Doctor Who's First Female Doctor

[The Huskar Social Union]

British Tabloid Press continues to be fucking shite.

[Risottia]

Think this is probably the best reaction I've seen so far.

Dog-tor when?

Next reincarnation (reinmetallation actually) of K-9 maybe?

[Ifreann]

Dog-tor when?

Next reincarnation (reinmetallation actually) of K-9 maybe?

Make it so.

[New Rogernomics]

They did well with the Master as Missy, so can't see why they can't do a good job with the Doctor.

[The Alma Mater]

Fascinating how upset some people can act over a couple of etheric beam locators.

They probably fear seeing the on-switch.

[Luminesa]

I don't care about Dr. Who, but my take on this is that this shouldn't be done. If the main character is changed to a woman, then the story or plot has to explain it. If she is written in as his successor because the previous one died or whatever as one example of how it can be done.

No offense, but you shouldn't be making declarations about shows you clearly don't even understand the most basic canon of.

"She can be his successor if the old one dies or something..." That's literally the whole point of this show. The main character is a member of a species that instead of dying when their life is up, they physically and mentally transform into a new person. Not even just when the current actor just feels like quitting either, as a matter of tradition after a certain amount of time. The plot explanation is that the old Doctor gets killed off like he always does and then turns into her.

Dr. Who has been a White male for 50+ years, so this is a drastic enough change to warrant an explanation when she finally premieres.

His name is Doctor, not Doctor Who. This is my point exactly right here, you don't know what you're talking about.

The explanation is that members of this alien species have been confirmed to be able to switch gender. Just because it only happened to happen to him now in no way takes away from this fact. He has that ability, it is something that is perfectly and completely possible in this universe, he doesn't need any more justification than that.


I feel like you just walked in on this topic and assumed it must have been the exact same case as Ghostbusters (2016) or something. If you can't even be bothered to do a Google search for how this character and show works, you have zero place telling fans what is and isn't a logical event.

On a certain level it's something like the Ghostbusters issue, but the difference is this was seemingly written into canon. Which is entirely fine. The difference is, "Is she a woman now because canon, or is she a woman now because 'woman' looks good?" It's not even political correctness, just a matter of selling a nice, shiny product.

[Luminesa]

'People aren't allowed to get exited about things I dislike!!!!!'

Is the sex of the main character a sufficient reason for you to get excited about? I mean, sure I dislike this shitty show but even if I liked it, I wouldn't get that worked up over so little, honestly.

I mean, I think the only time I ever found myself going, "OH YES THERE'S A GIRL IN THIS THING!!!" Was with Chun-Li when I first played Street Fighter 2. But then I stopped caring about gender and slowly branched to other characters. Though then again, I would be slightly hypocritical in saying anything, as in the TMNT game for the SNES, I played as Asuka almost religiously because she was the only girl. Also because her move-set was easy.

[Tahar Joblis]

As with many similar cases, I have seen lots of discussion of purported sexist outrage from men, and very little to no actual outrage from men.

This was the case with Mad Max, Wonder Woman, she-Thor, etc. In the case of Ghostbusters, there was some actual outrage from fans, most of which followed the widespread circulation of claims of outrage by fans, but very little of it looked to be sexist, and the outrage was part self-fulfilling prophecy and part a predictable result of rebooting an existing franchise with designs on marketing it to an entirely different audience.

In all cases, this was highly successful as a marketing tool in giving the selected media item extra exposure.

With Dr. Who, it's not trampling over the existing "canon" to have the Doctor regenerate as a woman. Very odd given that most of the regenerations we've seen have been men.

That said, a lot of Dr. Who's formula - and part of the reason for its success - is the dynamic interplay between the Doctor and a young female companion. Switching to a female Doctor runs a big risk in terms of fans tuning out as the show changes.

[The Sauganash Union]

Seems to be another gimmick to dupe the teenage girls who watch this show into thinking they're elitist intellectuals.

Also ratings.

[The Sauganash Union]

As with many similar cases, I have seen lots of discussion of purported sexist outrage from men, and very little to no actual outrage from men.

Because men don't even watch this show.

[San Lumen]

Seems to be another gimmick to dupe the teenage girls who watch this show into thinking they're elitist intellectuals.

Also ratings.

How is it a gimmick and for ratings?

[The Sauganash Union]

Seems to be another gimmick to dupe the teenage girls who watch this show into thinking they're elitist intellectuals.

Also ratings.

How is it a gimmick and for ratings?

Because having a female doctor is newsworthy and makes a good headline, which gets people talking about and watching an otherwise floundering show again. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but let's not pretend it's not true and act like how this show is #sobrave for #breaking #gender #stereotypes.

[Rhodevus]

As with many similar cases, I have seen lots of discussion of purported sexist outrage from men, and very little to no actual outrage from men.

Because men don't even watch this show.

ya... that statement is not even close to correct/factual

[San Lumen]

How is it a gimmick and for ratings?

Because having a female doctor is newsworthy and makes a good headline, which gets people talking about and watching an otherwise floundering show again. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but let's not pretend it's not true and act like how this show is #sobrave for #breaking #gender #stereotypes.

Everyone i know who is a fan is super excited about it.

[Fartsniffage]

That said, a lot of Dr. Who's formula - and part of the reason for its success - is the dynamic interplay between the Doctor and a young female companion. Switching to a female Doctor runs a big risk in terms of fans tuning out as the show changes.

The answer to that is simple. Wilifred Mott for new companion.

[MERIZoC]

Seems to be another gimmick to dupe the teenage girls who watch this show into thinking they're elitist intellectuals.

