Female Doctor Who

[AlexaCrush]

Who else is excited?

I stopped watching after David Tennant left just because I didn't have access to cable (I moved) and I didn't have any way of seeing the newer episodes with Peter Capaldi so I have no idea what's been up with the show since then. I liked Jodie Whittaker in Broadchurch, although I have a hard time picturing her as the Doctor (very different characters). But she seemed like a good actress so...not too worried there.

Honestly though, the fact there are so many fanboys getting all grumpy about a female doctor just kills me.
I saw this GIF on Reddit as one ladies response to watching the grumpy fanboys be all butt hurt about a male character going female and I lost it.

 

[Teagan]

Babies are gonna be babies. That's how it goes. If they're going to get upset over an alien coming back with a vagina in a fictional world.... I just feel sad for them and their entire existence. The best argument I have seen them have is asking if women would be upset if roles were reversed. Not much of an argument though of course. I'd love to see a Marvin Poppins. Mannies are a really often made fun of thing and that's sad.

 

[SMuser69]

The issue is the timing and the type of change.

If the change is to try something new and keep the character and the stories the fans love then great.

But there's also been cases where a change is forced through at the cheers for people that still won't actually watch the show when the change was made to appease them. Marvel's comic line has been recently suffering from force diversity changes and stories that the people that yelled for weren't going to buy anyways.

There are good ways to inject diversity and bad ways. Adding Finn and Rey to Star Wars was a good way to do it since you slowly integrating new characters into the existing series. Making Amadeus Cho into the Hulk wasn't good because you changed the nature of the Hulk which nobody was still buying the comics asking for.

Doctor Who fans are always mixed by the actor change. I know fans that didn't like Tennant and Smith because they make the Doctor very young in comparison to previous doctors but they brought in a younger generation of new viewers that didn't stay for Capaldi who returned an old Doctor.

Most fans will wait and see what happens and how the first few episodes play out.

I think people that think this is some sort of win/lose situation are the ones that weren't interested in the series and just want to make fun of those that are. The series in itself is about change anyone that watches it can deal with it so long as it follows the story.

 

[eyeteach]

Babies are gonna be babies. That's how it goes. If they're going to get upset over an alien coming back with a vagina in a fictional world.... I just feel sad for them and their entire existence. The best argument I have seen them have is asking if women would be upset if roles were reversed. Not much of an argument though of course. I'd love to see a Marvin Poppins. Mannies are a really often made fun of thing and that's sad.

Would Marvin be as narcissistic as Mary? "Practically perfect in every way!" My ass...

 

[Teagan]

The only issues I've seen with Marvel is the people bitching about characters changing. Babies being babies again and throwing tantrums. Some of the stuff they have done is weird, but they are trying, and the biggest uproar about it has been baby tantrums really.

Mary wasn't narcissistic. It was a stupid tape measure. It's a damn fantasy as well. We also have to look at the time it was filmed in. The 60s. It was set in the very early 1900s, and the book was written I believe in the 30s. Quite different and judging it by today's standards is a moot point really.

 

[Ann_Sulu]

I haven't seen the actress in question in anything else, but I watched a couple of interview clips that looked promising. She seems like she'd make a good doctor. I don't get the whole butt-hurtness since the doctor can regenerate into any look (I don't think I have ever heard otherwise). As long as they don't write a doctor who's entire personality encompasses existing as a woman I'm cool with it.

@Teagan I agree about Mary. She was more no nonsense than narcissistic. Everything of her's seemed to be enchanted too, so it wasn't necessarily her saying she was practically perfect (in other words maybe she actually was).

 

[Deleted member 37064]

There's more "Doctors" after Tom Baker?

 

[Teagan]

I haven't seen the actress in question in anything else, but I watched a couple of interview clips that looked promising. She seems like she'd make a good doctor. I don't get the whole butt-hurtness since the doctor can regenerate into any look (I don't think I have ever heard otherwise). As long as they don't write a doctor who's entire personality encompasses existing as a woman I'm cool with it.

@Teagan I agree about Mary. She was more no nonsense than narcissistic. Everything of her's seemed to be enchanted too, so it wasn't necessarily her saying she was practically perfect (in other words maybe she actually was).

I agree. I think it will be interesting how they write it and how they go with it and to see the babies shut up eventually.

Mary was blunt but never full of herself to the degree of narcissism. The kids asked what the tape measure said about her...nothing more than that.

 

[Ann_Sulu]

There's more "Doctors" after Tom Baker?

I will likely always love Tom Baker's version best, but I definitely don't regret watching the rest. Baker even guest stared a few years ago.

