Dr Who

[ISaySteadyOn]

So, is anyone besides me pleased that the new doctor is a woman?

And also, predictable response from dudebros.

I feel much as I always do with Doctor Who, I am always a bit attached to the old one, sad to seem them go. They almost never cast my personal top picks both this time and the last time I wanted a older actress because a) I always like the cantankerous old doctors and b) it would be nice to see an older woman in an actiony sci-fi thingie. You almost never see females in the obi-wan/Gandalf wise old mentor role. I thought Maggie Smith was fecking ace in Harry Potter for this reason. And actually although she is a bit too big Maggie Smith would kill it as the doctor!

Nevertheless I'll rally round as a fan whomever they pick and I'm sure I'll like Jodie Whittaker. I always seem to like the Doctor no matter who is playing him (now her!). Now they just need to get some more female writers and perhaps a female show runner someday, so I think we should look on it as a new beginning and not an end.

Politics aside I just like good stories, the new Ghostbusters was a little flat though the 4 female leads were the best part of it. I absolutely loved the force awakens, speaking as a long term Star Wars fan my only complaint about it was not enough General Leia! If the new Doctor Who series isn't great it will have knack all to do with casting the Doctor as a woman, at worst it will be because they cast the wrong woman, but there is no reason to suggest they haven't, and Jodie should have the same chance as anyone else, in fact she already has more under her belt than Matt Smith had as an actor so if anything I am slightly more confident in her than I was with Matt Smith and I ended up loving him.

Anyway my question is should she go the eccleston route and rely 100% on acting to convey the eccentricity of the doctor or should she have a few key wardrobe flourishes a la bakers scarf or smiths bow tie? And if so what?

Have only seen Jodie in one thing (Perrier's Bounty) so not sure about her. Is she quirky enough for the role?
Personally, would have loved to see Miranda Richardson or Shirley Henderson in the role, those too would be perfect.

I'm really happy with the choice of the new Doctor.

She is, by all accounts an excellent actor and she's really enthusiastic about the concept. I just hope she's allowed time to settle into the role and carries on Capaldi's fabulous efforts to continue the magic for young people with ANs, because he's been utterly amazing.

I can't see the issue at all. The Doctor is a Timelord, not human. Do they even have male & female in the same way humans do??

I am pleased, but still a little that it has taken this long considering how long women have been working as Doctors.

My teen DD was a tad confused and asked why because the character is a man. Ffs. I told her the character is a Doctor.

Do they even have male & female in the same way humans do??

Apparently not, but as I said above, it's only been mentioned recently.

A while ago someone posted one here about the 'glass cliff' phenomenon wherein women are given leadership positions in failing companies - if the company continues to fail, its blamed on the fact she's a woman, if it survives and thrives its taken back off her and given to a man.

The cynic in me is seeing something similar here. Viewing figures have been way down but now if the show fails and gets cancelled it will be blamed on the actress, not the poor writing of the past few series.

Oh I really hope not Fiona!
I thought the last series was much better than most of the recent previous ones: Felt more "back to basics" with good, entertaining episodes that worked well as standalone stories (or 1/2 of a two-parter). I got a bit fed up of previous series and episodes devoted to the development of long, soapy story arcs (like the one where Clara took the whole episode to die). The story telling and plots of the last series were really good I thought.
Shame that Bill went, as I really liked her.

I'm cynical about the timing. Personally I think that the producers have done it as a last-ditch effort to save the show and had they really and truly wanted the Doctor to be female the best time, storywise would have been after David Tennant. Storylines were strong, every thing had been wrapped up tight and then they picked Matt Smith, who I found in his first season to be as charming as a dead slug. Recently? Capaldi has turned a lot of people off, the writing has been mediocre to try and put a positive spin on it and JW is going to have to be 3 times as good as any of the male actors and have amazing scripts to work with, which, sadly I can't see happening.
FWIW, I was disappointed with Missy.

That's just my opinion though.

Matt Smith was fine and had my 2 favourite episodes (Vincent and The Doctor's Wife) but they started the whole "timey-wimey" stuff with every one's time lines being all over the place and the constant going backwards or forwards (or sideways or upsides down) and what felt like an overload of the war to end all wars/ the end of the universe scenarios. And it just made no sense.

