Introducing the new Doctor

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someonehairy-ish

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I'm still waiting for the people complaining that they cast an attractive female doctor, either because a) it's pandering to the male gaze and therefore sexist, or b) they wanted a fat doctor for the sake of 'body positivity'.

Maybe I'm overly cynical. But I'd be willing to bet money that I'm right.

Anyway, I quite like this choice if for no other reason than she was good in Black Mirror and Attack the Block. Hopefully with new writers and showrunners Who will be watchable again. As long as they don't go too sjw-Marvel and have every plot be a loose jumble of feminist buzzwords, it'll be fine.
 

Basement Cat

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I haven't watched Dr. Who since Tom Baker was replaced back in the 80's. For me and my family he will always be the Doctor.

But having not watched Dr. Who in nearly thirty years I can tell that I'm out of the loop. A female Doctor? Fine. But whatever happened to the "Timelords only regenerate 12 times" thing? Back in the Tom Baker days that was a big plot element concerning the Master. Is he still around?

Of course Tom Baker's Doctor was only the 5th or 6th Doctor, I think, so they had plenty of room back then to say Timelords could regenerate only 12 times. <_<
 

Trunkage

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Basement Cat said:
I haven't watched Dr. Who since Tom Baker was replaced back in the 80's. For me and my family he will always be the Doctor.

But having not watched Dr. Who in nearly thirty years I can tell that I'm out of the loop. A female Doctor? Fine. But whatever happened to the "Timelords only regenerate 12 times" thing? Back in the Tom Baker days that was a big plot element concerning the Master. Is he still around?

Of course Tom Baker's Doctor was only the 5th or 6th Doctor, I think, so they had plenty of room back then to say Timelords could regenerate only 12 times. <_<
You know what saved him... SCIENCE! Or more likely RAINGS!

Its science fantasy. They explain away rule breaking all the time.

If you actually want to know, the Time Lords gave him extra time... so LOVE!? saved him.

OT: I seem to be an outlier. I saw Broadchurch, Jodi was the worst part. I don't have much faith in her acting skills.

But then I saw Capaldi in Thick of It and wondered how that would work. He pretty much just got rid of the swears
 

votemarvel

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Shadowstar38 said:
votemarvel said:
My big fear with this casting is that it'll just be ignored and we'll end up with that wacky Doctor again, just with a bit more jiggle. Make the regeneration into a female mean something more.
Personality traits aren't gender coded, so I don't see your point. If the character gets better, I'll chalk it up to better writing and the actor as a person knowing what they're doing. The Doctor being a woman in and of itself adds nothing of value.
My great issue is that you look at Doctor's 1 to 9 and they are all different, I'll include the War Doctor as he was created to be as different as possible.

Those Doctors were the same man but unique personalities. Jump to 10, 11, and 12 however and now we essentially have the same man but a different face, their personalities became interchangeable.

As I said before I was really expecting Capaldi to change that and at the start he seemed to be going a different way, but it soon slipped back to those wacky adventures and mooning over his companion.

It's as if the BBC found a formula with the Tennant Doctor and just couldn't let go of it.

That's why I want the casting of Jodie Whittaker to mean something. I want it to be the tipping point that breaks them out of the Tennant forumla that we've had for years now and to start making the Doctor's regenerations unique again.

One thing I do find kind of sad about the casting is losing one of the few good male role models on British TV.
 

Silvanus

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Schadrach said:
Let's hope it's good.

Of course, predicting it now: If the writing this season is poor, pointing it out will be deemed misogyny.
...and those that enjoy the show will be termed "SJWs". Let's not pretend that this rampant politicisation of entertainment only goes one way.
 

DudeistBelieve

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Katherine Kerensky said:
I stopped watching Doctor Who back at before the Matt Smith Christmas Special with John Hurt. Probably should get back into this. Female Doctor doesn't bother me.
DudeistBelieve said:
I'm gonna make a sexist argument for why this is a good thing and why no one should *****: It's everything you love about the Doctor only now you can fuck the Doctor and have it not be gay.
Well, I mean, it would be gay for some of us, but that's fine by me.
KATHERINE! I didn't know you were still lurking around the boards, how ya been?
 

