Peter Capaldi continues to show how awesome he is

[The Nth Doctor]

Doctor Who Cult's Facebook page shared this video of Peter Capaldi meeting some young fans on the set of the TARDIS console room and fielding some of their questions. The video resolution is low, but the audio sounds just fine. One particularly interesting tidbit is that Capaldi sees no reason why The Doctor shouldn't have a female incarnation.

 

[RoJoHen]

You know, if there was ever a time to do a female Doctor, it would have been now. Instead of Capaldi, have a female Doctor. They could have used the new regeneration cycle as the perfect excuse to change the rules.

 

[auntiehill]

How sweet! Those poor kids were gob-smacked, just stunned! You can tell Peter definitely has a way with kids. Good on him.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

You know, if there was ever a time to do a female Doctor, it would have been now. Instead of Capaldi, have a female Doctor. They could have used the new regeneration cycle as the perfect excuse to change the rules.

Well, it's already been established succinctly that gender swapping is no big deal for at least some Time Lords ("Night of the Doctor", "The Doctor's Wife"), to say nothing of MOST LIKELY being able to switch up race or species ("Death of the Doctor", "Destiny of the Daleks"). No rules to change here - they just have to DO it, and hope that the audience at large is okay with it. We may be, but let's face it - we're nerds for this stuff.

Capaldi sure is awesome. He may not have been an uberfan once he hit adulthood, having to focus on stuff like rent and food and career and all that, but his inner anorak has been nurtured all this time while in the back of the wardrobe, and is certainly back in play now!

Mark

 

[Green Lantern]

Why does there need to be a female doctor? I don't get why people seem to want one.

 

[Christopher]

Why does there need to be a female doctor? I don't get why people seem to want one.

Maybe because half of "people" is "women?" The Doctor is the most iconic, important role in British SFTV -- why should half the great actors in the country be excluded from consideration for it because they don't have Y chromosomes?

 

[Professor Zoom]

Why does there need to be a female doctor? I don't get why people seem to want one.

Why should't there be a female Doctor? I don't get why people seem to be so dead set against having one.

 

[DWF]

Personally I have nothing against a female Doctor, but OI do think Capaldi should have his run first. And Christopher's hyperbole aside it's not all that easyto find actors to play theDoctor knowing that they have to spend over half a year in Cardiff.

 

[Candlelight]

Once you get a female James Bond, I'll agree to having a female Doctor.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

If "James Bond" comes to be similar to "G.I. Joe", where it's not an individual, Who knows?

 

[Professor Zoom]

Personally I have nothing against a female Doctor, but OI do think Capaldi should have his run first. And Christopher's hyperbole aside it's not all that easyto find actors to play theDoctor knowing that they have to spend over half a year in Cardiff.

I don't know, if you throw in women, you've increased your pool by 50%, no matter how small it was to begin with.

AND, really, you think, being offered the role of the Doctor, one of the iconic roles in the UK, that having to work in Cardiff is a deal breaker? Seriously?

Once you get a female James Bond, I'll agree to having a female Doctor.

If James Bond was a shape changing alien, you would be onto something.

 

[DWF]

Personally I have nothing against a female Doctor, but OI do think Capaldi should have his run first. And Christopher's hyperbole aside it's not all that easyto find actors to play theDoctor knowing that they have to spend over half a year in Cardiff.

I don't know, if you throw in women, you've increased your pool by 50%, no matter how small it was to begin with.

AND, really, you think, being offered the role of the Doctor, one of the iconic roles in the UK, that having to work in Cardiff is a deal breaker? Seriously?

WE have no idea that females have been discounted on purpose. And for up and coming actoes like Tennant and Smith spending that much in Cardiff has hurt their careers but then it didn't really help Eccleston's career that much either. Playing the Doctor really hasn't helped out any of the actors who's played the Doctor.

 

[Professor Zoom]

[

WE have no idea that females have been discounted on purpose.

It's true, I don't know for a fact that they haven't audition actresses. But... if I had to make a guess, they didn't for the first 45 years of the show at least.

And for up and coming actoes like Tennant and Smith spending that much in Cardiff has hurt their careers

?? Playing Doctor Who hurt their careers? How so?

but then it didn't really help Eccleston's career that much either. Playing the Doctor really hasn't helped out any of the actors who's played the Doctor.

1. They all continued to work. Davison probably the most broadly. So, I guess the question would be: what do you mean by help? They all work, probably Colin less so, they attend conventions, they record audios.

