FTA-TV Doctor Who

[Mitchell Madness]

if it is written well, I have no issue with the casting. for example, I did not like the casting of capaldi early on, but they wrote the regeneration really well, and had him actually disliking the regeneration.

if they just have the doctor come in and be all "im a woman now, woohoo, deal with it" it will not go over well

 

[Bostonian]

I started watching in the '70s. That makes my investment bigger than yours!

But seriously. It's a TV show. A commercial product. It will change with society. It doesn't owe you anything.


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I started watching it in the 70's too. It's success was built around the Dr being a mix of eclectic British male traits.

Zero need to change that winning formula after so long.

 

[Chief]

Also:

Daleks, like Darth Vader, have never been very scary.

 

[iBeng]

Meh, doesnt bother me what they do with the Doctor, sex wise. I didnt watch the last season, just couldnt engage with it anymore. Might give this a go though.

 

[Ice-Wolf]

Daleks, like Darth Vader, have never been very scary.

They were to people in the early 60's.

Cyberman are a far more terrifying a concept though.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

They were to people in the early 60's.

Cyberman are a far more terrifying a concept though.

its the human aspect. I cant remember what documentary it was in, however, it basically said that the more human something foreign in films look, the less scary they are.

 

[Vooligan]

I started watching in the '70s. That makes my investment bigger than yours!

But seriously. It's a TV show. A commercial product. It will change with society. It doesn't owe you anything.


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You're right - it owes me nothing, nor do I owe it to the the series to agree with the changes unconditionally. I don't want my post to sound entitled. However, I am entitled to my opinion, and I think I outlined that pretty clearly in my previous post.

 

[Bostonian]

Also:

Daleks, like Darth Vader, have never been very scary.

Agreed.

Where as Chinese ventriloquist dolls named Mr Sin are scary as all *!

 

[Vooligan]

Also:

Daleks, like Darth Vader, have never been very scary.

Completely agree. Whilst they may both be two of my favourite villains of al time, they're far from scary.

I always found the Cybermen to be far more menacing than the Daleks. Patrick Troughton's Tomb Of The Cybermen used to terrify me as kid. Brilliant episode.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

He's a quality and well respected actor, some of them actually worry about the integrity of their career, it's not always about the $ like most of the American ones sell out for.

Doesn't mean famous actors work for unders. By design or luck Doctor Who recasts its characters every few years. This keeps wages down.

being a 'Trekkie' is probably the most unappealing and embarrassingly nerdy thing ever seen in an adult

No, Doctor Who is definitely worse.

Not really. It's the BBC.

They love to push their social/gender politics any chance they get.

BBC definitely cares about its TV ratings. What "social/gender politics" are Strictly Come Dancing and The Apprentice pushing?

 

[captainMyCaptain]

There is certainly an element of a gimmick in the casting and seems an almost desperate attempt to try and turn around the ratings in the uk where it has lost over 2mil viewers after the last couple of years. But then again doctor who has always been about gimmicks be it the tardis, k-9 or regenerations.

 

[Vooligan]

There is certainly an element of a gimmick in the casting and seems an almost desperate attempt to try and turn around the ratings in the uk where it has lost over 2mil viewers after the last couple of years. But then again doctor who has always been about gimmicks be it the tardis, k-9 or regenerations.

I'm not sure that Regenerations and the Tardis are gimmicks. They're a core part of the show. If you don't like those aspects, then I guess you don't really like the show.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

One of the big themes of the final episode was the Doctor's inability to save Bill, harking back to the Master's earlier taunts about all the companions he'd failed to save.

This prompted me to think.. how many has he actually lost over the years?

The only three who I remember actually dying are Adric, Clara and Bill. Rose was stuck in an alternative dimension, though she managed to cross back fairly regularly whenever required in later episodes. Donna had to have her memory wiped, after becoming the Doctor/Donna, which almost fried her brain.

Most of the earlier companions left of their own free will. Many of the female companions fell in love, and decided to stay with their new boyfriends - particularly in the earlier years. They wouldn't get away with that storyline today. Sarah Jane Smith was dumped unceremoniously back in a random London street.

Can anyone remember any other of the Doctor's companions who met an untimely demise?

Sara Kingdom, despite (I think) only being in one story is usually considered a companion; along with the previously mentioned two-story Katarina.

Peri's fate is a little unclear, it seemed as though she died but the idea the matrix was manipulated to show that is a fairly strong one.

 

[yakka man]

It will be strange, and I don't like overt political correctness. That being said, she was very good on Broadchurch, she really anchored the show. I just hope she can do humour well, because the doctor's new situation will be surreal and full of possibilities.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

It will be strange, and I don't like overt political correctness. That being said, she was very good on Broadchurch, she really anchored the show. I just hope she can do humour well, because the doctor's new situation will be surreal and full of possibilities.

This is the bit that worries me. Not that woman was cast, but was a woman cast for the sake of casting a woman.
If so, and it seems like Missy was a test run for whether people would accept it, then we could be in for a horrible time. If not, then good luck to her. The fact that Chibnall has said he he always wanted to be a woman suggests the casting was (in part) for the wrong reason and the show may head down that path.

Hopefully the writing takes no real notice of it and the Doctor just does what the Doctor does.

