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Doctor Who's 13th Time Lord Announced: Actress Jodie Whittaker (bbc.co.uk)
Peter Capaldi, the 12th Doctor Who, had said that he wanted to see a woman replace him in the Tardis, and so did former Doctor Who stars Billie Piper and Karen Gillan. And today it's official: "the 13th incarnation of Doctor Who will be portrayed by an actress," writes Slashdot reader Coisiche -- specifically Jodie Whittaker, who American viewers may remember from her performance as CIA officer Sandra Grimes in the 2014 mini-series "The Assets." The BBC reports:
She was revealed in a trailer that was broadcast on BBC One at the end of the Wimbledon men's singles final... She will make her debut on the sci-fi show when the Doctor regenerates in the Christmas Day show... Whittaker said: "I'm beyond excited to begin this epic journey...with every Whovian on this planet. It's more than an honour to play the Doctor. It means remembering everyone I used to be, while stepping forward to embrace everything the Doctor stands for: hope... Doctor Who represents everything that's exciting about change."
Doctor Who's new showrunner said the 13th Doctor was always going to be a woman -- and that Whittaker was their first choice. "Jodie is an in-demand, funny, inspiring, super-smart force of nature and will bring loads of wit, strength and warmth to the role." Doctor Who #12 added that Whittaker "has above all the huge heart to play this most special part. She's going to be a fantastic Doctor." And Will Howells, who writes for the Doctor Who magazine, said "I don't think it's a risky choice at all but if a show that can go anywhere and do anything can't take risks, what can?"
Doctor Who's new showrunner said the 13th Doctor was always going to be a woman -- and that Whittaker was their first choice. "Jodie is an in-demand, funny, inspiring, super-smart force of nature and will bring loads of wit, strength and warmth to the role." Doctor Who #12 added that Whittaker "has above all the huge heart to play this most special part. She's going to be a fantastic Doctor." And Will Howells, who writes for the Doctor Who magazine, said "I don't think it's a risky choice at all but if a show that can go anywhere and do anything can't take risks, what can?"
When do we get new episodes? Why isn't there a daily episode? MORE MORE MORE!!!!
Well she's a fine actress, an inspired choice. We can only wait to see what she does with it
It's as if millions of fanboys suddenly cried out in butthurt and were suddenly silenced.
I am excited about this! They needed to do something new and fresh. This should work well and Jodie is a fantastic choice.
My only complaint about Doctor Who (all BBC shows actually) is they don't make enough episodes per season.
Mike @ The Geek Pub. Let's Make Stuff!
and you can't have a female Dr. Who. This is another example of PC bullshit taken too far.
My only complaint about Doctor Who (all BBC shows actually) is they don't make enough episodes per season.
Because, unlike Americans, they know it will turn to shit if they make too many.
Awesome choice, but can we replace the whole cast. The Doctor, Peter Capaldi is alright, not great but just alright. But the rest of the cast with him are horrible. Very bad actors and just don't work for the parts. I truly miss Jenna Coleman, fantastic actress and perfect for the part.
Notice how within the mere announcement of a female Doctor Who, the people doing the announcing have pushed a gender issue narrative.
This isnt in response to anything public. The public didnt know yet. The announcement is telling us that the producers are insisting that there be this "controversy."
"His name was James Damore."
Once every male hero has become a woman we'll finally have equality.
Because it is the BBC not Hollywood. And after these people become Stars on BBC, they get hired away by Hollywood, thus hard for them to get back.
Just look at Benedict Cumberbatch.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
My only complaint about Doctor Who (all BBC shows actually) is they don't make enough episodes per season.
If you think they don't make enough, then they're making just the right amount.
Always leave the audience wanting more.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I know, they don't have to screw this up. But this seems like a cheap gimmick. I'm not familar with the actress. Does she have a body of work that would lend itself well to playing a Doctor? On the plus side I don't expect them to try and go all action hero-y with her. I always hated it when the Doctor got violent.
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I'm a gay man who hates seeing gay characters hammered in to a show just so they have a gay character -- Sulu in the last Star Trek movie being an obvious case in point.
So I'm not sure about changing the Doctor to a woman just because the BBC need more diversity. To me, the Doctor is a male character, and I think should remain so. It's seems like feminism going to far (again?). (Jodie even said herself that she is a feminist).
With Missy, they introduced the idea of a male Time Lord regenerating as a woman, so it's been obvious for some time that this was coming. I'm just not sure I like it.
It happened to Thor too, so.I'm guess James Bond will be next.... Sigh.
