Poll: New Doctor Who - what should they change?

Thaluikhain

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Sleekit said:
entertainment programs don't actually have some kind of duty or need to service affirmative action/positive discrimination y'know.
But, they do have a duty to keep the Doctor as a straight white guy? For some reason?

Sleekit said:
a characters sexuality should be a complete irrelevance in Who. don't you get that ?
Heterosexuality is a sexuality, you know. Every time a character leaves the doctor for their new love interest of the opposite sex, that's due to their sexuality.

Now, I'd agree that the Doctor should have remained asexual, but they did away with that ages ago.
 

Flatfrog

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Sleekit said:
getting sick and tired of the idea that every entertainment program some people get into should be turned into something completely different especially to leverage to push some kind of external agenda they are personally into.

"black doctor","female doctor","gay doctor","black female gay ginger doctor"...

entertainment programs don't actually have some kind of duty or need to service affirmative action/positive discrimination y'know.
But extremely popular entertainment programmes aimed at wide family audiences do have a duty to represent diversity where they can. And this one can. So why not?

Coincidentally, Malorie Blackman, the author who has just become the Children's Laureate in the UK, has just been discussing this issue.

Speaking to the Guardian, Blackman highlighted a lack of diversity among children's writers, and the lack of black and Asian children in picture books. She said as a child growing up in the 1960s she loved comics and books including Elinor Brent-Dyer's Chalet School stories, but a career as a writer was not on her radar because she never came across black writers or characters. "I still remember feeling I was totally invisible in the world of literature," she said.
We need more books that are specifically about the British BME [black and minority ethnic] experience and that's why I bang the drum for more diversity and not having this idea that if a book has got pictures of a black or Asian child then it's going to have a limited market.
I'm not saying the new Doctor *has* to be a black lesbian, but 'it's always been this way' is a shitty reason to decide against it.
 

Busard

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Alleged_Alec said:
I want Brian Blessed to be the new Doctor.
Companion: Doctor ! The Daleks are catching on to us. Why can't the TARDIS move away ?
Doctor: PETROOOOL, WE'RE RUNNING OUT !

And all the Daleks explode from the resounding soundwave.

On the next episode, the Doctor wrestles with bears
 

Flatfrog

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Oh, and I just thought I'd drop this in here:

An alternative history where the Doctor was always a woman:
http://www.scifind.com/features/the-other-11-doctors/

The list of names:
Joyce Grenfell as William Hartnell
Hattie Jaques as Patrick Troughton
Honor Blackman as Jon Pertwee
Penelope Keith as Tom Baker
Joanna Lumley as Peter Davison
Miriam Margoyles as Colin Baker
Siobhan Redmond as Sylvester McCoy
Helen Baxendale as Paul McGann
Suranne Jones as Christopher Ecclestone
Sue Perkins as David Tennant
Miranda Hart as Matt Smith
 

Lilani

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Sixcess said:
Then why bother?

Such a drastic change would infuriate many long term fans and casual viewers, and if they did so then sidestepped the issues raised by it they'd not gain any plaudits from the people who are clamouring for a female Doctor, because they would accuse the BBC of missing the opportunity to make a statement or at least do something interesting. It's a lose/lose situation.
Why bother? You really think the show will fail because a black Doctor steps onto the scene? Sure it'll cause controversy, but if anything I think it'll cause the truly decent Whovians to defend it even more. It doesn't have to be a statement, in fact all evidence points toward race and gender not being a big deal in the Doctor Who universe. The only statement it would make is that color and sex doesn't matter to the Doctor Who team as much as it did.

Personally, I think they'll do a non-white Doctor long before they try a female one. A female Doctor will change more aspects of the show's identity for sure, and I think having a non-white Doctor first would ease people into that idea more. But the show's had male companions before, and nobody ever said you can't have both for variety (the Ponds, Rose and Mickey). Also, I think it would infuriate long time viewers MUCH more than new Whovians. The people who are new are open to more and don't have such a strict and fragile image of the show in their head.

HellbirdIV said:
I really think changing his gender would be silly. Time Lords have genders, y'know? They always regenerate as the same gender.
No they don't. I don't know if it was established as canon in the Classic Who, but in the the Doctor's Wife episode the Doctor talks about a time lord called the Corsair, who "was a great man, or sometimes woman." Time Lords changing gender after regeneration is canon.
 

