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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
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!
Well, Kirk doesn't regenerate periodically, so that is an issue.
You can, however, have Janeway.
Actually, in case of the doctor, you quite explicitly can have a female one. Nothing says Timelords are restricted to one gender and there are canon precedents even before Missy. So there.
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.
...what?
the people doing the announcing have pushed a gender issue narrative.
Citation needed. The announcement showed her face and her name. How is that a gender issue narrative?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
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...
Voyager had a lot of problems, Janeway as a woman Capitan, isn't that much of a big deal compared to the other problems.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
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!
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.
Time Lords changing gender when regenerating is canon, and not just The Master / Missy. And the Doctor's personality changes with every regeneration, as well as his age and apparent nationality (English / Scottish). Becoming female breaks nothing, it's certainly no bigger change than going from a very young English man to a mid 50s Scottish man.
The Doctor has never really been interested in his male gender anyway - he doesn't really form romantic attachments and seems positively afraid of sex. There isn't really anything about his personality that is particularly masculine so becoming female is unlikely to alter his basic motivations or philosophy, or even the way he interacts with his companions.
Much more likely to bring a big change is the departure of Moffat as show runner. But hay, the anti-SJWs have gotta complain about something, and no point waiting to see how it actually turns out before writing it off as trolling and predicting it's failure.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
A GINGER!
John
There have been three examples in the last several seasons that explicitly show/state that a Time Lord can be regenerate into a female.
1) In the prequel The Night of the Doctor The Sisterhood of Karn could control the regeneration: "Time Lord science is elevated here on Karn. The change doesn't have to be random. Fat or thin, young or old. Man or woman?"
2) Missy
3) In Season 9, in the Episode "Hell Bent", the General regenerates from an older white man to an older black woman.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Does Ben Sisko not still refer to Ezri as 'old man', some 2 hosts after she was a male, Curzon Dax?
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.
Eh, I think for a fair amount of the male (nerd) demographic, they wanted to be the Doctor, a man who doesn't win through force, but through wits and snark rather than action.
For the female demographic, they wanted to travel with a sexy, powerful man who takes them on dangerous adventures. Look how many fangirls fawn over David Teninch and Matt Smith's portrayal of the Doctor.
I don't think the female demographic was looking to be the Doctor.
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
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!".
Janeway worked as a character when she was allowed to be one character.. She suffered horribly from Writer of the Week syndrome deciding what she should be and how she should act. She flip-flopped from episode to episode between Team Mum, Hypocritical Martinet and "Professional Ubercaptain." When she was good, she was very very good indeed. She was just so inconsistent.
"How fine you look when dressed in rage."