The BBC Announces Doctor Who’s Thirteenth Doctor

This is an outrage!

Yet another entry in the long line of outdated binary gender doctors.

Where is the non-binary, gender fluid, trans doctor that reflects the modern reality where 99% of people in today's society don't identify with the outmoded genders male and female?
 
I'm looking forward to this, it should bring some new ideas to the story and bring about a major shakeup to the Doctor/Companion relationship. And as for Steven Moffat, it's long past time for him to have been shown the door. Thank goodness someone at the BBC had enough intelligence to fire his ass. Should have been done years ago. This last season has definitely not been one of the best.

And don't get me started on Bill. Ugh. Definitely not one of the better companions. I'd take Clara back in a heartbeat! She was hot!
 
trparky said:
I'm looking forward to this, it should bring some new ideas to the story and bring about a major shakeup to the Doctor/Companion relationship. And as for Steven Moffat, it's long past time for him to have been shown the door. Thank goodness someone at the BBC had enough intelligence to fire his ass. Should have been done years ago. This last season has definitely not been one of the best.

And don't get me started on Bill. Ugh. Definitely not one of the better companions. I'd take Clara back in a heartbeat! She was hot!
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Moffat has done some good things and some bad things. He wrote some good episodes in the Russel T. Davies era. Some of the 11th Doctor's story arcs were exceptionally good, though there are some turds in there as well. I think Series 9 was one of the best in the show's history. Similarly, series 8 was pretty bad, as it had shit like the Robots of Sherwood, Kill the Moon and and at least one other pile of shit that escapes me at this point. Series 10 was more good than bad. I was never thrilled with Bill, as it felt like she was chosen to check of some PC boxes more than anything.

LBGT friendly character - Check
Black character - Check

As for the Doctor being female, they've been ramming the concept down our throats for years in dialog and I always felt like Missy was made to be a test case for a female Doctor in a sense. I'm apprehensive about the change. I'm not concerned with the actress or anything, I'm concerned with the direction of the story. This is one of those things that could be really interesting, or it could be horrifying. The good thing is, that a bad series run is easily fixed by replacing the lead character. It's been done before as Colin Baker was fired from the role and replaced with Sylvester McCoy in order to change the show's direction. (Not that it worked.) That's usually the death knell for most shows, but it's an intrinsic part of what makes Doctor Who what it is.
 
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Another gap to next series? It's been so long since series 9 that I forgot when the 10th was going to start, and my fb feed so devoid of 10 talk that I didn't know it started until the series was over. Now over a year wait again?
 
trparky said:
I'm looking forward to this, it should bring some new ideas to the story and bring about a major shakeup to the Doctor/Companion relationship. And as for Steven Moffat, it's long past time for him to have been shown the door. Thank goodness someone at the BBC had enough intelligence to fire his ass. Should have been done years ago. This last season has definitely not been one of the best.

And don't get me started on Bill. Ugh. Definitely not one of the better companions. I'd take Clara back in a heartbeat! She was hot!
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Clara was too much "the impossible girl", the Dr's assistant is meant to be that ... Assistant, not their own diety. Great actress & whether the producers played upto that to give her a more significant role... Or with Amy Pond giving birth to the Dr's assassin. Bill was just Bill, an assistant
 
Moffatt's stories were meh sometimes ok, sometimes just plot device trainwrecks (don't get me started on the time dilation stuff on the Mondas colony ship), bouncing all over continuity. Clara was basically "let's retcon the entire show, sort of" which should be sacrilege. It didn't help she was rom-com fodder for our young (-looking, remember), dashing Doctor who always seemed to be on the edge of asking her out on a date. Capaldi diffused that, which was good, but yeah let's just throw more generic same bad guys at them, have the Master go girl and be even moderately questionably "good" (no, no no).