I've nothing against woman and strong lead woman characters, it's just changing something because it's the "in thing" or because they feel they have to that does my head in. Like, should Wonder Woman become Wonder Man? Should Aunt Beru become Uncle Stew in the next version of A New Hope just so Star Wars can have a gay parent couple?
We'll see once we see her as the Doctor. I may change my mind. But for now, I'm not sure...
The Doctor was never about his gender, so switching it up shouldn't be cause for alarm.
However, as another poster mentioned, let's just hope this doesn't result in the writers going on a full "Patriarchy" writing binge, where the Doctor saves women from the evils of men in every episode.
There's so much potential for fun with the gender switch, I just hope they exploit that instead of going all "WOMENZ RULEZ THE WORLDSS!@!!!!1".
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
The only Doctor I didn't like was the more recent Peter Capaldi, I didn't enjoy a single second of watching him
I tend to agree. I think they were trying to make him a throw back to the original character, but it never worked out. He is a good actor so I suspect they just never got the story quite worked out that well.
It could also be that there was no real overarching story like Tennent (Bad Wolf) and Smith (the crack) had to help tie things together. The best Peter had was Missy, but that didn't really tie anything together and the episodes just felt like disconnected adventures with no greater meaning.
So I too am glad for X-Mas to come so we can put the unfortunate 12th Dr behind us.
Well it could be good if you don't let your bigotry get in the way.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Re-imagining the Doctor has been kinda the point ever since the first re-generation. The whole idea of the show for N years now has been 'OK, now we've got a new primary, how's this one different'. If that doesn't work for you, I can't see why you'd have watched Eccleston, let alone be commenting on the subject.
A thousand pounds of wood moving at 300 feet per minute. Don't get in the way.
I'm tired of people trying to reimagine heroes as someone new (a woman, black, Muslim, etc). I know Hollywood is pretty much brain dead for new ideas
Clearly a fresh new idea would be to cast a white man in a leading role then.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Star Wars style counting...?
Also, the War Doctor isn't numbered.
A GINGER!
John
Getting a low UID is certainly one use for a TARDIS.
Is River Song coming back too? Should be interesting.
The real reason is that British TV shows tend to be written by the show creators, a relatively small team. In the US the creators outline the plot and characters, but most of the episodes are written by others. Lots of others in fact, and different groups for each episode.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
The question on whether the Doctor is capable of regenerating into a woman has been one of those little mysteries about the character that has gone on for decades. He was originally male and every single time he regenerated he came back as another man. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, war, 9, 10, meta-crisis (yes, it was sort of a cloning rather than a regular regeneration, but it still cost a life and was part Donna so it could have justifiably have gone either way), 11, 12 - that's 13 regenerations in a row, all men. It was confirmed in The Doctor's Wife it was confirmed that Time Lords can change sex when they regenerate, but at the same time it also confirmed that individual Time Lords can have a certain trait that persists through every regeneration, leaving open the possibility of the Doctor in particular being necessarily male. I suppose there's some appeal to having some long-standing mysteries about the Doctor, but in my opinion that one had more than enough of a run and needed to make way to allow the producers to pick whatever act(o)r(ess) they like best for the part.
I hope they have a bit of fun with the reveal, like the Doctor rushing to a mirror, staring wide-eyed at her reflection and saying something like: "I can't believe it. I'm... STILL not ginger? Come on!"
I'm tired of people trying to reimagine heroes as someone new (a woman, black, Muslim, etc). I know Hollywood is pretty much brain dead for new ideas
Clearly a fresh new idea would be to cast a white man in a leading role then.
I don't get it myself. As a SJW hater, I'd rather look at a woman on tv than some guy. In fact, men shouldn't be allowed on tv. I would have picked a lady with a little more meat on her, but oh well.
This place is full of fruitcakes and nancy boys.
This show has been going downhill for sometime, no surprise that they are trying a female doctor now. I mean it worked so well for the Ghostbusters reboot, surely it will be a smashing success for Dr. Who. I have my serious doubts that any actor, male or female could rescue this show.
Can she jump high enough over the Shark to avoid getting hurt...
5 out of 6 people enjoy Russian Roulette & 6 out of 7 Dwarfs are not Happy
The one that made it feel like you werte being lectured by your mother every episode?
Moffat did a good job of turning the show to shit during Series 6 and 7 and the fiftieth-anniversary specials.
And wouldn't you know it -- he's Scottish.
Keep your eyes to the sky.
> then why only one out of 13 for this particular Gallifreyan?
