Doctor Who

[Skummy]

Yeah, I can see them going with a big name and/or a "landmark" choice (first black Doctor, first female Doctor, etc.), given that it's the 50th anniversary, and especially now it's a live show.

[Vamp]

I hope its full of swerves, like David Tennant walking in and going "no, no, its not me, I've already done it" and then other random actors walk into the studio with increasingly lame excuses "oh, sorry, wrong studio" and so on. And then it turns out that the new Doctor was sitting in the audience dressed in a lame cyberman costume all along and then pulls off his mask to say "It was me guys, it was me all along."

That's the way I'd book it anyway...

In terms of actual casting decisions, given this show was originally advertised as a celebration of Doctor Who's past and said about the audience coming along dressed as characters from the show, I'm expecting the audience to be pretty full of hardcore Whovians, and as such them revealing its a woman could be an interesting moment. Personally I don't see what the problem is with it but there's no way you could edit out any negative responses you might get. Hopefully you wouldn't anyway.

[Benji]

If that got a negative reaction, then it'd be a reflection on mysoginist idiots, not on the direction of Who.

[Skummy]

I don't want to see a female Doctor yet, largely because I don't have faith in the current crop of writers to write a convincing female Doctor.

[Benji]

I don't care either way, I want the best person for the job, man, woman, black, white, blue, gay, straight, whatever. I'm hopeful it's Peter Capaldi, because he's wonderful, and I would have total faith in him as The Doctor from day one.

[Skummy]

I don't care either way, I want the best person for the job, man, woman, black, white, blue, gay, straight, whatever. Bad writers are bad writers, that's their (and our) problem, but a good actor/actress will break through that in some way, shape, or form. I'm hopeful it's Peter Capaldi, because he's wonderful, and I would have total faith in him as The Doctor from day one.

I just think that, if the Doctor regenerated female, that would probably constitute the better part of a series story arc in itself. Even though it's been obliquely referred to that Time Lords can change gender with each regeneration (I believe The Corsair was explicitly referred to as having done it), we've never - that I can recall - actually seen it. For it to happen to the Doctor, it would take some explaining.

For me, that goes beyond "if the actor's good enough they'll overcome" and into "waste of a series". It's more likely to drag an actor down than anything else.

Personally, if given the task of writing for a female Doctor, I would write it off fairly quickly as his/her new means of hiding himself from existence; wiping every trace of himself from every data bank in the universe didn't quite work, but the Cybermen and Daleks probably aren't going to be looking for a woman. Realistically, though, it's a major shift and not one that you're going to be able to gloss over in a couple of lines of dialogue.

Capaldi would be great - I'm a huge fan, and while I can't quite picture him as the Doctor, I can get a definite impression of him playing the part as a throwback to a more subdued Jon Pertwee pace. The series has gradually got less action-centric with Matt Smith than it was previously, so there would be fewer concerns surrounding an older actor taking the role.

Capaldi's a huge fan, too - the Radio Times recently dug up a letter he wrote to them about Doctor Who when he was 15, and the show-runners tend to love that sort of thing. You can find the same sort of thing, either fan letters or old message board posts, from David Tennant and Steven Moffat too.

The only thing working against him is that he's already appeared in an episode...though that's not stopped them re-casting people before.

[Benji]

I don't care either way, I want the best person for the job, man, woman, black, white, blue, gay, straight, whatever. Bad writers are bad writers, that's their (and our) problem, but a good actor/actress will break through that in some way, shape, or form. I'm hopeful it's Peter Capaldi, because he's wonderful, and I would have total faith in him as The Doctor from day one.

Personally, if given the task of writing for a female Doctor, I would write it off fairly quickly as his/her new means of hiding himself from existence; wiping every trace of himself from every data bank in the universe didn't quite work, but the Cybermen and Daleks probably aren't going to be looking for a woman. Realistically, though, it's a major shift and not one that you're going to be able to gloss over in a couple of lines of dialogue.

