Doctor Who is bad at climate change: a video essay

[@hiddnsquiddn598]

Can I just say that I deeply deeply appreciate how good the captioning on both your videos are. KZbin culture being what it is, I'm so not used to good captions on smaller creators videos, you really set yourself apart. Thank you! Please please make more of this you are so thoughtful and your analysis is incredible.

[@aidenmiles2027]

Oh no, this is how I found out there isn't a backlog of vids for me to binge, came straight here from the new Ella Enchanted one

[@tommarshall4561]

This was very interesting - I'm especially glad you went back to stuff like Planet of Giants, showcasing the long history of how the show has engaged on these topics in the first wave of e.g. Rachel Carson/Silent Spring (when people are very quick to assume it's only started dealing with such issues recently). As an aside, love the appreciation for PoG, it's a corker & totally agreed on how well it stands up today. The video's really nicely made too, good choices of clips to go with your words! Definitely agreed that despite quite a strong streak of dabbling its toes in these waters over the decades and playing with themes of apocalypse, dead worlds, pollution, deforestation, etc., the show typically makes fairly shallow/surface-level statements or declarations on the subject, and/or uses them mostly as window dressing. (I think what makes Beast Below so resonant is not so much specificity about the climate crisis but the way the whale acts as almost a floating signifier of multiple intersections of different kinds of oppression - humanity over 'nature', the wealthy over the poor, there's the imperialist/colonialist reading, you could look at it through a Brexit-y lens as well... anyway I digress). And agreed too on the hopelessness of technocratic faith in scientific progress to solve these huge structural problems, as well as on the irritating trap many writers of time-travel stories fall into of essentially sending the message about how it's dangerous to play with history because it might make matters worse, which is always a fundamentally conservative position and implies that the history of the world leading to the present day is somehow The Good Timeline, all the injustices and suffering contained within it just had to be borne - it's all very Pangloss/Candide, "the best of all possible worlds" etc. The thought experiment section of the video was also really good, tackling some questions I've been thinking about for a while in terms of how shows like DW should best intersect with prickly themes relevant to our world and whether it's not best to use fabricated allegory rather than real-life situations - but the implications of using a historical context to show measurable difference and appeal to audiences' sense of what there is to gain are really fascinating, and something I'll think about some more. (Can You Hear Me? from Series 12 is a good comparison with Vincent and the Doctor in terms of how you can tackle the mental health crisis theme in historical and present-day narratives, and discussions over which works more effectively...!) I wrote my Master's on ecocriticism & the Norse concept of Ragnarok compared to the Anthropocene, and I'm hoping to do a second Master's in Environmental Humanities possibly leading to working in this sector, and I've also written a Black Archive critical monograph on Doctor Who so your video is like, the *ideal* intersection of all my interests haha!

[@tessatea333]

really enjoyed this! watched this video after your ella enchanted one and i've subscribed. look forward to watching more of ur video essays :)

[@dominikwedel7658]

same!

[@amitwings]

Same haha

[@tree4407]

I also did this and absolutely loving their essays. Here's to more 🎉

[@jadelequentrec3436]

Your essays are brilliant, full of nuance and great ideas. You analyse like a seasoned veteran, it's hard to believe there are only two videos on your channel. Please keep going, your videos are very interesting, and touching. I look forward to watching more

[@Ghostofthegallow]

Its so ironic that doctor who fans are like "we dont want political ideology in doctor who"..bro did we watch the same show lmao. Its always been very political lmao

[@idle_speculation]

I like how every other episode in the late 80s was dedicated to ripping thatcher apart

[@Kimbie]

I mean, I think it's fair to be blind to it until it's obvious. A lot of these people critiquing the show for this messaging are adults, 20-30 years of age, and grew up with the show. It's fine not to notice it when you're 11, but what's wrong is people pointing this out and being ignored, or trying to argue against it, that 'Moffat was so far beyond thinly veiled political messaging!' or whatever lol

[@boianko]

It's a sort of dog whistle. People who scream "the show became political" are usually just regurgitating the opinions of anti-woke rhetoricians like The Quartering, Nerdrotic and their ilk. It doesn't matter how political a piece of media is, if it's successful and well-regarded it isn't "shoving the politics down your throat" so it escapes this criticism.

[@eleonorepb4565]

Are they really fans ?

[@ummdustry5718]

5:10 interestingly the mannequins are a returning classic who monster. The "point" in their debut was that human action attracted alien interests. That could be twisted into a climate message if I had three hours to spare and a media studies degree.

[@Kdkdleeme]

2:50 “you’ll know that the shows time travel lore is about as logical and consistent as flat earth science” HAH! I subscribed 😭

[@funlover163]

Heck even the first Dalek episode is that they nuked their planet so bad they had to wear protective suits (the pepper pots)😊 to protect against it.

