I had a read through this and through the comments - brief response? You've got lots of people telling you how good it was. Here's a gay person, since you seem to reserve critique of RTD's position on gay relationships to other gay people, telling you how strongly I disagree with you. I think you're attributing a lot more thought and careful planning to the story arc than was really there. Doesn't work for me because the story, in CoE and over the whole series, just isn't that well constructed IMO. So many inconsistencies, so many plotholes have to be brushed over in order to make your argument. Series 1, for example, in my view hangs together much more as a version of the Jesus myth, from gathering the disciples to temptation, death, resurrection and ascension.
The message I get from CoE, beyond the clichés that politicians are self-serving scum and only the working-class can be trusted, is that gay relationships fundamentally aren't worth as much as straight relationships, that gay men in particular shouldn't be allowed around children, and that RTD gets off on torturing his heroes. Do I think RTD himself holds these beliefs? No,though I will say he doesn't have a great track record of writing healthy gay relationships. I see CoE as a deliberate and successful effort to make TW more "mainstream" which means among other things heteronormative, and overall to get rid of the sex in favour of violence and political intrigue. Certainly many of the people who didn't like TW before and liked CoE have been quite clear in saying that's why it's better. They see CoE not as a continuation or fulfillment of the first 2 series, but as an apology for and repair of those series.
Well, this was going to be a brief response but it isn't. The question of where Captain Jack and TW go from here remains open, officially. Any future appearance in Doctor Who, we're told, will make no reference to CoE, and we've had no official word as to whether TW will continue or in what form. I experienced CoE as "burning down the show", destroying quite literally the cast and set and premise of TW either so that it couldn't continue or so that something completely different and much less innovative but more commercial could be built in its place.
Lastly - the "Still my hero" icon - was originally made for me, and I continue to be surprised by how far it's spread.
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The message I get from CoE, beyond the clichés that politicians are self-serving scum and only the working-class can be trusted, is that gay relationships fundamentally aren't worth as much as straight relationships, that gay men in particular shouldn't be allowed around children, and that RTD gets off on torturing his heroes. Do I think RTD himself holds these beliefs? No,though I will say he doesn't have a great track record of writing healthy gay relationships. I see CoE as a deliberate and successful effort to make TW more "mainstream" which means among other things heteronormative, and overall to get rid of the sex in favour of violence and political intrigue. Certainly many of the people who didn't like TW before and liked CoE have been quite clear in saying that's why it's better. They see CoE not as a continuation or fulfillment of the first 2 series, but as an apology for and repair of those series.
Well, this was going to be a brief response but it isn't. The question of where Captain Jack and TW go from here remains open, officially. Any future appearance in Doctor Who, we're told, will make no reference to CoE, and we've had no official word as to whether TW will continue or in what form. I experienced CoE as "burning down the show", destroying quite literally the cast and set and premise of TW either so that it couldn't continue or so that something completely different and much less innovative but more commercial could be built in its place.
Lastly - the "Still my hero" icon - was originally made for me, and I continue to be surprised by how far it's spread.