The Doctor Who thread

ennspek

beed84 said:

Emp_Fab said:

 What genitalia the lead character has is irrelevant.  If you're deciding to boycott a program you previously enjoyed because the new lead has a vagina then you're an idiot.

Settle down; she might not even have a vagina.

She might have two. Possibly bigger on the inside.
I don't really get the fuss, she's a talented actress, if she gets good scripts it'll be great. If not, it won't.

UnclePsychosis

Fretwired said:

Emp_Fab said:

I think it's great that they've chosen a female Dr Who.  Long overdue.  What genitalia the lead character has is irrelevant.  If you're deciding to boycott a program you previously enjoyed because the new lead has a vagina then you're an idiot.

No, I'll tell what it is .. lazy. Why not a black actor? Why not a disabled actor? If you were going have have a woman then why not choose a black actor? No, it's the old chummy North London set who run the BBC - we'll have a woman but we'll make sure she's one of us - white, middle class and good looking and ex-Broadchurch. The Doctor is quite a dark nasty person - he's far from perfect.

Settle down FFS. 

If they'd cast a black disabled actor the people who are rage-quitting the show (before its even been broadcast) would currently be on a Daily-Mail sponsored march on broadcasting house. 

And, wait, what? You're suddently outraged now that the BBC casts white, middle class actors as the Doctor?

"I've coped with the previous twelve incarnations of the Doctor being played by white able-bodied middle class BBC types but now that they've cast a woman I'm absolutely OUTRAGED that its not a working-class black man in a wheelchair. OUTRAGED, I tell you". 

beed84

bacchanalian said:

beed84 said:

Emp_Fab said:

 What genitalia the lead character has is irrelevant.  If you're deciding to boycott a program you previously enjoyed because the new lead has a vagina then you're an idiot.

Settle down; she might not even have a vagina.

Do you mean she might have two? Like the hearts.

Dude, that's just weird.

digitalscream

UnclePsychosis said:

Fretwired said:

Emp_Fab said:

I think it's great that they've chosen a female Dr Who.  Long overdue.  What genitalia the lead character has is irrelevant.  If you're deciding to boycott a program you previously enjoyed because the new lead has a vagina then you're an idiot.

No, I'll tell what it is .. lazy. Why not a black actor? Why not a disabled actor? If you were going have have a woman then why not choose a black actor? No, it's the old chummy North London set who run the BBC - we'll have a woman but we'll make sure she's one of us - white, middle class and good looking and ex-Broadchurch. The Doctor is quite a dark nasty person - he's far from perfect.

Settle down FFS. 

If they'd cast a black disabled actor the people who are rage-quitting the show (before its even been broadcast) would currently be on a Daily-Mail sponsored march on broadcasting house. 

And, wait, what? You're suddently outraged now that the BBC casts white, middle class actors as the Doctor?

"I've coped with the previous twelve incarnations of the Doctor being played by white able-bodied middle class BBC types but now that they've cast a woman I'm absolutely OUTRAGED that its not a working-class black man in a wheelchair. OUTRAGED, I tell you". 

I think you're missing the point. He's saying that folk are hailing this as a win for equality, when it's actually anything but.

Rabs

ANYTHING is better than this

http://i.imgur.com/QxMU9Rp.jpg

EricTheWeary

It's certainly been treading water for a while so if it's part of a successful reinvention all to the good. If it's just another bunch of badly written episodes but with the Doctor in a frock then meh and this may well kill it off for another couple of decades. 

thumpingrug

It's hardly an original thought of mine, but if someone who claims to be a fan of a science fiction TV show can accept the main character is a regenerating alien, driving a 1950s Police Box that defies the known laws of interior decorating in order to fly anywhere in time and space, leading to fights with metal dustbins armed with lasers and plungers, upgraded humans in overly tight-fitting armour and orange, sucker-toting, shape-shifting lizards that can hide in paintings, and yet they can still have a massive, silly tantrum because they can't imagine that main character being a female, then those people need to take a long hard look at themselves and their values, because - and there ain't no other way to dress this up - sexism.

digitalscream

thumpingrug said:

It's hardly an original thought of mine, but if someone who claims to be a fan of a science fiction TV show can accept the main character is a regenerating alien, driving a 1950s Police Box that defies the known laws of interior decorating in order to fly anywhere in time and space, leading to fights with metal dustbins armed with lasers and plungers, upgraded humans in overly tight-fitting armour and orange, sucker-toting, shape-shifting lizards that can hide in paintings, and yet they can still have a massive, silly tantrum because they can't imagine that main character being a female, then those people need to take a long hard look at themselves and their values, because - and there ain't no other way to dress this up - sexism.

