That's very unlikely, for the simple reason that episodes set in the present day are likely cheaper to produce, no need to create a fictional futuristic environment or recreate the past.
Moffat on Diversity and a Black Doctor
- Thread starter StCoop
- Start date
Which was a large part of the reason for the Doctor's exile on near-future Earth starting in 1970, and for the increase of present-day (or near-future) stories in the preceding couple of seasons.
To be fair, modern day stories have decreased somewhat since Moffat took over. RTD really enjoyed modern-day episodes. Probably just as much because he's a fan of Pertwee as it was it being cheaper.
For that matter, even when we do see the future in modern Who, regardless it it's RTD or Moffat era, it's often very similar to modern-day. EG, everyone still wears contemporary outfits. Human military personnel wear uniforms which wouldn't look out of place today, their weapons and gear often are modern ones, and so on.
For that matter, even when we do see the future in modern Who, regardless it it's RTD or Moffat era, it's often very similar to modern-day. EG, everyone still wears contemporary outfits. Human military personnel wear uniforms which wouldn't look out of place today, their weapons and gear often are modern ones, and so on.
If BBC did decide to cast the Doctor of African descent, how do you think the production should handle it?
I posted those comments just to support my earlier statement that blacks aren't the only possibility to have diversity not as a comment on what they should do with a black Doctor should they go that route.
But to answer the question I'm not sure how production should handle it. One of the Doctor's characteristics is that he generally becomes the figure in charge when he inserts himself into a situation. They could continue with that or maybe sometimes he'd have trouble establishing his authority due to his race. The series has played it both ways sometimes such as with the Doctor telling Martha to act like she owns the place with Shakespeare but she was forced to be a scullery maid in the early 20th Century in Human Nature.
I don't know which approach is the best to take and being white I'm probably not the best to say but I do think there's merit to each.
There are times in Earth's past where a black man won't have things as easy as a white man. This is a known fact, but it doesn't have to be dwelled on all the time. I'm not saying the show should go out of its way to ignore it, since even the unpleasantness of history should be acknowledged and you do no one any favors ignoring or "whitewashing" the nasty stuff from the past. But not every episode set in the past has to be about the Doctor dealing with racists questioning "why is this n****r even talking to us?"
I think it's also, to a large extent, because RTD was basically introducing Doctor Who to a whole new generation of viewers, and so he chose to ground it in the familiar present-day world so as not to scare off the newbies. Just as it was also more grounded on a character level, touching more on ordinary, everyday concerns of working-class council-flat residents and the like.
There's also the fact that he was heavily influenced by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so he tended toward "weird stuff happening in the regular world" over traveling to exotic parts of the universe.
Just as on the reboot Battlestar Galactica, the natives of an alien civilization wore ordinary clothes and such. I find that audiences today are depressingly intolerant of exotic costumes, designs, and the like in their sci-fi. Shows in the '60s and '70s were able to be wilder with the designs, although they're generally considered cheesy and dated-looking today.
But wouldn't a white Doctor face that same issue in a story set in, say, Tokugawa Japan or Maurya-Dynasty India or the Empire of Mali? This was something the original series glossed over quite a bit in serials like "Marco Polo" and "The Aztecs," but the white travelers would've been the racial minorities in those cultures; indeed, the Aztecs would never have seen anything like them before. And realistically, if the Doctor's visits to Earth were anywhere near random in their geographical distribution, he'd land in Asia and Africa much more often than he landed in Europe. So if anything, the fact that the Doctor looks white should be an impediment to him much more often than it's shown to be.
The Doctor does seem to have a fondness for Western culture. You're more likely to see a planet of cat people or rhinos.
I'd get the same actor who played Doctor Moon in the Library.
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Moon
He'd be a perfect replacement for Robert Picardo's doc on voyager--or Walter Skinner for the X-Files as well.
^^He was one of the top contenders among fan rumours before Matt Smith was cast. He'd certainly be an interesting choice, in the Library story he pulled of a very interesting combination of normal and weird that could lend itself perfectly as being the Doctor.
^ He was also at one stage the source of heavy betting linking him with Pierce Brosnan's replacement as Bond. He played Charles Robinson, an aide to M, during Brosnan's tenure and very often would be Pierce's stand-in when actors and actresses were reading for roles opposite Bond (but hadn't yet progressed far enough in the process to meet the lead actor).
If we're looking for candidates to play a black Doctor, how about Regé-Jean Page, who played Chicken George in the recent Roots remake? He's a Londoner (Zimbabwean by birth), and in Roots he did a terrific job playing a very charismatic, witty, showmanlike character. He could definitely pull off the Doctor's fast-talking flamboyance as well as his more dramatic side, and I suspect female fans would react quite positively to his looks. I'm not sure I'd want to go right back to a really young Doctor right after Capaldi (Page is currently 26), but maybe Page could be the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Doctor a bit further down the road.
