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Should the Next 'Doctor Who' Be a Woman?
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Jennifer Finney Boylan writes in the NYT that for those who did not get beaten up in high school, 'Doctor Who' is a beloved British sci-fi series about a character called the Doctor who is able to regenerate into a new body whenever a mortal would die or whenever an actor grows tired of the gig. The Doctor has been played by 11 different men since the show went on the air in 1963 and with Matt Smith, stepping down this Christmas, many fans had hoped that this time, a dozen cycles in, the Doctorship would finally go to a woman. 'Maybe it was the election of Barack Obama that made it seem, fleetingly, as if there were no more glass ceilings, for offices from president to pontiff,' writes Boylan. 'Whether the 45th president is a woman (Hillary Rodham Clinton?) or a Latino (Marco Rubio?), it still feels, on a good day, as if we've entered a time when there are fewer limits on what men and women can aspire to.' But unlike presidents or popes, we may not get that many more chances at a glass-shattering Doctor. According to long-held Doctor Who mythology, the character's 13th regeneration could be his last. 'As the producers think about whom they want to take on the role next, they should keep in mind the way people's hopes are lifted when they see someone breaking the glass ceiling, even when it's for something as seemingly trivial as a hero on a science-fiction program. Equal opportunity matters — in Doctor Who's universe as well as our own.'"
Why not a vegan tranny black lesbian Muslim in a wheelchair?
That is just absurd !!
It seems there is a subset of people out there who just can never be happy unless they are going against the grain. There will be people out there who make a big deal about who the next Doctor is regardless of who gets it. Not everything has to be groundbreaking or new. Sometimes tried and trusted are the way to go.
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No, because that means Samuel L. Jackson would be out of the running. (Admit it, you'd watch that.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do-wDPoC6GM This already happened.
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It seems awful to me. The writing is bad. The characters are bad. The plots are bad. The props/special effects are bad.
Is it something we Ironically like because its so bad or does it have good aspects I've over looked?
Don't get me wrong. I love science fiction. But this seems like garbage.
Anyone have an idea as to what I'm missing here?
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If you want a sci-fi story with a strong female protagonist, then feel free to write one. Leave the doctor alone. He is a he, has been a he, and should remain a he. He's had complex relationships that would be all too complicated and distracting to bring up and try to weave into a "she". And this isn't that kind of story. It's not meant to be going into social situations and analysing them. It's sonic screwdrivers, weeping angels, tardis and interesting companions. Go away with your politically correct nonsense.
I think that people who want to see the next Doctor be some sort of handicapped post-op lesbian hermaphrodite never watch the show but just want to push some sort of agenda to get some checkbox filled somewhere. They would never watch a single episode with their politically-corrected Doctor but that's not really the point.
the character's 13th regeneration could be his last
Okay, first, the article means his TWELFTH regeneration, his thirteenth INCARNATION. Secondly, it's already canon that doctors can regenerate far more than twelve times.
It has already been established in canon that they can.
"See that snake. The mark of The Corsair. Fantastic bloke. He had that snake as a tattoo in every regeneration. Didn't feel like himself unless he had that tattoo. Or herself a couple of times. Oo hoo! She was a bad girl!"
The clue is in the title. Who ever heard of a "Time Lady"?!
Um, everyone who ever watched season 16?
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So somehow changing an indubitably male character into a woman is a 'victory' for women?
Perhaps we could just work on creating an interesting, engaging, successful female character and celebrate her? Or celebrate one of the many strong female characters already present in media?
Perhaps there's a moral in here for the whole feminist movement.
-Styopa
Surely a science fiction concept with a female lead can be developed outside of the current Dr. Who franchise. Or, a spin-off series featuring a female timelord can be developed in parallel, like Star Trek did with Voyager. The can have separate adventures and then guest star from time to time on each others' shows. Seems like you get more audience that way. Why is there a need to take an established character and turn it into something completely different?
Dr. Who will always be Tom Baker in my imagination anyway.
Romana, played by the rather lovely Lala Ward.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
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Jennifer Finney Boylan writes in the NYT that for those who did not get beaten up in high school...