Because the TARDIS chameleon circuit was stuck all this time, and interfered with the regeneration. The boost of regeneration energy from the Time Lords has now unstuck it, and we can hope the TARDIS will now appear as something other than a blue box from time to time.
(that makes as much sense as any other explanation in a science fiction series that makes it up as it goes along)
Called it 2 doctors ago...
...And I'll call this one for the record: next will be a minority, the following one will be transgender.
There will never again be a white, male Dr Who.
You called it two Doctors ago and have been wrong twice, so now that it's eventually a woman you take credit? Do you write horoscopes for a living?
Nope, Doctor is an alien, not a man.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
You people are nothing if not predictable.
Well done, you are showing your capability for independent thought by parroting the party line. That should show'em.
The best thing about this is the whiny men complaining.
Time to grow a pair guys and join the 21st century.
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
Eventually it'll be re-visioned into "Dr. What".
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
Doctor Who was 'silly sci-fi' until Moffat decided it was fantasy with mere sci-fi trappings. That the sonic screwdriver was a magic wand instead of an actual sonic screwdriver as in the original series. That's what first made me regret I ever hoped he'd take over from Davies (who did a great job of capturing the feel of the original show as I recalled it through a thick haze of nostalgia).
Then he showed he didn't understand the Tardis by making it an actual living, intelligent, free-willed being. Which makes no sense at all. He totally misunderstood the mariner tradition of referring to a ship as 'she'. Then the Doctor became an expert pilot who always left the brakes on. Moffat will shit on anything for a quick gag.
Then there was the issue of pushing his "good people are pansexual" like there's no hardwiring there. Idiot. Good people don't care if OTHERS are pansexual, but that doesn't make them switch sexual orientation. That was him pushing his sexual political agenda.
50 years in, I'm out. Thanks, Moffat.
So in the Dr. Who Universe, this particular Gallifreyan regenerates 12 times into a male. But poof! Number 13 is a woman! Kind of stretches the suspension of disbelief a bit. If viewed through the lens that any Gallifreyan can regenerate into either a male or female, then why only one out of 13 for this particular Gallifreyan? Does the lack of "diversity" in regenerations indicate that Gallifreyan DNA favors males?
Canon already addressed your question.
#12 explicitly says that his exact face was chosen as a reminder about a human he saved (a character also played by Peter Capaldi), at the urging of Donna when he was leaving all to die in Pompeii. So, no, it is not random, even if it is not necessarily controllable.
So the answer to your question is that some part of The Doctor presumably "decided" to be female at this moment in time. For whatever reason, he did not decide so before. It could just be a matter of habit that some Gallifreyans form.
No, two doctors ago I said that the next doctor, and the following doctor would be white men, but subsequently the BBC would have to cave to the SJW lobby and (if Dr Who was continuing) the following one would be female.
I'm posting my newest prediction here for retrieval & vindication when the subsequent doctors are as predicted.
-Styopa
I think OP means the show is pretty dumb.
Play Command HQ online
A lot of people genuinely do not like bigotry and think badly of bigots. They believe bigotry is stupid and leads to unnecessary harm.
This is an alien concepts for bigots, so they make accusations of parroting. It's reminiscent of the difficulties the Germans had in 1914 in understanding French "terrorists." They could not believe the resistance was spontaneous and self-organized.
Play Command HQ online
The Dr. Isn't real. They aren't violating Timelord genetics by making the Dr. female. Consider it an artistic reinterpretation.
Play Command HQ online
Given that the Master has already appeared as a part-female character, it's just a small step for the Doctor to go all the way... "they're not breasts, they're Dalek bumps!".
Oh, you cheeky bastard! Mod this up!
With Capaldi, my interest in Doctor Who somehow plummeted. I can't even say why. I was a big, big fan of Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant. While Matt Smith was ok, I felt he was already a step down from Tennant, and I never warmed to Capaldi.
That's why I would've been outraged had they made The Doctor change gender at the 12th incarnation, but now it's just one more reason not to watch the show anymore.
Why? Because it's forced. It's an obvious deviation from the character development for no reason at all except submission to feminist outcry.
But hey, maybe the next Wonder Woman can be a man? It's not about gender, right? Of course it is about gender. We are human beings. Gender is one if not the first thing we notice about another human being, instinctively. There is nothing that is not about gender. Let's stop pretending that the sky is yellow and pigs fly. Doctor Who is a male character, and that is a part of who he is, just like him having two hearts. Gender is not some random biological detail that you can change like a hat. Any biologist can tell you that its effects on the body go beyond primary and secondary sex organs. Its effect on the mind are less clear, research is ongoing, but nobody with any knowledge on the matter would claim that there are none.
