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I put this in the 70's thread since this was the period where Mary Whitehouse was making the most noise about the show's violence, and arguably was the decade where she had the most effect on the show and did the most damage.
I have to say, growing up in the 90's I never knew she'd had that much of an effect on the show, and assumed she was only interviewed in the 30 years in the Tardis documentary to be a cultural critic of the show, an highlight that the series was pretty envelope-pushing stuff at the time.
From what I know, she might've complained about some of the violence and goulish moments in the 1960's Dalek stories (particularly The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Daleks' Master Plan).
But chiefly her complaints were most concentrated against Terror of the Autons, Genesis of the Daleks, The Brain of Morbius and The Deadly Assassin. And the culmination was that eventually the BBC booted Philip Hinchcliffe from the show and imposed a lot of restrictions on the series until the end of the decade (by Earthshock, it seems like the BBC had stopped caring and the makers were allowed to go wild again without any micromanagement, until Grade arrived on the scene of course).
Most guide books are pretty scathing about her and her interference (particularly Kim Newman), but without the context of knowing how effective she was against the show, sometimes it was hard to get a sense of why she provoked such strong reactions.
Some of this is because I was raised in very Christian primary and secondary schools and frankly most youth groups I attended were very Christian orientated. And sure I sometimes found them a bit much, but I always assumed the grown up thing we were supposed to do was to compromise with their moralizing a bit. Not swear around them, and play nice, and by extension, maybe it's only right that some TV shows be made wholesome enough for everyone, including the moralizing Christians. A part of me thought she wasn't always wrong that sometimes the show's content could be very troubling and nasty.
So from that point of view it was a bit of a shock to hear adult fans denouncing her in strong terms I was taught not to, concerning moralizing elders. And sometimes it was hard to know what their objection was to her beyond that she was a critic who didn't like the show. She provokes a lot of fan anger, but not always the most coherent anger, and not always the best counter-case to her objections either.
So what is the principle objection you have to her complaints, and moreover, what's the best counter-case you could make to them?
I have to say, growing up in the 90's I never knew she'd had that much of an effect on the show, and assumed she was only interviewed in the 30 years in the Tardis documentary to be a cultural critic of the show, an highlight that the series was pretty envelope-pushing stuff at the time.
From what I know, she might've complained about some of the violence and goulish moments in the 1960's Dalek stories (particularly The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Daleks' Master Plan).
But chiefly her complaints were most concentrated against Terror of the Autons, Genesis of the Daleks, The Brain of Morbius and The Deadly Assassin. And the culmination was that eventually the BBC booted Philip Hinchcliffe from the show and imposed a lot of restrictions on the series until the end of the decade (by Earthshock, it seems like the BBC had stopped caring and the makers were allowed to go wild again without any micromanagement, until Grade arrived on the scene of course).
Most guide books are pretty scathing about her and her interference (particularly Kim Newman), but without the context of knowing how effective she was against the show, sometimes it was hard to get a sense of why she provoked such strong reactions.
Some of this is because I was raised in very Christian primary and secondary schools and frankly most youth groups I attended were very Christian orientated. And sure I sometimes found them a bit much, but I always assumed the grown up thing we were supposed to do was to compromise with their moralizing a bit. Not swear around them, and play nice, and by extension, maybe it's only right that some TV shows be made wholesome enough for everyone, including the moralizing Christians. A part of me thought she wasn't always wrong that sometimes the show's content could be very troubling and nasty.
So from that point of view it was a bit of a shock to hear adult fans denouncing her in strong terms I was taught not to, concerning moralizing elders. And sometimes it was hard to know what their objection was to her beyond that she was a critic who didn't like the show. She provokes a lot of fan anger, but not always the most coherent anger, and not always the best counter-case to her objections either.
So what is the principle objection you have to her complaints, and moreover, what's the best counter-case you could make to them?