Whining about diversity and coming out with the stereotyping right out of the gate(and yes, it's a quote from TFA, I did check). Maybe she thought that was cute?
I had a nice rant with lots of big words about diversity not about messing with established characters and missing the point and all that, but you know what? Screw it.
Why should we bloody-nosed, inhaler puffing masses give a fuck what this imbecile has to say?
One of the few things Neil Gaiman has done that I don't like (it was his script, if I remember correctly, though I don't know if it was his idea to have that in there).
Don't get me wrong, now that it's there, I would accept a female Doctor, but up to that point there had been no indication that time lords ever changed sexes. With sex being a changeable characteristic, labels like "mother" and "father" get confusing and they've previously been used. What do you call a time lord who fathered you while he was male, but is now female? What if your birth mother is still female? Are they both mother? Are they both father? It just seems like it doesn't add all that much to the show except a level of confusion (it's not like there is a shortage of actors to play the part).
Of course, I realize this is all my opinion and, like I said, I would accept a female actor there, now that it has been established as canon. I just think it was a silly idea to establish it as canon.
Half Dalek, Half Timelord! Time stream cross-species re-integration! Just kill off Dr Who and make the show about his kid. Then stick it in the Firefly universe for half the season until it learns how to use a Tardis properly. SHOVE IN ALL THE OPTIONS!
.. why? If gender doesn't matter any more why are we fixating on it here?
I realize she's pushing for gender equality here, but the Doctor is male.
He had a wife and kids, and in the newer series someone made a partial clone of him which is now kind of his daughter. There were female time lords, be he isn't one. So why would his regenerations turn him into a female?
Now, I don't know how they'd drum up a TARDIS for her, but Jenny should still be out there in the universe.
I realize that with Doctor Who you may not need to worry about being strictly canonical, but there's never been anything to suggest (that I know of) that regenerations could flip your gender.
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It is probably a fluff opinion piece, just to stir up some mild controversy -- so she got paid this week. Ever noticed how Magazine articles on BBC news are similar, ask some brain-dead question with a hint of controversy, discuss it a bit, then back down from the controversy without reaching a definite conclusion. This is obviously what keeps 'magazine' readers entertained, and everyone gets paid. It is not to be taken seriously in any way.
The Doctor should never be a woman. We have seen how that turns out in the spoof "Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death", where the female Doctor notices the sonic screwdriver has "three settings".
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_and_the_Curse_of_Fatal_Death
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p18DKN27IZQ
Apparently you wouldn't watch it, but I sure would. It would make me more likely to watch it. Half the human race is female, and I know lots more female Doctor Who fans than male. So what on earth makes you think that a female Doctor wouldn't get watched? I bet even you would watch it, protesting the whole time. And if you wouldn't, is that an aspect of your character you should be bragging about? What difference does it make? It's a bloody TV show! You make decisions about what to put in a TV show because they're entertaining, and there is no way that a female Doctor wouldn't be entertaining!
"Wrath of Eukor" does it seriously, "Curse of Fatal Death" does it humorously. It does work. It's fine. It doesn't matter. Also, not worth making a big deal about. Since the community can't seem to be gender neutral, if I were a programming officer at the BBC, I would probably advise against it...just to avoid the banal public discussion.
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These sidekicks are hot by the standards of women on British TV where the extremes in cosmetic dentistry, dermatology, and plastic surgery are not followed as rigorously as in Hollywood.
So would the female Dr. Who have a beefcake dude sidekick? Would the female Dr. Who be a babe or perhaps a mature woman in the tradition of Helen Mirren, Judy Dench, or Amanda Richardson? Or maybe a West Indian babe with a delicious regional accent as the police captain who thinks Holmes is a dangerous vigilante and medler into police business as in that Sherlock Holmes reboot (and gosh no, not the Robert Downey Jr. one).
I watched a few episodes in the late '70s. They were supremely boring and had dreadful special effects. (Even when compared to other British sci-fi of the era, such as Space: 1999.) Has the show improved since then?
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