Doctor Who May Head Towards a Woman as the Doctor

[Redryhno]

That lack of control is precisly why anything could happen. All the doctor's regens have been white and male, but beyond that they are all over the place in looks, age, and personality...

I wouldn't exactly call that a stable or consistent thing... And with the wild swings in personality involved, you couldn't really even argue that 2000 years of being a man would influence a female doctor's behaviour all that much either...

But... I agree with some of the other posters here... Moffat's writing could make this a rather bad idea right now...

Don't really care either way myself, so long as it's done well and not shoved in to make people shut up about it.

They've been complaining and hounding the DW writers since episode 3 of Eccelstein about it, and to be honest, it's worth there not being a female Doctor to see them roll around and whine about it every other month when they aren't talking about how hot Matt Smith is.

 

[octafish]

The very second they revealed that woman was the Master, my first thought was that this is gonna be a thing for the Doctor at some point. Fine by me. It won't change much. The Doctor has always been frail. No Doctor is physically gifted in any way. They are always skinny "girly" men anyway.

Really? Action man Pertwee? The giant Big Tom? Wouldn't want to run into him in a dark alley Eccleston? Go on, go call Eccleston a skinny girly man to his face.

I'd prefer a decent companion myself. There has been only one good one in all of New-Who, and even Donna wasn't a patch on Jamie or Leela. I am truly sick of twenty first century audience stand ins.

 

[lord.jeff]

I think if they wanted to play with genders they should just make him completely androgenous, why should an alien be limited to the choice of male or female?

 

[Dragonlayer]

"The past season starred Peter Capaldi as the latest Doctor, and while it may seem early to already be talking about the next Doctor, even Dame Helen Mirren asked for a new Doctor who was a woman, black, or gay - preferably all three."

"Oh and the Doctor should also be a Sunni Muslim Otakukin with a disability, raised at a multifaith school in a low-income area, whose parents are an interracial pair of life-partners - one Innuit, the other Samoan - who identify as vegan Unitologists."

OT

PC mockery aside, considering the Doctor is an alien, does it really matter what gender they appear as?

 

[Kahani]

ak93]Sorry for the confusion with the alien thing. I meant he could take on the appearance of them. As in, he looks human now, but is time lord. He could look Sontaran while still being Time Lord.

No he couldn't. Time Lords aren't shapeshifters, they look like humans (or more accurately, humans look like Time Lords). Regeneration can make them look like a different human, but there's never been any suggestion that they could look like any other species. Plus, there are fairly obvious real world reasons why that would never happen.

 

[Sixcess]

Regeneration can make them look like a different human, but there's never been any suggestion that they could look like any other species.

Yes there has. In the opening of Destiny of the Daleks Romana 'tries on' several alternate bodies during her regeneration, including one with blue skin.

 

[Jiggle Counter]

YAY GENDER EQUALITY

 

[Kahani]

Yes there has. In the opening of Destiny of the Daleks Romana 'tries on' several alternate bodies during her regeneration, including one with blue skin.

Huh, I did not know that. I shall turn in my geek card immediately. However, Wiki [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romana_%28Doctor_Who%29#Romana_II] does say:

This regeneration scene is controversial with some fans, as it does not conform with how regeneration is treated with regards to the Doctor or other Time Lord characters. Attempts at rationalizing Romana's regeneration have been made in licensed spin-off media, including the Short Trips short story "The Lying Old Witch in the Wardrobe" which speculates that the TARDIS was responsible for her regeneration.

So presented tongue-in-cheek, rather controversial, and retconned away more than once, but still not completely without precedence.

The real world reasons are likely rather more important anyway. Even if there were no precedent at all in the established lore, they could just handwave it and declare that Time Lords can look however they want. But they won't; Time Lords, and the Doctor as protagonist especially, look human because the audience is human.

 

[Boba Frag]

I'm (sort of) in the same camp as you, but I loved that Missy was the Master. Like, after seeing those amazing links from deviantart, I certainly don't hate the idea, (Ruth Wilson would be fucking perfect Time Lord material) but I would be all over the idea of a female Time Lord (not all Gallifreyan people are Time Lords, after all) coming back to the show, just like in the Classic Who era when Romana became part of the show.
(Seriously, Ruth Wilson)


On the other hand, I'd be all for Idris Elba to play the Doctor, though I can't really see it as his cup of tea.
I might be wrong, maybe he's a giant Doctor Who nerd.

Mind you, sometimes I've found it more satisfying to get my Doctor Who fix from Big Finish.