To change the gender of the character is to make him another character. And that's total bullshit in a series named after its character. They could've made a spin-off with a female doctor, a different character, and that would've been completely fine. I probably would've watched it. Or a spin-off based on River Song or Idris or even on Missy.
But hey, let's wait for the Wonder Woman movie starring Orlando Bloom and we'll see what all the people now shouting me down with "gender doesn't matter" will say then. :-)
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
British TV shows tend to be written by the show creators, a relatively small team
I should add that roughly half of Doctor Who episodes are written by “guest writers”, but Doctor Who is not a typical British TV example.
The Doctor could regenerate as Rory, you mean?
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OK, he's a wer.
Ezekiel 23:20
to the next date with River Song :D
Too bad they weren't able to get Pamela Anderson for the role; scheduling conflicts. She's be playing the lead role in the re-imagination of the Blade movies (all 3 of them, and maybe a fourth).
When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
>in the classic series the TARDIS was portrayed as having a will of her own,
You've made the same ignorant mistake Moffat did, congratulations.
2 Doctors ago you called "there will be another two white, male doctors, and then a woman"?
Or did you just make a vague prediction that one day there would be a female doctor, knowing that eventually the unbroken run of male doctors might come to and end eventually and if it didn't well no-one is doing to remember some random comment posted by argStyopa on Slashdot.
Anyway, I bookmarked your comment. In ~8 years time we can see if you are right.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Time to grow a pair guys and join the 21st century.
Wow. What a Sexist thing to say...
Try harder
XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
MOD UP!
In a nutshell. Lazy writers that can't write a decent female lead so they decided to appropriate an established character.
Re-imagining the Doctor has been kinda the point ever since the first re-generation. The whole idea of the show for N years now has been 'OK, now we've got a new primary, how's this one different'. If that doesn't work for you, I can't see why you'd have watched Eccleston, let alone be commenting on the subject.
Really?
I thought it was a (rather ingenious) way of covering up the replacement of a major actor.
Then again, Doctor Who has never been ashamed of pulling out a little deus ex machina.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
The issue is quite simple, the writers are incapable of a writing an original female lead character. They have to appropriate an established character.
Case in point, the master. In an incredible WTF moment, the writers decide to do a gender bender and make the Master a female and give the character the ridiculousness name Missy - can't call a female character Master eh boys...given the fact that the Master character was basically written off in the End of Time episode, the writers having incredible writers block decided to bring back the Master with a gender change. Why? To have a female lead? To have a female counter part to the Dr? There's just one problem.
THEY ALREADY HAD A FUCKING FEMALE LEAD CHARACTER, A TIME LORD WHO WAS A COUNTERPART TO THE DR! THE RANI !!!!
The Rani appeared in The Mark of The Rani (third serial of the 22nd season ). A character with more depth than the Master. But the brain dead writers couldn't think of using an established female lead character. Good creative writing would have tapped into this vain. But no, somehow gender bending is more creative.
When you have Thor as a woman and Starbuck as a woman and endless shows that have dealt with characters switching sexes and the ramifications, DW is just another program doing what has already been done. Boring.
Here's a thought, kill off the Dr. and continue the show with a different character. You know his daughter Jenny (Series 4 Ep 7), she's a time lord. But that would be too creative and risky right...
> the solution for having your hero not being what you want isn't to change them but to create new ones.
Generally, I agree... but you're looking at the wrong problem. This is about forcing a worldview on everyone else, and from that perspective the changes make perfect sense; it's not about wanting a new hero, it's about changing your old one. It's about propaganda, dressed up as 'fairness' or 'representation'. And if the show fails, it won't be because they ruined the lead character, it'll be because we're all bigots. Self-awareness is not high up on the list of traits for people enthusiastically fighting for a cause they believe in.
Essentially, you don't get to have traditions if it offends a group with influence, and having the Doctor always be a white heterosexual male was offensive to many people in the entertainment industry and a small but loud chunk of the fandom.
What's interesting is they actually tried to work up to this change like nobody would notice - the Doctor flirting with men, the Corsair being mentioned as a sex-swapper, the Master becoming Missy. The shippers squeed and the rest of us shrugged because it didn't *really* matter.
But this does. Sex does change things, men and women should be considered equals philosophically and legally... but we're not identical. The Doctor isn't going to be the Doctor. Then again, Moffat already fixed that since the current 'Doctor' is an nth generation clone of the guy we used to watch as of the episode 'Heaven Sent'. And depending on your interpretation, he might not have been the same guy since Amelia magically willed him back into existence in 'The Big Bang'.