Resetting the show with a new showrunner, new Doctor, zero pesky legacy companions, and a send-off from the First Doctor will hopefully get the show somewhere that I'm not just watching it cuz it's Doctor Who and I watch Doctor Who. I don't mind a female Doctor, though yeah, obviously doing it because ~SJW~ or whatever equality cause.

Spoiler for Series 11, episode 5: The Doctor finds herself in Dorset, assisting two detectives (one played by David Tennant) with solving a little boy's murder. (meta inside meta.. whoa)
 
'Who' would have thought the show would become a Porn series. A Male brain in a Female Body. Stop groping yourself Doctor...

I assume it will be a new Doctor entirely so really a totally new show.... ?
 
This is awesome, it's about time. Isn't Moffat leaving also? Maybe the show will get good again.
 
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Garrick said:
'Who' would have thought the show would become a Porn series. A Male brain in a Female Body. Stop groping yourself Doctor...

I assume it will be a new Doctor entirely so really a totally new show.... ?
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The character is always the same. He / she regenerates into a new form complete with a new personality, but retains core characteristics and the memories of all his / her previous incarnations. So no, not a new character.
 
I hate it when the stupid crybabies make it seem like that the sjws might have a case.
 
M76 said:
I hate it when the stupid crybabies make it seem like that the sjws might have a case.
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I think the term "social injustice warriors" works pretty well, can we coin the term here and now? Always stomping their feet and bawling when they don't get their way - in many ways they're much worse than SJWs. To that point, there will probably be a post later on breitbart.com saying how the BBC is under boycott, or - if we're really lucky - the SIW-in-chief will tweet about how "sad" the situation is!
 
The new showrunner has ties to the actress picked as she's part of his Broadchurch series, so it makes sense. Although he should have picked that David Tennant guy, I bet he would have made a helluva doctor. ;)

SuperSubZero said:
Spoiler for Series 11, episode 5: The Doctor finds herself in Dorset, assisting two detectives (one played by David Tennant) with solving a little boy's murder. (meta inside meta.. whoa)
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Broadchurch cross over? Lol.

daglesj said:
It's a childrens TV show.
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Originally back in the 60's. The new show is a family friendly adventure but definitely aimed at an older audience - they just use cuts and innuendo to make it family friendly. It's about as much a children's show as Star Trek.
 
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Man or women, I feel like Whittaker was the perfect choice to follow Capaldi. I love Capaldi as the Doctor, even if the writing for him has been pretty bad. Bill started off with some potential, she was a different dynamic and I liked the student-teacher relationship she had with the Doctor. Sadly it falls apart quickly when Moffat uses her being gay and black and shoves stuff in our faces. The line about black people in old London was really grating. I like that they showed it, but blatantly shoving it in the face of the audience was really poorly handled. I don't blame the actress either, she tried her hardest to pull off those lines and stories but it just didn't work. I'm glad Moffat is leaving and Broadchurch is outstanding so I'm expecting good things both from Whittaker and from new show runner, Chris Chibnall.

Seriously folks, if you haven't seen Broadchurch go watch it. Everyone in it is amazing, especially David Tennant.
 
And the political correctness hit it's final phase and ruins another TV show.

This doesn't surprise me.
I've been binge watching series (currently on season 9), and have noticed how the overt political correctness keeps creeping in more with each season. I've came close to giving up, but then there are a couple decent shows so I keep watching. This IMHO will ruin the show, so I doubt I will bother with season 11.
 
nutzo said:
And the political correctness hit it's final phase and ruins another TV show.

This doesn't surprise me.
I've been binge watching series (currently on season 9), and have noticed how the overt political correctness keeps creeping in more with each season. I've came close to giving up, but then there are a couple decent shows so I keep watching. This IMHO will ruin the show, so I doubt I will bother with season 11.
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You do realize how bad you sound when you say that casting a women will ruin a show, right? If this was still Moffat you might have a point, Moffat cannot write a likable women to save his life. However, it isn't. This is a new creative team with someone in charge that is a much better writer than Moffat.
 
nutzo said:
And the political correctness hit it's final phase and ruins another TV show.