2. The show now is a much bigger thing than it was during the classic period. A much much bigger thing.

 

[DWF]

[

WE have no idea that females have been discounted on purpose.

It's true, I don't know for a fact that they haven't audition actresses. But... if I had to make a guess, they didn't for the first 45 years of the show at least.

And for up and coming actoes like Tennant and Smith spending that much in Cardiff has hurt their careers

?? Playing Doctor Who hurt their careers? How so?

but then it didn't really help Eccleston's career that much either. Playing the Doctor really hasn't helped out any of the actors who's played the Doctor.

1. They all continued to work. Davison probably the most broadly. So, I guess the question would be: what do you mean by help? They all work, probably Colin less so, they attend conventions, they record audios.

2. The show now is a much bigger thing than it was during the classic period. A much much bigger thing.

It took some ten years for both Tom Baker and Peter Davison to find steady wrok after leaving Doctor Who, it took five years for Tennant to find steady work as well for that matter. Traditionally it's been rather difficult for an outgoing Doctor to find work Jon Pertwee got lucky with Worzel Grummage, but for the most part it's been hard for them to steady work.

 

[sidious618]

We know they didn't audition actresses because Moffat knocked the idea.

Tennant did very well post-Doctor Who. He got in an American pilot right away. It didn't get picked up, sure, but Doctor Who made him popular over here and helped his chances.

Eccelston has always been acting post-Doctor Who. The man is in a ton of stuff.

Matt Smith is currently playing Patrick Bateman on stage in American Psycho.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I feel like having a female Doctor would come off as desperate. You can justify it 12 different ways but I think it would just feel like they ran out of ideas. That said, they really could do with shaking up the mold at this point but I don't get the sense their heart is in it to do so. Hopefully Capaldi will be a breath of fresh air, we'll see.

 

[Christopher]

I feel like having a female Doctor would come off as desperate. You can justify it 12 different ways but I think it would just feel like they ran out of ideas.

Why? It's an idea that people have been proposing for decades; maybe it would just be finally giving it a try. And I don't care at all for the suggestion that femininity is something to be avoided at all costs unless there are no alternatives. Surely you can see how women could feel marginalized by such an attitude.

And ultimately it shouldn't matter. The Doctor is defined by intelligence, compassion, imagination, and a spirit of adventure -- not to mention endless versatility and self-reinvention. None of that requires being male. The Doctor is not generally a sexual character in any case, so there's no reason the Doctor should be defined by gender. A female Doctor wouldn't be a desperation move or a fundamental change, just a new variation on the theme.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I feel like having a female Doctor would come off as desperate. You can justify it 12 different ways but I think it would just feel like they ran out of ideas.

Why? It's an idea that people have been proposing for decades; maybe it would just be finally giving it a try. And I don't care at all for the suggestion that femininity is something to be avoided at all costs unless there are no alternatives. Surely you can see how women could feel marginalized by such an attitude.

Oh yes, it would be oh-so-very noble and correct. I would want them to do it because it was an exciting idea, something someone was really interested about, not because "Well, why not? Change the wallpaper and what not.".

 

[Captain Kathryn]

Why does there need to be a female doctor? I don't get why people seem to want one.

I don't want one only because I enjoy drooling over the male doctors. It's like.... a hobby.

 

[Christopher]

Oh yes, it would be oh-so-very noble and correct. I would want them to do it because it was an exciting idea, something someone was really interested about, not because "Well, why not? Change the wallpaper and what not.".

Here's the thing, though:

The fact that an actress is a woman is only one of her attributes. It's not the single, exclusive thing that defines her. Anyone who is cast as the Doctor is cast because they have qualities that make them ideal for the role. The same would be true of a female Doctor. Her sex would be one element under consideration, but most of the reason for casting her would be her personality, just as it is for a male Doctor.

You're talking about the question solely from the standpoint of whether the Doctor is male or female -- while those in favor of the idea are approaching it from the standpoint that that's the least important consideration, or at least that it's just one of many factors. There are great, charismatic actors out there of both sexes; why exclude 50 percent of them from consideration? Just imagine if there were a belief that only actors under 45 could play the Doctor -- we'd never have gotten Peter Capaldi. Or, conversely, if it were assumed that no one under 30 could play the Doctor, we'd never have gotten Matt Smith (and Peter Davison would only have squeaked through). Imposing arbitrary limits on who's allowed to audition for the role could rule out an ideal candidate.