SCIENCE FICTION TV SERIES

Science Fiction TV Series

Science Fiction TV Series

Introduction

“In a 1999 British Film Institute poll of television critics and professionals, Doctor Who was voted the third-best British television programme of all time” (Chapman, 2006 1). At its 2005 launch, the remade Doctor Who garnered massive viewer ship, averaging 8 million viewers during its Saturday evening tea time (7 p.m.) slot, constantly beating out what other stations like ITV have to offer (Chapman, 2006 187), and it continues to draw record audiences. Running originally from 1963 to 1989, the show managed to become an institution of British life created by the worlds largest and Great Britain's most “culturally influential institution,” BBC 1 (Tulloch and Alvarado, 1995 1).

In a world with declining roles of territory, monarchy and personal relationships in defining nationality, the “quintessential cultural product,” (Appadurai 161) such as Doctor Who, creates a sense of Britishness that may be more influential than many state institutions. Doctor Who is also one of Britain's most popular shows in worldwide syndication, and perhaps this is why the show has worked so hard to maintain its version of British identity. Of the many visual signifiers of Britishness, perhaps the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space and the Doctor's time travelling device/spaceship) is most so. So with so much of British identity tied up into this cultural product, what does it mean when, for the first time, the series gains an openly queer companion?

Discussion

This paper shows how, within the genre of science fiction, the politics of sexuality, and the history of British television, the singular event of queering Doctor Who ultimately matters. I begin defining science fiction and explore how this important part of modern discourse is unfairly dismissed as paraliterary. I will then attempt to put the new series into context with a brief history of Doctor Who, focusing mainly on how it was first created, how the new series came about in 2005, and the role of Russel T Davies in its resurrection. The largest portion of this cultural exploration will be a textual analysis of three episodes of the new series. First, I examine subversive gender classifications in “The Long Game” as a precursor to the more extraordinary two-episode story arc of “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances.” These episodes introduce several layers of sexual discourse in a way that works in a “family” show. Finishing the textual analysis, I will talk about how our queer hero, Captain Jack, has transformed the series. Finally, I will attempt to examine the audiences for Doctor Who and judge its influence on the legitimacy of science fiction, sexual discourse and international culture.

Textual and Contextual Analysis Science Fiction

The definitions of science fiction are varied and complex. According to (insert definition story here). For example, when I last helped host a panel about ethics in science fiction at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, a discussion about the distinction between fantasy and science fiction became heated and prolonged with no real ...