 

[Deleted member 37064]

I'll admit, it took me a while to get used to seeing Starbuck as a woman. But, once she grew into the role over a few episodes, it was pretty good. Though, never did finish watching the series since Netflix screwed up the auto play feature and put the shows out of order. It's been a few years now, maybe I'll go back and watch it.

I don't have issues with gender changes in characters such as Starbuck or the new Dr, so long as it's done for storyline and it flows well.

 

[Deleted member 37064]

I will likely always love Tom Baker's version best, but I definitely don't regret watching the rest. Baker even guest stared a few years ago.

I've only seen a few episodes of I think it was the eleventh Doctor. Not really a show I could get into. But, more due to lack of time, and not having cable.

 

[Ann_Sulu]

I've only seen a few episodes of I think it was the eleventh Doctor. Not really a show I could get into. But, more due to lack of time, and not having cable.

Without spoiling I wasn't keen on Matt Smith's doctor, and I've had issues with Moffat's writing (loved Capaldi's version of the doctor though.) I started watching Doctor Who when the 9th doctor came out. I went back and watched the old versions later that apparently everyone else seemed to have already seen. I only watched up until the 6th admittedly and need to go back as I happen to be a completionist hah.

Lots of episodes though, so obviously wouldn't say you absolutely had to watch it all hah.

 

[AlexaCrush]

The issue is the timing and the type of change.

If the change is to try something new and keep the character and the stories the fans love then great.

But there's also been cases where a change is forced through at the cheers for people that still won't actually watch the show when the change was made to appease them. Marvel's comic line has been recently suffering from force diversity changes and stories that the people that yelled for weren't going to buy anyways.

There are good ways to inject diversity and bad ways. Adding Finn and Rey to Star Wars was a good way to do it since you slowly integrating new characters into the existing series. Making Amadeus Cho into the Hulk wasn't good because you changed the nature of the Hulk which nobody was still buying the comics asking for.

From what I've heard the comics have been suffering moreso because no one wants to pay what the comics are priced at rather than because of the diversity changes (speaking about the actual comics, not the movies or shows or any of that jazz). Then again, I'm not a huge comic person myself (honestly, partly because of the price haha) and stick more to graphic novels, and a big part of my news comes from largely feminist sources which are obviously biased in a certain way.
To be fair, there were still people complaining about Rey being in Star Wars when that one came out. I think it's more about how the characters are handled; no one wants to be reminded every ten seconds that "oh, the lead is a female and look at how badass we made her. Look how good we are at diiiiivverrrsityyyyy". They just want to see her being badass. Or whatever the storyline is.
From what I've seen on Doctor Who I don't think the writers are going to muck up the storyline like that.

 

[AlexaCrush]

I'll admit, it took me a while to get used to seeing Starbuck as a woman. But, once she grew into the role over a few episodes, it was pretty good. Though, never did finish watching the series since Netflix screwed up the auto play feature and put the shows out of order. It's been a few years now, maybe I'll go back and watch it.

I don't have issues with gender changes in characters such as Starbuck or the new Dr, so long as it's done for storyline and it flows well.

I loooved Starbuck, but I'd never seen the old school Battlestar Galactica until after I watched the newer version.
I finally watched an episode of the old one and I just sat there like "....wtf is this?" hahahahahha.

 

[Teagan]

To be fair, there were still people complaining about Rey being in Star Wars when that one came out. I think it's more about how the characters are handled; no one wants to be reminded every ten seconds that "oh, the lead is a female and look at how badass we made her. Look how good we are at diiiiivverrrsityyyyy". They just want to see her being badass. Or whatever the storyline is.
From what I've seen on Doctor Who I don't think the writers are going to muck up the storyline like that.

Remember the outrage over a black stormtrooper? Oh man. That brought out the racists. They still bring that shit up now. I guess to them there's no black people in space allowed.

 

[Ann_Sulu]

To be fair, there were still people complaining about Rey being in Star Wars when that one came out. I think it's more about how the characters are handled; no one wants to be reminded every ten seconds that "oh, the lead is a female and look at how badass we made her. Look how good we are at diiiiivverrrsityyyyy". They just want to see her being badass. Or whatever the storyline is.
From what I've seen on Doctor Who I don't think the writers are going to muck up the storyline like that.

Agreed.

Spoiler: Bill

Bill last season wasn't a favorite of mine due to how she was handled...her whole personality seemed to be "Hey everyone! Allow me to mention every chance I can that I'm a female, black, lesbian college student!" It felt like they were only going for diversity points with her, and not giving her any actual personality. Even the writers seemed to poke fun of it after a point with the one alien she clumsily apologized to for sounding accidentally racist too, and the Romans who basically said "Yup, we don't care you're a lesbian. That guy over there takes it in the ass. We're good." Yes, I'd love more diversity in shows, but making that their personality is frankly embarrassing to watch.

