Full Description
Throughout the long running BBC series Doctor Who, the Doctor has rarely been alone, traveling with both female and male "companions." The companion is essential to Doctor Who because he or she is a stand-in for the audience, providing information about the Doctor's ongoing adventures. With the casting of a female actor in the role of the Doctor in 2018, one criticism of the series was finally resolved. After the shift in gender identity, the role of the Doctor and the companion also shifted--or has it? The continued focus on romantic relations between the TARDIS occupants has led to complaints from both male and female fans, reiterating and reinforcing myriad criticisms about the portrayal of the female companions. Essays in this book consider how gender is presented in Doctor Who and how certain female companions have been able to break out of the gendered roles usually assigned to them through the classic and new series.
Contents
Table of Contents
Preface—"Traveling" in the Time of Covid: Tenacious, Addlepated, Rumbustical, Daunting, Insuperable, Stupefying
Sherry Ginn and Gillian I. Leitch
Introduction—Boldly Going Where No Doctor Had Gone Before ... Until Thirteen
Sherry Ginn and Gillian I. Leitch
Who Says the Doctor Ever Had a Penis?
Caroline-Isabelle Caron
"Come on, Ace! We've got work to do": The Development of the Modern Companion on Doctor
Michael G. Robinson
Femininity and Indigeneity: Leela in Doctor
Gillian I. Leitch
"Give me some of that Nitro-9 you're not carrying": Ace as an Intuitive Anarcha-Feminist in the Cartmel
Lynne M. Thomas
Reclaiming Her Agency: The Life and Times of Dr. Martha Jones
Sherry Ginn
"Is that really what we've learned today?" Revising Clara Oswald on Doctor
Heather M. McHale
The "Other" Women in the Whoniverse: The Social Significance of Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Bill Potts
Lynnette Porter
Hope Persists: Overcoming Trauma as Thirteen, the Doctor of Hope
Pamela Achenbach
"Are you my mummy?" Mothering Monsters and the Contradictions of Motherhood in Doctor
Zara T. Wilkinson
Filmography
About the Contributors
Index