This doesn't surprise me.
I've been binge watching series (currently on season 9), and have noticed how the overt political correctness keeps creeping in more with each season. I've came close to giving up, but then there are a couple decent shows so I keep watching. This IMHO will ruin the show, so I doubt I will bother with season 11.
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The TARDIS and Daleks are really the only things you should expect to be a constant. Everything else is fair game, and if they changed the doctor into a woman (who, btw, is an alien), it was only a matter of time (heh). It shouldn't surprise anyone that they went with a female lead this time. It has always been implied that the doctor could regenerate into a female.
 
Derangel said:
You do realize how bad you sound when you say that casting a women will ruin a show, right?
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The problem is casting a woman to play a part that has always been a male character.
Star Trek wouldn't have been the same if captain Kirk suddenly became a female.
How about if Wonder Woman was replace by a guy?
 
nutzo said:
The problem is casting a woman to play a part that has always been a male character.
Star Trek wouldn't have been the same if captain Kirk suddenly became a female.
How about if Wonder Woman was replace by a guy?
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You're comparisons are shit. Kirk has been played by two actors. Kirk being male is a central part of his character. Wonder Woman has always been Wonder Woman for 75 years and being a woman is central to her character. With Whittaker there have now been thirteen actors to play the Doctor. The Doctor's gender is entirely irrelevant to the character and every regeneration the character completely changes. Nothing about the Doctor demands that they be male other than the stupidly lame "but they have always been male" excuse. Using that excuse, when there is no valid reason why the character needs to remain that way, makes you look bad.
 
Dan_D said:
Moffat has done some good things and some bad things. He wrote some good episodes in the Russel T. Davies era. Some of the 11th Doctor's story arcs were exceptionally good, though there are some turds in there as well. I think Series 9 was one of the best in the show's history. Similarly, series 8 was pretty bad, as it had shit like the Robots of Sherwood, Kill the Moon and and at least one other pile of shit that escapes me at this point. Series 10 was more good than bad. I was never thrilled with Bill, as it felt like she was chosen to check of some PC boxes more than anything.

LBGT friendly character - Check
Black character - Check

As for the Doctor being female, they've been ramming the concept down our throats for years in dialog and I always felt like Missy was made to be a test case for a female Doctor in a sense. I'm apprehensive about the change. I'm not concerned with the actress or anything, I'm concerned with the direction of the story. This is one of those things that could be really interesting, or it could be horrifying. The good thing is, that a bad series run is easily fixed by replacing the lead character. It's been done before as Colin Baker was fired from the role and replaced with Sylvester McCoy in order to change the show's direction. (Not that it worked.) That's usually the death knell for most shows, but it's an intrinsic part of what makes Doctor Who what it is.
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Best thing I've seen said about Moffatt:

He writes great episodes, with great villains, and wonderful feel.

He's terrible hat handling the meta-arcs.
 
I don't watch nor have I ever watch any Doctor Who, but from what I gathered reading various comments is that he has turned into a chick through storylines multiple times, and that they've also changed several other key characters into females already and/or planning on more. I've also seen lots of Dr. Who references on the internet before so I can at least acknowledge some of the more common ones

It sounds as though they are trying to expand a target audience (nerdy chicks) but they could be taking things a bit too far. Nerdy chicks are still also horny chicks, and not all of them have jumped on the LUG (lesbian until graduation) bandwagon, so not having some swinging dicks around could hurt them long run.

All in all, I don't really care because Dr. Who is nerdy shit and I couldn't tell you whether the storylines will suffer or not with a female lead because the show has always looked like everything I dislike about "SyFy", I miss SciFi Channel.
 
If I recall correctly, in episode: Hell Bent, The Dr kills a timelord who regenerates as the opposite sex. This was the time when the physical gender was not locked for a timelord
Likewise Missy confirmed that a timelords physical gender is not locked at birth.

