Sam, Morgan, and The Doctah

Sorry, that's the new lenticular DVD cover that was just posted on doctoreleven...I find the graphic mesmerizing...someone should photoshop a pocketwach into Matt's hand so he can hypnotize us all (oh wait...I think he just did...must pre-order season 5...)

Actually, this is the UK cover, no idea if the US cover will be the same. Probably not. We're not hardcore like that.

faeriesfolly & I just watched 3x02 Smith & Jones, which had the introduction of Martha as the companion. So far, I like her. She's pretty self sufficient, managed to keep her head in a crisis, and didn't take The Doctor's word immediatly. We'll see how she does not that she's on the TARDIS but I have faith.

I need to go back and watch Season 1 so I can see 9. I didn't really care for the second episode with the bit of skin woman but I think I might just skip to 1x03 and go from there, get a taste of Rose's character early on. Because I wasn't too keen on her by the end of season 2. She was very clingy and all ILU DOCTAH! and while that is to be expected when you risk life and limb traveling with a person, I just felt by the end of the season she was mostly waiting around for the Doctor to do something...anything...and spent a lot of time shouting "DOCTAH!" into rooms, doors, radios, and large holes in the ground. But she did sacrifice herself...even if it was by accident.

Eleven and Amy are still my favorite. But I'm enjoying Tenant. Though when he snarls, it really creeps me out. He's got crazy teeth, sorta looks like a rat when he pulls his lips back over them...but when he's grinning, he's pretty adorable with that wacky hair.

I probably could say more but, it's midnight, time for me to hit the hay...or the mattress...probably at least one cat, by mistake of course.

FemShep, Deconstructing Samus, and women in video games

Bioware posted a link to this blog post on their Mass Effect Facebook page. lostacanthus, I'm sure there is a lot both you and I could add to this discussion. One of the things that drew me into Mass Effect, DragonAge, and the Knights of the Old Republic series before that, was the ability to create my character and have her be...well, a HER!

The article reminded me of something writer Jane Espenson (Buffy/Angel/Firefly/BSG) has said many times when asked about writing strong female characters. She says to write the story with a male protagonist, and when you're all done, go back and switch the pronouns.

This feels like it's a large part of Morgan Webb's gripe with the new Metroid game "Other M" which is supposed to give us backstory on the mysterious Samus. Instead of having her be, gee, I dunno, a lone survivor of an attack, the writers just shove her story full of daddy and boyfriend issues. Morgan is infuriated by this - and what female gamer wouldn't be? Would anyone write a story where a MALE character mopes over the loss of his mom? I doubt it. (Lucas came close with the horrible Jango Fett story in the prequels and you know how that made you feel, right? Awesome character is now a whiny little brat).

This all goes back to Lara Croft for me. I know that part of the reason I am such a big gamer today was because of Lara Croft. At the core, she was a female Indiana Jones. She was a badass hottie who knew her way around ancient relics and weaponry. Oh, I'd played Wolfenstein before, I'd run through Heretic and Doom...but Lara was the first character that I thought about outside of the game itself. And the fact that they are STILL making Tomb Raider games says something about the staying power of this character. Even a bad movie with Angelina Jolie could not destroy the franchise!

As with most things that have to do with gender, I think many of us ladies just grin and bear it. Oh look, another story with a princes that needs to be rescued? Oh, the unplayable side-kick is a girl? Well, at least she is there. So when we have the opportunity to play as a female, we seize upon it.

And i'm sure just as many guys try playing as the female Shepard just for a bit of voyeurism. Sure, we could just say they do it for the lesbian sex scene in ME1 (which was SO tame, you see more skin on Gossip Girl) but I think that's just a cover. I think the chance for them to experience the world as a chick, even for a little bit, interests them. Of course, it's really not a very good representation. Shepard is treated with a lot of respect and it's more like the Battlestar Galactica universe than our current gender climate. But you get the idea.

Gotta go - Commander Griddie Shepard just took charge of the Normandy and we're heading to the Citadel to see what state the Council is in.