Kittyhawk

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Can't say I care much. A new actor will come along and everyone will open their mouth and drink the sticky.

DW isn't that great IMO. I just wish the BBC would put that kind of imagination into new sci fi/fantasy projects as they do to keep this one running. Each to their own I guess.
 

Thaluikhain

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What about a cop-out?

Instead of jumping from a white doctor to a black doctor, start out fairly white, and phase in increasingly non-Caucasian actors.

Or for that matter, keep the Doctor as the default white straight male, by have him meet a future doctor who is not.
 

Alleged_Alec

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Busard said:
Alleged_Alec said:
I want Brian Blessed to be the new Doctor.
Companion: Doctor ! The Daleks are catching on to us. Why can't the TARDIS move away ?
Doctor: PETROOOOL, WE'RE RUNNING OUT !

And all the Daleks explode from the resounding soundwave.

On the next episode, the Doctor wrestles with bears
In an episode including the Doctor's daughter:

'IS THERE ANYONE IN ROME WHO HAS NOT SLEPT WITH MY DAUGHTER?'



Yeah, it won't happen, but we can dream, can't we? ^^
 

Thaluikhain

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Alleged_Alec said:
Busard said:
Alleged_Alec said:
I want Brian Blessed to be the new Doctor.
Companion: Doctor ! The Daleks are catching on to us. Why can't the TARDIS move away ?
Doctor: PETROOOOL, WE'RE RUNNING OUT !

And all the Daleks explode from the resounding soundwave.

On the next episode, the Doctor wrestles with bears
In an episode including the Doctor's daughter:

'IS THERE ANYONE IN ROME WHO HAS NOT SLEPT WITH MY DAUGHTER?'



Yeah, it won't happen, but we can dream, can't we? ^^
As an aside, have you seen the classic Dr Who story "Mind Warp", from Trial of a Time Lord?
 

romxxii

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thiosk said:
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.
From what I recall, Tennant was channeling Five, aka his father-in-law, Peter Davison. He has outright said that Davison was his Doctor, his favorite Doctor, both OOC and in-character (check out "Time Crash"). In fact, many of Ten's quirks -- like the sneakers and the fake smarty-pants glasses -- were homages to Five.

I prefer Smith myself, and I think that when it comes to ratio of gems-to-shit episodes, he's probably even with Eccleston and Tennant.

And am I seriously the only one who hasn't forgotten how terrible RTD's run can be? Lazarus Project anyone? Love and Monsters? Hell, even the episode where the wonderful Anthony Head guested was kinda off.
 

Flatfrog

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romxxii said:
And am I seriously the only one who hasn't forgotten how terrible RTD's run can be? Lazarus Project anyone? Love and Monsters? Hell, even the episode where the wonderful Anthony Head guested was kinda off.
No, you're not the only one. It seems that RTD and Moffat only managed to produce gold working together. Separately they never seem to quite get it right.
 

Alleged_Alec

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thaluikhain said:
Alleged_Alec said:
Busard said:
Alleged_Alec said:
I want Brian Blessed to be the new Doctor.
Companion: Doctor ! The Daleks are catching on to us. Why can't the TARDIS move away ?
Doctor: PETROOOOL, WE'RE RUNNING OUT !

And all the Daleks explode from the resounding soundwave.

On the next episode, the Doctor wrestles with bears
In an episode including the Doctor's daughter:

'IS THERE ANYONE IN ROME WHO HAS NOT SLEPT WITH MY DAUGHTER?'



Yeah, it won't happen, but we can dream, can't we? ^^
As an aside, have you seen the classic Dr Who story "Mind Warp", from Trial of a Time Lord?
I'm afraid not. I was not yet born in the old days of Doctor Who. I got interested in the series when I saw some stuff from the reboot. I have been trying to watch some of the old series, but they're hard to get hold of over here.
 

Thaluikhain

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Alleged_Alec said:
I'm afraid not. I was not yet born in the old days of Doctor Who. I got interested in the series when I saw some stuff from the reboot. I have been trying to watch some of the old series, but they're hard to get hold of over here.
Ah, well, Brian Blessed is in it, playing a very loud barbarian king.

