Having tried once or twice, to write historical celebrity fanfic, it is suprisingly tricky not to get boxed in by knowing the historical figures actual story can't be changed while giving the Doctor something to do. I think mostly NuWho has managed reasonably well - The Unquiet Dead for instance made use of a lot of what we know about Dickens character and interests and shaping a Doctor Who adventure around those themes and ideas so he seemed to fit even though he could actually have been any random supporting character really.
This failed with Madam Ching. I'm not an expert on her but she wasn't a random pirate lady. She was clearly a talented leader, politician (she didn't have a ship, she had a fleet of ships at her command - in fact she led a confederation of pirates), and negotiator (she negotiated her surrender to the Chinese authorities which still left her in command of several ships and she lived to die of old age). I don't think we got any of that here. It felt like Madam Ching written by someone who had heard there was a famous Chinese female pirate leader called Madam Ching but couldn't be bothered to read up on her.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-29 05:08 pm (UTC)This failed with Madam Ching. I'm not an expert on her but she wasn't a random pirate lady. She was clearly a talented leader, politician (she didn't have a ship, she had a fleet of ships at her command - in fact she led a confederation of pirates), and negotiator (she negotiated her surrender to the Chinese authorities which still left her in command of several ships and she lived to die of old age). I don't think we got any of that here. It felt like Madam Ching written by someone who had heard there was a famous Chinese female pirate leader called Madam Ching but couldn't be bothered to read up on her.