Fandom-ing: Doctor Who and History

Note: We have only watched up to episode 7 of season 11. 

We love history and Doctor Who. Two of the episodes of the eleventh season of Doctor Who has focused on historical events.  One was quite a big event that involved the person at the epicenter of it.  The other was a big event but looked at how it affected the people history often forgets.

Rosa

Rosa, about Rosa Parks, did a good job but I wish it could have been better. Having time travelers, especially ones that are not US citizens, look at how segregation was enforced could have given the writers a lot chances to look at the absurdities and horrors of racism.  It came close especially in the scenes with Ryan, but it never truly reached the realm of terrifying. Having Graham being the cause of the protest also was problematic, but luckily they didn’t focus on it as much.

Demons of the Punjab

The Demons of the Punjab fared a lot better. It took a huge event and made it small. The event was about the partition of India, but it was really about four people living in the area. For an hour show, it handled the radicalization of one of the characters really well.  Also, making the characters part of Yasmin’s family gave us a personal window into the world. The aliens were indeed scary until we found out more about them. This hour is everything Doctor Who can and should be.