An interesting article from Racialicious, a blog a good friend of mine writes for, posies the question, "If DOCTOR WHO doesn't diversify, will it last another 50 years?" Read the article here: http://www.racialicious.com/2013/12...esnt-diversify-will-it-last-another-50-years/ I agree with everything written, and I say that as someone who loves "Day of the Doctor" and the Smith/Moffat era. But I really would love to see another Martha on the show, another Mickey, a male pansexual (Capt. Jack), an Asian companion, a gay TARDIS couple, or a female Doctor or a black Doctor. Maybe even a Doctor who looks a bit more mixed racially. I appreciate the conceit that the Doctor is a British staple and unabashedly so, much like Superman is very American. But that doesn't mean that there can't be more diversity. What do you think? Has DOCTOR WHO become too white?
Purely logical answer- No. Of course not. To have *become* "too white" would imply that it started off otherwise, which it didn't. The question you *should* be asking is "has Dr Who *remained* too white for too long?"
There's an argument to be made that DOCTOR WHO was a bit more diverse during the Davies-era and has thus become a bit too white again in the Moffat-era. So perhaps the question is: "Has Doctor Who become too white ... again?" But we could argue semantics all day long.
You know, I could almost see that working. They were young companions to an older protagonist, Sarah Jane Smith, and we're about to get an older actor as the Doctor, so there could be a similar dynamic there, depending on how paternal Capaldi's Doctor turns out to be. I doubt it's actually going to happen, of course, but I'd love to see them again.
While I disagree with adding minority/diversity for the sake of adding it and looking PC, I would like to see an oriental companion for story and personal reasons, nothing more. Besides, are people forgetting the lesbian Silurian and what's her name in Victorian London along with the two black children which Clara looks after.
^Clyde and Rani both. They make a great team. Plus Anjli Mohindra is really beautiful. I would happily watch a series about Clyde, Rani, and K9 saving the world while attending college, say.
Oh noes, the always loaded question... I do think it was unfortunate that Martha was the "rebound companion". I think it might be good if the Doctor is going to be shown enamored/obsessed with certain companions or characters that it isn't always with the white ones. And I wouldn't mind Clyde and Rani but I doubt that will ever happen or even seriously considered.
The other point is... should you write a character specifically as black/asian/white/etc, or just cast colour blind? I don't know whether there were black actresses auditioning along with Karen Gillan or Jenna Coleman, but there may well have been; certainly, Mickey wasn't written as a black character, but Noel Clarke 'won the audition', and he happened to be black. I'm guessing Rani was maybe written as indian-ancestry, but was Clyde specified? (Possibly, as he was replacing Kelsey). Martha was probably written with Freema in mind as a prime candidate, as they'd liked her in Army of Ghosts, so the character's colour came from the actor's, though probably early on. Similarly, Donna was initially written as a Catherine Tate Guest Spot, and hence would have to be white. And so on...
The RTD era was very diverse. The Moffat era, not so much. But I'd like to see some more racially diverse characters on the show. How many Subcontinent-descended people are in the UK? Has there been an Indian companion yet on the main show? There was that girl on "The God Complex" but she got possessed by the monster or whatever. Y'know, we could've easily fixed this by having Alexander Siddig as the 12th Doctor!
How about a companion that isn't from that one particular island on this whole damn planet? At one point wasn't he running around with an Alien, an Australian and an American? Closest we've had to that since the reboot was Jack and, as much as I like him, he doesn't really count.
I don't think Jack nor Nyssa nor Adric nor the Doctor himself would be dismissed from criticism of diversity because they're alien.
Not at the same time. Actually the Fourth Doctor had no Earth-human companions from Sarah Jane's departure until Tegan's arrival four and a half years later, instead hanging around with human colonist-descendant Leela, far-future robot dog K9, Time Lady Romana, Alzarian Adric, and Nyssa of Traken (though she technically joined the same time Tegan did). So the Fifth Doctor was traveling with two "aliens" and an Australian for a while, and then Adric was replaced by Turlough, who seemed to be an English schoolboy at first but then turned out to be from the planet Trion. And just after Tegan left, Peri (the "American," supposedly) joined. I think that was his longest span without an Earthling companion, but there were other times when he had no present-day companions. After Ian and Barbara left, the companions were Vicki and Steven, both from the future; Katarina from Ancient Troy; and Sara Kingdom from the future. But there was only about a 10-month gap between Ian and Barbara's departure and the brief tenure of Dodo, a present-day English girl, followed by her contemporaries Ben and Polly. But after Ben and Polly left, the Second Doctor's companions for his remaining two seasons were all from past or future Earth.
I don't think it's become too white, but I would love another Mickey or Martha in the series again. It shouldn't be just a token guy or girl, but a nicely developed character to be a foil for the Doctor.
I'm pretty liberal about most things, but I don't really see an issue here. We're not talking about a large cast of regular characters like on HIMYM or something. It's a show with one Doctor (who's an alien) and a couple of companions who tag along for extended periods (which doesn't leave much room for new casting). And we regularly see people of other races in the supporting and guest roles, so it's clearly not something they have a problem with.
I don't think it is an "issue" necessarily, but for the Indian girl or the Chinese boy or the Pakistani family who watch white hero after white hero strut across their screen I can only imagine the enthusiasm with which they would glom on to a hero who looks more like them and their family. Besides that, it isn't exactly a bad thing for kids and families of any color to be cheering on 'minority' heroes and developing their empathy for people who may be different.
As to the first point, that didn't keep RTD from giving us a very diverse series with characters like Mickey, Captain Jack, Martha and her family, and quite a few guest characters, not to mention populating the spinoffs with characters like Tosh, Ianto, Clyde, and Rani. And as to the second point, Moffat's tenure on the show hasn't been quite as diverse overall. There have been a few significant characters of color like Liz Ten, Mels, and the aforementioned woman from "The God Complex," and a few characters with alternative sexualities like Canton Delaware, Vastra, and Jenny, but overall they seem thinner on the ground. Although you may have a point in that there's been less cast turnaround in the Smith/Moffat era. The Doctor went through more companions in the RTD era, so there were more opportunities for diversity.
Wait...What did I miss? What Alternative Sexuality was Canton Delaware? I would've liked to have seen either the girl From The God Complex or the woman from The Silurian 2-Parter take at least a couple/few trips in The TARDIS. As far as Diversity, Male Companion in General hasn't been all that frequent. I can't think of any Serials/NuWho episodes with only a Male Companion (Peri's first was Turough's first alone. Steven and Jamie, if they were ever alone, it was very briefly), and there's been long stretches without any Male Companions.