Poll: New Doctor Who - what should they change?

[sanquin]

Matt smith was channeling the second doctor, when you see that guy in action it kinda makes you go "ohhhhhh." He's the smartest guy in the room, but he's for sure got a degree in clowning.

As I understand it, tennant was channeling number 4, arguably one of the best.

Whether you like the character or not, one of my favorite things about smith is that he was his own character. A lot of the stories suck, though, as was previously mentioned: there are some gems, but I found shows like "the beast below" and a whole slew of others to be too campy even for who.

I'd like to see the target audience kicked up from wide eyed 8 year old to 14 1\2.

Indeed that episode was pretty campy. And I do like that Matt Smith was his own doctor. I just don't like that hyper active stuff. Personal taste.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Different show runner for one.

Moffat was brilliant for a while, but he's gone a bit insane in recent years. And not even the gloriously cheesy, RTD sort of insane where they beat the bad guy by having everyone in the world do a Care Bears chant. The boring kind of insane where nothing makes much sense and it's all uninteresting. I want someone like RTD back.
WE NEED MORE GAIMAN.

Otherwise, old would be great. There hasn't been an older Doctor in a good long while. I don't think it's EVER going to happen again, but it would still be cool.

Female, nah. It would strike me as trying too hard and it would open up too many opportunities to be irritatingly preachy. If it was done properly, it could be very interesting. Would need a great actor like Catherine Tate and a head writer who could keep himself on a leash.
Alternate ethnicity could be interesting, but same problems.

Also, can we please stop spreading that nonsense about this being his last regeneration? Not only has this been reversed and/or proven wrong multiple times, but even if it were still relevant, do any of you honestly think they're going to end one of the most successful shows ever just because of one piece of obscure canon?

 

[Sixcess]

What's springing to my mind is some serious fucking retcons or ass-pulls are going to need to be made unless they can pin down the next Doctor for like a decade: this will be Regeneration 12, the last one.

I mean when they put this in after William Hartnell left, they probably didn't think they'd get that far.

12 regenerations. 13 Doctors.

The limit was only introduced in 1977 (in The Deadly Assassin) and Who lore is easily loose enough that they can write around it when the time comes. It was even suggested in a classic series story in the 80s - The Five Doctors - that the Time Lords possessed the ability to gift the Master an entire new cycle of regenerations. The 12 regeneration limit will not end the show.

OT: A female or black/asian/whatever Doctor is highly unlikely. There's no way it wouldn't be seen as a gimmick/stunt casting - which it would be. The BBC likes to talk about it because it looks good and keeps the tabloids speculating madly, but they won't actually do it. They won't mess with a winning formula. Indeed, I'll be slightly surprised if they deviate from that formula sufficiently to cast a white male actor over the age of 40.

 

[BrotherRool]

I'm really surprised at the Poll results, I thought this was an incredibly obvious question, if his personality doesn't change then that means the age/gender/race change literally didn't matter.

We need a new personality, Smith was good, but he was very similar to David Tennant, we've be rolling the same Doctor for almost 8 years now. We need an Eccleston or a Baker or Colin Baker or a Peter Davidson. The Doctor has always had different personalities and they need to look out for a new one.


And they need to be super clear that they're looking at all age, race and genders and if any person brings the perfect new thing to the table, then they pick that person, whatever age,race,sex

(Number 13 should be old though)

OT: A female or black/asian/whatever Doctor is highly unlikely. There's no way it wouldn't be seen as a gimmick/stunt casting - which it would be. The BBC likes to talk about it because it looks good and keeps the tabloids speculating madly, but they won't actually do it. They won't mess with a winning formula. Indeed, I'll be slightly surprised if they deviate from that formula sufficiently to cast a white male actor over the age of 40.

I really doubt the BBC believe that white-male is the winning formula. And they've been happy to do a lot, Jack Harkness is one of the more prominently and openly bisexual/gay characters in the world and they only went with more prominence with that.

