New Doctor to be Revealed this Sunday

[Foxbat]

I think he's a good choice but, ultimately, what will make or break this new doctor will be the quality of the scripts. Last year was mediocre at best.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Indeed, Foxbat.

 

[Brian G Turner]

For a moment I thought they'd chosen Frank Skinner.

 

[Lioness]

Sorry, I'm a bit disappointed to see another white male doctor. I mean, surely at some point a random generation must come up with some other genetic make-up. I thought they missed the chance to do something up to date with the genre and the show. Killjoy, I know.

While I'd love to see a female or POC Doctor, I don't want Moffat to be the one who writes it...

 

[Warren_Paul]

I'm not entirely sure a female doctor would work though. Do you really want somebody like River Song as the main character of the show? That's what they would be like -- a mary sue.

Not to mention it would probably come across as a spinoff, and we all know spinoffs never do as well as the originals.


Nothing wrong with having a doctor of another ethnicity though. I'd support that. But either way, I think we are going to witness a stronger, darker Dr Who in the coming years, and that's a good thing, no matter what the colour of his skin might be.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Why not a female (although I agree with the Moffatt comment!)? Is the female destined to always be the companion-helper? If the doctor changes personality as well as form each time, a female perspective could be very interesting. More to the point, it would be a good message for teenage girls - who, I can attest watch Dr Who - that they don't have to be second fiddle. Unless there is evidence the Timelords were all male, then I fear it is a fudge.

Edit. No, I don't want a Riversong but I'd love a strong, female doctor.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

But that's just kind of weird to me, the idea of making the Doctor female because Timelords came in both sexes. That's like saying, "it's about time we had a female Henry V in our play -- after all, humans come in both sexes." Sure, but he's not a representation of the species, he's a particular character, who happens to be male. They could make a show with a female Timelord, if they could get around the fact that the Doctor is the only one left (which has obviously been done before), but she wouldn't be the Doctor.

I don't think there's any reason at all why they couldn't pick a darker color. Even River was black that one time. I could see George Takei as the Doctor, or Denzel Washington.

 

[Warren_Paul]

My point with Riversong is that she is a female timelord -- or at least was. So if the doctor was to be female this time, she is what the result would be. And I'm afraid to say, it's a general consensus that Riversong is one of the worst companions the doctor has ever had.

I agree with TDZ that it would feel weird. And it's not because they are all male, because that isn't true as we have already seen with his daughter and Riversong. If they want to make a story revolving around a female timelord, they could do a spinoff for teenagers with the doctor's daughter as the main character. The daughter is out there, somewhere, they just haven't made use of her plotline since the episode where she was created. (I don't think they ever will, since that episode wasn't written by Moffat so he probably won't acknowledge it as being a legitimate plotline)

We have to look at it from Moffat's perspective, I think, or at least what we can imagine he is thinking. He has an idea for a story in his mind, and the new actor he selected suits that story out of all the people that applied for the role. After all, auditioning to be the doctor is applying for a job just like any other career. The employer selects the applicant they believe best suited for the role they want them to do.

Perhaps in a few years time, Moffat will have an idea for a plot that suits a female lead, but this clearly isn't that time.

 

[Abernovo]

Sorry, WP, I don't understand how a female doctor would be a Mary Sue. If so, then the Doctor, in male persona, is no more than a 'Gary Stu' (I had to look that up). Nor, if it's the same character, albeit regenerated with differences as each incarnation is, do I think it would be a spin-off.

I quite liked River Song, not because she was a Mary Sue, but because she was a foil to the Doctor's self-assuredness, and showed his weaknesses. And, I thought, the Doctor's 'daughter' is actually his clone with an X chromosome variation. So, there's two Doctors running about the universe.

Personally, I've thought for a long time that one of the best male actors for the role would be Chiwetel Ejiofor. Not that he was in the running. I mean, could you imagine the Operative being the Doctor? He has the necessary charisma, which is something I thought the writers wrote out since the departure of David Tennant.

The idea of either Emma Thompson or Archie Panjabi appeals too. All that said, I like Capaldi and think he could make a very good Doctor, so long as the scripts allow it.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Not a fan of the female Doctor idea. I know (though I disliked this too) the Corsair was referenced as having both male and female incarnations so a precedent is set, but it just seems hyper-politically correct.