How's it really any different to writing for a male Doctor though? It's still The Doctor, the only difference is a slight personality change to suit the new actress, and that happens with every Doctor. Unless you suddenly have The Doctor going around kissing every man in sight, I don't see it as being an issue whatsoever. People complain all the time that writers should write the same characters for women as they do for men, and when you look at it - what character is more perfect for that than The Doctor? You could literally just subsitute "he/him" for "she/her" and you're set. It's not even like they need to explain it being a woman that much more than any other regeneration, because let's face it, if you can change your entire physical being, why is changing your gender whilst you're at it such an odd thing? I'm honestly not seeing the problem.

[Vamp]

Unless you suddenly have The Doctor going around kissing every man in sight, I don't see it as being an issue whatsoever.

To be fair the Doctor's kissed quite a few people since coming back in 2005. He certainly gave Jenny quite a snog in the Crimson Horror.

Writing a female Doctor would be a huge opportunity for Moffat to write back to those complaints that he can't write women very well. Not that it would be a reason to cast a woman Doctor, nor would they do it for that reason, but it'd be interesting to see how he would write it.

Personally I don't see any reason not to cast a woman. I can get the controversy though. Casting either an olderman or a woman is quite a change to the show really. Both Tennant and Smith have been sold, at least partly, on their sex appeal. Not that older men and women can't be sexy too, but it'd be interesting to see the response to either one.

[Skummy]

I don't see it as an issue of controversy. And, as I said, my concerns are more that the writing would hamper the actress, as they would see fit to make "why is the Doctor female this time?" a significant plot point - as, I feel, it probably should be in some form or another, as it's something we've never seen before.

I'm not saying it's not viable - it's a bit silly to say "I find it entirely implausible that this thousand year old time-travelling, shape-shifting alien could be a woman!" - just that I don't trust the people running the show now to make it a worthwhile move. I'd rather get a few years of quality storytelling out of it than it feel like a token gesture.

I know Helen Mirren has said in the past that she'd like to play the Doctor - and she's got the second best odds of any female actors, with the exception of Billie Piper (which just won't happen) - and Olivia Colman's name has been thrown around a lot, who could be great.

Ultimately, while it's often been played for a cheap laugh, Doctor Who since its return has actually pretty forward-thinking in terms of sexuality and gender politics in its supporting cast, it would be an interesting step to see that applied to the central character.

I wonder if it would be better for a name actress to take the role, or for it to be a relative unknown. I'm not sure which would be easier for critics to handle - traditionally, the role of the Doctor has often been given to actors without a huge amount of mainstream exposure, to avoid the problem of it being, for example, "Dame Helen Mirren as The Doctor". You want to watch it believing in The Doctor, as a character, rather than knowing the actor. Obviously the same issue exists for male actors, but it would be even harder, presumably, for a female unknown to win the doubters over.

I don't think that casting an older man would be an issue - we've moved away from "new Who" being particularly action-centric, and Matt Smith's episodes are closer to classic Who in tone than Tennant ever was. It's a lot more problem-solving and pseudo-science dialogue than chases, fight scenes, explosions and hero coats. We've almost been conditioned to expect a slower pace more befitting an older actor. I don't agree that the previous Doctors have been sold particularly on sex appeal, either - none of the three "new Who" Doctors are all that conventionally attractive, and Tennant and Smith have only really picked up on that reputation through being the Doctor, not vice-versa. Peter Capaldi is no less attractive, in his way, than David Tennant.

For what it's worth, Moffat's made a reasonable amount of noise about auditioning older actors, while there's little to suggest that any female actors have even auditioned or been seriously considered. It's the same tabloid speculation that comes up every single time. That said, don't ever listen to anything Steven Moffat says, as a rule.

[Vamp]

You don't think the youthful fairly handsome men running around kissing women is designed with a certain sex appeal that would be different to the sex appeal of an older actor? The Doctor has become a romantic lead, Matt Smith even more than Tennant. And fandom of both Tennant and Smith has shown a pattern for an audience that enjoys them as young, attractive men. I'm not disputing that Capaldi's not sexy but it is undoubtedly a different type of sex appeal to the one that's marketed through Tennant and Smith.

