The Doctor Who thread

[GoktimusPrime]

I've already seen people post intolerant comments online about how they're still upset that they've continued to recast the Doctor as anyone else but a White male.
I agree with Autocon; I don't care if the actor/actress is male, female, gender fluid, White, Black, Asian, purple... as long as they're good.

And quite frankly, I'm more concerned with the WRITERS. Jodie Whittaker didn't write "The Timeless Child." :/
Please please please please please have good writers!

[griffin]

I think the final Jodie Whittaker story was on tonight. I only noticed it on the tv guide this afternoon, and set the recorder for it, so haven't seen it yet... but I did hear that we now have to wait over a year to get the next new episode.
Are they out of ideas, or are they just unable to afford to make more than three episodes each year now?

I miss having seasons of 11-14 episodes like they had for first 12 seasons of the new era (even if it was only covering 3 months of the year), but after that 12th season ended on March 1st 2020 we are only getting the equivalent of one season (13 episodes) spread across almost 4 years (to Christmas 2023).
The series loses momentum and interest when it is spaced out that much.

[Paulbot]

You're not going to be happy to hear the next episodes in November next year (the 60th annniversay specials) will be on Disney+ instead of the ABC, ahead of the next full season in 2024.

I miss having seasons of 11-14 episodes like they had for first 12 seasons of the new era (even if it was only covering 3 months of the year), but after that 12th season ended on March 1st 2020 we are only getting the equivalent of one season (13 episodes) spread across almost 4 years (to Christmas 2023).

It's not that new a thing. Don't forget season 7 was split into 5 eps all airing in Sep 2012, a Xmas special in Dec, and then another 8 eps from the end of March through to June 2013

Or that after season 9's end in December 2015 Xmas special in 2015, there was no new episodes until the next Xmas in 2016 and then Season 10 started in April 2017.

Even the Tenth Doctor had a bunch of just 5 specials spread out from December 2008 through to January 2010

Season 12 finished airing in March 2020, when there was a worrying situation that even The Doctor couldn't avoid.

They did talk about making the Flux series shorter but spending more money on it.

[GoktimusPrime]

What the hell did I just watch?

[Autocon]

Yeah sad to see it go to Disney+. Will not catch any new episodes or the 60th anni episode.

Spoilers

The surprise reunion thing was nice. The ending was unexpected.

Didnt hate it. See where it takes us

[snaketales]

You reckon they'll try explain Susan away as an earlier bi-regeneration?

[GoktimusPrime]

I'm perfectly fine with bigeneration. What I'm more unhappy about is Sir Isaac Newton being played by a half Asian actor. I don't mean to be racist (I'm of Asian descent); but Sir Isaac Newton was White, and IMO he should've been played by a White actor.

I couldn't care less what ethnicity or gender etc. they cast for fictional characters; they're not real. But when it comes to people who were real, then IMO they should be played by actors and actresses who better resemble them. Changing the ethnic appearance of an actual person who lived in real life is a form of historical revisionism.

My favourite episode of the Thirteeth Doctor was Rosa, where Black actress Vinette Robinson played Rosa Parks, and Black actor Ray Sesay played Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Great. Or how about Tony Curran, the actor who played Vincent Van Gogh? His likeness to Van Gogh is so uncanny, that whenever I see him in other roles, I cannot help but see him as Vincent Van Gogh! But I really don't know why they cast a Brown man as Sir Isaac Newton. And don't even start me on "mavity." This is why I refused to watch the Netflix Cleopatra documentary where they cast a Black woman as Cleopatra.



Again, when it comes to fictional characters, I couldn't care less about the ethnic appearance of whom they cast. It's funny when I tell kids that Nick Fury was originally White, because they've grown up seeing Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury that they cannot imagine him as a White man! But please don't change the ethnic appearances of real life people. I was completely on board with the Doctor being a woman, and I'm perfectly fine with the Doctor being a Black Scotsman. The Doctor's not a real person, heck, he's not even human. I can get on board with bigeneration, because this is the biology of a fictitious alien... writers change that stuff all the time (Superman originally couldn't fly; he leapt tall buildings in a single bound).

I'm hoping that the show will later give an explanation for Brown Sir Isaac Newton; did the Doctor slip into a different universe?
I've also seen fan theories about the Fourteenth Doctor being destined to either become the Watcher or the Valeyard, but I personally think that they should just leave him alone. Let the character enjoy his retirement like the Meta Doctor has with Rose Tyler.

[GoktimusPrime]

Something that doesn't sit right with me when the Thirteenth Doctor regenerated into the Fourteenth was how her clothes changed. The Doctor's never been able to generate clothing out of thin air before. Why couldn't the Fourteenth Doctor have appeared wearing the Thirteenth's clothes? After all, she first appeared wearing the Twelfth Doctor's clothes (which were too big for her, being 16cm shorter than her previous self). Almost every other Doctor (and Time Lord) regenerates wearing their predecessor's apparel.

Which begs two questions:
1/ Why has no Time Lord ever regenerated clothing before?
2/ Why didn't the Doctor generate a second set of clothes when he bigenerated into the Fifteenth Doctor?

I actually quite like how the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors split their clothes amongst themselves. It makes sense; your body has just doubled, so your clothes are now divided between the two of you. Fourteen has no shoes and Fifteen has no trousers etc. (Fifteen got a better deal than when the Tenth Doctor spawned the Meta Doctor in the buff!) I like how they paid attention to this detail. Which just irritates me even more than they completely ignored this when Thirteen regenerated into Fourteen! Gah!


Most incarnations of the Doctor have made his/her first appearance wearing the clothes of his/her predecessor. Exceptions being:
* Eighth Doctor waking up naked in a morgue.
* Meta-Crisis Doctor generating naked (since he spawned from a spare hand of the Tenth Doctor).
And that's it. Either way, none of them created their own new clothes out of nothing.

[Paulbot]

A wizard did it. (The Celestial Toymaker)

Saw a theory that Mavity is going to be a recurring element like Bad Wolf, Torchwood, Saxon of RTDs earlier shows.

[DELTAprime]

Legit question. Did the first Doctor regenerate from anyone/thing?