A Female Doctor: It Doesn't Matter (Matt Smith)

AlbacomAlbacom Posts: 34,578
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If that what he really thinks (and I'm not sure it is), then he doesn't really understand the show. He did say before he started that he never watched it, So is he underestimating how passionate fans are feeling about this? Is he trying to prepare us for the worst?

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s7/doctor-who/news/a499799/doctor-who-star-matt-smith-on-a-female-doctor-it-doesnt-matter.html
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  • Benjamin SiskoBenjamin Sisko Posts: 1,921
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    Well he can't exactly say it shouldn't be a woman, can he? Especially if Twelve does turn out to be a woman. Then he would have alienated a good proportion of Eleven fans from giving the new Doctor a go.

    The question itself has been thrown about so much, he's probably been told to give a diplomatic answer!
  • DiscoPDiscoP Posts: 5,920
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    To be honest I'm starting to warm to the idea myself. Having seem the amount of racism, ageism, homophobia and a million other different prejudices that have been paraded around these forums of late I would want to associate myself with such bigoted, knuckle dragging neanderthals so bring it on I say!
  • 2FS2FS Posts: 8,679
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    DiscoP wrote: »
    To be honest I'm starting to warm to the idea myself. Having seem the amount of racism, ageism, homophobia and a million other different prejudices that have been paraded around these forums of late I would want to associate myself with such bigoted, knuckle dragging neanderthals so bring it on I say!

    Poor Neanderthal, always discriminated against :cry:
  • Shawn_LunnShawn_Lunn Posts: 9,353
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    Matt's entitled to his opinion much as the next person but it won't be a female Doctor though.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,003
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    Shawn_Lunn wrote: »
    Matt's entitled to his opinion much as the next person but it won't be a female Doctor though.

    This. And just because you happen to disagree doesn't mean that he doesn't understand the fandom or that there's any point in bringing up that he never watched the show before he was cast. Especially as he has watched the show (both classic and nuWho after he was cast/before he started playing) and becamea fan himself. It's not like he has any power over the decision of who will be cast anyway. Also doesn't seem to be completely serious in that interview. And anyway Moffat casting the next Doctor as a woman is highly unlikely at this point.
  • KapellmeisterKapellmeister Posts: 41,322
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    wizzywick wrote: »
    If that what he really thinks (and I'm not sure it is), then he doesn't really understand the show. He did say before he started that he never watched it, So is he underestimating how passionate fans are feeling about this? Is he trying to prepare us for the worst?

    http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s7/doctor-who/news/a499799/doctor-who-star-matt-smith-on-a-female-doctor-it-doesnt-matter.html

    I agree. It just makes him sound ignorant, tbh.
  • AlbacomAlbacom Posts: 34,578
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    This. And just because you happen to disagree doesn't mean that he doesn't understand the fandom or that there's any point in bringing up that he never watched the show before he was cast. Especially as he has watched the show (both classic and nuWho after he was cast/before he started playing) and becamea fan himself. It's not like he has any power over the decision of who will be cast anyway. Also doesn't seem to be completely serious in that interview. And anyway Moffat casting the next Doctor as a woman is highly unlikely at this point.

    I'm perfectly entitled to bring up any aspect of Matt's role, including whether or not he watched the show before he was cast. If i was given a job as something I wasn't familiar with I would also research it before and during I started the job. If he wanted to give a diplomatic answer he could have just said "Oh I'm sure Steven Moffatt will select someone fabulous" rather than say "It doesn't matter if it's a woman." That to me suggests that while he has watched some old episodes, he never really got why fans love it so much. And if me not wanting a female doctor makes me a bigot (although why I haven't a clue) then so be it.
  • saladfingers81saladfingers81 Posts: 11,301
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    Matt couldn't win. If he had said no he would have been branded as a sexist by some the more mindless and vociferous social media thought police. It won't happen.

    Also Disco! Please! I understand your frustration based on some posts/posters but a vote against a female doctor isn't a vote for bigotry. Not for most people anyway.
  • Benjamin SiskoBenjamin Sisko Posts: 1,921
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    It just makes him sound ignorant, tbh.

    And if Matt had said the Doctor should never be a woman, someone else would have said this exact same statement.
  • DiscoPDiscoP Posts: 5,920
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    Matt couldn't win. If he had said no he would have been branded as a sexist by some the more mindless and vociferous social media thought police. It won't happen.

    Also Disco! Please! I understand your frustration based on some posts/posters but a vote against a female doctor isn't a vote for bigotry. Not for most people anyway.

    Sorry, it was my miscommunication by venting my frustrations in the wrong thread. I wasn't meaning to suggest that people who don't want a woman in the role are bigots but rather that I was questioning my own closed mind to the idea, based on what I've read from some other posters who have rather closed minds to various other issues to do with casting.

    Personally I would find it challenging if a woman were cast in the role, but perhaps I should be challenged just as those who don't want to see a non Caucasian actor cast should be challenged.

    As Matt says, the Doctor is an alien - so in that sense - it doesn't matter, besides he's hardly the first Doctor to say it. I think Tom was the first and Colin also agrees.
  • tomwozheretomwozhere Posts: 1,081
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    He's said the best thing he can. He couldn't have said the role could never be played by a woman or he'd come across awfully. Just leave the poor man alone.
  • AlbacomAlbacom Posts: 34,578
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    DiscoP wrote: »
    Sorry, it was my miscommunication by venting my frustrations in the wrong thread. I wasn't meaning to suggest that people who don't want a woman in the role are bigots but rather that I was questioning my own closed mind to the idea, based on what I've read from some other posters who have rather closed minds to various other issues to do with casting.

    Personally I would find it challenging if a woman were cast in the role, but perhaps I should be challenged just as those who don't want to see a non Caucasian actor cast should be challenged.