Crap, you're right- I meant 'Time Lord' in a T.A.R.D.I.S, not just some Gallifreyan schlub! And Romana is a perfect example- in some ways she was a far more qualified Time Lord- in fact, as I recall, her only handicap was that she was fresh from the testing/academy(?) on Gallifrey and thus lacked experience, and thus got to be a little naive, even while being a technical genius(although not obsessive, I am a big fan of the Tom Baker/ Fourth Doctor era).

Aaaah, well, as to the sex-changing regeneration, I'm just going to have to roll with whatever the new generation of writers want to do... but I won't lie, I probably won't watch it if it happens. What I mean is, is that I'll accept that it's different, and in demand, possibly a cheap token effort, or maybe inclusive and brilliant... and just too different for me.

I was only ribbing you about the Time Lord/Gallifrey distinction lol
I've always been fascinated with Time Lord lore, and it was my dream come true to see them in the 50th anniversary special.

Yeah, she was apparently academically off the charts with her double First, so the needling of the Doctor in that regard was fun, but he ran rings around her when it came to the experience needed while travelling the universe like you said.

I could probably get used to it after a while, but I understand your reluctance about it.
For the life of me, I could not understand the shift in tone when Moffat took over, and I pretty much left the show right up til the middle of 2013. Amy and Rory, even the new Doctor just... it didn't feel like my show anymore.

I'm glad I came back because I ended up loving Smith's old man in a young body take on the Doctor. And to be honest, overzealous fans put me off

I think that's the problem with the show right now is that they've got this enormous success and they might end up trying to please everyone, no matter what Moffat protests to the contrary.

Personally, it'd be the same as telling me that Batman was a woman now, and my opinion was irrelevant.
(Don't get me wrong, I love Batwoman and the various women who've been Batgirl, but I don't like changing someone's identity over a fad)

I guess we'll have to see what happens, and nod or shake our heads like elderly Time Lord Council members!

 

[Boba Frag]

The very second they revealed that woman was the Master, my first thought was that this is gonna be a thing for the Doctor at some point. Fine by me. It won't change much. The Doctor has always been frail. No Doctor is physically gifted in any way. They are always skinny "girly" men anyway.

Really? Action man Pertwee? The giant Big Tom? Wouldn't want to run into him in a dark alley Eccleston? Go on, go call Eccleston a skinny girly man to his face.

I'd prefer a decent companion myself. There has been only one good one in all of New-Who, and even Donna wasn't a patch on Jamie or Leela. I am truly sick of twenty first century audience stand ins.

May I shake your hand?

I'm sick to death of 21st century people being companions. Damn Russell T Davies... In fairness, the Paternoster Gang sort of fill the role of the Classic era's band of people out of their own times/planets (I will forever love Strax for walloping Clara with a newspaper) but having this whole bossy young woman shtick repeated ad nauseaum because Moffat has a complex or can't think of other characteristics is getting old fast.

Oh, to return to the days whenn Jon Pertwee would Venusian aikido your ass if you pointed a gun at him...

 

[Autumnflame]

to be honest i dont really care.

male or female the character will be good because of good writing and acting not due to gender alone.

I want a female doctor because it is where the show wants to go. not just becasue well we need to please SJW fanatics

 

[fezzthemonk]

On the other hand, I'd be all for Idris Elba to play the Doctor, though I can't really see it as his cup of tea.
I might be wrong, maybe he's a giant Doctor Who nerd.

This. I think this would be the best thing ever and from what i remember correctly, he was remembered to be in consideration before Capaldi was confirmed.

 

[Zero=Interrupt]

"We've been laying the possibility for an awfully long time, but you don't cast that way," he said. "I know I'm going to get in trouble for saying that - you cast a person, you don't cast the gender."

Showing some shred of integrity? This floors me. They've already hit all the other liberal tropes, so much so that the show has gone downhill in the extreme, but they're balking on this one. There may be hope for them yet.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I want a woman as the doctor, because it'll be Interesting, but I don't want that **** Moffat to write her, he'd make her a sex object with no motivation.

 

[Sixcess]

So presented tongue-in-cheek, rather controversial, and retconned away more than once, but still not completely without precedence.

What is and isn't in continuity in Doctor Who is an impossibly tangled mess, especially these days. It's not helped of course that the tv series itself isn't at all consistent - Genesis of the Daleks retconned every prior Dalek story, to give one of the bigger examples.

