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Peter Capaldi continues to show how awesome he is

But the issue of type-casting arises in both, as does the fact that some actors went on to bigger and better things after leaving roles and some didn't.

There is significantly less stigma about playing genre roles now than when Peter Davison was the Doctor and Christopher Reeve Superman and there is less a distinction between film and TV actors than there was once. So comparing the careers of modern actors to those of 30, 40 and 50 years ago doesn't really shed much light.
 
dwf, i don't know what your obsession with 'steady work' is about, but its been repeatedly explained by now.
 
This is one of those rotating Doctor Who discussions that really go nowhere, we have no idea if any women are interested in playing the Doctor. It's all well and good for fans on the internet to talk about it, but it's really up the show's producers to make that decision. God knows casting decisions on Doctor Who have created quite a buzz for years now.
 
dwf, i don't know what your obsession with 'steady work' is about, but its been repeatedly explained by now.

My point has always been about how hard it can be for them to find work afterwards.

Q: When you took the role in ‘Doctor Who’, you’ve said that Patrick Troughton advised you to limit the amount of time you played Dr. Who, to avoid typecasting. Do you think that was good advice?

A: Yes, I very definitely had a choice to do a fourth year of ‘Doctor Who’ or leave after three, and it was a close call, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that I would leave after three. I wasn’t very happy with season two of my time, we were beset by money problems and strike problems, and had I been happy at the end of season two, which was really when I had to make a decision, I might well have gone on and done a fourth season, but I don’t think that would have been the right thing to do. I mean, when I left ‘Doctor Who’ I went up for a very good part in a BBC2 classics serial and I know there was much discussion about whether I should be offered the part because I’d just done ‘Doctor Who’, and that was something that would have got worse had I done ‘Doctor Who’ for longer. I mean fortunately they did offer it to me, but I was very aware that if you stick to long to something it just takes longer to recover from it, and I think Tom found that.
Tags:5th Doctor, All Creatures Great and Small, At Home With the Braithwaites, Big Finish, Campion, Doctor Who, Peter Davison, The Last Detective
Posted in 5th Doctor, Big Finish, Original Series, Peter Davison | Leave a Comment »

Colin Baker in 1992

Q: What have you been doing since ‘Doctor Who’?
CB: (laughs) Well I’ve been doing a lot of theatre. The only television was something I did for the Children’s Channel, which is a cable / satellite channel in the UK, but nobody’s seen it because nobody’s got cable / satellite in England. And I did one episode of ‘Casualty’, which is a sort of ‘Hill Street Blues’ in a hospital, but I’ve been doing theatre, seven or eight plays one after another. I did ‘Run For Your Wife’, I just finished ‘Death and the Maiden’, which is a 1992 Olivier Award winner, which is the same as your Tony awards here – not with me, the good ones left and they got me. It’s actually on stage right now in Wolverhampton with me in it. Tricky, that, isn’t it? But they have these things called understudies.
That play finishes tonight, so I then go back to England on Sunday night, Tuesday I drive up to Sunderland where I’m putting on a show as a production company, at the Sunderland Empire, presenting, trying to write, I’m doing all the linking stuff for it. That’s on next Thursday, to celebrate the fact that Sunderland’s now become a city, my company was asked to put a show on. Then on Sunday I start rehearsing for a pantomime, ‘Dick Whittington’ in Weymouth from the 9th of January, then I’m open to offers.
17th January we’re both filming with Bill Baggs to finish off the latest of his ‘Stranger’ films, that’s a trilogy. or a multi-gy, we hope, lots and lots of them. The BBC owns ‘Doctor Who’ so no-one else can make that, but Bill Baggs is a resourceful fellow and he’s written a series about a man called the Stranger, who travels through time and space with a lady called Ms. Brown, played by Nicola Bryant! And we battle evil people who happen not to be Daleks or Cybermen. It’s a very neat way of continuing without… It’s video only, it’s not broadcast.

Anybody getting the part of considering the part has little idea how long they'll be the Doctor and what effect that'll have on their career.
 