And it doesn't have to be a stunt casting either. You just have to interview people of all sexes and pick the best one. It's not like women are less able to act or anything-


We're aren't likely to have a black Doctor though (unless it's Chiwetel Eijfor) because of statistics. Like 1% of the UK population is black, the chances of dipping into a hat and picking a black actor are really really slim. West-Asian is a lot more common but I think there are socio-economical issues there that probably reduce the number of Asian actors.

 

[Sixcess]

And it doesn't have to be a stunt casting either. You just have to interview people of all sexes and pick the best one. It's not like women are less able to act or anything.

I think a female Doctor would be problematic on multiple levels. Who isn't the most terribly subtle show when it comes to social commentary, and I suspect we'd be in for endless 'lessons' on sexism and gender equality - especially in stories in a historical setting. They can (mostly) sidestep this stuff with companions or other supporting characters, but not with the lead.

It would be jarring to a sizeable chunk of the audience - not only purist fans (they're never happy anyway...) but I can't see it playing well to the under ten male demographic that their hero is suddenly a heroine, or to some of their parents.

And I call it stunt casting because regardless of anything else she wouldn't be 'the new Doctor' or 'the 12th Doctor', first and foremost she'd be 'the first female Doctor', and that description would appear ad nauseum in every piece written about the character.

(All of the above could equally apply to a black Doctor, just replace 'female' with 'black', and 'sexism' with 'racism'.)


But mostly I think it'd be a bad idea at the moment because even some of Moffat's fans - let alone his detractors - admit that his handling of female characters is problematic... at best. He's exactly the wrong person to write a female Doctor and like it or not he is staying for series 8, so he would be.

Honestly, if they want a female Time Lord that desperately just bring back Romana. (Though preferably written by someone other than Moffat.)

 

[LittleWings]

I honestly think a female Doctor would be interesting for about three episodes... There's no real reason to do it other than "oh look its a woman now!". Plus it doesn't make a lot of sense to me anyway, that Time Lord gender changes through regeneration.

Why not? The last time the Doctor regenerated, he touched his hair and immediately went, "Oh, I'm a girl." Not "Oh, I'm a man with longish hair." He seemed a little surprised, but the fact that his first assumption was that his gender had changed suggests that it's not unknown for Time Lords to change gender.

Hmm, I don't know, I saw that and though He's surprised he's suddenly a girl (also by the fact that he said "no" several times afterwards, suggesting to me "what the hell?" not "Oh ok that gender swap thing that I know could happen has happened")

And as I said, it just feels weird, not it is weird/ not part of the cannon that Time Lords can become Time Ladies completely randomly via regeneration. I mean it doesn't make much sense nor feel right, and I'd go on to ask why hasn't he been a girl before, if it is a random process.

 

[Smiley Face]

Every Doctor has a different personality - yes, there's almost always an enthusiasm and manic-ness about them, but that's necessary for the show to be the way it is, and I don't necessarily want to see that shift.

The idea that I think is most worth pursuing, eventually, is a change of sex - might be a hard sell to the executives at the BBC, but there's no reason why it couldn't work, and it could give them a lot of ways to mix things up. However, I think it's more likely we'll see the idea test-driven in an episode, to gauge reaction and learn lessons in execution, before we see it instituted long-term.

Race... I can see a lot of people saying "why?" if they change his race - after all, he's the Last of the Time Lords, so there's no intra-species race connotations, he deals with aliens, who probably just see all humans as humans - the only thing you can really explore with him being black is historical-Earth stories - and you could only get away with it once or twice before it got repetitive. I mean, if they find a good black actor (or actor of any race) to play him, fantastic - but I don't see much of a reason to want that change for the benefits it brings, because I don't see many.

The age thing is a much more likely thing to happen, because depending on what personality they want to go with for this coming Doctor, the age will come in to that. And you can do things with old guys.

So as always there's lots of speculation about who should be the next Doctor (for what it's worth, I'm rooting for Brian Blessed)

You, sir, are a genius, and I salute you.

 

[Gecko clown]

Make him Gene Hunt from Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes.

Me and my friend said that it would be cool if the Doctor was more tough, cynical and just less... Tennanty?? After coming up with a bunch of character trates we ended up with Gene Hunt and now it needs to happen.