Frankly, that's narrow-minded, dismissive bollocks.

And, if you're right, then there are a fuckton of chauvinistic women out there who hate their own gender, including my wife and daughter (they're angrier about this than I am).

Myranda

TheMarlin said:

It's about time.  Dr Who needs a freshen up!  I've wanted a female Dr since The Dr's Daughter!

Given her relationship to Tenant I can see why her playing his daughter for long might be weird, but I still would like to have seen her character more (Love the running!)

octatonic said:

thumpingrug said:

4114Effects said:

Hmmmm. Trying to keep an open mind. Why though? Doctor Who is an established male character. Struggling with this one.  

I suspect the correct answer is that Dr W is an established ALIEN character.    I think this is exactly what the show needs.  New writer and a new and very different doctor to shake thinks up.

Jodie Whittaker was brilliant in Broadchurch.  She's a good actor and Im toking forward to seeing where they take this.

Same here.
Not only an alien character but an alien that regenerates.
If the Doctor can regenerate as a differently aged character then why not a differently gendered one?
Or a different skin tone?

It would be weird to have a female Batman or male Wonder Woman because their gender is explicitly part of their identity but with the Doctor there is no explicit gender.
There are very few characters that this could happen to and not be weird.

I wasn't a fan of the Capaldi-period scripts, although he seemed to do a fine job with what he had.
If the writing can be as good as the Tennant period and we get a new spin on the series then it is a win in my books.

Especially as virtually since the new batch of seasons started the idea that Time Lords can be either gender (seemingly at will) and that it's common to have Time Lords choose to change from time to time... and that there's an implication they don't (or might not) reproduce sexually then gender is just a choice of plumbing options...


And more importantly, Capaldi was one of the best actors to hold the role, but the season wasn't great - the writing will be key here... good episodes and it wont matter if the Docrtor lops his cock off with a sonic breadknife to become Mrs Doctor... all that will matter is good stories

bacchanalian

I stopped watching during Capaldi's first season but might check out the new Doctor in the hope that the storylines are no longer ballbag.

4114Effects

To clarify, when I said I was struggling with this it's because I've watched just about every Dr Who episode to date ( including the hideous film version ) and rightly or wrongly the Doctor is lodged firmly in my mind as a male character. 

I'm not up in arms because it's a female, nor will I rage quit and cease to watch the show. I've every hope it will be great and I'll give it as much chance as I have done every incarnation. 

Mind you, probably nobody should listen to my opinion as I grew up with McCoy, so he's one if my favourite Doctors ... 

ourmaninthenorth

Called it a day after Tom Baker...have I missed owt? 

earwighoney

Myranda said:

And more importantly, Capaldi was one of the best actors to hold the role, but the season wasn't great - the writing will be key here... good episodes and it wont matter if the Docrtor lops his cock off with a sonic breadknife to become Mrs Doctor... all that will matter is good stories

Agree about the writing. 

FWIW, I think Chris Chibnall could be a very poor appointment for writing.  The second and third Broadchurch series were fucking terrible, the first one was at best ok for the genre.  The episodes CC wrote were functional but not exceptional.  

Fretwired

UnclePsychosis said:

Settle down FFS. 

If they'd cast a black disabled actor the people who are rage-quitting the show (before its even been broadcast) would currently be on a Daily-Mail sponsored march on broadcasting house. 

And, wait, what? You're suddently outraged now that the BBC casts white, middle class actors as the Doctor?

"I've coped with the previous twelve incarnations of the Doctor being played by white able-bodied middle class BBC types but now that they've cast a woman I'm absolutely OUTRAGED that its not a working-class black man in a wheelchair. OUTRAGED, I tell you". 

