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The recent female Dr. Who: do you have an opinion?

Started by CarlD., December 14, 2018, 09:30:52 AM

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CarlD.

It caused quite a stir in the fandom and outside it when it was announced the latest incarnation of Dr. Who would be as a woman. Both sides had some valid points and observations, IMO. So did the results live up or down to expectations and fears? Has its been entertaining, much ado about nothing or something else?
"I once heard an evolutionary biologist talk about how violent simians are; they are horrifically violent. He then went on to add that he was really hopeful about humanity because "we\'re monkeys who manage *not* to kill each other most of the time.""

Libertarianism: All the Freedom money can buy

Ratman_tf

Don't care. I only know about the female Doctor because my brother watches the show, and so I get a lot of second-hand exposure.
I actually haven't seen any of the new episodes. Have they been broadcast in America yet?
The notion of an exclusionary and hostile RPG community is a fever dream of zealots who view all social dynamics through a narrow keyhole of structural oppression.
-Haffrung

CarlD.

As I understand those episodes are aired on BBC America, yeah.

But if you didn't care about the topic and don't watch the show, why take the time to post, might I ask?
"I once heard an evolutionary biologist talk about how violent simians are; they are horrifically violent. He then went on to add that he was really hopeful about humanity because "we\'re monkeys who manage *not* to kill each other most of the time.""

Libertarianism: All the Freedom money can buy

Bedrockbrendan

I saw the season, but still have to watch the most recent two episodes (so I can't comment on those). I thought she made a great doctor. To me it felt like a return to form for the show in a lot ways. In terms of the political messaging, Doctor Who, especially Nu Who, has long been a progressive show with notable LBGT elements to it. I have to say though, most of the messaging to me this season, felt more in line with Russel T Davies era or Torchwood, than 2018-style politics. Obviously relevant political issues came up (there was a clear Donald Trump stand-in for example, and there were two episodes dealing with racism/ethnic conflict in history. But the episode I expected to have a predictable political message (the Witchfinders) really surprised me with its nuance. If anything that episode felt both anti-alt right and anti-SJW to me. I think Chibnall is being very careful in how he threads his message, but I don't believe it is as inline with 2018 politics as the BBC might be expecting him to provide (but then I don't really know the politics of the BBC that well, so I could be wrong here). I think it is more, classic Doctor Who style progressivism. But overall, my feeling was the stories were good, the political messaging was no more heavy handed than in the past, and generally worked well for the stories they were doing. My only major concern with political messages in shows is when they undermine the story. People should watch for themselves and decide though. That is just my take.

Ratman_tf

Quote from: CarlD.;1068730As I understand those episodes are aired on BBC America, yeah.

But if you didn't care about the topic and don't watch the show, why take the time to post, might I ask?

Ah, I didn't elaborate. My bad.
I don't care that the Dr. is a woman. Not that I don't care about the topic at all.
The notion of an exclusionary and hostile RPG community is a fever dream of zealots who view all social dynamics through a narrow keyhole of structural oppression.
-Haffrung

CarlD.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;1068762I saw the season, but still have to watch the most recent two episodes (so I can't comment on those). I thought she made a great doctor. To me it felt like a return to form for the show in a lot ways. In terms of the political messaging, Doctor Who, especially Nu Who, has long been a progressive show with notable LBGT elements to it. I have to say though, most of the messaging to me this season, felt more in line with Russel T Davies era or Torchwood, than 2018-style politics. Obviously relevant political issues came up (there was a clear Donald Trump stand-in for example, and there were two episodes dealing with racism/ethnic conflict in history. But the episode I expected to have a predictable political message (the Witchfinders) really surprised me with its nuance. If anything that episode felt both anti-alt right and anti-SJW to me. I think Chibnall is being very careful in how he threads his message, but I don't believe it is as inline with 2018 politics as the BBC might be expecting him to provide (but then I don't really know the politics of the BBC that well, so I could be wrong here). I think it is more, classic Doctor Who style progressivism. But overall, my feeling was the stories were good, the political messaging was no more heavy handed than in the past, and generally worked well for the stories they were doing. My only major concern with political messages in shows is when they undermine the story. People should watch for themselves and decide though. That is just my take.

Thanks, I'll have to check out that episode (The Witchfinders?), sounds good. That's a tough line to walk. From what I'm hearing the Rule 64 isn't being pushed a big deal either for the audience or the character, just a natural part of being a Time Lord which makes allot of sense to me.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1068775Ah, I didn't elaborate. My bad.
I don't care that the Dr. is a woman. Not that I don't care about the topic at all.

Oh! My mistake, sorry about that.
"I once heard an evolutionary biologist talk about how violent simians are; they are horrifically violent. He then went on to add that he was really hopeful about humanity because "we\'re monkeys who manage *not* to kill each other most of the time.""

Libertarianism: All the Freedom money can buy

jeff37923

Quote from: CarlD.;1068495It caused quite a stir in the fandom and outside it when it was announced the latest incarnation of Dr. Who would be as a woman. Both sides had some valid points and observations, IMO. So did the results live up or down to expectations and fears? Has its been entertaining, much ado about nothing or something else?

I think that they should have asked Helen Mirren to play the role instead of their current forgettable choice.
"Meh."