As far as the options go, I wouldn't mind an old or black doctor. Not a woman though because the doctor is a man. Its been established that male Timelords regenerate into men and female Timelords regenerate into women. Even if that weren't the case I don't like the idea of a female Doctor being written by Moffat.

 

[IndianaJonny]

Joanna Lumley should be The Doctor....again.

Or Rowan Atkinson!....

Only if "Dalek bumps" are canon.

Give me a cynical, bitter Doctor [//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Nighy] with no time for these young twerps...but just a little goony:

Race... I can see a lot of people saying "why?" if they change his race - after all, he's the Last of the Time Lords, so there's no intra-species race connotations, he deals with aliens, who probably just see all humans as humans - the only thing you can really explore with him being black is historical-Earth stories - and you could only get away with it once or twice before it got repetitive. I mean, if they find a good black actor (or actor of any race) to play him, fantastic - but I don't see much of a reason to want that change for the benefits it brings, because I don't see many.

Boy, do I have a treat for you:

 

[Total LOLige]

Hugh Laurie or Bill Bailey. I'm in no position to discuss this, as I've only seen the Doctor Who episodes with Christopher Eccleston.

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

Give him an eyepatch. Space Ladies dig eyepatches

 

[Dangit2019]

What's springing to my mind is some serious fucking retcons or ass-pulls are going to need to be made unless they can pin down the next Doctor for like a decade: this will be Regeneration 12, the last one.

Oh, haven't you heard? BBC just told everybody to forget about that. No, seriously. The show's going to go on after the 13th Doctor's done, and they'd rather you forget about that little detail.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/oct/12/doctor-who-immortal-reveals-bbc

OT: Please just change the show runner. Moffat has the dialogue and the style down, but he can't seem to write a simple story without getting everything fucking convoluted and confusing. I swear, some of the "epic" storylines of the Smith seasons wouldn't pass for an eventful midseason episode during the Eccleston and Tennant years.

 

[BrotherRool]

I think a female Doctor would be problematic on multiple levels. Who isn't the most terribly subtle show when it comes to social commentary, and I suspect we'd be in for endless 'lessons' on sexism and gender equality - especially in stories in a historical setting. They can (mostly) sidestep this stuff with companions or other supporting characters, but not with the lead.

It would be jarring to a sizeable chunk of the audience - not only purist fans (they're never happy anyway...) but I can't see it playing well to the under ten male demographic that their hero is suddenly a heroine, or to some of their parents.

And I call it stunt casting because regardless of anything else she wouldn't be 'the new Doctor' or 'the 12th Doctor', first and foremost she'd be 'the first female Doctor', and that description would appear ad nauseum in every piece written about the character.

(All of the above could equally apply to a black Doctor, just replace 'female' with 'black', and 'sexism' with 'racism'.)


But mostly I think it'd be a bad idea at the moment because even some of Moffat's fans - let alone his detractors - admit that his handling of female characters is problematic... at best. He's exactly the wrong person to write a female Doctor and like it or not he is staying for series 8, so he would be.

I definitely agree that Moffat would be the worst person ever to write a female Doctor, it doesn't have to have any social commentary at all if you pick the big writer. People were actually angry that Doctor Who never even started to hint at social commentary with the interracial relationship and nothing much in the way of commentary was ever done with Martha. Doctor Who actually has a really good track record of just writing about stuff that happens to people and all it takes is one actually sensible person at the top to make it happen.


The rest of you stuff makes me want it much more though. That 'it'd cause a fuss, things are fine now and don't need to change' sort of logic is the absolute worst kind of thinking that we have as human beings. That is literally what allows stuff like racism and sexism to happen.