Well, since the only pro-female Doctor reasons are

- Just Because
- Well, every male character can and should be female apparently, so The Doctor must become one, because screw his history, they need DIVERSITY, without actually putting effort into make real diverse characters

It's nice to see you misrepresenting what's being presented to you. I love me a good strawman!

And again, such hostility towards the idea of diversity. I really do think it's touching on something personal. Wow.

Oh, yeah, I'm totally hostile to diversity. Except for all the diverse characters I really like :vulcan: What I hate is needlessly changing characters. "Diversity" is never a legitimate reason to change a character. That's what it all comes down to. I don't care if the character is mostly static (like, say, Superman) or a character has the capability to change a good deal (like The Doctor). Making a change, like rule 63ing a male character just because you can technically get away with it, is what gets on my nerves. He's been a guy since his creation, he should stay a guy.

I don't care about race, nationality, etc, but with gender there is no legitimate reason to switch it around. He's a guy, get over it. Just because some people may inexplicably hate the idea of a character being locked into a gender, that doesn't mean anything. Hopefully they'll keep casting appropriate people as The Doctor. Like I've said, if they wanted to do a spin off with a female Timelord, I'd watch it enthusiastically. I just prefer the character I like to not become totally unrecognizable because some people need to change every character for an imaginary quota. And, rgardless of what you want to believe, female and male characters are different. A female Doctor would not be The Doctor, just like a male Wonder Woman wouldn't be the same character, even with the same backstory.
 
dwf, i don't know what your obsession with 'steady work' is about, but its been repeatedly explained by now.

My point has always been about how hard it can be for them to find work afterwards.

Q: When you took the role in ‘Doctor Who’, you’ve said that Patrick Troughton advised you to limit the amount of time you played Dr. Who, to avoid typecasting. Do you think that was good advice?

A: Yes, I very definitely had a choice to do a fourth year of ‘Doctor Who’ or leave after three, and it was a close call, it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that I would leave after three. I wasn’t very happy with season two of my time, we were beset by money problems and strike problems, and had I been happy at the end of season two, which was really when I had to make a decision, I might well have gone on and done a fourth season, but I don’t think that would have been the right thing to do. I mean, when I left ‘Doctor Who’ I went up for a very good part in a BBC2 classics serial and I know there was much discussion about whether I should be offered the part because I’d just done ‘Doctor Who’, and that was something that would have got worse had I done ‘Doctor Who’ for longer. I mean fortunately they did offer it to me, but I was very aware that if you stick to long to something it just takes longer to recover from it, and I think Tom found that.
Tags:5th Doctor, All Creatures Great and Small, At Home With the Braithwaites, Big Finish, Campion, Doctor Who, Peter Davison, The Last Detective
Posted in 5th Doctor, Big Finish, Original Series, Peter Davison | Leave a Comment »

Colin Baker in 1992

Q: What have you been doing since ‘Doctor Who’?
CB: (laughs) Well I’ve been doing a lot of theatre. The only television was something I did for the Children’s Channel, which is a cable / satellite channel in the UK, but nobody’s seen it because nobody’s got cable / satellite in England. And I did one episode of ‘Casualty’, which is a sort of ‘Hill Street Blues’ in a hospital, but I’ve been doing theatre, seven or eight plays one after another. I did ‘Run For Your Wife’, I just finished ‘Death and the Maiden’, which is a 1992 Olivier Award winner, which is the same as your Tony awards here – not with me, the good ones left and they got me. It’s actually on stage right now in Wolverhampton with me in it. Tricky, that, isn’t it? But they have these things called understudies.
That play finishes tonight, so I then go back to England on Sunday night, Tuesday I drive up to Sunderland where I’m putting on a show as a production company, at the Sunderland Empire, presenting, trying to write, I’m doing all the linking stuff for it. That’s on next Thursday, to celebrate the fact that Sunderland’s now become a city, my company was asked to put a show on. Then on Sunday I start rehearsing for a pantomime, ‘Dick Whittington’ in Weymouth from the 9th of January, then I’m open to offers.
17th January we’re both filming with Bill Baggs to finish off the latest of his ‘Stranger’ films, that’s a trilogy. or a multi-gy, we hope, lots and lots of them. The BBC owns ‘Doctor Who’ so no-one else can make that, but Bill Baggs is a resourceful fellow and he’s written a series about a man called the Stranger, who travels through time and space with a lady called Ms. Brown, played by Nicola Bryant! And we battle evil people who happen not to be Daleks or Cybermen. It’s a very neat way of continuing without… It’s video only, it’s not broadcast.

