So, the age old "THE DOCTOR MUST REMAIN A WHITE MAN OF A CERTAIN AGE" argument is back again, this time with a new spin for people to tell us how they're annoyed.
It's not racism this time, but sexism that seems to be on the agenda.

However, to put a new spin on an old thread, is it that Doctor Who fans are racist or sexist at all, moreover that they're just resistant to change?

Yes, you could argue in a show like Doctor Who the only real constant is change, but this happens every time they change the actor, showrunner, bring in a new writer with his or her own style, etc, massive outcry about how they've "RUINED THE SHOW, NEVER WATCHING AGAIN!" etc, then they all tune in the next week gradually getting more used to the new style.

So, I'd imagine if the next Doctor was Black, female, a black female or a Shrek, the Fanbase would cry bloody murder....then come back next week same as ever.

The only thing that would change is the amount of posts saying "NEVER WATCHING AGAIN" would increase, but the amount of people actually "NOT WATCHING AGAIN!" would be negligable.

Go for it Moffat/Future showrunner. Make the show you need to, not the one the fanbase thinks they want in their heads (usually based on how the show was when they were 8 years old)

I don't care if the Doctor's black or white as long as he's a man. Same goes for Sherlock Holmes and James Bond. And I'd never expect to see Jane Eyre played by a man either.

That said, I have no issue with Michelle Gomez playing the Master. She's terrific.

Anything can be improved if a Shrek is added.

(Admittedly, that sentence will only make sense if your a Richard Herring fan.)

Exits thread at some rate of knots. I'm a blur. A speck on the horizon.

Edit: Whilst briefly pausing to say, yet again on this forum tonight, yep, Gomez is brilliant.

I don't know maybe different people have different reasons but I don't see why they can't do it.

But the funniest argmunt I read on here today was if The Doctor can be played by a female or a black actor then a black man should be able to play Queen Victoria as there is no difference.

Ps
The person who posted that was being 100% serious to.

....it's going to happen at some point

At this point all we can hope for is that it's based on the best available person being cast rather than specifically targeting a woman for a ratings stunt.

Just like Moffat didn't think he'd go as young as he did with 11 until Matt Smith showed up (...for sherlock...) and blew them all away, they should also be open to the possibility
of a woman blowi....erm, being really good too.

(Aside, I'm stunned someone noticed, you're now MAH favourite poster)

How kind. Especially considering that basically I is a bit of a twart.

I agree with that and at the same time I hope they don't pick a white man just to keep up with tradition if they have had better people who auditioned who were either female-black or both.

I can't fathom why they would be offended. If you can believe in regeneration and time travel and aliens, whys it so hard to think they might be able to change sex?

Neither of the above. Just precious people with a sense of entitlement.

I'm embarrased to be a fan of the show I love when I see the way certain sections of the shows fandom behave.

Quote me where somebody said that, exactly that. Other than you......

I have an enemy (the Master) and he has an enemy (The cybermen), due to the old saying "my enemy's enemy is my friend" i have to have the cybermen over for dinner and stuff.

(I'm derailing my own thread, this is going well, continue talking about serious points regarding sexism and stuff. Also, when is international men's day? )

19th November. Obviously.

(will stop it now. )

Here you go

I could accept any kind of doctor provided there was a valid rational story line based reason for making that choice. What would seriously hack me off is having a female, black, gay, etc doctor purely as a ticking boxes exercise.

Make a decision for story not political correctness or being down with the cool gang.

She's great

Anyone who complains about the Doctor being non-white is showing some clear racial prejudice. Those who complain about gender I'm bemused by - what do they think it'd fundamentally change the Doctor's character? Do they think she'd be suddenly incredibly stereotypically female?

Ironically there seems to be some overlap between those who think 12 is superior because 'oh look he's all rude and doesn't understand human emotions, isn't that great, he's more alien' and those who say 'you can't change gender!' Not sure how the two viewpoints mesh since if you believe Gallifreyan's should be REALLY alien then why would they have the same view of gender/race as fixed as we do?

Sod the politics.

They obviously missed a trick when they cast Capaldi (as entertaining as he is). They should have dropped the whole Danny storyline (a boring distraction taking up time for the large part) and made the Doctor a non-white female - maybe Chinese or Japanese - and then had Clara falling for her.

I can pretty much guarantee viewing numbers would soar, especially with the male demographic.

*gets fire extinguisher*

Agreed.

A non white, lesbian female, with a young female love interest that debuted in the victorian era.

The Doctor should be Madam Vastra?

While you may not think that people would change the essential characteristics of the Doctor when (s)he was made female, you can rest assured that writers would. I can see some of the crass jokes now, but that aside, some writers would begin to change the show.

I am not against timelords changing gender. I just don't see the point. Make the doctor white, black, blue (smurf), yellow (simpson) green (gorn), pink (Cyril Sneer), rainbow (Proud), whatever. But we already have a strong female character that goes with the Doctor. Especially in the new series, the female companion has been strong and never reduced to a shrinking violet with a sprained ankle.

Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy and now Clara have all clearly shown they are strong women capable of out thinking the smartest man and saving the day time and again. Young, old, black, white, these people are heroes on TV and are strong role models.

IT's not that I am against it, I just don't see the point. It'd be (at this point) like changing James bond to be gay. Or Sherlock holmes to be black. You can do it, but what's the point. Would it add anything to the story that is of value or would it be mined for story in a way that detracts?

Oh come on...sexist my arse. There are really good reasons for hating Mr. moffat's latest attempt to show us how clever he thinks he is.

Basically, Moffat is a coward. You would have had to have been living in a vacuum to have missed the PC push for a female doctor after Smith's departure.

Yes, it has been established quite an while ago that Time Lords can change gender. This isn't the first episode to say so.

Basically there has been a push for a female Time Lord on screen. No problem with that but...instead of giving us a real one Moffat opts for the cop out. He makes Missy sound EXACTLY LIKE ROMANA, right down to "Mistress.".

And then we get...female Master. Oh come on Moffat, do you not have the courage to bring back a real girl Time Lord??? I hate to even say it but the Rani would have been better. Anyone with a brain can see you setting the stage for a female Doctor.

So you can kindly shove the PC "you so sexist" crap. There is no reason why this Time Lady couldn't have been her own character. If this is Moffat's big shock it has failed big time. Give me back RTD's Professor Yana.

I did wonder after Forest of the Night whether the Doctor might regenerate into a Rough Collie... so I suppose nothing would surprise me.

The criteria for choosing the next doctor should only ever be the best actor for the role regardless of ethnicity, gender, etc.

If the best choice happens to be white male but producers pick a black actor or female (or a chinese transgendered dwarf) for the sake of 'diversity', we end up with a sh!t doctor.
If the best choice happens to be female or black, but they choose a white male for the sake of tradition, then we still end up with a sh!t doctor.

Would've thought this was bleedin obvious!

I think they are just afraid of change as evidenced by nearly every regeneration ever. I very much disliked the change from Davids doctor to Matts (although to be fair, the whole tone of the show changed). Was it actually a bad change though? Not really. I am still not Matts biggest fan by any stretch of the imagination but show has continued on and just got bigger and bigger.

I have no doubt that some people who dislike the Missy change are sexist but they are in the minority. I personally am loving this change so far.