As @digitalscream points out this is being hailed as a win for equality which it isn't, especially with the actor chosen. There are loads of ways the show could have been revived. Just having a woman Doctor won't make a blind bit of difference - the show has always had strong women. She's also got a tough act to follow in Capaldi. If you were going to pick a woman Tilda Swinton would have been my choice.

My wife just laughed .. she thinks its daft as well. Any self respecting woman would piss themselves laughing at a Dalek.

The BBC missed a trick by not creating a spin off series with Vastra and her team in Victorian London. Could have been brilliant.

bingefeller

Rabs said:

ANYTHING is better than this

http://i.imgur.com/QxMU9Rp.jpg

he was the best one, he brought a Roger Moore style campness to the role.

UnclePsychosis

digitalscream said:

UnclePsychosis said:

Fretwired said:

Emp_Fab said:

I think it's great that they've chosen a female Dr Who.  Long overdue.  What genitalia the lead character has is irrelevant.  If you're deciding to boycott a program you previously enjoyed because the new lead has a vagina then you're an idiot.

No, I'll tell what it is .. lazy. Why not a black actor? Why not a disabled actor? If you were going have have a woman then why not choose a black actor? No, it's the old chummy North London set who run the BBC - we'll have a woman but we'll make sure she's one of us - white, middle class and good looking and ex-Broadchurch. The Doctor is quite a dark nasty person - he's far from perfect.

Settle down FFS. 

If they'd cast a black disabled actor the people who are rage-quitting the show (before its even been broadcast) would currently be on a Daily-Mail sponsored march on broadcasting house. 

And, wait, what? You're suddently outraged now that the BBC casts white, middle class actors as the Doctor?

"I've coped with the previous twelve incarnations of the Doctor being played by white able-bodied middle class BBC types but now that they've cast a woman I'm absolutely OUTRAGED that its not a working-class black man in a wheelchair. OUTRAGED, I tell you". 

I think you're missing the point. He's saying that folk are hailing this as a win for equality, when it's actually anything but.

The idea that this isn't really a big deal would carry more weight if it wasn't for the Outraged of Tumbridge Wells types currently absolutely losing their shit over it. 

bingefeller

Sorry, not anti-woman, but this gender equality for characters is mad. He's a Time Lord nor a Time Lady. What's next, Mrs Holmes?

That's the end of an iconic show and the BBC needs the TV licence revoking now, they are pathetically political correct no one is watching their shows they are not fit for purpose.  What absolute nonsense, Dr Who is male: how can he be re-formed as a woman? It's like a male actor playing Wonder Woman. I'm all for gender equality but this is ridiculous - more PC crap. Will the Cybermen now have to become Cyberpersons?

UnclePsychosis

bingefeller said:

Sorry, not anti-woman, but this gender equality for characters is mad. He's a Time Lord nor a Time Lady. What's next, Mrs Holmes?

That's the end of an iconic show and the BBC needs the TV licence revoking now, they are pathetically political correct no one is watching their shows they are not fit for purpose.  What absolute nonsense, Dr Who is male: how can he be re-formed as a woman? It's like a male actor playing Wonder Woman. I'm all for gender equality but this is ridiculous - more PC crap. Will the Cybermen now have to become Cyberpersons?

Fucking hell... chill out dude. The Time Lords are fictional aliens who travel through the infinities of space and time in what is essentially a kids TV show. Nothing about it should get anyone this worked up. 

monquixote

bingefeller said:

Sorry, not anti-woman, but this gender equality for characters is mad. He's a Time Lord nor a Time Lady. What's next, Mrs Holmes?

That's the end of an iconic show and the BBC needs the TV licence revoking now, they are pathetically political correct no one is watching their shows they are not fit for purpose.  What absolute nonsense, Dr Who is male: how can he be re-formed as a woman? It's like a male actor playing Wonder Woman. I'm all for gender equality but this is ridiculous - more PC crap. Will the Cybermen now have to become Cyberpersons?

Steady dude, you're getting froth on me

TimmyO

I applaud the creativity deployed by those seeking not to admit their own sexism, even to themselves.

Whatever you do definitely don't watch the Battlestar Galactica reboot.