Stunt casting is only bad if it were stunt casting on the intent of the writers. If the rest of the world has a hissy fit because a character who it's been established can be any gender or colour happens to not be white and not be male then the world can carry on having a hissy fit whilst I watch good episodes of Doctor Who. I will gladly bear the burden of other people being stupid if that's what's required to have the best Doctor possible. Ultimately it only means good things for the series and after people get over themselves and stop complaining about that dude in Thor being black it will become normal. She would always be the first women Doctor, but there's nothing wrong with people thinking that, because that's a factual milestone and all. It only matters if the writers are thinking that and I do believe we live in a world where you can find writers who recognise what a human being looks like, for all that they have different squidgy bits

 

[A BigCup of Tea]

Grumpy

Eccleston touched on this. He was my favourite of the new 3, he seemed to have more depth.
I've wondered about the series with a female Doctor, and I think it would be really interesting.
I think they need someone older, but at least someone well-known for a style. My choices would be Rowan Atkinson, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Daniel Craig, Daniel Radcliff or Rupert Grint. Each of those are well-known and have a more prominant style, instead of the almost pantomime child-like acting that is in the series at the moment.
But the thing I think they need to get rid of is Steven Moffat. He was good making the occasional episode, but these newer series are appalling and they need to get rid of him ASAP.

sorry but I don't think Daniel Craig has the look for the doctor, martin freeman might be quite a good choice but I see him more as an assistant, just for a laugh I'd like to see Morgan freeman as the doctor.

 

[Flatfrog]

The rest of you stuff makes me want it much more though. That 'it'd cause a fuss, things are fine now and don't need to change' sort of logic is the absolute worst kind of thinking that we have as human beings. That is literally what allows stuff like racism and sexism to happen.

Well said. The fact that people are resistant to it is more of a reason to do it, not less. And whereas with other long-running characters where these discussions come up (James Bond, mainly) those people have a point, it's really hard to think of a good reason *not* to do it with Who. Just because something hasn't been done before is no reason not to do it, that's how progress happens.

 

[Gatx]

What's springing to my mind is some serious fucking retcons or ass-pulls are going to need to be made unless they can pin down the next Doctor for like a decade: this will be Regeneration 12, the last one.

I mean when they put this in after William Hartnell left, they probably didn't think they'd get that far.

I'm actually not a fan at all but the idea of the show approaching a preset limit despite being super popular and after a modern revival at that was intriguing so I googled a bit, and apparently they just retconned it. According to the Guardian, in an episode of a Doctor Who spin off series, Sarah Jane Adventures, during which Matt Smith guest stars, he is asked how many times he can regenerate, to which he replies that it's infinite. I don't watch either show though so, just gotta take the Guardian's word for it.

 

[Sixcess]

Ultimately it only means good things for the series and after people get over themselves and stop complaining about that dude in Thor being black it will become normal.

I don't disagree, but the shitstorm would rage for at least the first year of the new Doctor and quite possibly longer, and I'm not sure the Beeb would have the nerve to tough it out, or the intelligence not to handle it really poorly. God help any prospective female/non-white Doctor if they got landed with a clunker of a season and ratings fell.

Which they have, somewhat, from Tennant's departure. If they fall much further I'd not be surprised if the powers that be didn't start sniffing around for a scapegoat. Even if they didn't, elements of fandom definitely would. Let's face it, fandom/geekdom isn't exactly receptive to this sort of thing. Idris Elba in Thor is a good example, and I seem to recall a 20+ page mega-thread on the rumoured casting of a black actor in a reboot of the Fantastic Four.

And the Escapist is a relatively liberal, open minded site. Take a look at the comments section on any tabloid newspaper website and you'll see any number of narrow minded comments about the Doctor being white and male, and "Transexual Doctor? It's political correctness gone mad!!!" Disgusted from Tumbridge Wells would have a fit.

Well fuck those people, except the BBC can't say that. That's their core audience, and it's a big risk to use one of their flagship shows to screw with that audience's expectations or, if you'd prefer a more loaded word, prejudices.

The more I think about it, a female Doctor would potentially be the most interesting thing they could do with the show - in the right hands. I don't think the idea is inherently bad, I do think it's not the right time. I'd trust Gaiman, or Gareth Roberts (he writes a great Romana in some old 4th Doctor novels) but I wouldn't trust Moffat, and I wouldn't trust the BBC not to make a mess of it.

 

[Forobryt]

Bill Bailey is who i want as the doctor, he can be serious yet still be making a joke at something whilst dishing out the serious.
That or someone who is on the older side of the scale. all the recent doctors have been pretty young and im sure there are some older actors begging for a chance to play the Doc.

