Peter Capaldi leaving Doctor Who

[TyneTeas]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38805151

[WhereYouLeftIt]

David Tennant's Doctor, in the episode The Doctor's Daughter, told Donna when she was ribbing him about being a dad now, that he'd been a dad before. So I reckon Susan was indeed his granddaughter.

[Riversleep]

Yeah true you got me there although Susan was the equivalent of a 15 year old whereas the other companions were at least women. I think he was her grandfather and he had a family who were killed in the time war. And he shagged River in the Tardis

[HelenDenver]

"he's a dirty old man who's run off with a young girl."

Given that was the youngest he'd ever been on screen, that's pretty much his modus operandi, no?!

[Badcat666]

me too River , would so love it if he travelled with an alien again!! and I really wish they would bring a female Timelord into the mix rather than just use the Master over and over again.

Re the Grandaughter, this link might help River. I've always thought they weren't blood relatives, it was just a named she called him.

tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Susan_Foreman

[Riversleep]

Yes anyone seen the Lego Berman movie? The Daleks are in it😀 I was wondering whether that would mean Batman and Doctor Who exist in the same Universe, then I attempted to get a grip on myself, then now I've spent all my time on here talking about Doctor Who Cannon!

[Riversleep]

I do agree Id prefer the Doctor to stay male. I don't see a problem with it. I wouldn't mind him travelling with a female timelord again or an alien companion

[Riversleep]

If you scroll down on the article you linked to, it says Steven Moffat said the books are a separate but equally different cannon to the tv. I agree the half human thing is nonsense but now we have had references to the Doctor as a child, I don't think the loom thing is part of the TV.I find that quite a sad concept, that they are just born adults with no children. Also, how would Susan be the Doctors granddaughter? If she's just a random girl, he's a dirty old man who's run off with a young girl.

[HelenDenver]

Books are not canon. I doubt books are internally consistent with each other, in some cases.

Big Finish is now arguably canon after the name check of the BF companions in The Night of the Doctor. I doubt they will draw further on the stories, though.

[Badcat666]

Hiya river I think the half human half Timelord idea was only introduced in the Movie to make Doctor Who more "palatable" for the American audience (as the American backers didn't like the idea he as an "alien"). It has been hinted in some books as he made a joke or when he was in the morgue in the film his DNA got screwed up.

I think Timelords changing sex is only a recent thing introduced by the new writers rather than something that happened in the older series. They just had Time Ladies rather than them changing sex all the time.

They can "morph" into different species when they undergo regeneration (again I think hinted in some of the books but can't remember as my brain is old and worn out these days) .

I think the audios are now considered cannon but not sure about the books, will have to ask Mr BC when he comes in! (but in my head as I read about the loom machines years ago I can't wrap my head around them now jumping sex!) (not having sex and jumping whilst having sex that is!!)

[Riversleep]

badcat at risk of outing myself as a poor Doctor Who nerd, are the books cannon? I haven't read the books, but I thought the telly was primary source and the loom story was rebutted by the movie where 8 said he was half human and the tv where loads of timelords have changed sex. I got the impression the books were a separate entity, otherwise it would be impossible to write the TV.

[HelenDenver]

I do agree that was a bollocks comment from harman

[Badcat666]

The reason I don't want the next Doctor to be a woman is basically because I'm a Doctor Who nerd who got into reading Doctor Who books when I met Mr BC.

In the books each House of Gallifrey was given a Loom machine which produced the children as natural births were considered beneath them.

tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Loom

The loom machine "fixed" the sex of each child produced and only permitted a certain number to be "born" to each House at any given time.

Also there are many women Timelords from the cannon books/ audios they could introduce to the series if they so wish.

I was pretty pissed off when they introduced Missy as The Master as it was to me an easy cop out. Like she couldn't just be an evil twisted female Time Lord in her own right.

I'm hoping it will be an older male Doctor, don't care what colour skin he will have.