Clara overstayed her welcome as did her tedious boyfriend. It was a pity so much of Capaldi's tenure was wasted mooning over her.

Nope. It's ridiculous! Over 50 years and 13 regenerations and still not ginger! Haha joking aside I'm glad Jodie has had such positive responses and the people who don't like it don't have to watch it!

Very glad.

The other day I was buying a present for my friend's new baby (fluffy cuddly toy). Wanted a gift bag too. Just not a blue one. The sales assistant notices I'm looking and points out the blue "baby boy" ones, so I say I don't want a blue one.

She rips into a tirade of
"She's making life difficult"
"It's PC gone mad!"
"It's like Dr Who, a woman can't be a TimeLord"
"It's gone too far they want their photo in the paper over everything"

It's going to be the new Europe bans bendy bananas.

So true Rythym

Winterval is coming...

We're Dr Who viewers as a family.

My dd 12 was really happy and excited.
My ds 10 was initially shocked but then happy. He likes Rae from Star Wars as a main character so he thinks JW will be good.
DH is happy because he saw her in a film "attack the block" and she was apparently really 'kick-ass'
I'm just happy for a change.

I think people will soon forget she's a woman. She's a good actress and will be a great doctor I'm sure.
The moaning misogynistic Whovians will soon get over it.

I'm a little disappointed that Doctor Who is being played by another white actor. I was hoping that the new Doctor would be played by Nadiya Hussain. Think about it a female, non white, Hijab wearing Doctor Who. That would really make the patriarchy shake.

I agree they could have considered a person of colour but , no I would not want a woman wearing a hijab in such a mainstream, iconic role.

I think Nadiya is great, and comes across as very warm and charismatic on both TV and radio, but she's not an actress!
I agree that a non-white doctor would be good, but did this come up so much when past doctors were revealed? (maybe it did and I didn't notice so much). Because I feel like whenever a woman/women break any barrier at the moment, people start objecting because she isn't black/gay/disabled/working class/minority religion. And I do think that all forms of equality are important, but I feel like men are just allowed to crack on at being men, even if they are white. Whereas women are somehow expected to not only bear the weight of all feminism on their shoulders (and many don't want to), but must also champion all other causes as well. Not sure if I'm articulating that properly, its just something that's been bothering me more and more.

I agree with squishy.

To please everyone the Doctor should be a transitioned pregnant gay hijab wearing Muslim POC with a visible disability.

So true squishy, it's never quite our turn is it.

but did this come up so much when past doctors were revealed?

Yes. Every reveal since Ecclestone, the issues raised have been: why isn't it a woman? Why isn't is a non-white actor?
So yes.

I really like Nadiya too, I was being a bit facetious, I really enjoyed her programme when she went to Bangladesh and I'm looking forward to the new programme where she travels around Britain sampling regional cuisine.

I'm just unsure about the whole remaking or altering programmes purely for reasons of political correctness unless there's something blatantly offensive like golliwogs in Noddy. To my mind for example the all female remake of Ghostbusters isn't empowering its just lazy film making. Why not have a new idea. Surely there are enough talented female writers that someone could try and write something new and the BBC could take a chance on it.

I will continue watching Doctor Who and I wish Jodie Whittaker all the best.

I haven't seen the all female remake of Ghostbusters so it may be great. I just have fond memories of the original from when I was a kid.

There was a need for a new actor for Dr Who though, as Capaldi was leaving. There is scope in the format for anyone to play the Doctor, so why not consider actors who aren't white men for the role this time?

Remakes of older films happen all the time, why not consider using different types of actors if it's not relevant to the plot? I don't think the Ghostbusters film was an attempt to empower women, I think they wanted to make money like everyone else.

less

I realiy enjoyed the remake, very funny and great actors

And i love the original...classic

I don't like remakes by and large to me it just smacks of lack of creativity and greed. Why not make something new. Hopefully Jodie Whittaker will be a good Doctor Who. The preview didn't fill me with great confidence. It might have been better to start an episode with Peter Capaldi and then end it regenerating to Jodie Whittaker.

I'll check out the remake of Ghostbusters Rufus.