The choice then as to whom shall play the dr is downto suitability in their acting skill's not their sex,colour or creed


did people cry when the Master was shown to be missy? did they cry when a timelord regenerated as a female? so why DrWho?



If the BBC make a massive song and dance (in hte show) about how the Dr is a female then I will get pissed. Gender equality exists when it doesn't matter what gender, if the result of a female is "whoo hoo females rule, females are best" then it is not a step closer to equality, it is a step further away...
 
I've never seen Doctor Who before but I have seen Jodie Whittaker in a couple of things, namely Black Mirror and some movie. She's a really good actress so I'd expect good things from her.
 
lilbabycat said:
I don't watch nor have I ever watch any Doctor Who, but from what I gathered reading various comments is that he has turned into a chick through storylines multiple times, and that they've also changed several other key characters into females already and/or planning on more. I've also seen lots of Dr. Who references on the internet before so I can at least acknowledge some of the more common ones

It sounds as though they are trying to expand a target audience (nerdy chicks) but they could be taking things a bit too far. Nerdy chicks are still also horny chicks, and not all of them have jumped on the LUG (lesbian until graduation) bandwagon, so not having some swinging dicks around could hurt them long run.

All in all, I don't really care because Dr. Who is nerdy shit and I couldn't tell you whether the storylines will suffer or not with a female lead because the show has always looked like everything I dislike about "SyFy", I miss SciFi Channel.
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The Doctor never has been female in any canon material before. Other Timelords (his species) have switched between genders before. Previously it had only been mentioned in dialog that it was possible, and that it happened. In the Episode "Hell Bent", the Doctor shoots another Timelord triggering that individual's regeneration. He transitions from an older white guy into a younger black female. Upon regenerating, she mentions that her previous incarnation was her only life spent as a man. The Master, another Timelord's 18th body was female. Until that regeneration, the Master had always been male. Still, I have to admit that after the show has run for over half a century with over 800 episodes in all, it's hard to imagine the Doctor as anything but male. I've watched every single episode of Doctor Who that's ever been made available online. There are something like 19 remaining episodes that are missing, and I haven't seen those because no one under the age of 60 could have.

As for the story lines suffering, it's hard to say. The Doctor isn't usually a physical character, preferring brains over brawn in all but two incarnations. Even then, those weren't exactly action heroes. The Doctor being female isn't a detriment to how the character would normally act or go through a story. What will be problematic is the Doctor visiting time periods in which females weren't treated well. That said, it's all about how they handle the change. I'm sure there will be some comedic stuff regarding the change which will honestly be entertaining for about 10 minutes. After that, it will get tiresome.

The problem is that Doctor Who has a history of pushing the agenda's of whomever has control over it at the time. During the Russel T. Davies era, they practically shoved an LBGT agenda down everyone's throats as the showrunner at the time is a homosexual. Still, Russel T. Davies knew his audience and knew how to keep things in check. When he left Doctor Who to work on it's spin-off Torchwood, this was taken to far more extremes given that it wasn't a family friendly show. Basically every character on the show was bisexual and they filmed sex scenes with both genders for about everyone to prove it. During the Moffat era, he'd often been accused of being homophobic, so they started pandering to the LBGT crowd. Similarly, Feminism is all the rage now so I'm actually expecting the worst. Again, if handled correctly this doesn't have to be an issue, but I'm not confident that will be the case. We will see. I'm not familiar with the new lead writer / showrunner's other work so I don't know.

naib said:
If I recall correctly, in episode: Hell Bent, The Dr kills a timelord who regenerates as the opposite sex. This was the time when the physical gender was not locked for a timelord
Likewise Missy confirmed that a timelords physical gender is not locked at birth.

The choice then as to whom shall play the dr is downto suitability in their acting skill's not their sex,colour or creed


did people cry when the Master was shown to be missy? did they cry when a timelord regenerated as a female? so why DrWho?