Anybody getting the part of considering the part has little idea how long they'll be the Doctor and what effect that'll have on their career.

Your own quote from Davison, from his own words says he got work in a historical right after Who. Your own quote.

I think it's a myth not backed up by fact that every Doctor doesn't find work after Who.

Besides, nowadays the new Doctors are probably making a pretty penny from the role, consider the amount of merchandising, they could afford to be more choosey.
 
Your own quote from Davison, from his own words says he got work in a historical right after Who. Your own quote.

I think it's a myth not backed up by fact that every Doctor doesn't find work after Who.

Besides, nowadays the new Doctors are probably making a pretty penny from the role, consider the amount of merchandising, they could afford to be more choosey.

Yeah there shouldn't have been any discussion about him being offered the part because he played the Doctor though. And the BBC makes all the money from the merchandising. Playing the Doctor opened no doors for any of the actors as ar as I know and certainly not for any of the companions, any success they had came from their own efforts.
 
you don't seem to understand how big a deal playing the doctor is in britain. it makes you a household name.

'as far as i know' is the the key point from your post. just because you don't know, doesn't mean something can't possibly be true.
 
Your own quote from Davison, from his own words says he got work in a historical right after Who. Your own quote.

I think it's a myth not backed up by fact that every Doctor doesn't find work after Who.

Besides, nowadays the new Doctors are probably making a pretty penny from the role, consider the amount of merchandising, they could afford to be more choosey.

Yeah there shouldn't have been any discussion about him being offered the part because he played the Doctor though. And the BBC makes all the money from the merchandising. Playing the Doctor opened no doors for any of the actors as ar as I know and certainly not for any of the companions, any success they had came from their own efforts.

1. He still got the job.
2. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that the BBC gets 100% of the revenue from merchandising. The actors can't have such bad agents and that bad of a union that would allow that. Inconceivable.
 
any success they had came from their own efforts.

Yes, and?

So, Carey Mulligan got an Oscar nod because the Academy voters saw her on Doctor Who? :wtf: And I was talking about the companions thanke for taking my comment out of context, Mark Strictson is now a producer of domumentaries and even he has said being a companion opned no doors for him, Freema had to make eher own way as well, but Catherine Tate and Billie Piper were estabished names. But you can see the difference in the Karen Gillan and Christopher Eccleston, she had a part in The Guardians Of The Galaxy movie and they let her character survive, she's also got an American sitcom, whereas Eccleston was in Thor: The Dark World and most people didn't like his performance.
 
you don't seem to understand how big a deal playing the doctor is in britain. it makes you a household name.

'as far as i know' is the the key point from your post. just because you don't know, doesn't mean something can't possibly be true.

So, Paul McGann is a household name despite the fact that even the fans refused for years to admit that he was an official Doctor?
 
Why does there need to be a female doctor?

Because the kid from the video wants to see a female Doctor, just like a countless number of other girls. That should be reason enough. Nine pages of arguments notwithstanding.

Young Girls: Truly the only demographic that matters :lol: By that logic, if a little boy wants a male Wonder Woman, then DC Comics should be obligated to do it. Its only fair. Or, really, why have male characters at all? If a guy character staying a guy is so bad, there should just be none. Then again, even if every single character was suddenly made female, people would find some other "diversity" BS to complain about :rolleyes: They'll be saying there should be no genders whatsoever. I mean, if genders are so unimportant to characters, every character should be genderless, then no one feels left out.
 
Why does there need to be a female doctor?

Because the kid from the video wants to see a female Doctor, just like a countless number of other girls. That should be reason enough. Nine pages of arguments notwithstanding.