I'd go down the Romana route. She's established and liked, and it could become less Doctor And A Helper and more a pair of lead roles, like William and (er...) Anne were co-monarchs after the Glorious Revolution.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm not hung up on a female one, btw, I'm more hung up on any sort of diversity. White, male seems a narrow gene type, that's all.

 

[Lioness]

I think most of the reason River annoys people is that she wasn't terribly well written. She's got all these one-liners and a mysterious backstory that doesn't really get shown because it's just not "important"

I don't think it's at all hyper-politically-correct to have a female doctor...currently 100% of Doctors have been dudes...but, well, roughly 50% of the population are female...so it's less politically correct and more actually representative of a real-life population.

The fact that when the doctor regenerates, he has to check his gender means that the possibility is there...it just needs a good writer to write it. I've seen a lot of fans saying "I would stop watching the show if there was a female doctor!" (never read the comments...), and that just seems ridiculous. You're going to stop watching a cool space show because the main character is now a witty, intelligent...woman? Nuh-uh. That doesn't make any sense.

The only way a female doctor would be a Mary Sue is if she's written that way.

If they want to make a story revolving around a female timelord, they could do a spinoff for teenagers with the doctor's daughter as the main character.

Because only teenagers would be interested in a show with a female timelord? If they're going to make a female Doctor, I think it would need to be in the main show, purely because putting it in a spin-off sends the message "we're doing this because we have to but it's not as important as the main show with our doctor-dude"

 

[Warren_Paul]

Sorry, WP, I don't understand how a female doctor would be a Mary Sue. If so, then the Doctor, in male persona, is no more than a 'Gary Stu' (I had to look that up). Nor, if it's the same character, albeit regenerated with differences as each incarnation is, do I think it would be a spin-off.

Not quite what I was saying. I was calling Riversong a Mary Sue, but that's all technicalities.

I think the main reason people tend to not like her is because she is perceived as a Mary Sue -- she was also a terrible actor and unable to pull of the quirkiness the show called for, or maybe that's just my impression of her -- but I also think the aspects of her that make people consider her that are the same attributes that also make her a timelord and different to other companions.

Does that mean the doctor is a Gary Stu? Quite possibly he would be considered such if roles were reversed and he was the companion. So, while I was calling Riversong a Mary Sue, I don't think people would perceive her as such if she was the doctor. Maybe that's because we would see more of her inner thoughts though, since she would then be the protagonist and a more fleshed out character.

Because only teenagers would be interested in a show with a female timelord? If they're going to make a female Doctor, I think it would need to be in the main show, purely because putting it in a spin-off sends the message "we're doing this because we have to but it's not as important as the main show with our doctor-dude"

The context of the conversation was in regards to Spring's mention of a role model for teenage girls.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Point of order: if the writing continues the way it is then a lady Doctor would be as badly written as a male one

I quite agree on River Song.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Am I the only one who likes what Moffat has done to the show?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

The context of the conversation was in regards to Spring's mention of a role model for teenage girls.

Sorry, but the context for my comment was a role model in an adult show that teenage girls watch. That's incredibly important, actually. If we only give teenagers female icons in teenage shows and then the lead series continues to represent only male leads, then that's even more damaging (in my view) than never showing a female lead anyway. It says to them -- and this is a big thing, I think -- you can be equal until you're an adult, and then it's the men leading the way. Because of course, you're going to have kids and then your life is going to be subsumed into theirs while the man can go off and be a macho hero.

The BBC did the Sarah Jane Adventures, which was very well done and which both my kids loved. It didn't mean she was ever equal to the doctor, in his various (male) incarnations.

The one sci fi show I am delighted I introduced my kids to is Blake's Seven, where the leader of the galaxy was a woman, and many of the key characters of the seven (particularly after Blake left, and there was only a de facto leader) were women, and weren't scared to look like women (particularly Servalan) and act like women. Yes, it's dated, but it gives a better female role model - by which I mean Servalan btw (IMO) -- than Doctor Who is giving in the 21st century. Except that Cally simpered like the worst female character I ever seen. And all the ladies had a propensity to kiss Avon in his leathers (even Servalan), which was downright scary. Y'know, I can see the show's limitations. .

But given what I've just summed up as the male-female power relationship in B7, it's pretty scary that I don't see Dr Who having moved much beyond that. Sure, we have feisty companions, who probably don't kiss a middle aged man just cos he has leathers (although I still go ooooh, at Paul Darrow's voice ), but who still are in the support role, who can't move past that defined role, and who, quite frankly, end up giving up their lives to chase a bloke around space in a police box.