If the BBC make a massive song and dance (in hte show) about how the Dr is a female then I will get pissed. Gender equality exists when it doesn't matter what gender, if the result of a female is "whoo hoo females rule, females are best" then it is not a step closer to equality, it is a step further away...
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While "Hell Bent" is the first episode we see the change in gender occur, it's been stated in previous episodes that they were not gender locked. Moffat has been laying the ground work for a female doctor for several years. This goes all the way back to the 11th Doctor. In the episode "The Doctor's Wife", another Timelord known as the Corsair was stated to have switched genders between male and female several times.

And yes, the Master regenerating into a female did cause some fan outrage from a few people. Personally, I had no issue with the gender change as much as I disliked Missy's personality. She was a bit too crazy and over the top. You hit the nail on the head with regard to the gender change. If they don't make a big deal about it, then it's not really an issue. If they make it a statement about feminism, then it's going to be nothing but cringe worthy every episode. Worse yet, if the show does badly as a result of that, men will get accused of not being able to accept a female lead, when in reality it might not be well received if the show becomes too political and preachy. Doctor Who is supposed to be fun, nothing more, nothing less.

nysmo said:
I've never seen Doctor Who before but I have seen Jodie Whittaker in a couple of things, namely Black Mirror and some movie. She's a really good actress so I'd expect good things from her.
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Honestly, they've yet to ever cast a bad actor in the role of the Doctor. It's never happened. Unfortunately, not all Doctor's get equal episode quality. The 12th Doctor had the potential to be one of the best, but some of his episodes are downright terrible. That's not even Moffat's fault as much as he gets blamed for it. The only thing he's guilty of in some cases is letting Mark Gatiss and a few other poor excuses for writers write episodes for the series. Episodes Moffat wrote himself are generally good. He wrong three of the strongest episodes in the series during the Russel T. Davies era. In contrast, Mark Gatiss's best work was the docudrama for the 50th anniversary which chronicles the show's start at the BBC and what went on behind the scenes during the show's original run, ending with William Hartnell being replaced by Patrick Troughton. It was really good, but it was based on actual events. It wasn't a total work of fiction, which Mark Gatiss thus far has shown no ability to write.
 
Derangel said:
You're comparisons are shit. Kirk has been played by two actors. Kirk being male is a central part of his character. Wonder Woman has always been Wonder Woman for 75 years and being a woman is central to her character. With Whittaker there have now been thirteen actors to play the Doctor. The Doctor's gender is entirely irrelevant to the character and every regeneration the character completely changes. Nothing about the Doctor demands that they be male other than the stupidly lame "but they have always been male" excuse. Using that excuse, when there is no valid reason why the character needs to remain that way, makes you look bad.
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Not true. There have been far more actors to play the Doctor than 13. The first Doctor has been played by several people. William Hartnell, Richard Herndall, and now David Bradley. These changes are due to the earlier actor dying and being unable to reprise the role. This doesn't count the first Doctor's appearance as a child. There is also the Watcher, and the Valeyard which are also incarnations of the Doctor. Additionally, there is the War Doctor who was played by the late John Hurt. You are correct in that Wonder Woman and Kirk having specific genders is part of their characters, and it isn't necessarily the case for the Doctor. The way the Doctor behaves or is used in stories is actually gender interchangeable in a sense. That is, the outcome of the story wouldn't be effected by the character's gender. That said, I wouldn't say that the Doctor always having been male is "an excuse" to be apprehensive about the change. If you are a long time fan of the show, it's one of the few constants in the character. While changing that up can be fun or might be fun, it's also a bit off putting. Again, I can see both sides of the coin, and I can see it going well or very badly. It's all in how the writers handle things.
 
Jodie Whittaker is great in everything I've seen her in. This last season has been great. Going to miss Capaldi but nothing is forever in DW.

Only disappointment to be had is she's not a ginger.
 
