Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Moffat

I’ve been reading several blog posts in several blogs about how Steven Moffat has a sexist approach to female characters in Doctor Who and Sherlock. However, after watching most of Doctor Who (well, haven’t seen season 7 and am only about halfway through season 4, but have seen everything else, including the Christmas specials right up to The Snowmen), and the first two seasons Sherlock, I find myself wondering about those posts.

A very recent blog post about Doctor Who pointed out Moffat uses cardboard cut outs for his female characters that seem to be based on Whedon’s Buffy. I’m not sure about that, to be honest. A lot of Moffat’s female characters actually hold themselves well, whether you look at the companions (Rose, Martha, Donna, or Amy), at the recurring female mystery (River Song, at least until the end of Season 6), or at female characters that only appear once or twice. Here in Germany, though, Doctor Who has never caught on well (for whatever reason, probably because the first airing of the original series was completely mixed up). It’s not considered a children’s program, either, you’ll usually find it filed under science fiction. And Sherlock definitely isn’t a children’s program, even in England.

Moffat got into a lot of trouble over Irene Adler in the second season and the Chinese refugee in the first season (in “The Blind Banker”). While I have to admit the story of the Blind Banker could have done with a bit of polishing, here a few thoughts on Irene Adler.

I can’t help thinking people are putting too much into ‘The Woman.’ I’d like to point out first that Irene Adler only features in one story Doyle wrote, “A Scandal in Bohemia.” I’d also like to point out I am annoyed myself with always putting her in the ‘villain’ category in the movies, usually roping her up with Moriarty at some point (even in the newest movies). But I have to point out, it seems, something else about her: she’s neither nice, nor innocent, nor helpless. Miss Adler is an opera singer in the story. At Doyle’s time, performing artists were not part of the ‘good’ society, no matter whether they performed in seedy bars or opera houses. In addition, she has had a relationship with a man, without being married to him. She’s quitting it, because she is about to be married and will leave England behind. She has pictures that could provoke a scandal (although I don’t have the impression the original Irene would have used them). Holmes is trying to steal them from her, but has to admit defeat (which puts her above most of the people he comes across, admittedly). If you work it from this, making the ‘new’ Irene a Dominatrix isn’t too far off. Just as a performer isn’t a prostitute, but was seen very much like one in the Victorian era, a Dominatrix is very much seen as a prostitute, but she doesn’t have sex with her customers (which means, depending on your definition, she might not be a prostitute at all). This Irene keeps pictures as a safety measure, just in case she might need them. This Irene makes Sherlock sweat ‒ and not only because of the tension between them. There is nothing obviously sexual between them, Sherlock seems pretty asexual to me, Irene admits to Watson she’s a Lesbian. Just like the original Sherlock Holmes was attracted to Irene’s intelligence and cunning, so is the new one. Brains is the new sexy, as it is put in the movie.

Now a step back into the TARDIS. I wonder if it might be possible for the Doctor to one day regenerate into a female form, but I very much doubt it (though it might be fun). From the beginning (from what I have read and can remember from the ragtag episodes they aired over here), the Doctor has had female companions. Not a surprise, therefore, that the new doctors, from No. 9 onwards, also have had female companions (although the 11th Doctor also has a male companion in Rory). Let’s take a look at what a companion has to be like, obviously. She can’t be too tied to her time and place, because a woman with a huge family and a time-consuming job could not just leave it all behind and travel through time and space. She has to be adventurous. She has to be brave and capable of making her own decisions (since as often as not, the companions find themselves alone in a foreign place in the series). She has to be able to understand strange things and people (since most places will be alien in every meaning of the word). Rose, Martha, Donna (as far as I can tell, after only part of season 4), and Amy all can claim to be like that.

Does it make them Buffy cut outs? Not any more than being the brave, strong, powerful hero makes Buffy herself a cut out. Whedon’s new take was to make his vampire hunter hero a heroine. To take the blonde cheerleader that would normally be the first victim and make her the person to slay the monsters and save the day. Saying the companions are Buffy cut outs is the same as to say every strong female character created since Buffy (including characters Whedon himself created since Buffy) is only a Buffy cardboard cut out.

When it comes to other female characters, I can’t see that much of a problem with them, either. Most act like you might expect a woman to act in their time. Some are scheming, some are timid, some are strong. Just like some men in the stories are scheming, timid, strong. Compared to some of the women in daily soaps, most of the women in Doctor Who are glowing examples of womanhood, if you want my view. And, as some people pointed out in the comments of the blog post mentioned above, the male characters (including the Doctor in some aspects) are just as much of cardboard cut outs, because that is how series and movies work, by presenting us with characters we can understand, because we have, to a certain degree, seen them before. There’s just one hero, but, as Joseph Campbell wrote, he has a thousand faces. Villains might have a few thousand, as it were.