    As Matt says, the Doctor is an alien - so in that sense - it doesn't matter, besides he's hardly the first Doctor to say it. I think Tom was the first and Colin also agrees.

    I have no problem with any actor of any colur being cast, as long as they're fab! But they must be male!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,248
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    I'll say it again - it doesn't matter who and what the next person is and how society classes them, they just have to be THE Doctor.
  • AlbacomAlbacom Posts: 34,578
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    tomwozhere wrote: »
    He's said the best thing he can. He couldn't have said the role could never be played by a woman or he'd come across awfully. Just leave the poor man alone.

    It's the fact he said "It doesn't matter" that annoys me. If he had said "A female doctor would be interesting" then it wouldn't have bothered me. He should have chosen his words better.
  • AlbacomAlbacom Posts: 34,578
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    I'll say it again - it doesn't matter who and what the next person is and how society classes them, they just have to be THE Doctor.

    As long as he's male.
  • DiscoPDiscoP Posts: 5,920
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    wizzywick wrote: »
    It's the fact he said "It doesn't matter" that annoys me. If he had said "A female doctor would be interesting" then it wouldn't have bothered me. He should have chosen his words better.

    But if you rad the whole quote in context it doesn't sound like that:
    He's an alien, or she's an alien, it doesn't matter. The doctor is a complete alien. It's why the notion of getting married or cooking scrambled eggs makes him say, 'What on earth are you doing?'

    He's saying that in terms of the Doctor being an alien it doesn't matter, not that it doesn't matter in terms of casting. If that makes sense?
  • CD93CD93 Posts: 13,939
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    A Female Doctor: A Woman Should Never Take The Role (Matt Smith)

    The press would have a field day.
  • AlbacomAlbacom Posts: 34,578
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    CD93 wrote: »
    A Female Doctor: A Woman Should Never Take The Role (Matt Smith)

    The press would have a field day.

    In the words of Ronan Keating:

    "You say it best, when you say nothing at all!"
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,003
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    wizzywick wrote: »
    In the words of Ronan Keating:

    "You say it best, when you say nothing at all!"

    And then he'd get slated by everyone for not saying anything.

    As for your earlier point as has already been mentioned some of the classic Doctors have had a similar view on the female Doctor issue as Matt does it mean that they are mistaken in knowing about why the fans love the show as well? Cause that would be at least three out of eleven Doctors who are mistaken in this issue and that's quite a lot.

    Anyway, everyone's on about Matt talking about this even though he has no authority over choosing, so let's talk about what someone who will actually have a say in choosing the Doctor had to say about it:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZWoHMnMByk

    :p
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,273
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    The role has become an established male one. Also non-canonically there have been many female Doctors and it has always been done as a parody, I was up for a female Doctor but when I thought about it seriously I just don't see it working. I have nothing wrong with female Time Lords and their is a lot of precedent for female Time Lords but a female Doctor? No I just don't see it working. By all means give women other "important" roles in the series just not the Doctor. To me casting a female Doctor would have been like casting a female as Harry Potter or Ron Weasley heck I'd have kicked up if a guy had been cast as Hermione Granger. Its not just a one way thing (yes I know that more often than not the female role was played by a male in Shakespeare plays but that's a separate issue altogether and was based around sexism anyway).
  • 16caerhos16caerhos Posts: 2,533
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    What was he supposed to say in all fairness? No?

    The media would tear him a new one. He'd be branded a horrible, evil sexist within minutes.
  • codename_47codename_47 Posts: 9,682
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    It doesn't matter because it'll never happen....

    And that's an entirely different question from "should it happen though?" thank you very much ;)

    Yes, it probably should. No, it probably won't...this happens every time :D
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 270
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    wizzywick wrote: »
    If that what he really thinks (and I'm not sure it is), then he doesn't really understand the show.

    I think he was only teasing the fans - and he enjoyed doing the teasing a lot :) He also said something about being "well media-trained" to the interviewer; it's basically saying "you know, we can't really say a woman can't be the Doctor, because if we did... well, you can imagine what would happen").

    But if he does think (or rather feel) a woman could be the Doctor, it doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't understand how the show works. He is not one of the long-time fans who are against a female Doctor because, watching the show, they see the Doctor in a relation to themselves (and this "relationship" is different for women, different for men, and yet different for children) - and who simply want to believe the Doctor is the same person when he regenerates, because that's what the show is about and a Doctor who is radically different would destroy this illusion. Matt Smith plays the Doctor (he may also watch the show, but he is this one and only person who is also playing him now) and from his point of view this "bonding" with the character may look very different - he is the Doctor (and it really shows he believes he is him when he brightens up when the interviewer says the Doctor also saves people ;) ).

    Also, the next Doctor, especially a male Doctor, will be Matt's competition, and it may be much easier for him I can imagine (for him as an actor) to see a woman in this role than for someone who is "only" a fan.
  • be more pacificbe more pacific Posts: 19,061
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    wizzywick wrote: »
    In the words of Ronan Keating:

    "You say it best, when you say nothing at all!"
    And then he'd get slated by everyone for not saying anything.
    And the conspiracy theorists would take his silence as 100% confirmation that the next Doctor will be a woman. Then, if/when it turns out to be a man, they will accuse Smith of "lying" to the fans.:D
  • TheophileTheophile Posts: 2,931
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    Matt couldn't win. If he had said no he would have been branded as a sexist by some the more mindless and vociferous social media thought police. It won't happen.

    Also Disco! Please! I understand your frustration based on some posts/posters but a vote against a female doctor isn't a vote for bigotry. Not for most people anyway.

    Exactly.

    Just remember that Matt Smith has some big shoes to fill and they are _not_ high heels. :):):)
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