case: (Default)
Case ([personal profile] case) wrote in [community profile] fandomsecrets2012-04-15 03:46 pm

[ SECRET POST #1930 ]


⌈ Secret Post #1930 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.


__________________________________________________



12.


__________________________________________________



13.


__________________________________________________



14.


__________________________________________________



15.


__________________________________________________



16.


__________________________________________________



17.


__________________________________________________



18.


__________________________________________________



19.


__________________________________________________



20.


__________________________________________________







Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 110 secrets from Secret Submission Post #276.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

(Anonymous) 2012-04-15 10:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, but that's not the point Anon above was making. It's not "if Moffat had introduced a male character instead of female one". It's talking about the same character, but male. There is no "Moffat wouldn't do that with a male character!" argument. They were just saying about the same character, but male.

And if River was exactly the same but male, I do agree that fans would probably be eating it up.

[identity profile] fenm.livejournal.com 2012-04-15 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
It's talking about the same character, but male.

And I'm saying a male character would not BE the same, for the reasons stated. River, from the beginning, was hinted at having a special, probably romantic/sexual relationship with the Doctor. Moffat would not write a male character to have that same sort of relationship. And thus a lot of things Moffat has written to make the relationship be what he wants it to be would not happen. And thus the character would be very different.

(Anonymous) 2012-04-15 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know about "fans" in general (and could that be more nebulous and presumptive?), but I personally would dislike a male character who waltzes on screen and is instantly declared to be super!important and super!special in every way, who breaks established canon (see, for example, the parking break thing), who bends the Doctor massively out of character (even One was established as disapproving of guns way back around that OK Corral serial with Dodo and Stephen) and so on just as much as I dislike River.

[identity profile] haro.livejournal.com 2012-04-16 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
This.

(Anonymous) 2012-04-16 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
Yes! Exactly! Everything about this.

The character of River, whether male or female or other, personally bugs the crap out of me because the writing for that character comes off as incredibly sloppy and bizarre. She knows more about the TARDIS than the Doctor does! She can pilot it better! She uses a gun! Her clothes are super-gorgeous! *She's* super-gorgeous! She has a ~*mysterious tragic destiny*~ AND a ~*mysterious tragic past*~! She's got James Bond gadgets! She can shoot like Roland Deschain! She has goofy catchphrases! Everybody in the universe is afraid of her, but everyone wants her due to special stuff! She's got a super-mega-badass reputation! Due to random space science, she's also kind of a Time Lord but kind of not, so the Doctor isn't the last one, not really!

It would bug me if a male character in the same series had the same thing going on (in fact, I might roll my eyes even harder if it were a dude).

...although, if I'm totally honest, if River were the star of a totally standalone series, completely uninvolved with Doctor Who, I would probably have loved her. As it is, she just doesn't seem like she *belongs* in Doctor Who, like her character just doesn't fit the atmosphere somehow, and I can't really put my finger on why. She seems like she should be in some kind of futuristic Indiana Jones series instead!

(Anonymous) 2012-04-16 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
I completely agree on her not fitting in with the series (though I don't think I'd like her much on her own, either, unless they fleshed her out a bit and made her personality less reliant on the men in her life). For me, I think it's that she's too violent and 90's-style "gritty", which doesn't fit into the overall theme of Doctor Who. The Doctor has always been very much about finding clever, non-violent solutions, respecting the rights and dignities of all sentient beings, and acting with responsibility and thoughtfulness regardless of the circumstances. River, on the other hand, is uber gung-ho about violence and thinks about others and their rights with roughly the same depth as a tea saucer.

(Anonymous) 2012-04-16 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
All true!

I like a bit of stupid action sometimes, and I can kind of see River (in her hypothetical totally-standalone series) starring in a gleefully mindless and silly adventure series, spouting goofy one-liners and battling transparently evil villains warring over a grand treasure or something. If she were in that kind of a series from the start, I would probably be a huge fan. (I would also love if she teamed up with Cynthia Rothrock to beat up space gangsters or something.)

(And oh, jeez, please don't let the new companion be her daughter, as someone on here a week or two ago theorized. D: dnw)

[identity profile] fenm.livejournal.com 2012-04-16 05:32 am (UTC)(link)
(And oh, jeez, please don't let the new companion be her daughter, as someone on here a week or two ago theorized. D: dnw)

OH GOD THIS.

[identity profile] intrigueing.livejournal.com 2012-04-16 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
...although, if I'm totally honest, if River were the star of a totally standalone series, completely uninvolved with Doctor Who, I would probably have loved her.

*blinks*

You have just reconciled every conflicting feeling I have ever had about my previously incomprehensible and conflicted simultaneous love and dislike of River. THANK YOU.

(Anonymous) 2012-04-16 05:14 am (UTC)(link)
You're quite welcome!