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A review by jennykeery
Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who by Una McCormack, Lynne Thomas
3.0
Although I loved the sister volume to this anthology of essays, [b:Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It|6828177|Chicks Dig Time Lords A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It|Lynne M. Thomas|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1306173435s/6828177.jpg|7038134], which was also arranged thematically rather than chronologically, I found the structure of 'Chicks Unravel Time' incoherent. The introduction does point to the fact that each essay is accompanied by the season number, allowing the book to be read 'in order' if you prefer, but I found this useless due to the fact that these numbers did not appear in the contents page. To use the season references at all you have to flick through the book! Maybe I am just simple, but instead of helping me to identify where the essays fit in, the numbers just brought it to my attention that the structure was weird. Like I said, I didn't have this problem with 'Chicks Dig Time Lords', which just felt like a collection of essays. I think the half-hearted structuring was a mistake.
Thankfully most of the essays were really interesting, although 'The Doctor's Balls' by Diana Gabaldon put my back up quite early on. The subject of her essay is the masculinity of Doctor Who, and when she stated that "he's got balls" is the ultimate masculine compliment I knew we weren't going to get on. Her approach to female roles in the show were hypocritical: women should be equal, but men should protect them without question if something goes wrong. Ergh. I also did not appreciate her squeezing in a self-serving, smug footnote that took up half a page. However, it is the nature of anthologies to include a wide range of opinions, and, to Gabaldon's credit, she did get me thinking about the masculinity of the show.
On to the positives! I recently borrowed another anthology of Doctor Who essays, [b:Time, Unincorporated: Volume 2-Writings on the Classic Series|7107223|Time, Unincorporated Volume 2-Writings on the Classic Series (Time, Unincorporated, 2)|Graeme Burk|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348093855s/7107223.jpg|7366028], which made it clear to me why a women-only collection was necessary - a huge majority of the contributors are male. I am looking forward to reading it, but it made me appreciate the 'Chicks' series for giving the women in fandom more of a voice. These books have a really inclusive feel to them, which I suppose comes from the fact that the essays are discussing something I love.
The essays that stood out for me were 'A Dance With Drashigs' by Emma Nichols, 'Donna Noble Saves the Universe' by Martha Wells, 'The Women We Don't See' by K. Tempest Bradford, 'The Problem With Peri' by Jennifer Pelland, 'The Sound's the Star' by Emily Kausalik, and 'Guten Tag, Hitler' by Rachel Swirsky. All of them contributed something interesting, however, even if I didn't agree!
Overall this is an excellent book of essays that, for me, was let down by the structure.
Thankfully most of the essays were really interesting, although 'The Doctor's Balls' by Diana Gabaldon put my back up quite early on. The subject of her essay is the masculinity of Doctor Who, and when she stated that "he's got balls" is the ultimate masculine compliment I knew we weren't going to get on. Her approach to female roles in the show were hypocritical: women should be equal, but men should protect them without question if something goes wrong. Ergh. I also did not appreciate her squeezing in a self-serving, smug footnote that took up half a page. However, it is the nature of anthologies to include a wide range of opinions, and, to Gabaldon's credit, she did get me thinking about the masculinity of the show.
On to the positives! I recently borrowed another anthology of Doctor Who essays, [b:Time, Unincorporated: Volume 2-Writings on the Classic Series|7107223|Time, Unincorporated Volume 2-Writings on the Classic Series (Time, Unincorporated, 2)|Graeme Burk|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348093855s/7107223.jpg|7366028], which made it clear to me why a women-only collection was necessary - a huge majority of the contributors are male. I am looking forward to reading it, but it made me appreciate the 'Chicks' series for giving the women in fandom more of a voice. These books have a really inclusive feel to them, which I suppose comes from the fact that the essays are discussing something I love.
The essays that stood out for me were 'A Dance With Drashigs' by Emma Nichols, 'Donna Noble Saves the Universe' by Martha Wells, 'The Women We Don't See' by K. Tempest Bradford, 'The Problem With Peri' by Jennifer Pelland, 'The Sound's the Star' by Emily Kausalik, and 'Guten Tag, Hitler' by Rachel Swirsky. All of them contributed something interesting, however, even if I didn't agree!
Overall this is an excellent book of essays that, for me, was let down by the structure.