Moffat's always wanted to do this sex swap and finally got his way. Though honestly this is more of a 'last straw' deal for me. The stories have generally been getting dumber and dumber as any and all attempts at logic and consistency were thrown out the window. Moffat's awesome single episodes made him look like a breath of fresh air as RTD got stale (and I won't pretend RTD didn't preside over some cringy Doctor Who) and failed to build on his awesome start - but once Moffat had the reins it became obvious he had a limited repertoire and (long time fan of the show or not) didn't really understand the core of the show. Why he's a BBC darling I just don't understand.
But give me a couple of weeks to get over it and you won't even have to see me post about it in Internet forums. I watched the new series because I grew up with the old so I'm not 100% attached to it. My kids never caught the Who-flu so I won't watch just because they are watching. I'll stop watching, then stop thinking about it, and the BBC won't give a damn unless a large chunk of the viewership does the same... at which point it'll be too late anyway.
He just did another season of Sherlock.
Can't we just pretend Eccleston never happened? Please! His playing "Wallace" to Billy Pipers "Gromit" is a memory no one needs.
Kind of stretches the suspension of disbelief a bit.
Completely. Unlike that whole time-travel thing. Maybe you're right about time lord DNA favoring male regenerations. Maybe it's because this show, like all others, reflects the time in which it is made, and it's only fairly recently that the world has grown up enough to realise that hero characters do not have to be guys the whole time.
Back in the real world, many will view this as preachy SJW fodder, and the show will now always have that hanging over it
No. Back in the real world, this show is watched by children, and trust me when I say that children will, literally, not care at all that the character is now a woman, because children are quite alot less set in their ways than you appear to be.
I refused to watch the last season because of their introduction of a homosexual companion
Completely. Unlike that other homosexual character that they already had several seasons ago. In point of fact, Bill's sexuality was referenced far less than, say, Amy's, since Bill hasn't even had a girlfriend, and Amy actually got married.
It's not so much about the Doctor becoming a woman because I gave up on the series already. I got tired of the Doctor not being what made the Doctor really great in the first place. That started back with Smith and really started to show when the Doctor and Rory went looking for Amy. When the Cybermen couldn't help them then they just decided to blow up the fleet. I know the Cybermen are evil but the Doctor is always supposed to give them a chance to stop before being stopped. It was that idealistic part where the Doctor would even put risk his own life for his enemy until left with no choice that I admired. Then along came Matt Smiths incarnation and he starts blowing up enemies with much less hesitation.
At least I get to enjoy the previous Doctors via Big Finish and their audio dramas. Some great stories and the Doctors are still true to form.
I just don't see the attraction of changing the heroes to be more politically correct. They still have all of the history behind them. To me a new hero with a new story is much more appealing. We never found out what happened to the Doctor's daughter. There are lots of possibilities to introduce a new character in the universe. Changing the gender or race of a character, to me at least, feels like changing the name of a building when you find out something about that persons' history.
What if they use their toilet plungers to rape the Doctor?
Did you used to work in the NYPD?
I laughed at the weak who considered themselves good because they lacked claws.
Because it is the BBC not Hollywood.
No they're not, they literally have to do nothing to get their money and fill most of their airtime with pensioners going to car boot sales.
Wanna buy a shirt?
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I have no basic problem with the Doctor being female; it was always on the cards, and I personally don't even care if it's canon or not; it's a TV show, for goodness sake, and if it's fun to watch, I'll watch it. If I have DO any concern with it, it's that I wait with some trepidation to see what sort of Doctor, Jodie Whittaker is actually allowed to be by the writers/director(s) (will she always, not to put too fine a point on it, be a female Doctor - which would be disastrous - or can everyone forget that she's a woman and let her become, simply, The Doctor?). I also. more to the point, wait to see whether a female lead actually WORKS within the format (it could; it probably ought to; but it's possible that it simply won't gel). Either way - I certainly think one of the biggest mistakes the team could make, would be to keep rubbing our faces in the fact that Whittaker is a woman, in the way that, as others have said, they kept so clumsily reminding us that Bill was gay. (Yes, we got that, way back in her first episode. Very PC of you, have a sweetie. But frankly it added precisely zilch to the story lines or to her character; it felt like it was basically only there so that the team could feel smug about it. Yawn, nothing to see here, move on.)
Oh, and on the evidence, I'd say the money is probably odds-on for an "ethnic" casting of some sort for her successor, too. My only surprise is that they didn't go for that this time as well as a woman, and kill two birds (so to speak) with one stone.