Sadly the female Doctor thing is controversial. I don't find it to be personally, I don't see why you can't have whoever in the role, but there's certainly sections of the fan base who are against it. not entirely for Benji's dismissive reason of misogyny either, although that's a part of it. There's even a young lady on my Facebook who's a Who fan who seems to strongly dislike the idea on the basis of "but he's a man." I've not know her to by misogynist.

I'd be interested in how Moffat scripts the dialogue for a female Doctor more than anything. He gets stick for his women all sounding the same, but I think it's more that he just has a style of dialogue that he likes for the show.

I'm not sure I see much worth in making the Doctor turning into a female into a big overarching plot. I think that the weakest bit of Moffat's era, besides the fact that series don't seem to have that much balance between connected stories and individual stories, has been the arcs. It's a personal opinion, but at this point I think I'd rather "ooh, I'm a woman" and then just getting to the adventures. I'd like to see them explore how people react to the Doctor's authority as a woman, as they've done before when people saw the Doctor as a young bloke or a bit of a clown, but beyond that I'd rather not get too bogged down with it all. The answer to "why is the Doctor a female this time" is because he's regenerated and has no control over it. Done. That's not very interesting as a plot. You could do the whole "he's disguised himself" as a woman thing I guess, but what's that? A line of dialogue in a confrontation maybe? I don't find there's much of a satisfying dramatic conclusion to it. How does the Doctor's experiences differ as a woman is more interesting. But that comes in as you just tell stories about a mad woman running about the universe. The past two arcs we've had around the Doctor have been "the Doctor's definitely gonna die, oh, wait, no didn't" and "what's the name of the Doctor? Umm, actually, that's not the question." I'd rather not a "why's the Doctor a woman? Because he is," arc.

[Skummy]

"How the Doctor's experiences differ as a woman" and "how people react to the Doctor's authority" are as much of a story arc as anything else, though. Not every plot arc has to be built around mysterious codewords culminating in a bait-and-switch finale.

The Doctor being female for the first time would absolutely dominate the plot, as I feel it should. I think it would be incorrect, and miss out on some potentially interesting storytelling, to introduce a female Doctor and downplay it. That would leave you with an enormous elephant in the room. Equal opportunities doesn't mean that we ignore what makes people different, and the absolute worst thing would be to gloss over the Doctor being female.

It's something I want to see one day, and that I want to give us a lengthy story arc. But not with the current show-runner and the current regular writers.

I think there is a reasonable amount of truth behind the "he's a man" argument too, though. As ridiculous as it is that people can get emotionally invested in him as a time-travelling alien, but couldn't see themselves supporting something so unbelievable as a woman, the essence of the Doctor's character is very male. He's basically a bumbling old English gentleman, an Oxford don type, with no experience of the "real world". He's an old Englishman, out of place in time, from an aging, anachronistic civilisation obsessed with ritual that's desperate to cling to the power it no longer really has, and with a deep sense of guilt about the role he and his people have played in history. He's, intentionally or otherwise, an allegory for post-Imperialistic England and that class of "hero", and that is an extremely male role.

It would be a significant shift for him to become female, and that's no bad thing. It's better that someone take that challenge rather than ignore it and just say "he's female now, deal with it".

And, no, I don't see Tennant and Smith having been cast as having any real "sex symbol" reasoning behind them. There's a stronger argument for Tennant, I feel, as RTD was always a little more preoccupied with "sexing up" Doctor Who than Moffat seems to be, but Matt Smith's Doctor has always seemed inherently sexless and very awkward. The fact that people find him attractive doesn't mean that's the reason he's there. I also don't think that their youth plays all that much into there sex appeal, either, though I admit I don't tend to stray that far into "fandom".

I think we either get an unknown or, hopefully, Capaldi. If it's Capaldi, or any other actor of a similar age, I think it will be a short run, and back to a relative unknown. Just get a big name in there before the end of the 50th anniversary year, and have a year of old-fashioned Doctor Who stories built on intrigue, pseudo-scientific "logic" and problem-solving, with the Doctor being back to a sort of curmudgeonly uncle role to the companion.

