The Doctor Meets Rosa

This is the third episode, and we've moved past the Stenza, at least for now. In this episode, "Jodie Whittaker" is going all the way back to 1955, and we get to meet Rosa Parks. I've already thought about what I would do if I were in a different time period. One thing I had thought about lightly, but never seriously is racism.

Racism has been a big issue even after the end of WW11. White folks and black folks were not supposed to mingle together. Laws gave preference to white people over black people. If you were in a bus, there were separate boarding entrances for white people and black people, and there were labelled seats for white people in the front and back. If white people were piling up, black people sitting in the middle had to give up their seats and stand.

Rosa Parks ("Vinette Robinson") was a tenacious seamstress who was sitting in the middle, amongst others. She has tried her best to help others, especially black people who were mistreated. She was among the few people who were mistreated. In 1955, she was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white person, even though she was only sitting in the middle, and this was a major breakthrough because it led to the "The Montgomery bus boycott", led by the pacifist Martin Luther King Jr., and it all helped the civil rights movement. Her actions has made her a very influential person in the current society.

Before her arrest is when The Doctor and her friends make their appearance in Alabama, 1955. The Doctor's friends are keen on going back home, and when The Doctor finds the TARDIS in the last episode they are happy. But when The Doctor tries to take her friends back home to Sheffield, England in 2018, the TARDIS malfunctions and it lands in the United States in 1955. The group has to handle a lot of racial discrimination surrounding them in that time period, and they get to also meet Rosa Parks.

But before meeting Rosa, The Doctor had noticed artron energy surrounding the city. So while reacting to racial prejudice, The Doctor makes a note to investigate the artron energy. Meanwhile, white people rudely react to Ryan's appearance in the city, and before they all try to react to the situation like they always do, another woman intervenes. The Doctor finds that something is off about her. Introducing herself as Rosa Parks, Ryan and Yaz are instantly impressed. They talk about it in a bar where they all explain the events to Graham, and The Doctor tells them that Rosa is yet to do what she does.

Talks are always comforting, especially when it's about something you can't do. Ryan and Yaz talk about the racist nature in this time period. In the bus, Ryan is the only one who is side-lined. Yaz wonders if she is brown and thus which spot she should sit on. Sharing their experiences in the motel, Yaz reminds Ryan that 50 years later, a black president will be successful. Change will always happen.

In fact, change will happen so much that in the far future, an asteroid (Asteroid 284996) is named after Rosa Parks. There is no racism against blacks. That's not to say there is no racism, because I've seen episodes in the past where Bill Potts ("Pearl Mackie") finds herself amused by the fact that she is considered normal and aliens with blue skin are among the lower class. It's not something for Bill to be amused about though, but I think the writers meant it as a satire.

But something must have gone pretty bad, or there would be no issue when The Doctor arrived, and when she finds something off about Rosa, she scans her and finds artron energy surrounding Rosa. They find a man with a neural restrictor who was a prisoner in the futuristic prison Stormcage. He also has a temporal displacement weapon. It might explain the effect Rosa had in the future, because he is a neo-fascist from the future and he believes his life will become alright once he temporally-displaces Rosa when she says no to the white passengers. His plan back-fires though, and he gets temporally displaced.

Doctor Who has a tendency of making science fiction historical episodes, and Episode 3 ("Rosa") is one of them. Rosa Park's influence on modern society is very clear in this episode. Like the Doctor says later, Rosa's life doesn't get better. She lives a hard life, but is eventually awarded for it by President Bill Clinton, and as the show says, The World.

1. We just saw someone from Stormcage again. River Song was a frequent prisoner of Stormcage too.
2. I wonder where Krasko is right now. Will he come back? Of course nothing was said about him a lot, maybe he's not significant.
3. Krasko has a vortex manipulator, which he uses to travel trough time. It was destroyed though. Ah well!
4. The Doctor says she has seen Elvis, and given Elvis a phone. She has Elvis' phone number. I'm not sure if she was joking, though it didn't seem like she was.
5. This is a historical period episode as well as a science fiction episode