Young Girls: Truly the only demographic that matters :lol: By that logic, if a little boy wants a male Wonder Woman, then DC Comics should be obligated to do it. Its only fair. Or, really, why have male characters at all? If a guy character staying a guy is so bad, there should just be none. Then again, even if every single character was suddenly made female, people would find some other "diversity" BS to complain about :rolleyes: They'll be saying there should be no genders whatsoever. I mean, if genders are so unimportant to characters, every character should be genderless, then no one feels left out.

I swear, you must be willfully misunderstanding the discussion at this point. There is no other explanation.
 
I get it. You think that The Doctor should be a woman because a few little girls want that to happen, and for diversity's sake. Neither of those are legitimate reasons to me. He's a guy, he'll probably always be a guy. The gender of a character is an important distinguishing characteristic, and can almost never be swapped without it just being a new character with a different name. Gender is important, and The Doctor happens to be a guy. Unless the showrunner starts legitimately talking about a female Doctor, then a female doctor is just the dream of some PC people, who also apparently disregard people who like their characters the way they are, and don't want them in PC hell just because someone thinks they should be.
 
I get it. You think that The Doctor should be a woman because a few little girls want that to happen, and for diversity's sake.

Well, it's more than just a few little girls (and what's with that? Only "little" girls? What about the women? And men? Why do you have to be so demeaning?

It's when you start throwing a tantrum and claiming the argument is that gender doesn't matter, that any character could be any gender.

That's not what's being said.

Neither of those are legitimate reasons to me. He's a guy, he'll probably always be a guy. The gender of a character is an important distinguishing characteristic, and can almost never be swapped without it just being a new character with a different name.

Almost never... well, we're getting somewhere...

But, again, your logic doesn't quite follow... a character that literally changes personality every few years is somehow the same person, while if they have boobs, they aren't.

It's like the Doctor's example in Deep Breath with the broom. If you keep swapping out the parts, is it the same broom?

Gender is important, and The Doctor happens to be a guy.

I don't think anyone is saying gender isn't important. But, the key is: the Doctor's gender CAN change. It's built into the story.

Regarding gender, people are saying that sometimes gender isn't the CORE of a character. And with that I agree. Sometimes it just isn't.

Starbuck being a great example.

Unless the showrunner starts legitimately talking about a female Doctor, then a female doctor is just the dream of some PC people,

PC people... gawd. It just sounds ridiculous, passé and incredibly reactionary.... but, go on...

who also apparently disregard people who like their characters the way they are, and don't want them in PC hell just because someone thinks they should be.

You keep saying: like the characters who they are. So characters can't change? They have to be the same people they always are? There's no room for growth?

Is TV that much of a security blanket for you that it makes you really hostile to change?
 
I get it. You think that The Doctor should be a woman because a few little girls want that to happen, and for diversity's sake.

Well, it's more than just a few little girls (and what's with that? Only "little" girls? What about the women? And men? Why do you have to be so demeaning?

The way people were saying it was that girls needed/wanted a female Doctor, girls meaning pre-adults. So, that's where little girls came from, because people were basically saying that a female Doctor was "needed" for female children.


It's when you start throwing a tantrum and claiming the argument is that gender doesn't matter, that any character could be any gender.

That's not what's being said.

That's exactly what is being said. People keep saying that gender isn't an important trait of a character, that it can be swapped without effecting the character, and its really mind boggling. Now, there can be female characters like the Doctor, just like it would be fine to, say, have female detectives that are similar to Sherlock Holmes, as long as they aren't actually gender swapped versions of established characters (which is one reason I avoid Elementary, the other being its a horrible Sherlock ripoff). Female characters can be anything male characters can, generally speaking. But, they can't actually be a specific male character.

Almost never... well, we're getting somewhere...

I only didn't say never because I don't know every gender swap ever, and I don't know the differences between old/NUBSG Starbuck to say the swap didn't work with them. Still, I've never seen a good rule 63ing.

But, again, your logic doesn't quite follow... a character that literally changes personality every few years is somehow the same person, while if they have boobs, they aren't.

It's like the Doctor's example in Deep Breath with the broom. If you keep swapping out the parts, is it the same broom?

That's a good analogy. A female Doctor is removing both the handle and brush in that scenario.