[@sumanoskae]

Asserting that one shouldn't discuss climate change because doing so is hypocritical smacks of irrational puritanism. Climate change doesn’t go away when you stop looking at it. This perspective seems to imply that you ought to be more concerned with being internally consistent than anything else. That you should just do and say nothing about an existential threat to maintain a psychotic standard of integrity. It's a train of thought so profoundly asinine that I struggle to believe it. It is, I think, merely a justification for turning your brain off and pretending climate change isn’t a threat. The animosity comes from how the show interrupts a false peace.

[@DahliaRose1585]

This is a brilliant video! I am so glad I found it. I really appreciate how you touched on technocentrism and faith in development of new technologies that will save us, and how this is not always helpful. This is one of the hardest things to communicate with people - that maybe the technology we have now isn't ideal, but it's a start. I find this especially applicable in the context of renewable energy - solar panels and wind turbines are not perfect, and in fact have many issues, but if we can start making our power grid use renewables, if and when new technologies appear, we will have a baseline to work from. Even more, as we try and fix the flaws in our current technology through its use, we are likely to find what we need. I also love your points about relating the past climate communication. That's one of my main thoughts about overconsumption - if things were made to last and people had the skills to maintain and repair it, as used to be more common, would we have as much as we do? I mostly discuss this in terms of clothing and quality goods (natural fibres vs synthetics, and wood/metals vs plastic) but it often gets people to think a bit. I've never thought of how the Van Gough episode frames the past to evoke empathy, but it is a brilliant point - especially in how fiction relates to emotions. I love it!

[@CroftyContentions]

Yes returning to the past to deal with overconsumption can be really helpful. I've loved seeing people interested in contemporary sustainable fashion movements return to historic 'make do and mend' rationing systems for inspiration

[@gaymiens]

as an australian, your comment hit hard. our next federal election is coming up and one of the largest issues of contention between our hardline right wing Liberal party and our centrist Labor party is regarding nuclear power vs renewables. the Liberals (under dutton) promise that our country could be nuclear powered in ~30 years, and thinks renewables are a waste of time (so we should just keep using coal and gas until then). the labor party is still kind of in the pocket of coal and gas but has proposed a renewables plan, because australia has no existing nuclear infrastructure to speak of, and we have every advantage in the world when it comes to solar and wind. but Liberal supporters have that attitude you mentioned of "but renewables aren't perfect so why bother"

[@LibraryLateFees]

This was a great dive into Doctor Who's politics and general discussion of the urgency of climate change. Thanks for this.

[@tommarshall4561]

I'll stick up for Orphan 55 a little bit here, not as an episode of television that I think is good or well-made or effective (it absolutely, demonstrably isn't) - but I am rather fond of the episode's writer Ed Hime, who's also an animal rights campaigner and climate change activist (he was arrested for XR activity in 2019, when he was writing the episode), and I think he generally does good work elsewhere (personally I rate his S11 episode as one of Whittaker's best, I think he has a distinctly weird energy to the stuff his brain puts it and I'm here for it) ... but this particular one suffered hugely from showrunner rewrites (sigh) and a total disaster of a production block under that particular director (lots of practical issues with CG/prosthetics etc) that led to a whole bunch of rewriting on the fly. I can still see in the ep the germ of the original good content that could've, should've, made it to air - especially the juxtaposition of luxury and wasteland, which is stark and powerful, and the idea that worlds end up like this because of the rich (as is alluded to in dialogue - it's just not dwelt on enough). But sadly, whatever nuance Hime could normally bring to things gets stamped out in the very 'children's TV presenter' vibes of, e.g. the final speech.

[@yurisei6732]

Good people can be bad artists, and it's OK to acknowledge that.

[@merryharrypop]

absolutely! there are pieces of a puzzle here that are great. it mirrors holiday spots like in Hawaii, where the indigenous people are living completely separate lives from the luxury experienced in the resorts, with water shortages and pollution. the circumstance of being locked in an air tight room with something that breathes in what you breathe out, so if either of you kill the other, you’re both dead, is brilliant, and reflects humanity situation on earth. If we destroy the planet, it’ll kill us, if the planet kills us through natural disaster then that’s it, literally no sentient intelligent anywhere, in the known universe, that will cease to exist, but big oil and capitalistic greed do not care. but you’re right, something that could have been tense and thought provoking, ended up being a powerpoint presentation at the end of an educational cbeebies show

[@yurisei6732]