Omega

I like the actress they picked. But unfortunately shes been given some of the worst stories to act in. She has the potential, but like with Voyager, the scripts keep making her unlikable.
But I despise the SJW+Feminist Agenda permeating every episode so far. And this is not even just guessing there is an agenda. The showrunner has flat out stated that the new Dr Who would be all about this. And so far it has. Sometimes only a little. Some times near wall to wall. And now they have announced no Christmas Special this year. Instead it will be a New Years special because no one liked those Christmas Specials and its sooooo hard to write one.

As for the Doctor being a woman. If BBC and the showrunner werent being SJW idiots at the time this would have gone over alot better. I wish it had happened earlier.

Snowman0147

Clownfish TV is already showing that the new Doctor Who is losing its audience and it is becoming a massive flop.

danskmacabre

I don't care that Dr Who is a woman.
In fact it was stated in a very early episode of the ORIGINAL Dr Who series that the Doctor could swap genders.

I don't particularly like that actress (Jodie Whittaker), she's not a very good actress and I don't like her style as an actress either.
She does not portray that quirky character that the Doctor should have very well.
I would have preferred Tilda Swinton for example who is a great actress, she looks unusual too and can play Quirky weird characters really well.
Tilda would have been an awesome Doctor.

An example of a great gender swap was swapping the Master for Missy.. She was an AWESOME Master (Don't know the actress' name).

The Dr Who series in general went downhill rapidly from about season 5 anyway.
Mainly as it had a lot of politics forced into it which I thought was poorly thought out, quite biased and just generally not entertaining.
A big shame though as I liked the actors Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi and there WERE the occasional decent episodes here and there.

HappyDaze

I totally lost interest a few episodes into Matt Smith. I've heard nothing that makes me want to give it another look, but it's not because the Doctor is female; it's because I just started finding the stories very uninteresting, predictable, and repetitive.

Stephen Tannhauser

I fell out of NuWho fandom even earlier; I never even made it through David Tennant's first season, and Christopher Eccleston's lone season I finished pretty much solely out of a sense of give-it-a-chance-to-find-its-feet obligatory patience.  This despite (or perhaps because of?) being an old-school Who fan from Jon Pertwee's days.

I think the thing that lost me was less the politics (though these days that would have aggravated me no end) as the simple feel of the show. From the very beginning of Russell Davies' run it was obvious they were trying for this febrile, fast-paced oh-so-modern style of storytelling -- fast cuts, exciting sudden zooms, everpresent music, over-the-top sets, constant witty banter -- that just didn't feel like the WHO I remembered and loved. Then came the slow realization that the showrunners had decided to go the BUFFY route of concentrating more on the inter-character dynamics than on the SF plots, which again made it feel more like a soap opera and less like an SF adventure show (especially given how many of those deep-focus character arcs wound up being almost melodramatically tragic). My final attempt to rejoin the show in Peter Capaldi's first season fell down after it became clear (with "Kill the Moon") that they weren't even trying to think of clever SF stories in their own right anymore; they were creating situations solely for the sake of trying to hit their characters with as many emotional "Wham!" moments as possible, and I'm one of those annoying sorts who just can't get emotionally moved by character troubles if I can't believe the plot they're in.

I thought very little of the obvious real-world politics behind casting a female actor in the role, but would have been willing to give it a shake if Chibnall, Whittaker et al hadn't immediately confirmed my worst fears about their motives. Nothing I've read about the episodes since suggests I've missed anything. Even the one Series 11 episode that came close to the "real spirit" of DOCTOR WHO, "Kerblam!", felt a little too heavy-handed and clumsy to really entertain.
Better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. -- Mark Twain

STR 8 DEX 10 CON 10 INT 11 WIS 6 CHA 3

nour

#12
Quote from: CarlD.;1068495It caused quite a stir in the fandom and outside it when it was announced the latest incarnation of Dr. Who would be as a woman. Both sides had some valid points and observations, IMO. So did the results live up or down to expectations and fears? Has its been entertaining, much ado about nothing or something else Lucky Patcher 9Apps VidMate?

I'm against this policy, it's just attention seeking catastrophic idea.
M. Who is a man Ghostbusters are men, Superman is white.
Wonderwoman is a woman, Blakcwidow is a woman, Blade is a man of color.

If they wanted simply a female as main character they would create simply another story, like with Superman and Supergirl.
But NOOO, they want to ruin the thing that's all.

Omega

Well I held out some small hope. But Chibnal and Whittaker pretty much quashed that. Whittaker I think could have been fine for the role had the been given better scripts to work with. But some of her media statements leave some doubt. Then later statements left alot of doubt. She did not go as over the top as Larson did for Captain Marvel. But its still self sabotage when you accuse the original series as "celebrating the male gaze". Obviously shes never actually watched the original.

Past that the stories were heavy on agendas. A few were brick to the head heavy on agendas.

And of course no Christmas episode.

CarlD.

'male gaze'? In the original series? The Hell made her say that. What was said about Cpt Marvel. My good friend saw that recently and loved it. I was planning on seeing it this week, maybe see "Us" and make a day of it.
"I once heard an evolutionary biologist talk about how violent simians are; they are horrifically violent. He then went on to add that he was really hopeful about humanity because "we\'re monkeys who manage *not* to kill each other most of the time.""

Libertarianism: All the Freedom money can buy