And Harriet Harmon can go sit on one for saying that the next Doctor should be a woman and have a male assistant “She has got to just tell him what to do, he will need that leadership.” She's just being a sexist bint.

She has missed the bloody point about what it is to be an assistant to the Doctor. It's about keeping the Timelord sane, grounded and make him a better "person", not about telling someone what to do just because they are of another sex! To a Timelord we are not male/ female, just humans (it was only RTD who tried to romance it all up).

[Astoria7974]

Black and brown people have been around in the past too you know - Othello, Wuthering Heights, Moonstone, The Bible. 'mulatto' in regency fiction was used to describe someone of mixed race.

[HelenDenver]

How true, Tinsel.

Moffat was defensive over PC not being a woman - I get the feeling there was a shortlist of one once PC expressed an interest!

[TinselTwins]

Whether the next doctor is a white man again or not, is making a point either way..

depends on which point you prefer.. there's no neutral action at this point

[bialystockandbloom]

I can't quite reconcile myself to the thought of a female Doctor. Think it would just be done to make a point and as you say, to make it a thing. The stories in each episode should be bigger than that. It went downhill imho as soon as RTD left and every series had a story arc, becoming increasingly complicated and largely pointless with each series. Eg what was all the 'am I a good man?' theme all about? Didn't lead to anything in plot or character, and didn't go anywhere.

Richard Ayoade would be great but doubt he'd do it, he's too well known now. I think a relative newcomer would work best, less expectation - cf Peter Capaldi - think he was never going to live up to the pressure of expectation, especially with the rubbish stories and the supreme attention seeking ego that was Clara.

Oh god yes DoctorDonna the best!

[HelenDenver]

clara went during deep breath and the red menace, but Vastra was a lizard with Mr Potato for a butler and he still went out and about!

[HelenDenver]

...and when CGI didn't exist to create living trees or whatever!

[HelenDenver]

All kinds of shit doesn't make sense if you try and tie up classic Who and new Who too closely. For example, as Queen Victoria established Torchwood, why didn't it come up when Three was stuck on earth?

Although the doctor and companion sometimes change clothes to fit in, they often don't bother and that is handwaved.

And there's less travel to Earth past than in early Who, I think, when the premise was the show would educate on history and science.

[HelenDenver]

". The ghost busters movie was only made into a gender issue by the papers and idiots on the Internet.The movie itself didn't make a point of it at all."

Yup

[Riversleep]

They are poor reasons to not have a non white actor. To say they didn't do it in the past is nonsense. That would be a reason never to change. I think yet another white male would be a let down. Martha went into the past, as will the new companion. If they look at issues in relation to them and their skin colour, then they can do it with the Doctor. With Martha, they mentioned it in an episode then moved on. Doctor Who does race issues very well. The ghost busters movie was only made into a gender issue by the papers and idiots on the Internet.The movie itself didn't make a point of it at all.

[HelenDenver]

"a) If they wanted to go outside of the white male regeneration they should have done it long ago, not when we are into double figures. A couple of doctors into the reboot would have been the time to do it if they wanted to."

Well, huh.

They can't do it because they haven't already done it is not a strong argument IMO.

They changed the sex of the Master on the character's first regeneration/second body of New Who.

The first non doctor on screen regeneration of New Who was white man to black woman

And the doctor changes his apparent age with nonchalance, the change from Smith to Capaldi being, what, two decades?

[TinselTwins]

It would end up becoming about the Doctors gender or race and I think it would loose something in that.

It already is
but for the wrong reasons

[TinselTwins]

It could make episodes where they go backwards into earths history very different. A black doctor would struggle in a story set in the past simply because of the privilege a white male doctor has

He managed okay in worlds ruled by lizard people etc

[HelenaGWells]

I quite liked Rose. BP is a good actress

She was great at first then they turned her into a sappy love struck teen and I just felt saddened that they seemed to pull out all her sass and just leave her as a boring sappy wuss by the end.