Terminal Blue

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Doctor Who Fans: "OMG, feminists are ruining my childhood! They want to steal all our precious man things!"

Meanwhile, somewhere, a little girl googles My Little Pony..
 

votemarvel

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Guilion said:
I stopped following the series somewhere shortly after the River Song saga ended. I'm kind of okay with this, after all Donna Noble may be the first (honorary) Doctor in Canon that I know of and the whole Runaway Bride saga is still one of my favorite stories from the reboot, but I don't think this will do a whole lot to rekindle my interest for the series.
I could never stand Donna Noble.

I found it nearly impossible to separate her loud shouty character from the countless other loud and shouty characters Catherine Tate has played in her comedy shows. It was like they'd just lifted one up and plonked it down in the Doctor Who universe.

The one good thing about her I suppose was it at least killed the romantic arcs between the Doctor and the companion for a while.
 

Veylon

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brucethemoose said:
Veylon said:
Mechamorph said:
Back on topic, well this actress has the acting chops to succeed. She should get the chance to and if she makes a good Doctor, great. If not, well, regeneration time.
I thought this was supposed to be the last one. Twelve regenerations and that's it, right?
Ha.

Have you watched Dr. Who recently? They'll find a way to explain it.
My only exposure to the actual show is a series of reviews on SF Debris. Everything else I know about it is various hit-and-run references.

But yeah, it's a popular thing. I totally believe that they'll break every bit of internal consistency to keep it on the air as long as it's bringing in the cash.
 

happyninja42

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Veylon said:
brucethemoose said:
Veylon said:
Mechamorph said:
Back on topic, well this actress has the acting chops to succeed. She should get the chance to and if she makes a good Doctor, great. If not, well, regeneration time.
I thought this was supposed to be the last one. Twelve regenerations and that's it, right?
Ha.

Have you watched Dr. Who recently? They'll find a way to explain it.
My only exposure to the actual show is a series of reviews on SF Debris. Everything else I know about it is various hit-and-run references.

But yeah, it's a popular thing. I totally believe that they'll break every bit of internal consistency to keep it on the air as long as it's bringing in the cash.
They already did explain the regeneration limitation thing, when Matt Smith was leaving the show and Peter Capaldi was coming in.

Basicaly, the time lord planet sent him more regenerations. Not sure how, as in I don't know where they got the spare regenerations (Doubt they're just lying around), but he ate them, and got more lives. How many has never been explained that I know of, but that's how they got passed the 12 times thing.
 

008Zulu_v1legacy

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I wonder if this means her companion will be a pretty boy in short shorts? An opposite to Smith's Amy Pond if you will.
 

Katherine Kerensky

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DudeistBelieve said:
KATHERINE! I didn't know you were still lurking around the boards, how ya been?
Yeah, I post every so often, but mainly stick to mod stuff. Been a little busy, got my first job in years, and started streaming as well. And helping an MWO YouTuber and his community.
 

Dalisclock

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Happyninja42 said:
Veylon said:
brucethemoose said:
Veylon said:
Mechamorph said:
Back on topic, well this actress has the acting chops to succeed. She should get the chance to and if she makes a good Doctor, great. If not, well, regeneration time.
I thought this was supposed to be the last one. Twelve regenerations and that's it, right?
Ha.

Have you watched Dr. Who recently? They'll find a way to explain it.
My only exposure to the actual show is a series of reviews on SF Debris. Everything else I know about it is various hit-and-run references.

But yeah, it's a popular thing. I totally believe that they'll break every bit of internal consistency to keep it on the air as long as it's bringing in the cash.
They already did explain the regeneration limitation thing, when Matt Smith was leaving the show and Peter Capaldi was coming in.

Basicaly, the time lord planet sent him more regenerations. Not sure how, as in I don't know where they got the spare regenerations (Doubt they're just lying around), but he ate them, and got more lives. How many has never been explained that I know of, but that's how they got passed the 12 times thing.
Pretty much they got around it the same way they got around everything else: The writing staff said so. Parts of history are fixed points and can't be changed, until they can. Weeping angels can work off of whatever rules they want at any given time. The Doctor can erase himself from history except where/when he didn't. Trees can grow all over the earth overnight and protect us from Solar flares because reasons.