I agree, but also I've never seen a *good* climate change allegory. I don't think it's bad writing, that doesn't explain them all being bad. I think it's better explained by excessive melodrama. A story about climate change is always some patronising "look at how the humans destroyed themselves in their hubris" thing. The consequence of not mitigating climate change is that Earth becomes an uninhabitable wasteland. That's a huge exaggeration of the reality of climate change though, to the point that even the regular pro-environmentalism viewer can't help but roll their eyes. Real climate change isn't ever going to feel like the big, world-ending issue. Climate change is the hand in the shadows, it manifests as social and economic problems like mass migration and rising energy costs, not sudden snowball earth or global vitrification. It's the slow persistent damage of radiation-induced chronic inflammation, not the nuclear apocalypse; but people don't want to write stories about invisible decay, they want to write stories about nukes, because nukes are more dramatic. A good story about climate change would reflect that. It would be a story about a different issue, like the exciting melancholy of a cyberpunk city, or a world on the brink of war, except where you can't help but feel like there's something mysterious making the problem worse than it should be.

[@tomfoolery-4444]

And yet Doctor Who participates in society. Curious!

[@prosperpascoe]

I am very intelligent

[@captv334]

I just discovered your channel and girll i can't wait for you to upload more videos

[@TheRedCreeperTRC]

Great video, much to think about. I hadn't originally thought of writing about the climate for my Doctor Who stories, but I will see if I can find something to say about it. Thank you 🙏

[@tauIrrydah]

The problem is always studio interference; someone said we need to either softpeadle this to not appear to preachy(and then overreached and screwed it up), OR someone said we need to downplay this and not go to hard to tick off the fossil fuel companies that fund the BBC(and thus half-arsed the entire script).

[@n_art_cissist]

The Vincent video stuck with me as a suicidal youth at the time of airing, my life is still full of downs and suicidal ideation but that doesn’t take away from the ups either, that doesn’t mean I don’t deserve to have joy now

[@eldrago19]

I think another issue is that Orphan 55 is overly pessimistic in that it shows a future when we are doomed. In Planet of the Giants, the problem is ultimately solved. I think people are more inspired by optimistic stories though these can be harder to write.

[@nicoleallen266]

Great video! Can't wait to see more!

[@goodsirminnow]

Please make more videos!

[@rodymoreira7783]

Your video is incredible. ❤ Love from Brazil to you.

[@lawrencemichalski4578]

This was one of the best essays i have ever seen. Your understanding of the source material is so valuable because i have never seen someone explain its themes and formula. Please. Keep going with this.

[@phenomadology23]

This is so good, thank you.

[@tauIrrydah]

You could set a climate change episode in the bronze age when the scottish highlands were deforested for cattle grazing... and throw in some aliens or something.

[@smelly1060]

If doctor who is sci-fi Dune is a documentary

[@CRYSTAL_CUSTOMS]

How isn't it sci fi?

[@Ninjaforrver]

11:23 I do know of a sci fi that did this for one of its arcs. The manga for Cyborg 009. It came out in the 1960s originally but it has the main hero team, work with the Vietcong. Right down to even going into their tunnels. 60s sci fi was just build different I guess. XD (fair warning if you do decide to look this up there is blackface in it but as far as I can tell this was more due to the creator’s ignorance than malicious intent. Not that it excuses it just providing context)

[@wriewygs7022]

Great job with this and the other essay on Ella Enchanted! We will be watching your career with great interest

[@mizoik9893]

I've unintentionally have set my fictional sci-fi story in such a way that the story happens in far future but the environmental disaster has already happened, it's the past of my story, even tho the story is in a the future and in an alien world

[@unrealisticallynerdy8837]

10/10

[@tauIrrydah]

Although, you can absolutely rip the new Dune movies a new one if you like for completely deplatforming Herberts ecological messaging.

[@dominikwedel7658]

Doctor Who isn't scifi. It's fantasy in space. Not the same thing.

[@arbyswitch5580]

Doctor Who is absolutely sci-fi, how do you figure that it isn't?

[@dominikwedel7658]

@@arbyswitch5580 if your answer to plot holes is "eh, timey wimey" then you're either watching fantasy in space, or possibly studying quantum mechanics. 2nd argument: Dinosaurs on a space ship. I say this with pure love and affection, I've never met a time lord I wasn't in love with

[@arbyswitch5580]

@@dominikwedel7658 ok yeah I hear you

[@plows2940]

Eh, depends on the episode and specific era of the show. Doctor Who has been a lot of things - some stories are more rooted in traditional Sci-Fi concepts than others. I’d say, especially in the recent series, it could be considered Science Fantasy rather than strictly Sci-Fi.

[@KateeAngel]

​@@arbyswitch5580 only hard sci-fi should be called sci-fi, because people nowadays tend to take ideas from sci-fi way too seriously.