Doctor Who. Ok, I never really thought this would yield much
in the way of results. The Doctor? Well, he must be a father as he has a
granddaughter (unless you subscribe to the Looms idea from Lungbarrow, which
never really seemed right to me) but obviously we never see him parenting. We
do see him abandon his granddaughter on an alien (to her) world that’s just
been devastated by a Dalek occupation. Pretty harsh. Not many other fathers to
choose from after that. Until Brian Williams! Ok, he’s pretty good! Changes
lightbulbs, waters the plants and offers useful advice for items to keep on
your person or add to the Christmas list. Brilliant! That’s two good dads I
have found!
Feeling pretty inspired by a second success so soon, I
return to my quest with renewed vigor. In fact, I’m a little overconfident now,
cocky even.
So it’s a logical progression from Doctor Who, to look at
Torchwood. Jack is a father while working for Torchwood, which has necessitated
special provision for his daughter to have name changes and remain hidden. And
at the end of Children of Earth… oh. But then there’s Rhys! Good old Rhys! He’s
ok? Well, I can’t find anything obviously bad in his parenting, I’d have more
issues with Gwen and the staggering amount of guns she keeps around the house.
Ok, well Torchwood was always going to be a long shot, with
its adult themes and action packed episodes. What about finding something that
features a lot more characters and a lot more detail? Something that really
delves into the minutiae of the lives of the races within it’s world? Surely in
something like that, we’d find more room to detail family life and fathering?
Yes, I mean Lord of the Rings!
Why would I choose this mighty epic for my search? A mix of
the overconfidence I mentioned and the
staggering amount of material available from Tolkien detailing his world and
it’s inhabitants. So, characters who are fathers…
Elrond. Well, I guess he’s pretty ok. His main fathering
role tends to be grimly disapproving of his daughters choice in men, then
taking the man she loves and encouraging him to go off into a massive war.
Over-protective maybe, but a sight better than Denethor, the guy who openly
favours one son and tried to set the other on fire. Otherwise, there’s Bilbo’s
fatherly relationship with Frodo, that culminates in him handing Frodo the most
dangerous bit of jewellery you could get, along with the responsibility to take
it to Mordor and chuck it in a volcano. While being pursued by that Gollum
fellow he once robbed.
Actually, mentioning Denethor reminds me of John Noble, so
Fringe. Walter! Yeah, um, that… that’s quite a mess right there. The guy
replaces his dead son with an alternate reality duplicate, whom he nearly
drowns by setting his portal up on an iced over lake!
My previous enthusiasm has been dampened somewhat. Actually
it’s been brutally beaten out of me by a thuggish gang of disappointment.
Wearily, I turn to the next item…
Harry Potter. Well… oh! Arthur Weasley! He’s ok! Lotsa kids,
fun house, good choice of mother, government job, they all go to school, no
turning evil! We have another! Brilliant!
And isn’t it odd, he’s played by the same actor who plays Brian
Williams?! (Hey who’s playing Pa Kent in the new Superman movie? It’s not… no,
it’s not.) It is only Arthur though, Remus didn’t want to have a child, Malfoy
got his family indentured to Voldemort, Seamus’s dad couldn’t handle his wife
being a witch, can’t think of any others...
I’m reaching now, but Lost in Space? Ok, well the dad there
gets his family lost in space! The idiot!
Red Dwarf? Well, as seen in an episode of the recent new
series, Lister does try to do his best for his son. But being as his son is
himself, I think he’s done plenty of damage right there.
Ok, it’s a sad fact in TV and movies for these sorts of
genres, extended sequences or stories of a dad just being a dad are not going
to come up a lot. It’s always going to be more entertaining to have a space
battle or a sword fight. Still, there’s some pretty bad fathers out there! And
my search was mainly focussed on ‘the good guys’! Imagine if I did this with
the villains?
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