'Pregnant man' on Doctor Who

Matt Smith was always apologising

I can’t imagine William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee or Tom Baker apologising for anything. It was that high handed rudeness and arrogance that drew me to the character.

The Doctor has always been the apologetic sort hasn't he (she?).. I haven't watched it for a long time though.

I'm pretty sure the early ones weren't (especially not Tom Baker's)

I thought it was crap and so cringey

Also it's meant to be a kids programme partly and the character was talking about Unprotected sex or something along those lines, I wasn't impressed.

The character did seem to be in pain

The Doctor has always been the apologetic sort hasn't he (she?).. I haven't watched it for a long time though.

I have noticed that this Doctor says sorry at least once per episode for things which aren't actually her fault.

That’s been around since David Tennant.

Every episode he says he’s ‘Sooo, sooo sooory’ about something.

Here’s a video of him saying it 120 times.

Yes PurpleOva, I can see why they might be immediately disposed to the doctors transformation. It's just the message is "Be happy in the body that you have" which is quite GC really...

I think the two umbilicals was simply a plot device to explain why the pregnant "man" alien absolutely needed two "doulas" assisting, thus requiring the two male companions to stay with him and not be helping the doctor.

I have noticed that this Doctor says sorry at least once per episode for things which aren't actually her fault.

Had a discussion with DH about it - is it a reflection of what the SW's think women are like, or something else?

I'm a bit hmmm about it & would be interested if anyone else has spotted it/ got a theory.

"How would a species evolve if they needed medical intervention to give birth? The mortality rate would have been horrendous........."
Well obviously a race could have genetically-engineered itself so that both sexes could get pregnant. If they still wanted to keep various aspects of a sexed binary reproductive system, rather than going down the hermaphrodite route, then they would have had to come up with a way that chaps with a penis but without a vagina could give birth. If you are genetically engineering the race anyway, then might as well have a birth sac without pain nerves, than can be easily split open (and that then heals jolly quickly!). Why two umbilicals though?...........Or of course, could have been gene-engineered by a bunch of females with a grudge..................

IIRC, Dave Lister gave birth to twins in Red Dwarf.

The Dr did literally transform (regenerate) into a woman's body from a man's body. I get why there would be a positive feeling about that from the trans community.

But the Dr is also alien if course, and human beings can not do that anymore than male humans can get pregnant.

We are facing a scary future though. Uterus transplants is a terrifying idea!

How would a species evolve if they needed medical intervention to give birth? The mortality rate would have been horrendous.

At the very least they’d have developed a culture where men took better precautions.

I’m starting to think the episode where the moon was a giant egg made more sense.

We were wondering about the birth canal? Didn’t make sense that it had to be cut out if him? Why was he experiencing labour pains then? There wouldn’t be and cervix dilating... lazy writing, methinks...

See the Op hasn't been back to thread

I was a bit worried that the pregnancy lasted a week, he was one day overdue, and that it would take another 4 days to reach the medical centre...............

I thought it was rather sweet and touching, personally, and I had a laugh at the way he was declaring some of the classic 'mum giving birth' statements as well.

The maths doesn’t make much sense when you think about it. Men give birth the boys, women give birth to girls. Fine. But a male pregnancy lasts a week? The planet this guy comes from would be almost entirely male.

There's no hint of being female as being better for the Doctor than the male bodies before. It's just a case of, oh, better get on with it then, and acceptance of the body she has. Isn't that almost the opposite of trans?

I like how the show handled it. It was just ‘Why does everyone keep referring to me as ‘she’?’
‘Because you’re a woman’
‘Oh, am I? Okay then, let’s get on with the plot’

Well, he was an alien.

But it does raise the question of how this species defines ‘male’ and ‘female’ if both can carry children anyway.

The females must also have motile eggs otherwise how was he impregnated? Genetic material must have passed from the female to the male.

The problem is the series always has some kind of humanoid alien, albeit occasionally with blue skin. Had he looked alien - as aliens almost certainly would - the issue of him being ‘male’ wouldn’t have come up.

But non-sexual reproduction is actually the norm in Doctor Who. Sontarans are all male and supposedly cloned although that’s obscured by the fact that a number of actors play them.

Cybermen and Daleks are produced on a production lines, the Cybermen using genetic material harvested from humans, the Dalek creatures again being clones.

I don't see the problem. He was an alien. They explained the alien biology and how it sat relative to human biology (ie men cant have babies)

Sci fi shows have always had similar storylines.

I liked it. (And yes, all sorts of weird reproductive set ups have been part and parcel of sci fi from the word go).

I haven't seen this episode yet but I found the trans enthusiasm for the new female doctor a bit...odd. There's no hint of being female as being better for the Doctor than the male bodies before. It's just a case of, oh, better get on with it then, and acceptance of the body she has. Isn't that almost the opposite of trans?

Like ninja, I saw this subplot as an exploration of Ryan's upbringing and the relationship with his father. The reinforcement that a dad didn't have to be perfect, he could make mistakes, but that being there was what mattered. Quite sweet, really. And a positive thought for today's young boys to absorb.

I must say I quite liked the idea of a pregnancy that lasted only a week, no matter how intense that week would be!

And as has already been mentioned, it was made quite clear that the human species did not propagate this way - Ryan and Graham (and Yasmin) were pretty clear on that!

I think ninja is right. It was for Ryan's character development.