Mary Sue Sense in Tingling

[fangirljen]

Okay, so this has been nagging at me since I first heard about the spoilers for ep 4.6 of Doctor Who.



I've seen pictures of Jenny, have read a synopsis of "The Doctor's Daughter" and I swear to God she just screams Mary Sue very, very loudly and obnoxiously at me. Given how Rusty has a blonde, golden, perfect girl already, I'm more inclined to think that Jenny is of the same variety.

I haven't seen this episode yet, but I would like to know what to expect. Is she Miss Mary Sue?

Also: any direct relation to Susan?

Comments

[ladybrick.livejournal.com]

She's kind of Mary Sueish, but is likable enough that it's tolerable. No relation to Susan and not a daughter in the typical sense. The episode is a bit fluffy, but has some good moments and good acting. Overall, I enjoyed it.

[gloriatraveler.livejournal.com]

I really don't know what Mary Sue means, but I thought she was a little funny, a little quirky, and a little innocent. There was something slightly Doctor like about her, but not over poweringly so...

Anyway, like I said, I don't really know what the Mary Sue thing means and I'm far less critical of the series than a lot of the other fans, just to give you a point of reference...

[dawniky.livejournal.com]

Mary-Sues are basically characters that are beautiful, smart, funny, perfect and everyone loves them.

In fan fiction, Mary Sues usually fall in love with main characters and make said characters act OOC.

[amymccabe.livejournal.com]

Or is related to a main character and helps them realize The Love Of Their Lives that somehow they couldn't see for themselves. That variety is more commonly found in slash though.

[gaelic-bohemian.livejournal.com]

OMG she is the Mary Sue to end all Mary Sues. 10000000 times worse than Rose ever thought of being. Luckily she's only in the one episode. Unless of course they decide to have a spin-off series entitled "Doctor Sue"....

[roadrunner1896.livejournal.com]

Even though I don't entirely agree with you, "Doctor Sue" made me laugh hard. Thanks for that.

[ewanspotter.livejournal.com]

Doctor Sue *SNORTGIGGLE*

[fangirljen.livejournal.com]

*headdesk* Thanks. That's the feeling I was getting. Even with Bad Wolf!Rose? My God. It could only get worse if Rusty admits that Jenny is one of his fav chars and nobody can top her. That's really the worst thing about Rose for me.

Off topic from Doctor Who, have you heard the story of Brandon Pinto/Brandon Hillock, the former Captain Jack Sparrow at Disneyland? There's an article about him in the new issue of Los Angeles Magazine. You can read about him here.

[roadrunner1896.livejournal.com]

She has Mary Sue tendencies, but those are partly plot related.

I think Rose is much worse than her and she at least fits in the episode somehow.

[fangirljen.livejournal.com]

*sighs* It still smells bad to me, especially with there being plot-related MS tendencies. That's along those lines where they make allowances to make the MS to work. Which, makes me now want to ask: were the Doctor and Donna acting like themselves, or were they made to say/do things that weren't right when Jenny was involved?

[roadrunner1896.livejournal.com]

Well, it is hard to explain, but I found it bearable in this ep, but might have hated a character like that in almost any other ep. She fitted in with the other characters, though. You have to watch, then we can talk about that again.

Donna was herself. The Doctor was not himself since forever, was he? He seems all over the place. I am not sure what is in or out of character for him. He was pretty much the same than the rest of this season, though. I think.

[wiccanslyr.livejournal.com]

It's an unfortunate fact in fictional reality (especially the 45 minute episodes kind) that it is occasionally a necessity to create a Mary Sue or Mary Sue-ish character in order to accomplish the episode plot or storyline in a given time frame. The only question is whether or not that character and it's Mary Sueness are used properly and to best advantage without become irritating. In this case I believe it was. It also doesn't hurt that Jenny is likable despite her Mary Sueness. Is she the best character ever created? Nope, not even close but she was spunky and enjoyable and made for some nice moments and interactions.

[wiccanslyr.livejournal.com]

She has Mary Sue tendencies, but those are partly plot related.

Agreed. I liked her overall.

I disagree about Rose but I shan't delve into that.

Now if we want to talk about the Doctor's Mary Sue, why has NOBODY mentioned the Mary Sue to End All Mary Sue's - Reinette AKA Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise (later Duchesse) de Pompadour, AKA Madame de Pompadour AKA The girl in the fireplace AKA Madame de Magically Delicious.

I mean Really...

[roadrunner1896.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the situation and circumstances made it bearable.

This show really has it for Mary Sues. *sigh*

[ilikethequiet.livejournal.com]

I actually quite liked Jenny, the story about how she came to be was interesting and I loved how the doctor interacted with her. I can see how she could be Mary-Sueish but in her case I don't mind so much.

[amymccabe.livejournal.com]

If you only bothered to open up the dictionary and looked up "Mary Sue", you would know the already, as Jenny's beautiful, chipper smiling face will be waving at you.

Martha, Donna and the Doctor are still in character (though Martha is criminally underused).

I felt completely cheated at the end of the episode. IMHO that far outweighs the Mary Sue and groan factor.

Besides one being the Doctor's daughter and the other being the Doctor's granddaughter, no relation. Jenny isn't Susan's mother or anything like that.

[fangirljen.livejournal.com]

I chose to give her the benefit of the doubt. She looked like a Mary Sue, but was hoping maybe she would used in a better capacity. But, then, I don't trust Rusty with women who look like that.

That's good to hear about Martha, Donna, and the Doctor.

And a crap ending? :( Wonderful.

[amymccabe.livejournal.com]

The ending is cheap. I felt cheated. It is hard to describe without actually telling you what happens. We'll discuss after you saw it.

To give Jenny some credit, her Dad has a lot of Mary Sue-ish qualities. Between the way she was "born" and the fact that she is a Time Lady (and daughter of the Doctor) it sorta wouldn't make sense if she didn't have some amazing powers. I just felt like if they could at least give her one flaw. *sigh*

[elven-wolf.livejournal.com]

She may be a Minor Sue. I mean, she has all the individual qualifications to be qualified as a Sue, but she's not on long enough and the episode was good enough that it doesn't matter? I liked it fine. It's not what you think.

[wisecracks.livejournal.com]

But, really, isn't the 10th Doctor a Marty-Stu? A loveable one, but still. Jenny has to at least be more interesting than Martha.

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of torn on this, because on one hand, yes, she has a lot of the traits associated with Mary Sues. As written, she's definitely Sue-ish.

But as seen on the show, I love her to pieces. She's fun and pretty and... *sighs happily*. Just thinking about her makes me happy. And I don't even like blondes.

[pandoras-closet.livejournal.com]

Hi, came over to see what you're about. =)

I don't think Mary Sue is the term here. To be honest, Mary Sue as a whole needs to go. Too many people are using it whenever they come across a character they don't like for no other reason then they don't like her or feel she threatens their favorite pairing.

You know how many people threw the label of Mary Sue at Tonks when she appeared? How many more people screamed it when she got with Remus because it meant no canon sexings with Sirius?

Actually, though, Potter fandom as a whole is a bunch of entitlement crazed idiots, so that may not be the best example.

Though, funny thing about Jenny. Georgia Moffat, the girl who played her, is the daughter of Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor. Davison was David Tenant's Doctor. Mine too, actually. The Doctor is Jenny's Dad.

So when she steps out of the machine and goes "Hello, Dad", its a ton of meta, right there.