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Jodie Whittaker is the 13th Doctor

Just to take us back to the sort of thing we'd be talking about if a man had been cast, how great is this photo? An iconic shot straight out of the box.

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And the teaser itself (minus the green screened in TARDIS at the end*) is pretty fantastic too. Achieves far better results in one minute than the Capaldi announcement show did in half an hour.


*I presume that was so the people shooting it didn't know what they were shooting.
 
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Just to take us back to the sort of thing we'd be talking about if a man had been cast, how great is this photo? An iconic shot straight out of the box.

2333.jpg


And the teaser itself (minus the green screened in TARDIS at the end*) is pretty fantastic too. Achieves far better results in one minute than the Capaldi announcement show did in hal an hour.


*I presume that was so the people shooting it didn't know what they were shooting.

Oh it is and I whole heartedly agree, hence me using it as my avatar, shame the writing isn't more clear, but I'd rather use TARDIS blue than white.
 
This.

I woke up this morning and had found the perfect word to explain what's going on.

Keep in mind a lot of fans are OLD like me. They aren't sexist (though they do use sexist terms), they are conservative. They don't like change. Or more accurately, in a life of constant change, they like some certainties. And, in a way, a role model has been removed, especially in Capaldi. Despite terrible stories, he was their guy. Now he's gone, and we/they have to adapt yet again to change, big change.

I say "we/they", because if there is one thing I have never saw myself as, it's conservative, so I try at every turn to embrace change. Right now in Australia we are having a massive debate re coal power vs renewables. The conservative argument is basically "It works, if it ain't broke..." while not acknowledging the levels of pollution are unsustainable. I can't wait for renewables to grab a permanent, stable foothold. But there are those that fear change. Fear change.

Now, for guys like me, role models (and yes, we still need them) are a guide to being a better person... and we have one less. Gender shouldn't matter but it does. Who's my role model now? Frank Underwood? People become fans because they get something from the characters.

I give you a hypothetical. In a brain-snap of epic proportions, DC decides Wonder Woman should become Wonder Man, Dion of Themiscyra. Shield, bracelets, lasso, but a costume closer to Cap's. They come up with all 'valid' reasons for it (see: Thor). Women across America would gather at DC's headquarters and literally raze it. Of course they would. It is a change they would not embrace.

And now old white guys are expected, yet again, to roll over, at the risk of being called sexist.

I've always seen myself as a progressive, but I'm old now. This one is a little harder. Frankly it feels like it's something being taken from me. You can poopoo that, but just run the above hypothetical through your mind and see how you'd feel. Don't tell me you'd be happy. But, as I said, I try to be progressive, so I'm going to embrace this, as I always try to do. Just remember, some guys find it hard to change. Why shouldn't they? To just dismiss them as sexist is cruel and as sexist as you claim.

(Man, I wish I'd come up with this argument pages ago).

TL;DR: it's not about sexism, it' just being conservative.

Then why tie that role model status to a character who changes every few seasons? The idea the doctor would eventually be female is hardly new, the idea the doctor would change is the only thing about him (her) that is consistent. If a man had been chosen the character as portrayed would almost certainly have still behaved very differently to Capaldis version, as his was very different to Hartnell's or Tennant's.

The fact is the Doctor has NEVER been one character, has never consistently behaved in predictable, known ways. The Doctor has always varied erratically from incarnation to incarnation both in terms of writing and performance.

We've literally seen "the coming storm" become "the man who never would", we've seen the man would would on occasion literally massacre whole species, the man with "a different sort of morality", become one who on occasions would outright refuse to kill on principle.
 
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"Some people just hate change"

Then, again, they should have left with Hartnell. Who the Doctor is has changed THIRTEEN FUCKING TIMES. Looks, personality, wardrobe, age, height, body mass, sanity level, everything about the Doctor has ALWAYS changed.

No, it's not JUST change they hate, it's a very specific change relating solely to gender. And that has a name.