 

[Ursa major]

As an aside, I'm not sure The Doctor of recent times is a particularly good role model for anyone, not unless someone in the audience has a sonic screwdriver to solve whatever problem comes along and a penchant for running around in what looks awfully like a panic (albeit disguised by being a bit mysterious).

 

[Perpetual Man]

Although I can see what people are saying, especially Springs who argued the point so well the idea of a female Doctor at the present time, in the context of the show is wrong.

The Doctor is a male Time Lord. There are female Time Ladies.

Crossing gender with a regeneration just seems to go against a principle that has been set virtually since the show began: The Doctor was a grandfather. He has a granddaughter. No one expected the Master to regenerate into a woman, nor Romana into a man. In fact the one time we saw a natural regeneration on the screen - Romana's, she was able to preview a new body and they were all female.

When the Time Lord's offered the Doctor a choice of a new body in the War Games all choices were male, and when he refused he was forced into a new male body (Jon Pertwee).

There seems to be a definitive line in the show that says there are two different sexes of Time Lord, and it is one that should not be crossed now. (I could go on and on... from Borusa, to Rassilon and Omega).

But...

We know that Time Lords have 12 regenerations - 13 incarnations, and after Capaldi (unless the 50th Anniversary mucks with the numbers of Doctors so far) there is only one more incarnation left. After that we enter uncharted territory. We know that Time Lords can be given another set of regenerations (The Master in the Five Doctors), and there are hints that the Doctor had more incarnations before William Hartnell, which by the current count would mean he has had at least one other set of incarnations in the past (The Brain of Morbius).

So what would be good, interesting, brave and original, is whatever process is used to reboot the regeneration sequence makes the Doctor female. (With everything up in the air following the Time War, we have no idea how stable the regeneration technology is) That I could easily accept, but I would full expect to see thirteen female incarnations.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Indeed, Ursa.

Perp, that's an interesting idea. New Who seems to have (with the Corsair references) changed the Old Who concept [with which I agreed] of genders being fixed, however.

 

[Lioness]

Am I the only one who likes what Moffat has done to the show?

I like what he did with individual episodes...when Davies was running the show.

Now all of the seasons build up with huge hints and clues and exciting phrases, and you think "ooh, what's this all turning into?" and then it's supremely anticlimactic...not all he's built it up to be...or incredibly shoe-horned to fit the plot.

I actually found something the other day that explained it really well:

Okay so imagine you ask somebody to tell you a riddle.
They turn to you and they say “the south pole."
You say “what?"
They just repeat “the south pole!"
So you press them for some sort of explanation. They urge you to figure it out on your own, they say it’ll be better that way. They give you an hour to figure it out.
So you set to trying to figure it out, but every five minutes, they say something like “you still haven’t gotten it? It’s going to be great when you do!" or “but what do I mean by that?" or “don’t forget: the south pole!"
And then, the hour’s up, and you still have no idea what they mean.
"Okay, are you ready for this?" They ask you. You say yes, and they say:
"Where can I build a house with four walls, all facing north?"
And of course, you reply “the south pole."
Now, I imagine you’re pretty unsatisfied. You feel like, if you had been given the riddle to begin with, you would have had a lot of fun trying to figure it out
But instead, you were given the answer at the beginning, and it just feels like your friend just spent a full hour enjoying watching you squirm while you tried to figure out what the riddle was
And that’s the problem I have with how Steven Moffat constructs his seasons of Doctor Who

That's what I've seen happen in every season so far. We get this huge "what's wrong with Amy Pond...and we never find out in a way that feels completely satisfactory. Same with River. And Clara's this mysterious "girl who died twice" (woman???)...and in the end, she didn't die because she was cool and had a super dooper power, or anything like that...she died twice because she was spat out through time to save the doctor...like...her whole life revolved around the Doctor. And that's a bit not good. There has been so much potential for characters and storylines, and it hasn't been fulfilled because no-one's sitting over Moffat's shoulder being all "Hey...hey dude...that doesn't make sense. Try again." or "You know, how about we give her a reason for existence other than the doctor?" (see: River, Clara, Amy...)

Don't get me wrong...I still enjoy watching it, but I come away feeling frustrated a lot of the time. With Davies, I came away feeling like I'd watched a whole lot of cute, corny romance, but that's nothing compared to this.