If we go back to Sherlock now, to take a look at the series as a such, there are few women, indeed. But if we take a look at the original, there aren’t many women there, either, apart from clients. Yes, a new approach might have changed gender for some characters (as Elementary does with a female Watson ... or the Doctor Who Christmas Special 2012 with Madame Vastra, who is supposed to be the base for Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, who changed the lizard-woman to a human male). The most drastic change would have been to make Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade female and Irene Adler and Mrs. Hudson male. But such a drastic change is highly unlikely to occur any time soon.

What do we know about recurring females? The female sergeant can’t stand Sherlock (but so do several of her male colleagues). Mrs. Hudson is taking care of her lodgers, even though she is not their housekeeper (and says so on occasion). Mycroft’s female aide is an aide and does what aides do. End of story. Where is the sexist view in that? Admittedly, the coroner having a fling with a man might have spiced things up, but not every series can have a Jack Harkness. A male landlord might be caring less his for lodgers. A male aide wouldn’t make the slightest change to Mycroft’s behaviour. Sexist? I don’t think so. Mrs. Hudson has a dept to Sherlock for helping her out. She’s a nice person, so she does care about the people who share the house with her. A man her age might feel the same about them. And most people who meet Sherlock despise him, so the female sergeant (I think she is) isn’t an exception, she’s the rule. A lot of personal assistants are male, so the female aide Mycroft employs is actually a nice change. Then there is the nice woman at the lab who obviously has it for Holmes. Given the fact that he isn’t interested in people ‘that way,’ no matter the genre, it's obvious she’s not going to get close to him and he’s not going to understand her any time soon.

I can’t help it, I can’t see the terrible sexist tendencies in those series, no matter how hard I try. Maybe I’m too old, too stupid, or just too Feminist for them.

Casual Corner

Welcome back to my rather late Casual Corner for this month! I have to admit I almost forgot about, due to a Delicious Team Challenge at Challengers. What will we have this month? The new MCF that restored a bit of faith in me, Island Tribe 4, and Building the Great Wall of China. Two TMs and one HOG.

Let’s start with our lone HOG game, Mystery Case Files: Shadow Lake, bought as a CE at BFG. It came out one day before US-Thanksgiving, so it would be available for everyone on Thanksgiving, as the TGT (Tomorrow’s Game Today) is only available to members. After the last two MCF games (13th Skull and Escape from Ravenhearst), Shadow Lake has restored some of my faith in the first HOG series I ever played. True story ‒ the first HOG I ever played was MCF: Ravenhearst. While BFG still hangs on to the life actors, despite the fact that people have been complaining about them since Dire Grove, the few they use this time, mostly in cut scenes, too, do a very good job. They’re much better than the ones in 13th Skull (although, as far as I am concerned, a class of first-year acting students would have done a better job than the cast of 13th Skull). The story of the new game is nice and spooky, the traditional HOG scenes are gone, you look through several normal scenes for the objects, the game play is nice, although the extra for the CE is a bit thin (e.g. thinner than usual). The game has a nice balance between puzzles, HOG scenes, and adventure-esque game play, the actors do a good job, the graphics are nice, and it’s more inspired overall than the last few of the series. On the whole it earns the verdict ‘approved.’

Island Tribe 4 by Realore is, as the title suggests, the fourth of the Island Tribe games and I found it less glitchy after release than its predecessors were. It’s a My-Kingdom-for-the-Princess type game (as is the last one of this post, further down) and done very well. In the latest instalment of the series, the tribes-people (women joined the tribe in part 2, if I remember it right) travel from their tropical island to Egypt, Norway, and China, each time with a nice switch in scenery and products to make. There are various obstacles to overcome in each area (such as mummies, Vikings, or karate monks), there are big missions in some levels, there is a lot to gather and build and produce. The game still works in part four and it’s still a lot of fun to play. So, if you like bright, detailed games with a good game play, if you like the MKFTP games overall, you will definitely like Island Tribe 4. The game also gets the verdict ‘approved.’

Building the Great Wall of China is the latest game on my list, it was released a few days ago and I have not finished it yet. It’s also the MKFTP variety, but instead of building a road, you build the Great Wall. Parts of it in every level, at least. The background story has a bit of love (like Roads of Rome, but the story is very background here), possibly to appeal more to the casual gamer crowd, which is dominated by women. (And no rant here about people who think everything for women has to be pink or include a romance. Another time, maybe.) Apart from that, it’s a very solid TM game, very beautiful to look at, very nice to play. It’s probably not going to win any awards for inventiveness, but that’s okay. Not every game needs to reinvent the wheel to be good. The game also gets an ‘approved’ verdict from me.

That’s it for this month (literally, given it’s the last day of November today), see you all again in December!

