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Quatermass

Sergeant-at-Arms
Dec 7, 2010
7,736
2,950
#1
So...given that the new series, with a female Doctor, is almost upon us...well, here's a thread for discussing it.
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#2
I'll probably wait until it's on DVD. One thing that strikes me though - is it right to say "the female Doctor"? The Doctor is the Doctor. The Doctor is an alien, so maybe gender is more fluid with Time Lords. While the Doctor has had, up until now, the outer appearance of a male, does that even mean anything? Has it ever meant anything, given that this is a huge change in the back story?
 

Quatermass

Sergeant-at-Arms
Dec 7, 2010
7,736
2,950
#3
My calling the Doctor a female Doctor is really more to do with the actor...well, actress portraying the character than the fact that the Doctor is female. The main thing that's going to be problematic is dealing with gender pronouns where they relate to all or several of their incarnations. Ugh, why can't the English language be more like Japanese and have more gender-neutral terms, huh? I have no personal problem with the Doctor being a woman (with the ability of the actress in question being more of an issue than the fact that there is an ACTRESS playing the Doctor, and that has been the same way since I first heard of Jodie Whittaker's casting) or being able to change genders between regenerations, it's just the language used to describe the character is going to get awfully confusing.

Anyway, they debuted the new title sequence with the second episode, and is it me, or does this seem reminiscent of the very first howlaround titles they used when the series debuted back in '63? Like, seriously, if Bernard Lodge had CGI, this is what he'd have done. Similar pacing, almost similar style of imagery. Here's the two for comparison...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lUz0xU5d9g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjDFvoRNpOM

Hell, you sort of have a similar lineup to the original Hartnell era with four in the TARDIS, and I think Chibnall did this deliberately. You don't get that very often after Barbara and Ian leave in The Chase, not counting the UNIT ensemble stories: you have Ben, Polly and Jamie for four stories (not counting Ben and Polly's departure story, anyway), and for most of Peter Davison's first season, you have Nyssa, Tegan and Adric.
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
3,650
Cardiff, Wales
#4
I was referring to people in general using the phrase "female Doctor". :) I agree, it's going to be a headache to try and stay gender neutral. Suffice to say that it really shouldn't matter as in the past, the Doctor has tended to be a non-sexual being. Companions have fallen in love with the Doctor, and he has cared very deeply for them, but it has never been a sexual thing from his point of view (unless I'm forgetting something). After all, the original Doctor that we came to know, appeared to be an old man (yes, the Doctor is ancient). I don't think any of his companions saw him as anything other than that. He has had incarnations of older men and younger men, but inside he has always been an ancient alien being.
 

Quatermass

Sergeant-at-Arms
Dec 7, 2010
7,736
2,950
#5
Tonyblack said:
I was referring to people in general using the phrase "female Doctor". :) I agree, it's going to be a headache to try and stay gender neutral. Suffice to say that it really shouldn't matter as in the past, the Doctor has tended to be a non-sexual being. Companions have fallen in love with the Doctor, and he has cared very deeply for them, but it has never been a sexual thing from his point of view (unless I'm forgetting something). After all, the original Doctor that we came to know, appeared to be an old man (yes, the Doctor is ancient). I don't think any of his companions saw him as anything other than that. He has had incarnations of older men and younger men, but inside he has always been an ancient alien being.
He did have some romantic moments, true, but on the whole, you're mostly correct. The Doctor is not really a sexual being.

That being said, it's hinted at the end of the Eighth Doctor novel The Dying Days that Bernice Summerfield beds him, though she was the one who initiated it. And keep in mind that, as long as you ignore that mess about the Looms and the family of the Other from the New Adventures, the Doctor does have a granddaughter.
 

Quatermass

Sergeant-at-Arms
Dec 7, 2010
7,736
2,950
#6
Incidentally, I'm halfway through watching The Ghost Monument, and frankly, as far as Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor is concerned, I'm absolutely sold on her being the Doctor. I don't know yet whether she will reach the heights of David Tennant or Tom Baker or Sylvester McCoy (my personal favourite Doctor), but while her character didn't seem quite pinned down in The Woman Who Fell to Earth, I only needed to watch half of this episode to know, she IS the Doctor. She's got the authority down, the argumentative part down, and the compassionate part down. And the companions seem to be one of the better lots.

Of course, I'm still not sold on Chris Chibnall as showrunner. The production values seem much better than before, but I want to wait to watch the current series before I make any judgement calls on the story quality. Oddly enough, the ones I'm looking forward to most are Arachnids in the UK and Demons of the Punjab. Not so sure about Rosa, but that's because I'm uncomfortable watching stuff to do with segregation. Then again, Doctor Who has been fairly firm about taking a stand against xenophobia since the beginning, since at least the first Dalek story...
 

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