The story was a bit weird, though, on the one hand, you have Brian Blessed being Brian Blessed, to the extent the Dr had to apologise to the aliens about it. OTOH, the aliens are enslaving people and performing weird medical things on them, and it got creepy. Sticking those two together in the same story didn't quite gel.
 

takemeouttotheblack

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Dryk said:
takemeouttotheblack said:
we rarely see the doctor in the situation where he's dictating terms, instead he basically acts very passively as stuff goes to hell around him, and then relies on some facet of the quirky companions to solve the problem.
Sounds like most of the RTD finales too. Well the 1st and 4th, 3rd looks like it's going that way but he actually had a plan all a long.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing when used in moderation, but when it's pretty much every episode and when it's done it's so saccharine, I really don't like it. I take your point about Bad Wolf and the End of Time, but there are defo plans in Army of Ghosts and the one with the Master, and Journey's end has three plans all at once. Although none of them actually are started by the Doctor.
 

Revolutionary

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Seventh Actuality said:
Anything is better than going back to the days of

Sir I respectfully posit that Russel T Davies in fact was the Pinnacle of Doctor who, and Moffats current reign of tyranny is far worse than anything that preceded it.
Anyway OT:
My thing about the Doctor being a Woman is this: I'm not entirely sure that it's cannon.
I could be wrong about this but I'm fairly sure that regeneration doesn't allow him to change sex. My impression was that there are/were male and female timelords, and they could regenerate as different races, sizes, and other things, but not change. It wouldn't really bother me that much but it just kind of pandering and doesn't seem cannon to me. Not that I'd watch any of it anyway since I've stopped watching Dr. Who since Moffat took over and turned it into Sherlock in space.
Final Word:
 

Thaluikhain

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Revolutionary said:
My thing about the Doctor being a Woman is this: I'm not entirely sure that it's cannon.
I could be wrong about this but I'm fairly sure that regeneration doesn't allow him to change sex. My impression was that there are/were male and female timelords, and they could regenerate as different races, sizes, and other things, but not change. It wouldn't really bother me that much but it just kind of pandering and doesn't seem cannon to me. Not that I'd watch any of it anyway since I've stopped watching Dr. Who since Moffat took over and turned it into Sherlock in space.
As pointed out several times already in this thread, there was mention of The Corsair, who had changed sex, presumably when regenerating.
 

the December King

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I'd be worried that the stories would attempt to deal with issues based around a gender or racial change to the doctor, and I'd end up rolling my eyes until it hurt, finding my escapism hijacked by 'real world issues' instead of robot invaders or ultradimensional slug conspiracies.

Saying that it isn't likely to happen is akin to saying that'll be the day that the doctor's a lady, heh... But then again, otherwise, what's the point of changing the Doctor's gender or race? To allow a woman to play him? Or a minority? Why couldn't those same actors play additional timelords or companions?

I don't feel it's a question of discrimination to me, either- if the Doctor was a woman to begin with, I'd rather she stayed a woman. And it's not that I would feel 'confused' either- although I might if I miss the episode wherein it happened, but it would last for like 2 mins.

Or till commercial break.

Credits, tops.

Fine, till a friend told me what the hell happened.

Alot of people have made cognitive arguments as to why a gender or racial change would be a good thing, and part of me agrees whole- heartedly. I'd check it out, for sure.

But if it doesn't feel like Doctor Who, I'll tune out. And I'm suspect that any actor with a major difference in casting, or writing by it's current standards, could accomplish that for me.
 

Thaluikhain

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the December King said:
I'd be worried that the stories would attempt to deal with issues based around a gender or racial change to the doctor, and I'd end up rolling my eyes until it hurt, finding my escapism hijacked by 'real world issues' instead of robot invaders or ultradimensional slug conspiracies.
Er...doctor who has been doing that for ages. Not always well, and not quite so much recently, but it's always been there.

The legend goes that one story was written by a guy pissed off at paying his taxes, others after a writer was complaining about something they just found out about, and were told to go write a story about it.

Hell, what about the Slitheen and their "massive weapons of destruction" which they could activate in "45 seconds"?