Doctor Who and Steampunk

[thisispoki]

 I'd love to convert / utilise Steampunk in my day-to-day life, but can't see that the added bulk & weight would fit with my lifestyle.

However, that's not the question. The question is ...

Did steampunk put a name to the type of science fiction that abounds in Doctor Who, or did Doctor Who copy steampunk style after it was already defined?

Comments

Not really "Steampunk"

[fnordius]

"Steampunk" is like Darkmoon says, a term created after Cyberpunk was the rage. The sense of Steampunk is that it is an intentional nod to the past styles such as the Industrial Age of the late 19th century. Steampunk stories are either alternative histories or a resurgence of mechanical technology instead of electronics

Re: Not really "Steampunk"

[thisispoki]

So you've never seen the Madame De Pompadour episode?

Or saw all the companions around the control panel in Journey's End?

Or the Paul McGann movie?

Those are just the obvious references that pop into my mind instantly. What I'm unsure-of is whether these knowingly come from Steampunk, or if they are a natural progression from things like Bessie, Cyberman evolution, The Brain of Morbius, the style of the design of Daleks, etc.

Re: Not really "Steampunk"

[fnordius]

Oh, I saw those but they are the exception, not the rule. Take the pompadour episode: except for the clockwork automatons, the rest of the ship kept a more traditional starship appearance without exposed gears and such

Not answering the question

[thisispoki]

I can't believe I'm having to go back and defend my initial statement, rather than progress the thought. I didn't realise I was so bad at communicating!

The examples I gave show your statement to be false, so my premise is correct. The fact that you called them "exceptions" simply validates that you accept that they are there. Obviously, not every Doctor Who episode is steampunk, but SOME of them are.

I was not asking "is Doctor Who steampunk?", because the examples show that, sometimes, it is. I asked "Did Doctor Who's steampunk-ness derive from steampunk, or did it evolve from the earlier Doctor Who concepts?" Some of those concepts I have had to list in a previous response - they are self-evidently not steampunk in themselves, as they were used before the term was defined. I am asking whether THOSE CONCEPTS are what have driven the Doctor Who evolution to steampunk-ness, rather than the writing team seeing steampunk and it causing an addition in the concepts available to them.

[zaxxonwyzad]

*looks up whatever this "steampunk" is*

Sounds like yet another ambiguous and pointless sub-sub-sub-genre of stuff >.>