I don't think anyone is saying gender isn't important. But, the key is: the Doctor's gender CAN change. It's built into the story.

Regarding gender, people are saying that sometimes gender isn't the CORE of a character. And with that I agree. Sometimes it just isn't.

Starbuck being a great example.

Except, isn't the female Starbuck basically nothing like the old version? I mean, I'm pretty sure you can say the same thing about all of the characters that are in both versions, but I have a hard time believing that the NuBSG starbuck is really anything like the old version, outside of possibly being the generic "insubordinate hot shot", which could have also applied to the old version (although I haven't seen enough of old BSG to be sure about that). I can't think of one character that I'm familiar with who is gender neutral and would work with a different gender. Sure, a different gender could have elements, but they would still be completely different characters.

Unless the showrunner starts legitimately talking about a female Doctor, then a female doctor is just the dream of some PC people,
PC people... gawd. It just sounds ridiculous, passé and incredibly reactionary.... but, go on...

I have no other way to say it. I guess I could say crazy people, but that's more insulting than I intend when I bring up PC people.

who also apparently disregard people who like their characters the way they are, and don't want them in PC hell just because someone thinks they should be.
You keep saying: like the characters who they are. So characters can't change? They have to be the same people they always are? There's no room for growth?

Is TV that much of a security blanket for you that it makes you really hostile to change?

How many times do I have to say it

I watch/read/hear about the characters I enjoy because of who they are. I have no desire to see radically different characters with the same name. At that point, they're not the same character, and I have no connection to them.Characters can change a bit, as in they can grow and evolve. But, that just means that events in their life can effect them. Gender swapping, among other things, means its not the same character. Its a reboot, and reboots mean the old character, the reason I'm watching/reading in the first place, is being thrown away. In this case, The Doctor would be removed for no real reason, and replaced by the PC people's brand new "diverse" character.

I have no connection to this hypothetical female character. She certainly wouldn't be the Timelord I like. She'd also be at a disadvantage compared to just a brand new female Timelord, because as I'm watching her I'd just be bitter about losing one of the great sci fi characters because of a few idiots who hate established characters if they don't fit their diversity quota. I have never been against the idea of a female Timelord, or giving one a spinoff. however, I will never support throwing away 50 years of history so that a new character can steal some name recognition.

The thing is, similar stuff has happened before, with other franchises. After what DC comics did a few years ago, I'm about as open to this BS as the average Star Wars fan is to seeing a Jar Jar focused spin off movie. I've seen a bunch of DC characters I loved ruined (although admittedly almost none by making them "diverse", but its still the similar idea of changing character traits, most notably darker, more a-hole personalities in DC's case), and I consider it the same thing with Doctor Who (well, i doubt it would become grim & gritty like DC comics, and it would probably be better written, but it would still remove the actual character from the franchise). A female Doctor would not be The Doctor, even if you can hand wave the gender swap away. She'd have the name, and they'd pretend she has the memories, but it wouldn't be the same. The change is too deep, and too essential.
 
You think that The Doctor should be a woman because a few little girls want that to happen, and for diversity's sake.

Let's ignore the thing that you missed the whole point... The next point arrives in ten minutes, so it is not a big deal.

In this and previous discussions it has been established that if you would like a female [insert a canonically male character here], you must be a diversity zealot, a die-hard PC activist carrying a deep-seated political agenda to ravage the enjoyment of others. It is not in fact possible that you're someone who would just honestly enjoy a change like that because it would actually make things more fun and interesting, and the fictional people more real and worldlike. It has also been stated a few times that it is only men with male guilt complex who want such things. Since apparently adults must have a political agenda to want it, and men must feel guilty to want it, that leaves us with little girls as the only people who are allowed to have a honest, innocent opinion on the subject. They come with full no-political-baggage guarantee.

By the way, it might sound snarky, but I mean it seriously. The opinion of someone who is unburdened by such things is important. It is a clear example that things like diversity help many people's enjoyment. So if the enjoyment is all that you care about, the producers need to look into the enjoyment the other half of the planet might get. (Weren't women becoming a majority when it came to Doctor Who fans, or did I get the wrong memo?)
 
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