Jodie Whittaker is the 13th Doctor

[davejames]

Emilia I feel we have a lot of common ground here. I don't want a tv society filled with white men as well. I love female driven tv shows. Especially action and sci-fi. I still remember when I first started watching Buffy and how thrilled I was with the show.

Im not talking sidekick level character here. We could have gotten a new original character. They have done well with establishing new iconic characters within the franchise.

Yeah but that new character wouldn't have been The Doctor, and wouldn't have had the same iconic power and resonance as the person flying around through space and time in the TARDIS. And it wouldn't have felt like nearly as bold or exciting an idea.

I definitely get the arguments over not wanting to change an established character like Bond or Superman or whatever, but when we're talking about an alien time traveler in a magic blue box who can endlessly regenerate and has already been played by a dozen different actors (of varying ages and personalities), I would think the rules could be a little more flexible.

 

[Awesome Possum]

We better get a vertically challenged Doctor first or a squid. Because that would be BS that it always has to be based on sexual preferences...

Trans isn't a sexual preference, it has nothing to do with anything sexual. Maybe you should actually read a definition of something before being dismissive and insulting.

 

[The Wormhole]

But why does he have to be human looking than?

He doesn't. When Eccleston regenerated, he said regeneration could leave him with two heads or none. I don't recall any frothing at the mouth over this online afterwards. Why is it okay for the Doctor to have two or zero heads, but not okay for the Doctor to become a woman?

How awkward will the next multi-Doctor story be, with the Doctor tempted to flirt with themself? Comedy gold, that.

Meh, they kind of already went there with Simm Master getting wood after Missy roughed him up.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Those are fat, OLD and Bald. I want to see a young 30 year old fat, balding female doctor who doesn't like to bath and wears a filthy bath robe....

Slow down there, son. We don't wanna shoot the whole wad at once.

 

[O_Kav]

As I already said the ret-conning in Doctor Who is atrocious. .

Except Timelords changing Genders can't be considered a Retcon. Classic Who never talked about the subject. There was no single line in Classic Who about The Doctor having a fixated Gender or not. This matter was introduced in Nu-Who. So, nope, it doesn't break any type of Continuity.

You can't just say a show did a Retcon for breaking your Headcanon. It doesn't matter if the Headcanon is very old or shared by a lot of people. Writers and Producers have no obligation of following it.

Saying a Female Doctor is a breach of Continuity is the same as if somebody in 1966 said William Hartnell changing into Patrick Troughton was a breach of Continuity.

How dare they introduce this new concept called "Regeneration" ? My headcanon told me Hartnell would be replaced by a brand new character or that the Series would simply end with the Doctor's death.

 

[Ithekro]

We "technically" already have a Doctor-ish lady that travels through time and space doing what she wants like the Doctor does and having a companion.

Her name is Clara She's dead, but not. I think the Daleks and Time Lords fear her too now. (she's also freaking adorable).

 

[The Nth Doctor]

We "technically" already have a Doctor-ish lady that travels through time and space doing what she wants like the Doctor does and having a companion.

Her name is Clara She's dead, but not. I think the Daleks and Time Lords fear her too now.

Actually, her name is Romana.

 

[Dar70]

Trans isn't a sexual preference, it has nothing to do with anything sexual. Maybe you should actually read a definition of something before being dismissive and insulting.

I understand what transgender is. I am talking about peoples preferences for sexual gender of the character. Hence my fat/bald preference for the next Doctor..

 

[Awesome Possum]

I understand what transgender is. I am talking about peoples preferences for sexual gender of the character. Hence my fat/bald preference for the next Doctor..

Preference for a certain gender should only apply to the person you sleep with, not a character you watch. Applying it to anything else is absurd and a pathetic attempt at dodging sexism.

 

[RAMA]

Oh look, a reason to watch Doctor Who again after a few years of ignoring the silliness.

RAMA

 

[Skellington]

Actually, her name is Romana.

Or possibly his name is Roman.

Oh look, a reason to watch Doctor Who again after a few years of ignoring the silliness.

Embrace .the silliness! You know you want to.