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Kinsaras said:
Jodie Whittaker is great in everything I've seen her in. This last season has been great. Going to miss Capaldi but nothing is forever in DW.
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The way the show reinvents itself periodically is exactly why it's run for as long as it has. An interesting side note, it was suggested back in the 1980's that the Doctor should be recast as a female to freshen up the show when it's ratings were in the toilet. That's not the case today. In fact, it's the opposite. The show's ratings are strong enough to take a huge hit if this plan doesn't work out. As apprehensive as people are about the change, it's easily fixed should the BBC need to move back to a male lead for any reason.
 
Ratings are gonig to dive. Chicks are going to bail by the second season.
 
Dan_D said:
Not true. There have been far more actors to play the Doctor than 13. The first Doctor has been played by several people. William Hartnell, Richard Herndall, and now David Bradley. These changes are due to the earlier actor dying and being unable to reprise the role. This doesn't count the first Doctor's appearance as a child. There is also the Watcher, and the Valeyard which are also incarnations of the Doctor. Additionally, there is the War Doctor who was played by the late John Hurt. You are correct in that Wonder Woman and Kirk having specific genders is part of their characters, and it isn't necessarily the case for the Doctor. The way the Doctor behaves or is used in stories is actually gender interchangeable in a sense. That is, the outcome of the story wouldn't be effected by the character's gender. That said, I wouldn't say that the Doctor always having been male is "an excuse" to be apprehensive about the change. If you are a long time fan of the show, it's one of the few constants in the character. While changing that up can be fun or might be fun, it's also a bit off putting. Again, I can see both sides of the coin, and I can see it going well or very badly. It's all in how the writers handle things.
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I get people worrying about how the show handles it, the writing, etc, but the reaction some people have of "casting a women automatically means the show is ruined" is the wrong take to have. I think your earlier post hit the nail on the head in terms to both potential and concern over this change. It really is going to depend on how it is handled. I'm sure there will be plenty of comments on "I thought the Doctor was a guy" or something in the series and that can be handled well, if the lines are written with the proper tone and not used as a way for the BBC to shout "Look, we're progressive". The show needs to be careful not to fall into the trap that the ABC show Agent Carter did. If you haven't seen it, Agent Carter spent way way too much time focusing on "look of sexist people were" shtick making almost every single important male in the series a sexist, that eventually learn that women are more than pretty faces, over the actual big plots and real character development.
 
jpm100 said:
Ratings are gonig to dive. Chicks are going to bail by the second season.
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It's interesting that you say that. I know a couple of women that are avid Doctor Who fans that aren't happy about the idea of the Doctor being female. So far, they've never been able to tell me why that is, but I suspect it's two fold. One, the character has always been male, and that change is something they have to get used to. Two....well I had some philosophical way to put this but the fact is that it's somewhat like taking that blonde / white haired chick in Game of Thrones, killing her horribly, and having some magic spell resurrect her as a man. Basically you have a character that some women see as being attractive or alluring for whatever reason and then gender swapping him with a woman. This puts them off. Or, I suspect this is the case at least some of the time.

Derangel said:
I get people worrying about how the show handles it, the writing, etc, but the reaction some people have of "casting a women automatically means the show is ruined" is the wrong take to have. I think your earlier post hit the nail on the head in terms to both potential and concern over this change. It really is going to depend on how it is handled. I'm sure there will be plenty of comments on "I thought the Doctor was a guy" or something in the series and that can be handled well, if the lines are written with the proper tone and not used as a way for the BBC to shout "Look, we're progressive". The show needs to be careful not to fall into the trap that the ABC show Agent Carter did. If you haven't seen it, Agent Carter spent way way too much time focusing on "look of sexist people were" shtick making almost every single important male in the series a sexist, that eventually learn that women are more than pretty faces, over the actual big plots and real character development.
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Agent Carter is a different beast. It's due to the time in which it takes place. What it does illustrate, is that no one actually wants to watch feminism on TV even if they believe in the concept.
 
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