 

[The Event]

Changing The Doctor's race or sex brings more problems than it's worth.

Yes we live in a time that aspires to equality, but The Doctor is a time traveller. He doesn't just visit the present and the future.

So if female Doctor arrives in the 12th century is anyone going to listen to her or is she a mere woman good for only one thing?
Black Doctor arrives in mid 19th century America, who then was interested in what a black man had to say?

So we stop doing historical stories thus limiting what can be written about,
or have every story addressing the racism and sexism of history which we already know about and can't change,
or we completely rewrite history and pretend that sexism and racism didn't exist.

Let's just stick with the white male because that's what makes the show work best.

 

[BrotherRool]

I'm actually not a fan at all but the idea of the show approaching a preset limit despite being super popular and after a modern revival at that was intriguing so I googled a bit, and apparently they just retconned it. According to the Guardian, in an episode of a Doctor Who spin off series, Sarah Jane Adventures, during which Matt Smith guest stars, he is asked how many times he can regenerate, to which he replies that it's infinite. I don't watch either show though so, just gotta take the Guardian's word for it.

I think what the Guardian is basing it off is pretty shaky. Basically some kid asks the Doctor how many lives he has and he replies '562' in a really flippant 'bajillion' kind of manner.

Ever if it were the case, it wouldn't satisfy the fanbase. With the 13th I reckon they should write a series long arc explaining why he can regenerate more. It actually be a really nice thing to do for the show, there's a lot of cool ideas involved in the 13th Doctor and how he lives, thinking it might be his last days

And the Escapist is a relatively liberal, open minded site. Take a look at the comments section on any tabloid newspaper website and you'll see any number of narrow minded comments about the Doctor being white and male, and "Transexual Doctor? It's political correctness gone mad!!!" Disgusted from Tumbridge Wells would have a fit.

Well fuck those people, except the BBC can't say that. That's their core audience, and it's a big risk to use one of their flagship shows to screw with that audience's expectations or, if you'd prefer a more loaded word, prejudices.

I mean the latest Torchwood was a big fuck you to homophobes. And that was the series they were banking on pushing to an American audience. And that was dealing with an issue that the majority of politicians for our governing party actually still trumpet the wrong side for. Whereas racism and misogyny are recognised as wrong by pretty much every party outside the BNP (and maybe UKIP).

Having a female/black Doctor isn't such a big deal as a gay doctor (as sad as that is) and I think there's a good chance that the fuss could actually die down in only a little more time than in took people to accept that Matt Smith was replacing David Tennant. As long as whoever they pick is really good and can show they're really good, most of the fans would quickly accept it and within a year it could be pretty normal. I agree the BBC would have to be aware and think about the fuss it might cause, but there's probably a greedy controller up there who sees the controversy and thinks it would be a great way to bring back views after a slow season (incidentally that person isn't a good guy, and if he had creative control we'd be in for a horrible season, but as long as he's only one of the producers arguing with the others who want to avoid the fuss, it'd work out fine)

Changing The Doctor's race or sex brings more problems than it's worth.

Yes we live in a time that aspires to equality, but The Doctor is a time traveller. He doesn't just visit the present and the future.

So if female Doctor arrives in the 12th century is anyone going to listen to her or is she a mere woman good for only one thing?
Black Doctor arrives in mid 19th century America, who then was interested in what a black man had to say?

So we stop doing historical stories thus limiting what can be written about,
or have every story addressing the racism and sexism of history which we already know about and can't change,
or we completely rewrite history and pretend that sexism and racism didn't exist.

Let's just stick with the white male because that's what makes the show work best.

In any other series I might agree with you. But in Doctor Who it really wouldn't matter. They handwave everything about time travel. The women issue is already technically a thing and the show already deals with the problem by completely ignoring it. In the same way they ignore clothes and breaking social customs and the fact a madman in a box really shouldn't be able to show up and boss everyone around.

And I also agree that just ignoring the problem would be an issue for another show, but it so completely fits the light silly adventure fun of Doctor Who that it wouldn't be here. When going back in time involves fighting aliens and eating jelly babies, not dealing with the social issues of the time doesn't seem like such a big deal.