I tend to take the approach that the tv series supercedes any spin-offs. As much as I might like to headcanon some things from the tv series out of existence it's simpler than trying to reconcile the tv series, the book ranges and the audios into one continuity.

 

[Trunipbob]

there's no reason you can't have a female doctor with a female lead

[quote/]I'm not opposed to the idea, but certain requirements need to be met so that the prospect isn't a total disaster.
Not to mention the idea that the decision is too politically charged, and one that one of the BBC's flagship franchise's can afford to allow time to tell.

if a female lead is too politically charged then that's kind of sad[/quote]

the part is pre-determined by both writing AND as a marketing/business decisions, you want to have a very clear idea of who you have in mind before you go casting

The issue is, whether people admit it or not, that were the doctor to suddenly become a woman at this time it would be more because of marketing than anything else. Not because it was right for the character or because they just happened to find the perfect woman to play the part, but because at this moment more than previously there is a huge outcry for everything to be more inclusive and diverse. Thus the "politically charged" decision is more of a 'we're being inclusive because it will get more publicity', rather than any other reason.

Is diversity a good thing? Yes.

Is diversity, for the sake of saying "Hey look at how progressive and diverse we are." a good thing? No, it's not and could well lead to the straight white male, who was perfect for the role being overlooked just because someone felt they had to give the role to someone of a different gender for the sake of diversity.

 

[Josh123914]

snip

Two female leads is fine, but looking over the history of Doctor Who, very rarely has it been an all-male TARDIS, and in the UK where millions of families watch the show, it's generally a good investment point to have 1 lead man and 1 lead woman to prove that if you're a boy (or a girl), you can watch it, which is a big deal when co-ercing kids under the age of 10 to watch anything.

That's all I'll say, you could counter with "Have a male and female companion" but then you get to the crux there in that paying to have more than two people in the TARDIS at a given point in NuWho is a rarity (lol Amy and Rory).

And Vault, you left out an important point when quoting me:
Moffat.

Look at every main female in Doctor Who since he took over as showrunner. The fans are split over whether or not River Song was overpowered, whether Clara was just a macguffin, or if Amy was hypocritical.
Lots of people don't believe Moffat can write women, and I don't want to endure years of cringe-worthy dialogue (i.e. More than I already do with the show) just because Moffat wants to prove he can change the Doctor's gender.

 

[DarksideFlame]

ak93]

ak93]

SNIP

Sorry for the confusion with the alien thing. I meant he could take on the appearance of them. As in, he looks human now, but is time lord. He could look Sontaran while still being Time Lord.

I get the James Bond counter point too... however, James Bond is a Time Lord.... at least in that special place in my heart...

I dunno, I'm just really sick of the amount of hype stuff like this gets. I feel like it's more for press and being "trendy" than benefiting the story.

That does clear it up a bit, but turning into Time Lord as a Sontaran is pretty unlikely to happen.

They never have (and shouldn't attempt to) try and explain Bonds change in appearance in the movies, which is pretty much a license for everyone to come up with any reason they see fit. But people who seriously believe that the Doctor's gender shouldn't change and threaten to stop watching the show over it usually put the Doctors regen from male to female in the same category as changing Bonds gender which doesn't work.

It would be a big change to the character so it not weird that it gets a lot of press when it brought up by the people in charge of the show, talked about in forums on the internet and of course because group of people who oppose it rather aggressively.

Whether or not the change will benefit the story depends on several factors like the writing, directing and the actor playing the character. People tend to disagree about what's good and what's bad so there will always be arguing whether it was a change for the worse or the better. I'm pretty sure it will at least be interesting when it happens.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

This could be either fantastic or disastrous, either way I'm getting some popcorn ready and possibly a riot shield.

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

Ughhhhh. While I'm not against the principle, and am aware it's canonically sound, must we really? Are we so short of well written female characters that we need to gender change iconcic male ones? I wouldn't mind really, but the fact is that I like the Doctor as a man, just how he is. It works for me, it hasn't grown old, and I believe if it's not broken, don't fix it. I know some others may feel that the gender change would spice things up, and that's fair enough. I simply disagree. Besides that, doing it for the sake of it is a no no in my books. I'm all for good female characters in prominent roles, but I feel they should actually be new characters instead of having to write over another.
Also, as as been said, Moffat is a train wreck when it comes to writing good characters (not only females, Danny was a twunting shambolic annoyance), so if this must happen, it had better not be him.
Hey, with all that said, if they opt for a woman, I'll give it a try. There's a plethora of actresses who spring to mind as fitting the bill well, but I'd love it if they had a new character written for them.