It would help differentiate the new Doctor and their relationship with Clara from what came before, if nothing else.

[Vamp]

And, no, I don't see Tennant and Smith having been cast as having any real "sex symbol" reasoning behind them. There's a stronger argument for Tennant, I feel, as RTD was always a little more preoccupied with "sexing up" Doctor Who than Moffat seems to be, but Matt Smith's Doctor has always seemed inherently sexless and very awkward. The fact that people find him attractive doesn't mean that's the reason he's there. I also don't think that their youth plays all that much into there sex appeal, either, though I admit I don't tend to stray that far into "fandom".

I've seen that argument before and don't really seem much logic behind it. I know that's what Moffat says but since Matt Smith has taken the role there's been a direct reference to him having slept with the Virgin Queen (far more so than RTD' previous joke about the same matter), he's got married, referred to the evening as being his and River's business, very openly snogged women for no other reason than he wants to snog them, has openly enjoyed women flirting with him, been directly look upon as a sex object far more than Tennant was (where the love was a bit more plutonic) and admired Clara as a woman. Moffat's Doctor is directly acknolwedged not just as a romantic lead but as someone to be admired sexually, and was from the very start and bar the embarrasment over Rory and Amy (in which he acknowledged, admittedly it took a while, that two adults left to their own devices on their wedding night would have sex) there's been far more of an acknowledgment of sex, not just some kind of chaste love, with Matt Smith's Doctor. Which I can only see as a continuation of it coming in with Tennant. I don't buy for a second that Matt is less of a sexualised than Tennant. Rose and Martha had crushes/were in love with the Doctor in a far less sexual way than Amy, who directly wanted sex with this Doctor. The Doctor's awkwardabout it in the manner that teenage boys are awkrawd with women, but they're not sexless. He's excited in Day of the Moon at a woman actually flirting with him.

Edited August 3, 2013 by Vamp

[Hobo]

And, no, I don't see Tennant and Smith having been cast as having any real "sex symbol" reasoning behind them. There's a stronger argument for Tennant, I feel, as RTD was always a little more preoccupied with "sexing up" Doctor Who than Moffat seems to be, but Matt Smith's Doctor has always seemed inherently sexless and very awkward. The fact that people find him attractive doesn't mean that's the reason he's there. I also don't think that their youth plays all that much into it, either.

I agree. Most of the 'sexing up' was done by RTD. Smith is nearly a decade younger than David Tennant and if anything his Doctor is more like a sexless old alien than 'guy everyone falls in love with'.

[GhostMachine]

The problem with doing a female Doctor is, what if there's some sort of major backlash from fans when its announced? We'd end up with yet another single season Doctor......or one that doesn't even last that long, depending on how bad the reaction is.

Of course, there is a way out...which would also be a cop out: introduce the female Doctor in a special episode or season ender, and don't show the regeneration sequence. if the fans don't crap on the idea, do it as a flashback in the first episode of the next season. If they do crap on the idea, cast a new male Doctor and have it turn out the `female Doctor' is actually the Doctor with his mind transferred into someone else's body, and he eventually gets his real body back.

[Lint]

so after a few weeks of trying, my sister finally talked me into watching this. Currently on episode 8 of Christopher Eccelston as The Doctor, which is where Netflix starts. I'm starting to see the appeal of this show...

[Vamp]

This is a bit of news that could very possibly ruin any surprise about the 12th Doctor. It also could not. But as any of this goes, its more solid than anything else that's happened.

Supposedly bookies have stopped taking bets because they're certain its Peter Capaldi. The same happened with Matt Smith.

Edited August 3, 2013 by Vamp

[Skummy]

"Lots of planets have a Scotland!"

[edcq]

Misha Collins from Supernatural just tweeted "also, in totally unrelated news, i'll have a very exciting announcement tomorrow. Hint: it has something to do with the UK and phone booths." https://twitter.com/mishacollins/status/363709045716160512

[Benji]

Oh PLEASE let him be part of the show as a full time/regular thing.

[edcq]

It would make sense to hire him as the Doctor. Especially if they're going for a milestone hiring, since he'd be the first American to play the role.