Oh, and being opposed to change just because it's change? That's not being conservative. That's cowardice.

Playing devil's advocate, the Doctor has changed into 13+ British white guys who fly a box that has looked and functioned the same since day 1 and still fights Daleks and Cybermen. There's a lot that has not fundamentally changed about the series.
 
And 99% of that still won't have changed when Series 11 starts.
True, but people act like the change shouldn't be a problem because the show is fundamentally about change when there's been little deviation in the show since the beginning. I just don't think that holds up as a good argument (I don't object people being in favor of the change for other reasons). Even if the argument was presented as the show should fundamentally be about change but it feels like some are trying to justify the change as being the norm for the show which I don't feel it has been.
 
Playing devil's advocate,
Never do that. Did you learn nothing from Keanu Reeves?

the Doctor has changed into 13+ British white guys who fly a box that has looked and functioned the same since day 1 and still fights Daleks and Cybermen. There's a lot that has not fundamentally changed about the series.

And of the 5 descriptors you used in that run-on sentence, one (20%) has slightly altered (and technically that alteration amounts to less than 1/23rd (chromosomes yay) of that 20%. Or... 0.87%.

Hell, that's less difference than separates you from any other human who isn't immediate family.
 
I learned this the hard way from ST and SW fandom. In the end, it doesn't matter what we want. The BBC wanted a female doctor. Their reasoning DOESN'T MATTER. As fans , you either accept it or you don't.

The mature attitude to have is cautiously optimistic.
 
And of the 5 descriptors you used in that run-on sentence, one (20%) has slightly altered (and technically that alteration amounts to less than 1/23rd (chromosomes yay) of that 20%. Or... 0.87%.
So if the TARDIS is painted pink with yellow polka dots it's only changed 0.0000001% of its surface volume (in this dimension at least) so it shouldn't be very notable? ;) Regardless of the chromosomes involved it's a major change, possibly a damned good one, it seems odd to downplay it.
 
Just to take us back to the sort of thing we'd be talking about if a man had been cast, how great is this photo? An iconic shot straight out of the box.

2333.jpg
Personally it doesn't say "Doctor Who" to me, but more something like "New Crime drama on the BBC"...
But it was done quick and on the downlow, so *shrugs*
Still curious what the new Doctor will bring...
Just, no romance please, after Rose and Clara, maybe 2 or 3 seasons without a Doctor in love...
More a "best friends/family" vibe like with Donna or Rory and Amy...
 
That's because she is not the Dcotor yet in that promo, not really. The clothes were probably chosen on the fly because it disguised her appearance until the reveal.
I like however how that outfit is gender neutral.
I would like something in that spirit for her hopefully more doctorish costume(s).
 
I think it would be a lot more troublesome if it were Matt LeBlanc.

Recent nudes would be pretty horrid, too.

Fans would burn down the BBC and murder everybody if this happened.

I'm seeing Matt Le Blanc in a tweed jacket swaggering up to a scowling Bill Potts and drawling "How you doin'?"

I learned this the hard way from ST and SW fandom. In the end, it doesn't matter what we want. The BBC wanted a female doctor. Their reasoning DOESN'T MATTER. As fans , you either accept it or you don't.

The mature attitude to have is cautiously optimistic.

The thing is, it's been the BBC who have for decades put the brakes on the idea, despite pressure from the fan base, several DW luminaries and the very man who created the character (who ALWAYS intended the incarnations to change gender and in particular had Joanna Lumley in mind)

This idea isn't new, it's been around pretty much since the character's inception and the BBC have very much taken the conservative stance, a stance which now has come back to bite them because in their caution they created the very tradition they have now decided to throw away.

Thus we have the ludicrous situation where the papers are shouting about the BBC having become too PC altering the character when in fact it is the other way around, the character is doing exactly what was always intended and the BBC are the ones who have held that back.
 
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