Women of Doctor Who celebration post

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

I was intending for my halfamoon contribution to be a post about the women in Doctor Who – and very quickly realised that could get very long and unwieldy, because the Doctor Who universe is not only enormous (thirty seasons and counting if you stick to the TV stuff alone; there are many hundreds of novels, comics and full-cast audio dramas) but it’s also got a ton of female characters who I adore, from bit-part characters with a few lines in a single episode to companions who spent years on the TARDIS.

The best way to go seemed to be a love thread/celebration thread, of a type I’ve done before for the companions. This time it’s a post about all the women of the Doctor Who universe, companions or not, from the classic series, new series, the ‘middle school’ books/audios/comics stuff, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures. It’s going to work in the same way as the post linked above: leave a comment with a character in the subject line, and people can respond with what they love about that character, their best moments or quotes, fic recs, drabbles, picspam, relevant links, or anything else. Any female character’s fine, though if it’s a minor character you might want to add the relevant episode title to the subject, especially if they share a name (I’m happy to squee over both Jenny from The Doctor’s Daughter and Jenny from Human Nature but we need to know which is which).

I’ll add a list of links to threads as they appear. I don’t want to dictate a bunch of rules for this, but it should go without saying this is meant to be a fun, positive thing on a comm that’s about celebrating women, so keep that in mind (“I love Mel, I don’t know why so many people hate her!” is a rhetorical statement, not a request for more information) and try not to passive-aggressively slam other characters while loving on your own (the difference between “Donna’s brilliant, I loved having a slightly older companion” and “Donna’s brilliant; finally, a companion who’s not a simpering schoolgirl”).

And… go!

New Who

Astrid Peth
Donna Noble
Jackie Tyler
Martha Jones
Rose Tyler
Reinette/Madame de Pompadour

Classic Who

Ace McShane
Barbara Wright
Dodo Chaplet
Jo Grant
Leela
Liz Shaw
Mel Bush
Nyssa
Peri Brown
Polly Wright
Romana I
Romana II
Susan Foreman
Tegan Jovanka
Victoria Waterfield
Zoe Heriot
Professor Amelia Rumford

Torchwood

Gwen Cooper
Suzie Costello
Toshiko Sato

SJA

Sarah Jane Smith
Maria Jackson
Rani Chandra

Non-TV media

Alison Cheney
Anji Kapoor
Benny Summerfield
Charley Pollard
Erimem
Evelyn Smythe
Izzy Sinclair

Comments

Gwen Cooper

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

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Re: Gwen Cooper

[selenak.livejournal.com]

The icon reminds me that I watched the teaser of Something Borrowed and realized I loved both Gwen Cooper and Eve Myles. (Who has superb comic timing in that one and sells the serious stuff as well.) Gwen's a terrier, won't give up once she has sunk her teeth into something, brave, occasionally selfish, the opposite of passive/aggressive, whatever that is (active/in-your-face?). A very real character with flaws and strengths. Someone to argue with (the Gwen/Rhys arguments are some of the most realistic couple arguments I've seen on screen) and count on when the situation is dire.

Re: Gwen Cooper

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

On the almost certainly inevitable day when Gareth David-Lloyd quits acting to concentrate on his band and John Barrowman is given his own All Barrowman All the Time channel, I'll totally still watch the Torchwood comedy-action spinoff where Gwen juggles keeping Cardiff safe on her alien-fighting dayjob and her fraught but entertaining personal life. Oh Gwen, I do love you and your comedic faces and your GUN IN A WEDDING BOUQUET. <3

Re: Gwen Cooper

[magicallaw.livejournal.com]

I love how normal she is. She does this amazing thing in saving the world day after day, yet she craves this normal life with Rhys; she fights for it. I so want to have a pint with Gwen Cooper.

Re: Gwen Cooper

[azarsuerte.livejournal.com]

Gwen is compassionate, tough, snarky, adorable, smart...but most importantly, she's flawed. She is one of the best characters on television BECAUSE she screws up royally sometimes, and doesn't always apologize for it or fix things when she does. That and the fact that she's not a perfect, airbrushed Hollywood beauty are what make her feel like a real, flesh-and-blood woman instead of a transparent male fantasy like a lot of the female characters in sci-fi.

If Gwen didn't make me hate her a little every once in a while, I wouldn't love her half as much as I do.

Re: Gwen Cooper

[used_songs]

Gwen has really grown on me as a character, her tenacity and her courage and her all-to-human failings. Plus, Eve Myles is amazing and really funny! I loved "Something Borrowed" when Gwen proved that even pregnant with an alien and in a wedding dress she could kick ass.

Re: Gwen Cooper

[drho.livejournal.com]

I love Gwen. She struggles to resolve the conflict between her ideals and Torchwood's reality, but she's good in a crisis, persistent in her investigations, and perseveres in her personal relationships.