Introducing the new Doctor

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

I was looking at facebook wondering who the fuck would not want a female doctor in this day and age, OK ,sure for some medical conditions you might be more comfortable with a male doctor, but really, otherwise, WTF? There have been female doctors in this country for over 150 years, how is this a thing people are talking about now?...Oh...Dr Who...

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Wow, some of you people really just can't get over Sarkeesian, can you? As someone who's still kinda hung up on a relationship I had half a year ago, bruhs, it's been four years, move on.

Well, history's proved her haterz were always really her biggest - and most enthusiastic - fans, so yeah, some people can't and won't let go. Hell, they made her.

If they're gonna shove social justice bullshit, then I'll have a problem with that.

Does "social justice bullshit" actually translate as 'politics or social issues that I don't agree with/care about'? That's typically what it seems to mean.

As for me: I couldn't give a stuff about Who. Never have, probably never will. I tried to watch a few eps of the Smith/Gillan era, and one or two of those eps were fun and I liked the idea of the show at that time. But the execution's always been a bit shit, i.e. in keeping with most British genre TV, frankly.

I saw rumours of someone by the name of Phoebe Waller-Bridge (who I gather's been cast in the Han Solo solo flick) being tipped for the role, and based on looks alone (looks-as-a-Doctor, I mean) I'd have preferred her. But Who ain't my corner of nerddom, so whatevs. I'll probably do what a lot of people will; watch the first ep with the new Doctor, then forget the show exists until another casting.

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.

Novelty? If only that, it's something. Having a specific sex and gender of a character can either potentially mean something (dramatically and/or thematically), as well as be little more than superficial novelty. Having a female Bond, for example, could certainly be a great playground to play around with ideas and perceptions given just how gendered the character's always been (e.g. would female Bond be just as sexist? violent? sociopathic? do we assume she's as straight as bloke-Bond, or explore/deconstruct gender roles and expectations by making her gay? and so on).

I'm not familiar enough with Who lore and themes to know whether it could be a context to do something interesting. Going from reputation alone I gather it's mostly kinda rubbish, ergo whoever's writing it won't do a good job regardless.

 

[shrekfan246]

Wow, some of you people really just can't get over Sarkeesian, can you? As someone who's still kinda hung up on a relationship I had half a year ago, bruhs, it's been four years, move on.

Well, history's proved her haterz were always really her biggest - and most enthusiastic - fans, so yeah, some people can't and won't let go. Hell, they made her.

True. I should know better by now.

 

[Natemans]

Someone explain to me who Moffat is and why everyone hates him. I think I remember hearing good things about him from friends who like Dr. Who.

Anyway, if we can have Wonder Woman in a movie where it isn't all about girl power and men being the worst thing since cancer, then this could work.

Steven Moffat is a writer and was the showrunner of Doctor Who from 2010 to 2017. He was well-regarded a lot by everyone for his previous stories in Series 1-4. He made a good start with Series 5 starring Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor. However, his run started to take a nose dive around the 2nd half of series 6 and started to make stuff up as he went along. Mainly the problem with Moffat as a writer nowadays was that he tried to overbear us with how "clever" he was instead of trying to write a good story. Although I do believe he tried to reduce those issues and tried to be subtle in series 10. Heck, I even liked the finale to the season.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

She better have a fucking magic schoolbus and take kids around on charming educational adventures!

 

[someonehairy-ish]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.