Now the other thing that we talk about, and we are going to show a few more examples, Davies is very big on feminism. Again, whether that was because as a gay man he didn’t feel that he was included. He certainly knew from his female friends that they didn’t feel that their strengths were being portrayed on television. When he invented Torchwood, he invented Gwen for us and I mentioned this before, Gwen and her husbands, Rhys, Rhys is the guy who stays home and waits for his cop wife to come back from work and worries about whether she’ll end up dead. That is supposed to go the other way around, right? The girl stays home and wonders about her cop husband. That’s not what’s going to happen in Torchwood and it makes Gwen a very powerful character, but this again wasn’t a one time deal for Russell. All through the course of Doctor Who he gave us female starship captains. Much better ones than Star Trek gave us. Star Trek gave us Captain Janeway with her flopping hair. Every time she had something to do she took that ponytail off and did a little flippy thing. That’s not what a — Captain Kirk never flipped his hair. So, even though they made her a female captain, she had these ridiculous attributes. Here, the women we are going to meet Kathleen McConnell is fro “43” the episode “42” and my my particular favorite Adelaide Brooks who is the captain in “Waters of Mars”. Very, very important women. Very powerful women. women in charge of making decisions and saving people’s lives and sacrificing their own sometime in order to do that. These are captains the way we expected to see captains as men and Russell wrote them as female  characters. I think that is so feminism is a huge theme that wanders through Russell Davies work and again, I think that draws a newer, younger audience to him, because we are ready for that. We’re ready to understand that with women in the military all around the world, we don’t need to see, “Oh I’m so worried — please save me!”

“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.”