Do they not already? Far as I know, its popular with the Tumblr crowd.

[The Huskar Social Union]

As with many similar cases, I have seen lots of discussion of purported sexist outrage from men, and very little to no actual outrage from men.

Because men don't even watch this show.

yeah plenty of us do actually.

[Lexmark]

That said, a lot of Dr. Who's formula - and part of the reason for its success - is the dynamic interplay between the Doctor and a young female companion. Switching to a female Doctor runs a big risk in terms of fans tuning out as the show changes.

The answer to that is simple. Wilifred Mott for new companion.

I always felt like the Tenth Doctor gave Wilfred the shaft when he got trapped. The lottery ticket was nice as the wedding present, but before that it was all "Of course not, you're not remotely important!" talk.

[Tekania]

So we finally have it one of the most anticipated casting reveals of all time.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-40624288

For the first time in the history of the the long running science fiction series Doctor Who has its first female lead. Jodie Whittaker. It has upset some people calling it a gimmick or appeal to Political Correctness because the doctor has always been a man. Its been established in the lore of the show that Time Lords can change race and gender.

I have no problem with the casting and think its a bold move and huge moment for television. To call it a gimmick or appeal to PC is sexist. I think people are afraid of change.

What's your take NSG on this history making moment?

I am very upset with this casting choice, it was not a good move. I mean, this is such a wasted opportunity..... why did they have to make her blond? We could have had a ginger Doctor again.

[Hirota]

As with many similar cases, I have seen lots of discussion of purported sexist outrage from men, and very little to no actual outrage from men.

Because men don't even watch this show.

Says the "college aged" kid. Anyway, I used to watch this back with Eccleston and Tennant and I'm in my late 30s now.

[Calladan]

I am just guessing, but I think the "men don't watch this show" comment was possibly being sarcastic. (Then again, it came from the same poster who said this is being done for ratings, so....... who knows?)

The argument that just because something has never been done before means it shouldn't be done now is bollocks. It's just bollocks.

The Doctor's very first companion was a man. Named Ian Chesterton. And there have been a fair few male companions since then, both in the original series and the new one. But lets not let the facts get in the way of a good story because what fun would that be. (Rory, Adric, Mickey, Turlough, Captain Jack to name but a few).

(snip)
With Dr. Who, it's not trampling over the existing "canon" to have the Doctor regenerate as a woman. Very odd given that most of the regenerations we've seen have been men.

That said, a lot of Dr. Who's formula - and part of the reason for its success - is the dynamic interplay between the Doctor and a young female companion. Switching to a female Doctor runs a big risk in terms of fans tuning out as the show changes.

So Catherine Tate was older than David Tennant during her stint in The Tardis (and is probably older than him now, because otherwise that would be odd) and for me she was the best of the three regular companions of the RTD era, and Karen Gillan is only five years younger than Matt Smith and she was excellent.

Plus, and I can't overstate this fact enough, do you (not you personally, Tahar, more a generic "you" NSG in general) know what kind of discussion we would be having if the new Doctor was Chiwetel Ejiofor or Daniel Radcliffe?

(The Daily Mail)
"THE DOCTOR IS STILL NOT A WOMAN!! The BBC once again display their rampant sexism as the key role in this flagship program is given to a man, instead of a woman"

(The Sun)
"KNOCK-KNOCK. WHO'S THERE? STILL A MAN!. The BBC display their cowardice in the face of a changing world as the Doctor once again regenerates into a man!"

(The Daily Express)
"REGENER-GATE! BBC accused of liberal pandering as Doctor turns black in latest PC stunt!"

(Daily Star)
"LOVE ISLAND BEAUTY GETS HER TITS OUT"

Tell me I'm wrong.

[Trotskylvania]

Whatever as long as the script is good. Moffat's scripts for series 8 and 9 sucked so much that I haven't watched series 10 so far. Moffat totally killed Capaldi's Doctor, I hope Chibnall will perform better.

Series 10 is excellent. You should give it a go.

8 and 9 also had some of the best episodes. Series 8's two parter opening was great, as were "Listen" and "Time Heist." After the first five, eight kind of hit a rough patch. Series 9 had some of the best episodes of Nu-Who, including "Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar" and my personal favorite, "Heaven Sent." Unfortunately the Clara arc was Moffat at his maudlin, clingy worst.

Series 10 doesn't have any weak episodes, they're all uniformly excellent.

[The Emerald Legion]

I hope she does better than the dude with ridiculous hair they replaced Tennant with.

Also we've had tvshows with female leads for litteral decades. This is not a huge monumental event.

Honestly this doesn't seem like a terrible thing, presuming it isn't turned into officially sanctioned radfem fanfic territory as some things have. But I'm gonna hope for the best. Doctor Who is a cool show and I hope the team does well with it.

[Swedish Communist Party]

So we finally have it one of the most anticipated casting reveals of all time.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-40624288

For the first time in the history of the the long running science fiction series Doctor Who has its first female lead. Jodie Whittaker. It has upset some people calling it a gimmick or appeal to Political Correctness because the doctor has always been a man. Its been established in the lore of the show that Time Lords can change race and gender.

I have no problem with the casting and think its a bold move and huge moment for television. To call it a gimmick or appeal to PC is sexist. I think people are afraid of change.

What's your take NSG on this history making moment?

I am very upset with this casting choice, it was not a good move. I mean, this is such a wasted opportunity..... why did they have to make her blond? We could have had a ginger Doctor again.

They should make the 14th doctor ginger

[Escocaria]

I stopped giving a shit about Doctor Who ages ago but this just feels like pandering.