Lucius

Did you ever watch, say, The Omen and think ‘I really would like to know what it’s like to create all these accidents?’ Then you get a chance now, because Shiver Games has created an adventure in which you do precisely that. You play Lucius, the only child of politician Charles Wagner and his wife Nancy. Well, officially. Because your real father is Lucifer himself.

Born on June 6th, 1966, Lucius has grown up mostly normal for six years before the game starts up. The only thing his parents worry about is the fact that Lucius doesn’t talk. Apart from that, he is a healthy, little boy who does what he is told and doesn’t cause problems. On his sixth birthday, however, things take a turn for the worst.

When alone in the kitchen with one of Dante Manor’s maids (Dante Manor being the home of the family) in the evening, the time slows down and Lucius sees a strange man who motions for him to lock the maid into the walk-in freezer. Once he has done so, secured the door with a padlock, and lowered the temperature, his life moves in a new direction. The strange man, who visits him in his dreams from now on, is no other than Lucifer, Lord of Hell. And Lucius is his son and supposed to work for the family business by bringing in souls. While doing so, he will gain powers that make things easier for him (especially as a six-year-old is not that powerful physically).

The game is an adventure with a few difficult parts (twice you are sneaking through the manor at night and have to make sure you are not seen, these passages are hard). You move through the manor like you would in most 3D games, controlling Lucius’ movements with WSAD, as usual. If you are a very good boy (do a lot of chores), you will even get a little tricycle. Two other items you get as rewards are a Ouija board (gives one basic hint per chapter) and a music box (helps you find important items). Besides gaining rewards, being a good boy also serves to make you less suspicious, so it’s a good idea to do your chores. Plus some chores, such as cleaning up your room or taking out the trash, give you a chance to practice your telekinesis skill.

Which brings us to the next part. As promised, Lucius gains new skills (and strengthens them) by killing people and sacrificing their souls. The first skill is telekinesis which allows him to manipulate stuff that is out of his reach. And in a manor filled with adults, a lot of stuff is kept out of a kid’s reach, normally. Mind control follows afterwards, giving him a chance to get someone to use something. Like this, Lucius can make some deaths look like suicide or terrible accidents. Advancing from mind control, Lucius gains the ability to manipulate people’s short-time memory. Like this, if he gets spotted by someone (which is a ‘game over’ before that point), he can make them forget and continue with his plans (what would I have given for that ability earlier, that is to say in the fifth chapter). Finally, he gains the ability to protect himself with a fireball. This ability, however, is usually locked and can only be accessed at some points of the game. Lucius is no flame-throwing demon (at least not outwardly), but a harmless kid. Skills evolve with time, which means they can be used longer or more effective.

The logical victims for Lucius crusade for souls are the people living and working on his father’s estate (including, of course, his family). The sequence in which they have to die is preset, Lucius finds his next victim by meeting them somewhere in the house. He has a vision in which the time slows down and he sees blood all around them. Additional help and occasional hints are provided by a present he gets from his ‘real’ father very early: a notebook with all necessary information. The notebook also records everything he hears and keeps track of his chores – practical stuff. The other present, though, is not really that useful. The flashlight can’t be used at night when sneaking, because it would draw attention, and is not useful during the day. The few times it might be used, diffuse ambient light still proved good enough for me.

Most of the time (with the exception of the first three chapters and his nightly escapades) Lucius can enter most rooms whenever he wants. This can be used to the player’s advantage (by gathering stuff long ahead of its use). For instance, picking up the glue in the classroom before chapter 10 is a very good idea, because it shortens sneaking time through the house at night. Instead of crossing the house once to get into the classroom, then going back and down through the utility room and the garage, Lucius just has to make his way down to the wine cellar and the secret chamber below it. Just employ the good, old ‘if it’s not nailed down, pick it up’ method of adventure gaming and you are good to go. The game allows the player free movement through a huge mansion most of the time and comes with a map that also shows the way to the next target, until it has been found. Means of disposal usually present themselves in some way. Something the characters say may include a tip, not necessarily only to their own demise.

As the house empties of staff, the story is told very well. Cutscenes show in gruesome detail how the victims die. Voiceovers from the detective investing the case, Mr. McGuffin, lead from one chapter to the next. The music is fitting, in some levels (chapter five, when you have to sneak around without being spotted first) it’s necessary to turn on the sounds, so you hear people passing you by or doors being opened and closed. The game relies on save-points instead of allowing you to save wherever you want. That means you can’t save every step until you are through with difficult passages. Save-points, however, are frequent enough and placed well, most of the time. (If you ask me, one between avoiding Lucius’ mother and distracting the detective in chapter five would have been nice.) The graphics are good, even though not really state-of-the-art. There is at least one spot you can get caught by (if you walk in the corner wall between the classroom and the door to the balcony over the library), which had me replaying a few levels, because I couldn’t get away. The whole game has a very good atmosphere and the movements of people during the house (during the day they don’t mind Lucius around, but some things should not be done with someone else in a room) adds a more realistic feeling. Setting up the ‘accidents’ for people requires thinking and taking advantage of the place.