 

[Bostonian]

There is certainly an element of a gimmick in the casting and seems an almost desperate attempt to try and turn around the ratings in the uk where it has lost over 2mil viewers after the last couple of years. But then again doctor who has always been about gimmicks be it the tardis, k-9 or regenerations.

Probably 2 million female viewers when they went away from the Tennant/Smith years.

Capaldi had a head great for radio.

 

[sherb]

I've been watching since the Pertwee days.

I reckon it's a great decision and I hope she does well.

 

[Lethality]

This might get me watching. I find it a hard show to get into, because it's been going for so long I guess.

A lot of this controversy is probably manufactured. It's not hard to just go on the internet and find stupid comments.

 

[Illinois Nazi]

Sydney Newman was pushing the BBC to make the Seventh Doctor a female back in the 80's, it isn't some new 'social agenda'.

They could have cast a goldfish and it would have been better than Sylvester McCoy.

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

I'm seriously ambivalent to this casting. I just don't see the point of it beyond "hey look what we can do" at which point it becomes more gimmick than anything else. Unnecessary and unnecessarily provocative.

I don't know her work, so I don't know how good she'll be.

Not that impressed, but not turning it off or anything yet.

I have a bigger concern though, and that's Chibnall himself.

Before taking over Moffat wrote some of the best episodes of the revival with things like Empty Child/Doctor Dances, Blink, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead and even Girl in the Fireplace. Was happy when he took over and have been by and large happy with what has come after.

Chibnall on the other hand has only one really decent episode that I would number among my favourites - Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (and that's just a light romp). Beyond that 42, Hungry Earth/Cold Blood and The Power of Three have all been pretty... meh. Not particularly inspiring for me.

Throw in the challenge of navigating such a huge change to the basic foundation of the show and I really don't know how good it will be, female doctor aside.

 

[yakka man]

I'm seriously ambivalent to this casting. I just don't see the point of it beyond "hey look what we can do" at which point it becomes more gimmick than anything else. Unnecessary and unnecessarily provocative.

I don't know her work, so I don't know how good she'll be.

Not that impressed, but not turning it off or anything yet.

I have a bigger concern though, and that's Chibnall himself.

Before taking over Moffat wrote some of the best episodes of the revival with things like Empty Child/Doctor Dances, Blink, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead and even Girl in the Fireplace. Was happy when he took over and have been by and large happy with what has come after.

Chibnall on the other hand has only one really decent episode that I would number among my favourites - Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (and that's just a light romp). Beyond that 42, Hungry Earth/Cold Blood and The Power of Three have all been pretty... meh. Not particularly inspiring for me.

Throw in the challenge of navigating such a huge change to the basic foundation of the show and I really don't know how good it will be, female doctor aside.

Chibnall did Broadchurch in which the first season was absolutely excellent. Jodie Whittaker was on the show which would've had a role in her casting.

 

[Ichabod Noodle]

Chibnall did Broadchurch in which the first season was absolutely excellent. Jodie Whittaker was on the show which would've had a role in her casting.

Watched an episode or two, couldn't really get into it, can't remember her specifically, because I wasn't really looking for her.

It's another reason I have concerns about him taking over the show running. Broadchurch, for me, is no recommendation.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

I thought the show lost its way after the David Tenant era and I stopped watching it. However, this last season of Capaldi was very good and I got back into it because there was some terrific revisits of former story lines featured. The problem with this show has been more with the writing than who's playing the Doctor or who the companions are etc. The guy who has been writing the episodes for the last ?10 years has now left the show, and the recent good eps were his his last hurrah it seems. Shame he didn't have that attitude earlier. So with a female Doctor and new writers who know where the next season will take us.

I will keep an open mind as to how it will play out, after all, it's only a TV show, not life and death. If I don't like the new Doctor I won't watch it, just as I have done in the past.

 

[Chief]

Completely agree. Whilst they may both be two of my favourite villains of al time, they're far from scary.

I always found the Cybermen to be far more menacing than the Daleks. Patrick Troughton's Tomb Of The Cybermen used to terrify me as kid. Brilliant episode.

Speaking of which, i spent some time today on a dozen of these...

A friend bought the miniatures game and we're painting some figures up for him.


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[Warsaw]

It actually is considering the concept of Time Lords changing genders was only shoe-horned in by Moffat/Gaiman a few seasons back to set this up. He travelled the Galaxy with a Time Lady for 3 seasons back in the 70s and there was no suggestion then that either of them would flip genders somewhere down the line.

This is a really thin argument where you're talking not even about an actual rule but some assumed theory from television in the 70s that you're asking to still be applicable to a modern television show in 2017. Every sci-fi show ever, heck any show, consistently breaks their own 'rules' (again use that term lightly here) with ease in order to service a story. That's kind of how television works.

The very idea of a female doctor should actually open up the show creatively, make for better stories, different character beats, rather than retreading the same things over and over again. The possibility of that should be welcomed, especially if you felt like the show has lost a step or two in recent years.

The one saying that they're 'done with the show' or that they'll never watch it again is some self-righteous bullshit. Not going to pretend I'm some devout fan of the show - I've only seen the new series and think it's fine occasionally great - but isn't a central theme of it inclusiveness? To reject that so brazenly seems completely at odds of what the show is at its heart.