Kate Lethbridge-Stewart- I like your new style doctor
Doctor- Oh I was thinking about you and the brigadier when I regenerated.
"...I nearly even threw in a mustache for good measure."
Oddly, facial hair is sort of my touchstone for this casting choice. The thing about Michelle Gomez as the Master was that she felt like she was spiritually in tune with Roger Delgado & Anthony Ainley, so much so that I could almost see the goatee on her.
For Jodie Whittaker, the real test will be whether I can see her & forget that she's not the same man as her predecessors. It's a tradition for me that I realize that I've accepted the new Doctor when I hear a line of dialogue in the current Doctor's voice, only to think back to the episode in question and realize that it was from one of the previous Doctor's seasons. I still remember that moment for both David Tennant & Matt Smith. (It was kinda backwards for me with Peter Capaldi. For his first season, I kept hearing his lines in Matt Smith's voice. It wasn't until "Last Christmas" that I could see the TARDIS appear and not be surprised to see Capaldi pop out of it instead of Smith.)
Of course, in the novels, it doesn't matter which Doctor it is. My mind always defaults the voice back to Tom Baker.
I'm pretty sure that Chibnall & the BBC would have only gone with this decision if they thought it was genuinely the right casting choice, not just a publicity stunt or checking off a demographic box. The thing I would always remind any writer of the show is to let the character evolve organically. The show's best transitions between Doctors have always been natural ones. Patrick Troughton was a product of the production team wanting to make the Doctor less cranky & more approachable. Jon Pertwee's Doctor became a man of action because that's where Pertwee's skill set lay. Tom Baker is a genuine, real life space alien, so his Doctor was going to reflect that. Where the show ran into trouble was in the 1980s when JNT was casting Doctors less for their own talent and more for the way that they contrasted against their predecessors.
I can't judge her acting because I've never seen her in anything, but she doesn't look weird and quirky enough. I mean, look at Tom Baker. No Human can possibly look like that.
I was thinking she looks too young. If they were going to go for a woman, I was expecting someone older & stranger, like Olivia Colman. But then, Matt Smith worked out just fine. And in every photo I've seen of Whittaker online, she looks different. She's like a chameleon (though not Kamelion).
And at least I still get to maintain my streak of always being younger than the Doctor. Matt Smith was a close call but still manages to be 3 weeks older than me. Whittaker is 5 months older than me. Still... we're getting pretty close and we can't keep this up forever. I have a sinking feeling that the 15th or 16th Doctor will finally slip past me.
For this, if nothing else, I forgive you for "Cyberwoman" Mr Chibnall.
I liked "Cyberwoman." Great tension-filled bottle episode.
For a second, I was like, "Why did he drop his key?"
Thing is, if the Doctor ever runs into Amy Pond again in this form, Amy is going to tower over the Doctor. (Karen Gillan his really tall while Jodie Whittaker is just over average.)
I'd love to see that.