99% of the time, the Doctor is able to insert himself into a position of authority in situations where he should have none because that's what he does. That's who the character is. People subconsciously react to his authority regardless of how he looks. (No one besides Peri ever seemed to object to the 6th Doctor's garish apparel.) I don't think that is something that should change in any significant way.
When Martha was a scullery maid in "Human Nature," that was her & the Doctor trying to blend in as best they could. In stories where the Doctor is trying to blend in, I can see the Doctor's race factoring into the story. But, most of the time, the Doctor is pointedly not trying to blend in. He just turns up and does his thing and leaves everyone else to rationalize the details for themselves. (I figure he's using a "Somebody Else's Problem" field from the Hitchhiker's novels.
)Poppycock. We're talking about a fictional alien. Your own race has no bearing to your qualifications to discuss the matter.
For me, that would almost be a disqualifier. The Doctor is not supposed to be sexy. Any sexiness should be completely coincidental & unintentional.
Right. A number of Doctors weren't superficially the sort of person that people in authority would respect; that was a large part of the Second and Fourth Doctor's basic shtick, and the Seventh's to an extent. At first they were dismissed as clownish, ridiculous figures, but then they ended up taking command of the situation by sheer competence. And there have certainly been plenty of stories where the Doctor showed up and was immediately suspected of being a spy or a murderer and had to prove himself against intense suspicion and hatred, or to escape summary execution. It wouldn't be that different in terms of the story dynamic if they hated him or tried to kill him because of his skin color.
That TARDIS sailed as soon as they cast Peter Davison. And McGann, Eccleston, Tennant, and Smith.
I suppose you have a point. They can be good looking so long as they don't play up the sexiness of the actor. After all, while Davison was a very handsome man, he still played the role with a certain distant, avuncular asexuality. McGann, while handsome & charming, was never flirtatious. (Even when he kissed Grace Holloway, he wasn't trying to seduce her.) Eccleston was the textbook definition of "sexy-ugly." Smith, whenever he was flirting, looked like a complete dork and whenever other people were flirting with him he was completely wrong-footed.
As for Tennant.... ugh! That was always my biggest problem with his Doctor. The bits with Rose & Martha constantly mooning over him got quite tiresome!
The Doctor has been many things over the decades. In a thread where we're talking about breaking new ground with a black Doctor, isn't it kind of ironic to object to a way that some Doctors are different from others?
The thing is though, very few Doctors have been played by the sort of men who are traditional romantic leads. Realistically I think you're talking McGann certainly, Davison and Tennant probably (although I still think part of Tennant's appeal is less about looks so much as his engaging personality).None of these men were hired for their looks as a primary factor (well maybe McGann but even then I think that might be an unfair assessment).
Clearly a lot of women and a fair amount of blokes have had things for Tennant/Eccleston/Smith etc. but I wonder how many of them would have noticed them before they were the Doctor? Part of their appeal is, I suspect, the very quirkiness that makes them good Doctors. And let's not exclude other Doctors. I'm sure plenty of people were seduced by the twinkle in Tom's eye or go weak at the knees even for Capaldi.
There are an awful lot of female celebrities I fancy because they are conventionally attractive, but an equal number whose quirkiness and the fact that they don't conform to perceived societal norms (whatever they are) is the reason I'm enamoured of them and it's pretty much from the second group that most of my female Doctor picks would come from (Olivia Colman, Nicola Walker, Shirley Henderson etc.)
Of course this doesn't preclude an actor/actress being conventionally attractive and being able to play the Doctor. Chiwetel Ejiofor or Alexander Siddig on the male side would count and there are plenty of female candidates too, Surranne Jones is gorgeous, but playing Idris she proved she can be quite quirky/alien as well. Heaven forbid a Doctor is ever primarily chosen because they're hot (or even worse is discounted because they're too plain/too young/too old)
I never said it was a primary factor. It was an offhand afterthought to my opinion that Page would be qualified based on his talent and personality.
If his looks played a factor in Paul McGann getting cast, than it really is ironic that the majority of his Doctor Who work ended up being audio dramas.
That's my thought. Given the seeming black obsession that many have, I would be more apt to believe it casting for genuine talent if the actor was Indian, Asian, even Native American. A black Doctor will always have this cloud over it for me; I'll be thinking, "Oh look, they finally dug up a black token actor for the people that begged for it."
That's what happens when people say black, black, black - they're advocating one single race for the role while claiming they love diversity.
Similar threads