Honestly, I'm surprised a Lady Doctor even raises an eyebrow at this point.
 

maninahat

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Hawki said:
gigastar said:
Aaaand of course for some people its not enough~

"Doctor Who is an overwhelmingly white show." Gee, I wonder if it's because it's a UK show, and most of the UK's citizens are Anglo-Celtic in ethnicity? I mean, isn't the whole purpose of equality that people should be judged entirely on their merits, regardless of skin colour? Like, I'd like to think that the actresses for Martha Jones and Bill were chosen because they were the best choice, not because of the colour of their skin.
If you're going to be pedantic about demographics, then realistically the doctor should have been female in at least half of her incarnations, and at least one of them Asian British. Oh, but they're only casting their first female doctor now after 50 years? Guess that pedantry doesn't work to well.

If we go on the old argument that they hire actors on merit, that simply raises the broader problem of the lack of well known non-white actors who have been given significant acting roles in the past. To argue it is a meritocracy, you have to go with the argument that white men must have so far been inherently better actors than anyone else. Sarkeesian is absolutely right to acknowledge what we have here is just a baby step.
 

maninahat

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undeadsuitor said:
Silentpony said:
She better have a fucking magic schoolbus and take kids around on charming educational adventures!
Honestly, a much more whimsical and endearing tone for Dr who would be much appreciated. The last couple seasons have been fucking draining

I'd love for a kid companion.
Jesus, yes! Remember when we had those? And the writers weren't inserting sexual frisson between some space god and a sexy 20 something?
 

09philj

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maninahat said:
undeadsuitor said:
Silentpony said:
She better have a fucking magic schoolbus and take kids around on charming educational adventures!
Honestly, a much more whimsical and endearing tone for Dr who would be much appreciated. The last couple seasons have been fucking draining

I'd love for a kid companion.
Jesus, yes! Remember when we had those? And the writers weren't inserting sexual frisson between some space god and a sexy 20 something?
Also, any companions who aren't feisty women from present day Earth. Even though Bill was reasonably likeable, since every primary companion of New Who has been cut from the same cloth I was still somewhat bored by her. Even if the formula was transferred to a male companion, nothing would change. I want to see more companions with actual competence and skills of their own again. Steven Taylor, Leela, Romana, Nyssa, Turlough, Ace, and Captain Jack all had things they could do other than look surprised, run away, or say something dumb.

An ideal companion for the Doctor to have at this point would be someone who in certain ways can match up to the Doctor, but has a very different way of handling situations. They can learn the value of doing things the Doctor's way, while the Doctor can also learn the value of doing things their way.
 

WindKnight

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undeadsuitor said:
Silentpony said:
She better have a fucking magic schoolbus and take kids around on charming educational adventures!
Honestly, a much more whimsical and endearing tone for Dr who would be much appreciated. The last couple seasons have been fucking draining

I'd love for a kid companion.
I think the last child companion was Adric, and he was so obnoxious and hated the killed him off in a particularly final manner.
 

09philj

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Windknight said:
undeadsuitor said:
Silentpony said:
She better have a fucking magic schoolbus and take kids around on charming educational adventures!
Honestly, a much more whimsical and endearing tone for Dr who would be much appreciated. The last couple seasons have been fucking draining

I'd love for a kid companion.
I think the last child companion was Adric, and he was so obnoxious and hated the killed him off in a particularly final manner.
Fan favourite Ace was a sixteen year old, albeit one armed to the teeth with IEDs and a baseball bat.
 

Hazy992

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I might give it another shot, seeing as how it's a new Doctor and a new show runner. Maybe it's the breath of fresh air the show needed, or maybe it will be completely awful. I like the idea of a female Doctor in principle but I am wary, the show hasn't exactly got the best track record of writing good female characters.

Haven't watched it since the first series with Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, show went to absolute dogshit.