Jodie Whittaker is the 13th Doctor
- Thread starter Emperor-Tiberius
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That pretty much sums up him up.
He claims that he stopped BBC from trashing more Doctor Who serials from their archives in the 80s (I think?) and he's done some Who-related side projects, but largely for his own personal benefit.
Essentially he is a slightly famous and rather rich fan who believes that makes him a part of the creative team. He was already in the public eye as a songwriter and DJ but is of mild note with regard to Doctor Who because he aided in the preservation of some missing episodes and funded a few fan projects.
He has made genuinely worthwhile contributions to the fandom but seems to believe that makes him a far more central figure than he actually is.
Imagine if @T'Bonz got delusions of grandeur and decided that running this site made her the reincarnation of Gene Roddenberry.....
*sorry T'Bonz*
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On one side of the scales we wouldn't have as many surviving episodes from the early years of the series if it wasn't for Ian, plus a lot of the behind-the-scenes materials that went on the DVDs.
On the other side... he's an arsehole of the highest order, who was the real-life inspiration for Victor Kennedy from "Love & Monsters".
He's also very rich from his years as a music producer which is why he can aford to do things like have people make animated versions of "Mission to the Unknown" and "Shada" (for which he brought back a lot of the original cast to record the unshot scenes) for his own benefit.
And therein lies the rub, "for his benefit".....
Yeah even taking his statements out of context (literally it appeared to be three lines out of a five-page interview) like the nutters did he was effectively saying "I think boys may have lost a role model with a female doctor, but that's me being a dinosaur so what do I know?"
And even then, he said 'if' he had a doubt. This was after praising Jodie and saying she'd do a great job.
A lot of the criticism I've seen of this comment is that women can be role models for boys, which is of course true. However, there aren't a lot of male heroes on TV who rely on their brains rather than brawn, who don't use guns, who are as curious and embracing of life as the Doctor. I'm pretty sure that's what Peter meant and while I whole-heartedly welcome Jodie, I can see the point about it being a shame to lose a male character like this.
As you say, it's 3 lines out of a conversation, he's thinking on his feet at a convention, probably having flown halfway round the world. Jesus, who'd want to be held to such a standard of perfection where perhaps two or three of our sentences are nuanced and open to misinterpretation?
Doctor Who's own Invasion of the Dinosaurs is also a great example. The write, Hulke was even a socialist.
Eh....there is the perfect fix for that you know. Fifth-Thirteen Doctor crossover story. If you want it more cheeky throw in the Sixth, Tenth, and/or Eleventh Doctors. Tenth's a big Fifth fanboy, and seemingly a woman magnet. Eleven is the subconscious flirt. And Six....well Six has the largest ego of all the Doctors....even counting Four's huge ego.
Y'know, I wouldn't mind an Eleven-Thirteen multi-Doctor story at all. Since Eleven knows he's the last Doctor and Thirteen knows that he knows he's the last Doctor (because he is, until the bitter end), I wonder if he'd recognize her as the Doctor or if she'd mislead him (shades of River) about her identity. Or if she'd let him know that he has a future, confident that he'll forget when the adventure's over.
Well Eleven forgot about the Curator....who, via the tone of the conversation, the winks, and nose tappings....was clearly also the Doctor...and not the Fourth, but a later Doctor who put on an old favorite face again (which I take as potential justification for the Doctor being able to go back to being any of the previous actors again should both the BBC and the actors want to do it). You can tell he forget because he couldn't remember if he saved Gallifrey or not. Partly because of running into a later Doctor (Curator) and a later Doctor being present at the event in question (Twelfth).
Thanks. I've seen that a number of times; a fan does something for the love of a franchise/character/property but then gets the impression that they've ever afterwards got some kind of ownership or authority.
Despite not being a Pertwee aficionado, I have a lot of fondness for Hulke and Letts. They really tried to do something, and think about symbolism and whatnot.
I tend to agree, both with what Davidson's intent appears to have been and the sentiment itself.
I would however add to that: Doctor Who has been almost exclusively carrying this particular torch for over half a century now and it's high time other properties and their writers give young people (boys and girls) *new* positive male role models who do not rely on brawn, just as it is past time for them to have a female Doctor as a role model.
I often think that in all the back and forth about each gender having or not having good role models, that it's often overlooked how important it is for boys to be able to see women well represented. Call me simple minded, but if we raise a generation to whom the idea that women are any less than they are is an alien concept, then that's more than half the battle won, no? Short version: This need not be a zero-sum game.
True enough, but in the British TV Drama landscape, much of the argument doesn't hold water...there are female detectives aplenty for example, many shows are ensemble pieces...but in the teenage boy, and younger ( though frankly, Capaldis run was not suitable for five year olds and that age range...unlike when I watched Davison as a three year old.) there's actually precious little...verging on the nothing...with a boyish lean. There are some what I might call 'unisex' programming, as there always has been, but in terms of role models..unless I am missing something, there's nothing. Unfortunately, in the U.K., there's also very few male teachers, and many sing,e parent families...all of which lead into a need for positive role models for boys, who are also male themselves. It's a wider discussion...
Me. I would have liked Adrian Lester as the Doctor. He would have been awesome.
This just proves my point. It's time for other properties to start pulling their weight when it comes to portraying heroic yet non-violent and intellectual male characters.
Without a male Doctor to fill that niche, maybe someone will get the impetus to create something *new* and suddenly, you don't need to Doctor to be male anymore.
I think the lack of *new* is indeed a problem...and part of the curious thing about some of the arguments around the role model aspect of the casting. If gender doesn't matter in order for someone to be a role model, then it's not a justification for casting a female doctor to be a role model for girls either....if it's about taking a property with an existing popularity and fan base, and using that to inject a role model for girls into, then again the argument for creators being too lazy to make something new applies (though RTD basically wrote a seventh-doctor is a teenage girl story when he did Dark Season twenty plus years ago. I quite liked Marcie.) Eventually it gets into a tit for tat 'that's our toy' 'you've had the toy long enough' argument (and let's not forget, ultimately, that's what it is...it's an entertainment, it's not votes, or the right to not have bits of your genitals lopped off when a child, or even rich people fighting over which gender is overpaid more.) which is a very difficult argument to take seriously from either side. Narratively, at this point, there's no reason for the Doctor to not be a woman (thanks to the work of the alleged Great Mysogynist Moffat no less.). The argument of whether Doctor Who is a kids show just got lost in favour of not though, because it's just become politicised. Groups (some) vociferously insist the Doctor 'should be a woman' now for political reasons, just as some insist he should remain a man for political reasons. The Davison fracas shows that a third group (lets call them traditionalists..) would have quite liked it if he stayed male for less than political reasons...but they get lumped in with the political group because of the polarisation of the modern internet.
Which brings us back to the toys...if you are taking a toy away for someone else to have a go, it's important to not leave that first child without anything. And that is what has happened. Every single mainstream SF franchise in the youth to teen market is now female lead (guns or not) and no new toys are there for the little boys. (And naff all for the preteen market than I was a bajillion years ago.)
Is there going to be a rush of funding to make something new for them? A Daleks chance in a supernova there will be. And in the U.K. Right now, young boys, could seriously do with that escapism and role model that the Doctor was the last man standing for (up until Matt Smith left anyway. And props to Moffat for getting some good fathers and husbands in there too.)
I have zero problems with Jodie being cast (though when will we get another Home Counties Doctor...) but am not blind to that one, decent, argument for having reservations about the decision. Especially in light of it not being the result of blind casting.
So yeah. #adrianlesterfornextwho.
Here's a cool video I found
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