Spoiler: Spoilers comparing Wonder Woman and Force Awakens leads

I happen to be one of the ones who didn't like Rey. It didn't have to do with her being a woman either. Sure there may have been some that didn't like that there was a female lead, but personally I felt her character to be lackluster due to being too Mary Sue (outside of the fact that if you've seen A New Hope you've pretty much seen The Force Awakens.) I loved all of the acting talent in the movie, and don't fault them including Daisy Ridley who I felt did a wonderful acting job with the script she was give. However I loathed the writing, and wished they didn't make her so bad ass it was boring. She seemed to have nothing original to herself that Luke didn't have other than being a bad ass female. Sorry, but that doesn't do it for me.

Now Wonder Woman for instance was another Mary Sue character, but she does a good job at owning the title as a good one. Where Rey depends on the people around her to show the audience how strong she is by comparing herself to them. Diana chooses to depend on those around her to help fight the battle she needs to fight. Rey's plot is an artificial inflation of destiny using forced plot hooks and often times awkward "level ups" in order to set her on her path while Wonder Woman KNEW her own path and had a great supporting cast of characters to help see her path with greater clarity and expand her world views. I am sorry but "I don't need you to hold my hand" is much less impactful of a strong female lead as Wonder Woman feeling secure in her own strength to have people around her explain a world in context and walk side by side with her.

 

[Gen]

Marvel's comic line has been recently suffering from force diversity changes and stories that the people that yelled for weren't going to buy anyways.

This is a common statement with very little actual support behind it, that I've seen anyways. Aside from the fact that "forced diversity" is a subjective thing people say (while also saying they'd be TOTALLY down with it if it felt natural, even though those complaints often come even before the "forced" version is released), there are way too many factors to boil it down to one thing without market research to back it up. Who are the creators (is my comic about a girl gonna sell as well as Bendis' comic about a girl), what's the marketing like, are we really still gonna measure success solely by Diamond's single issues even though Marvel (and DC) are solely responsible for people tradewaiting and theres also digital sales? It's not insignificant that some books sell way more in trades than in singles. I think this is an interesting topic that needs more actual numbers/facts if people are gonna keep saying all those books failed just because of ~forced diversity~. Really I don't understand why they release literally everything in a trade if that money doesn't count towards their success.

This image is just to show that both digital and trade sales can make a huge impact (I also just think it's very neat and interesting). Comics are stagnant but look at the graphic novel jump! Using single issue sales as a measure of success is an outdated method compared to how many consumers are shopping; unfortunately Marvel and DC seem to be taking their time figuring that out. It's fascinating to see how badly they've both done at converting movie fans to comic readers.



ANYWAY sorry to derail but yay lady Doctor, get your time travel on.

 

[eyeteach]

Remember the outrage over a black stormtrooper? Oh man. That brought out the racists. They still bring that shit up now. I guess to them there's no black people in space allowed.

I don't remember that. When did it happen? I mean yeah, Darth Vader was black but so what? People were actually outraged over a black storm trooper? That's asinine

 

[Gen]

I don't remember that. When did it happen? I mean yeah, Darth Vader was black but so what? People were actually outraged over a black storm trooper? That's asinine

Before The Force Awakens came out, but apparently it was a troll effort.
"According to Mashable, which had the social media analytics firm Fizziology analyze the hashtag, 94 percent of the tweets were "expressing outrage over its existence" while the remaining 6 percent were "racist trolls trying to get people mad."

 

[eyeteach]

And I believe not only was Mary Poppins narcissistic I bet she was also a masochist. I guarantee y'all that you won't have to look to far down in that carpet bag she carried to find leather whips, chains, and even a strap-on she used on Bert. You ain't gotta believe me, just ask one of them penguins and they'll tell you Mary was a wild, little unit.

 

[Ann_Sulu]

And I believe not only was Mary Poppins narcissistic I bet she was also a masochist. I guarantee y'all that you won't have to look to far down in that carpet bag she carried to find leather whips, chains, and even a strap-on she used on Bert. You ain't gotta believe me, just ask one of them penguins and they'll tell you Mary was a wild, little unit.

I believe you mean sadist, but that gave me a chuckle. I'm sure she could rock a femdom role.

 

[eyeteach]

I believe you mean sadist, but that gave me a chuckle. I'm sure she could rock a femdom role.

You know you may be correct. And yep, she'd rock femdom. Did you see how she rode that carousel horse? She owned that bitch! Bet she's into bestiality, too. But enough of that...

A woman Dr. Who! Looking forward to see how this concept goes.