 

[Ithekro]

Actually, her name is Romana.

Don't know if Romana got herself a TARDIS, or if she has the hitch rides in E-space to behave Doctorish.

As per the Doctor's instructions she spells her name FRED.

 

[Mr Soak]

Actually, her name is Romana.

Or Fred.

 

[The Wormhole]

It's interesting, Ron Moore's BSG also generated unnecessary controversy over gender swapping a character (which worked pretty damn fine for that show, BTW) and that show also provided a saying that applies to this situation:
"All of this has happened before and will happen again."
People in 2003 learned to deal with and accept a female Starbuck, people in 2017 will learn to accept and deal with a female Doctor. Female Starbuck proved so popular that other BSG reboots that have been considered since Moore's show ended have considered keeping Starbuck female, while for all we know, Jodie Whitaker's Doctor might end up being more popular and successful than even Tom Baker.

 

[Australis]

I don't believe it's purely sexism.

Hypothetical: we recast Star Trek. Captain Jane T Kirk and Ms Spock. Some people are going to love it. Some are going to loathe it, and quite rightly. it flies in the face of everything previous, as does the Jane Bond idea. It's like slashfic for me, you're bending the characters to suit... something other.

That said, there's a lot of positive response to Whittaker as an actress, so of course I'm going to watch. And Missy was, in general, a positive experience. And they have building in this... flexibility for some time, so it's going to be fine, I'm sure Remember the horrible Donna Noble Xmas ep.

Or it'll be a complete train wreck and she';ll regenerate after one season. Whatever floats your goat.

 

[Dar70]

Preference for a certain gender should only apply to the person you sleep with, not a character you watch. Applying it to anything else is absurd and a pathetic attempt at dodging sexism.

QUOTE="Awesome Possum, post: 12085258, member: 289"]Preference for a certain gender should only apply to the person you sleep with, not a character you watch. Applying it to anything else is absurd and a pathetic attempt at dodging sexism.[/QUOTE]

That's not what I meant and you know it. I'm glad you were able to go to your safe place in TNZ and call me names there. Stay there please and stop trying to start wars here.

 

[Awesome Possum]

Preference for a certain gender should only apply to the person you sleep with, not a character you watch. Applying it to anything else is absurd and a pathetic attempt at dodging sexism.

That's not what I meant and you know it. I'm glad you were able to go to your safe place in TNZ and call me names there. Stay there please and stop trying to start wars here.

Grow up.

 

[Australis]

I mean, really, starsuperion -- are you worried that once a month, an episode will have the Doctor sitting in the TARDIS, eating a tub of ice cream and watching The Real Housewives of Gallifrey?

Hey, come on, we'd all watch the shit out of that!

 

[The Wormhole]

Hypothetical: we recast Star Trek. Captain Jane T Kirk and Ms Spock. Some people are going to love it. Some are going to loathe it, and quite rightly. it flies in the face of everything previous, as does the Jane Bond idea. It's like slashfic for me, you're bending the characters to suit... something other.

I'd be okay with a Star Trek that gender swapped Captain Kirk, Spock, or any of them. Hell, if anything it is rather annoying how safe and white-bred Abrams kept things for his movies. "We're completely rebooting Star Trek so that we're not bogged down by fifty years of continuity. Only we're keeping things largely similar to how they were and are even going to stay connected to that fifty year continuity we're trying to distance ourselves from so that we can get Leonard Nimoy involved." Even if they only gender swapped one character, even a relatively minor character like Sulu or Chekov, it would have been a step in the right direction.

 

[Awesome Possum]

I'd be okay with a Star Trek that gender swapped Captain Kirk, Spock, or any of them. Hell, if anything it is rather annoying how safe a white-bred Abrams kept things for his movies. "We're completely rebooting Star Trek so that we're not bogged down by fifty years of continuity. Only we're keeping things largely similar to how they were and are even going to stay connected to that fifty year continuity we're trying to distance ourselves from so that we can get Leonard Nimoy involved." Even if they only gender swapped one character, even a relatively minor character like Sulu or Chekov, it would have been a start.

Just anything different would have been great. But it was just shiny TOS.