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Doctor Who
BenRG:
I quite liked it. Ms Whittaker is clearly going to have to grow into the role as all new lead performers must but, generally, it was a workman like episode that makes me think that the new production team know what they're doing.
I really appreciate one thing: No overt gender politics. The casting team and script-writers are just using performers from multiple ethnicities in a believable way, reminding us that all humans have common experiences, feelings, qualities and flaws. Similarly, we don't have a 'Woman Doctor' but The Doctor, the 'crazy old man in a magical blue box' who just happens to be in a female body this time around.
One critic has lambasted the episode for not emphasising Ms Whittaker's 'femininity and sexuality' more and that honestly made me wonder just what he was expecting from the show.
@jwhouk,
(click to show/hide)That ending was significant as it reminded us that, in Doctor Who, companions die all the time. There is no magical plot shield protecting them. I also suspect that it means that, when The Doctor gets the TARDIS back, she's going to that hunter's homeworld and altering their history a tad because no species hurts people she admires without consequence. Besides, there are all those 'trophies' needing a rescuer.
That may be the season finale, BTW, as I suspect that the Search for the TARDIS is going to be this year's running meta-theme.
JoeCovenant:
--- Quote from: BenRG on 07 Oct 2018, 23:51 ---
That ending was significant as it reminded us that, ...
--- End quote ---
Haven't seen it yet - but don;t think that was quite ENOUGH of a spoiler there, Ben.... :(
Ignominious:
Quite enjoyed that and not just because I recognise all of the locations that they used.
BenRG:
FWIW, the way I would have handled it if a requirement from above was a female Doctor would have been to have either Georgia Moffett's Jenny or Jenna Coleman's Clara find out about the Doctor's death (maybe the TARDIS seeks them out because of some homing beacon effect that can be handwaved into existence with a single line of technobabble). Deciding that the universe needs The Doctor, they take up the fallen hero's mantle and name.
Instead of thus risking backlash from established fans, you instead have the possibility of a true 'new Doctor', with her own views and standards of behaviour who is, nonetheless, trying to be true to the original owner of the shoes she is trying to fill.
Clara is, of course, functionally immortal due to Twelve's stupid messing with space and time and Jenny, as a Gallifreyan, probably has the full twelve regenerations. So, in both cases, it is possible to recreate the 'different performer, same character' feature.
Ignominious:
I like the backlash from the "established fans".
Mind you, a lot of long running fans seem to have given their seal of approval to this latest incarnation so I think those "established fans" might not be the commanding force they think they are.
Several retcons have already established that the number of regenerations aren't really set in stone and The Master, at least, had already shown that Gallifreyan's aren't tied to a particular gender.
I think that inviting this backlash is quite important in allowing The Doctor and the show to reflect the prevailing social trend that these anachronistic opinions aren't really worth respecting and allowing fans to effectively dictate terms to creators shouldn't be a thing. When I see kids get excited about The Doctor being a woman, I know the show is serving a better audience than if they were appeasing a bunch of middle-aged windbags.
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