I have so little faith in Chibnall (and the values of modern Doctor Who) that it's hard for me to see this as anything but a stunt. If the show genuinely explores how a different gender might change perceptions of the Doctor and alter the patriarchal dynamic that the Doctor has always had with the universe, then…

When Who came back in 2005 and Paul Cornell was listed as writing an episode, I looked eagerly for signs that Marc Platt might be connected in some way. Now, the thought that he hasn't been gives me a perverse pride. In twelve years, even when the original series was at its most conservative, it would have…

I'm with you 100%. I will forever be stuck with the brand of a regressive old Who fan because of my disappointment with the new series, but I swear I have reasons unrelated to nostalgia. I root constantly for New Who to really reclaim the wide-eyed worship of wonder from the original. For me, the signature of New…

Carmen Sandiego is great; we don't have to take the text's word that she's a "smart girl." She is demonstrably always one step ahead of the player. A worthy adversary and opposite. Sex never even enters into it.

I agree that it's kind of an intractable problem, especially in Bayonetta's case. If Bayonetta had any other capabilities, it would destroy the game, which is telling.

Okay, so something that has always bothered me about many "kick ass" female characters is how violence has become their method of empowerment. Doesn't that presume that the way to "empower" women is to give them a stereotypically masculine characteristic? As in, "we can solve this problem by making this idealized…

I love following the careers of TV stable scriptwriters as they make their way from one show to another, often crossing and recrossing each others' paths in unexpected ways. René Echevarria's episodes for Deep Space Nine were some of the first that made me pause a show and say to myself, "I have to remember this…