If you mind gruesome games and blood, you should not play Lucius, that much is for sure. If you like exploring your dark side a little and play a game in which you can wreak havoc without grenade launcher and mini-gun, you definitely should have a closer look and give Lucius a good (really?) home.

Casual Corner

Welcome to another casual corner that will not be as casual as usual. Normally, I concentrate on games that are sold by casual game portals, such as Big Fish Games, Gamehouse, or Alawar. But this month, I mostly got IHOGs from there and they are not that interesting. So, instead, I will shed some light on games out from Steam and/or GOG (Good Old Games) that are not much more expensive than a casual game, yet fun to play. They will be Mark of the Ninja, A Game of Dwarves, and Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. (I’ll also do a separate post for Lucius later on.)

Mark of the Ninja is an interesting stealth game. It’s all the more interesting, because it’s not in 3D. Games like the Thief series or Splinter Cell rely on you being able to make your way around the enemies. In 2D, however, around merely consists of above or below the enemy, which makes things a lot more difficult. You are a ninja who has just gotten a tattoo with magical ink and is resting when the home of his clan is attacked. A female colleague picks you up and will appear again every now and then within the 13 chapters. The game has a high PEGI rating (18), mostly due to the gruesome and rather bloody ways you can kill your enemies, but it has cartoon graphics, which makes it less realistic. You do, however, get more points if you manage to get through a level (and they are big) without being spotted or killing a guard. I, personally, guess this will mean getting a lot of updates first, so you have better equipment to work with. You move in a side-scrolling manner through the levels and will find several ways to get from point A to point B (usually intersecting at important points C, D, E, F, and G). The ninja can climb sheer walls, slip through air vents, hang from hooks, and hide behind doors or inside planting pots. He has several tools, such as the bamboo darts, smoke grenades, and firecrackers. The tattoo has given him stronger senses, so you can hear (or rather see) things like the movement behind doors (the footfalls of the guards) or sense things like the perimeter of a watch dog’s sense of smell. What it has not given him, though, is immortality. Apart from being bad for the score, getting spotted can also soon mean being dead. Good thing, therefore, that there are several autosave points in the levels. Mark of the Ninja is a difficult game, but one you can replay several times (levels you finished can be replayed whenever you want to).

A Game of Dwarves, on the other hand, is a builder game. You are a Dwarf Prince, but your father, the king, is not happy with your conduct so far. Therefore, he kicks you out and tells you to bring your own clan to greatness to prove you can do more than just eat and sleep all day. The game has both a campaign and a casual game mode. The latter on is a sandbox mode, in which you choose a map type (maps are randomized) and just dig, build, explore, and research at your own pace. You have a level goal, but are in no hurry to meet it. In the campaign, you make your way through the world to fight the Dark Mages and prove you are worthy of being King of the Dwarves one day. The structures you can build underground are amazing, though, as you can have a huge cavern filled with bridges leading to a low tunnel which opens in a nice room with a dais for a throne. Or something completely different. Your dwarves can be trained for one of five different professions: digger, crafter, worker, soldier, or researcher. Diggers dig out new structures and mine all the useful thing underground (gold, silver, iron, gems, and loads of other stuff). Crafters make things, such as beds, tables, chests, decorations, and so on. Workers take care of the underground gardens and harvest food, ale, and wood. Soldiers are guards and warriors, for whenever a goblin or troll shows up in your settlement. Researchers work on advancing technology in all areas. I like the builder part of the game much more than the fighting part (and in the casual game you can turn fights off) and am enjoying myself a lot. The game is fun and the campaign at last serves as a great tutorial, if nothing else.

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is the remake of a game that Nintendo didn’t like the first time around (because the sisters were too much like Mario and his brother), then added to their Game Boy Color library. After one of the sisters is kidnapped by a strange warp, the other one follows into a strange dream world. Two dream worlds, actually, one in candy colours with fluffy enemies, one scary and full of monsters. When changing between the worlds, the main character changes as well (blond girl in the monster world, red-head in the candy world). She has different abilities in both world and where one offers no way out, it usually can be found in the other. You collect crystals in the levels which allow you to unlock graphics and other stuff in the main menu. You get rated, due to how many times you have died in the level. On the whole, the game is refreshingly old-fashioned in many ways. It’s pretty straight ahead, you can easily see where to go, even though the ‘how to get there’ isn’t always as obvious. The levels themselves are the difficulty of the game. It needs both quick fingers and a quick mind. Due to a few technical difficulties at the beginning, I haven’t gotten far in this game yet, but it still is a great one and something for every lover of platform games.

So, those are the three not-quite-casual games for this month. I recommend all three of those games, personally!