 

[Ann_Sulu]

You know you may be correct. And yep, she'd rock femdom. Did you see how she rode that carousel horse? She owned that bitch! Bet she's into bestiality, too. But enough of that...

A woman Dr. Who! Looking forward to see how this concept goes.

Naw never thought of her into any illegal paraphilias. Seems a bit against her grain actually...also yikes



So yeah back to Who

 

[Deleted member 37064]

Without spoiling I wasn't keen on Matt Smith's doctor, and I've had issues with Moffat's writing (loved Capaldi's version of the doctor though.) I started watching Doctor Who when the 9th doctor came out. I went back and watched the old versions later that apparently everyone else seemed to have already seen. I only watched up until the 6th admittedly and need to go back as I happen to be a completionist hah.

Lots of episodes though, so obviously wouldn't say you absolutely had to watch it all hah.

I'm like you in that I like to see the shows in its entirety. One of these days, I'll go back and start from the beginning. But, before I do that, I want to finish watching watching Star Trek, and also work my way through all of the James Bond movies.

Whenever I have time that is.

 

[Deleted member 37064]

I loooved Starbuck, but I'd never seen the old school Battlestar Galactica until after I watched the newer version.
I finally watched an episode of the old one and I just sat there like "....wtf is this?" hahahahahha.

I grew up watching the the original Battlestar Galactica, and remember watching the movie when it came out in the theater...


Damn, I just aged myself...

 

[penfold_43]

Honestly though, the fact there are so many fanboys getting all grumpy about a female doctor just kills me.

I haven't seen anyone actually getting upset about it here (I'm British), all I've seen is people on the internet talking about people getting upset about it!

I'm entirely happy with the casting of the next Doctor. I also think Capaldi was excellent, although sometimes the writing wasn't, notably inthe second of his series.

 

[WickedTouch]

The halfwits who have gotten their panties in a bunch over a woman getting the role of Doctor Who need to go and take a long walk off a short pier. I'm very pleased to see that Jodie Whittaker will get the keys to the tardis. I'm sure she will do really well.

I believe that one of the main writers from Broadchurch, Chris Chibnall, will be both head writer and executive producer for the next Doctor Who season, which is also encouraging. He has written episodes for both Torchwood and Doctor Who in the past.

 

[Rose]

Never seen Jodie Whittaker in anything before, but from the preview, I'm fucking stoked! Maybe the next regeneration will be ginger, harhar

 

[fandango]

I haven't really enjoyed the show as much as I used to for quite a while and I think that is mainly down to Steven Moffat. More than anything about who plays The Doctor I'm excited that he is gone and someone new is taking over. He started off great but in a similar way to how he took Sherlock downhill from an amazing start he was quickly doing the same with Doctor Who. The last few seasons have had a few highlights but a lot of low points too.

I really like the idea of a female doctor. As long as the writing is good and she is still doing awesome Doctory things and they're not just playing on the fact she's a woman like they did with Bill being a lesbian then it should be a great new direction to take the show in.

 

[Always_Tim]

I haven't really enjoyed the show as much as I used to for quite a while and I think that is mainly down to Steven Moffat. More than anything about who plays The Doctor I'm excited that he is gone and someone new is taking over. He started off great but in a similar way to how he took Sherlock downhill from an amazing start he was quickly doing the same with Doctor Who. The last few seasons have had a few highlights but a lot of low points too.

Moffat was a great episode writer when RTD was running the show. He wrote many of my favorite 9th/10th Doctor episodes. I also really enjoyed what he did with Series 5. That might be my favorite season yet. But he used up most of his ideas and hasn't had a really solid season since. He occasionally has really good episodes, but his themes and characters have been fairly repetitive since then. I do think he did a great job of casting Smith and Capaldi (as well as all their companions). I'm a bit disappointed that we won't get to see what Capaldi could have done under a different show runner. The few times he's had really good scripts to work with, he's been amazing. But he's been saddled with a lot of really bad scripts, particularly during the Clara years. And I think Jenna Coleman was also really hurt by bad scripts. She's a good actress, but "real" Clara never really had much to do. The alternate Claras (Soufflé Girl and Victorian Clara) showed how much fun they could have with the whole "Claras popping up throughout the Doctor's timeline" idea but then they squandered that idea and instead we got Boring Clara all the time. I was ok with the way they got rid of her… but then they basically got rid of Bill in exactly the same way (oh no, she died, but wait, she's not really dead, so now she gets to go travel through time and space with immortal girlfriend without the Doctor being aware of what happened) which is the sort of lazy repetition that we've come to expect from Moffat.

So yeah, we're long overdue for a shift in creative direction. RTD went out on a high note. Moffat stuck around longer than he should have.