The new female Dr Who – a fan’s analysis and suggestions.
The dust has finally started to settle and the general backlash of the casting of the first female Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, seems to have subsided somewhat in the few weeks since it was announced.
I will openly admit that I felt a kind of heart-sinking moment when it was first revealed. I know that this makes me seem like the keyboard warrior chauvinist that many have been accused of being, some rightfully so unfortunately. But for me it was a different sort of reaction based on fear, fear that I may lose a character that I’ve always had a deep affinity for. To paraphrase outgoing show boss Steven Moffat, the Doctor is a unique type of hero. He doesn’t fly a spaceship with lasers. Instead he arrives in a Police Box, a symbol of help arriving. The Doctor doesn’t carry a weapon, rather a screwdriver. The Doctor is not there to shoot it up, The Doctor is there to fix the problem. The Doctor is also a completely zany and fallible type of hero. A hero of immense genius that could work out how save the Universe countless times again and again but would then forget where the Tardis was parked. A special kind of hero who especially in the revamped version of the show had the qualities of a young child trapped in an adult body. The Doctor carried a deep sadness for all that he’d seen throughout his sizeable life span but would still enthuse for a special straw that made a fizzy drink taste better.
The Doctor is a hero to many, a formidable enemy to others but the alien from Gallifrey always had a heart capable of love and forgiveness for everyone he encountered. He was almost maternal in his nature, a character trait not often seen in a male hero and this is what causes me concern, not that it’s a woman taking on the role. In fact I think that Jodie Whittaker is a great actor and this new change of direction could be a shot in the arm for the franchise.
I have been a massive fan of the show since I was a small child in my Tardis which actually had a faulty chameleon switch that made it look like the cupboard under the stairs to all the non Time lords in my family, so I thought I’d list some of the things that I hope the new Show Boss Chris Chibnall avoids:
1) We don’t need a strong independent female Doctor.
Many of the supportive comments I have seen regarding Jodie Whittaker go along the lines of, “You go girl! Kick ass and show the boys how it’s done!”
Now to me that’s not the Doctor and if you want to see this type of character then you are not seeing the character the way that I do. I hope that the traditional route is taken. I hope that the Doctor still needs to rely on companions. The obvious choice is a complete gender role reversal with a male companion. This role needs to be written on a par with the recent batch of Tardis hitchhikers such as Amy Pond and Clara Oswald. Yes they will be in awe of the Doctor but not incapable of reasoning and acts of heroism themselves. To put a bumbling nitwit in this role would actually play into the internet trolls playbook of this casting choice being based on political correctness gone mad.
2) Let’s still be able to laugh at the Doctor.
Please don’t let the writers fall in the trap of fear of being accused of sexism. There’s a great episode where River Song (Alex Kingston) lands the Tardis in complete silence and states that the only reason that it makes the familiar sound was because The Doctor always leaves the handbrake on! Upon the announcement of a female Doctor being cast, a meme hit social media of a Tardis crashed into a wall with a joke about a female now driving it. I read with interest the amount of responses filled with fury at such a slur! My point here is that it’s a character and not a political statement. Let’s still embrace the silliness of the Doctor who isn’t infallible.
3) The Doctor is a new version and not a new character completely.
With every regeneration of the character we see a new personality and it’s fun to see what new habit or hobby that new version develops. With McCoy we had the spoon playing, with Troughton the recorder and Capaldi had his electric guitar. It would be a nice touch if she utilised some of these personal character quirks, even if it’s just to offer Jelly Babies like Tom Baker did. I’d also love to see her use some Venusian Aikido moves that were so deftly used by the third Doctor.
4. Do we need to see a love scene?
Doctor Who has traditionally always been a type of asexual character but in the revamped version this has changed somewhat. There was definitely love shared between the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) and Rose (Billie Piper) but that was more emotional than sexual and of course the Doctor has since gained a wife in River Song. The new version of the show has also quite rightly introduced some much needed diversity with characters from many different ethnic backgrounds and with varying sexual preferences. I’m of the opinion that the new Doctor doesn’t need to have a love interest but I feel it’ll be too hard to resist. How about this for a compromise? An episode with River Song where The Doctor hides her identity from her wife for fear that she will not still love her if River knew the truth . The end reveal is River being that she knew it was the Doctor from the start and will always love the Timelord no matter what.
All in all I’m actually looking forward to this new season as is my 11 year old son. We both identify a unique type of hero in the Doctor and it’s kind of our thing to sit and watch the show and debate what will happen in future episodes after our Saturday evening viewing sessions. I’m going in with an open mind and believe that life’s to short not to give things a chance. As Matt Smiths incarnation once said, “We’re all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?””