Day 151: The Moonbase Episode 3

Once again we're going to talk about Polly this episode. This time, it's because of her role in the plot. While the Doctor does clever things, and Ben and Jamie do action things, Polly is left to do screaming things. But, halfway through this episode, she gets the idea to use a solvent to dissolve the plastic on the Cybermen's chest units, and in doing so, cause them to be destroyed. This is wonderful, because it is showing us that a character who is assumed to be frivolous, and only exists to scream and look pretty, is actually rather intelligent, and can do things by herself. But, all of this is quickly destroyed when she indicates that she would like to help destroy the Cybemen, only to be told that it is "men's work". This is blatantly awful, and it's quite annoying to think that elements of this blatant sexism can exist in Doctor Who. Watching it reminded me of The Secret Seven books, by Enid Blyton, which would frequently feature a scene akin to one of the boys telling the girls that they couldn't take part in the adventure, because it was for the men only. It's uncomfortable to view, because it serves as a reminder of the poor treatment of female characters in fiction, and also tells the young girls who are watching this story that they might not be able to fully partake in the adventure, due to their gender. And, come to think of it, there are no female scientists on the base either. This is thoroughly giving the impression that all women are good for is screaming and occasionally being useful, which is quite poor writing, despite any attempts to defend it as 'of its time'. What makes it a real shame is that this has been quite a nice little story, but it is hampered with the sexism of the time that makes it uncomfortable vieweing for an audience of today.