Not too long after this post I got a full time job in a warehouse where almost nobody working with me spoke English so I had a lot of time alone so I started listening to the big finish Doctor Who stuff. I finally figured out while I don’t and haven’t watched the new series why should I give up the good stuff (Big Finish) and the old episodes just because the new stuff sucks? So While I still pick up the occasional Big Finish Tom Baker story (because hell it’s Tom Baker & he doesn’t have many years left) I’ve not touched the Jodi Whitaker stuff. As for the Tennant redux stuff? We’ll see
This is a post that was lost when I lost my datechguyblog.com domain retrieved via the Wayback machine and restored to my current blog on the date it was posted. Anything above this message is new commentary from today 3/26/23
Today Doctor Who decided to take the final step in their long sjw path and go full Ghostbusters.
Jodie Whittaker has been announced as Doctor Who’s 13th Time Lord – the first woman to be given the role.
The new Doctor’s identity was revealed in a trailer broadcast at the end of the Wimbledon men’s singles final.
The Broadchurch star succeeds Peter Capaldi, who took over the role in 2013 and leaves in the forthcoming Christmas special.
As you might guess all of the usual suspects are overjoyed, it’s being hailed a breakthrough and there doesn’t seem to be a single voice in dissent.
Well as person who has followed the series religiously and as the only person in history to question a future US president at a press conference wearing a Doctor Who Scarf, let me bluntly say what I suspect a lot of other people would like to say but dare not if they want to ever work for the BBC again.
I dissent.
This is a bad idea, in fact for reasons I’ve already written about it’s a horrible idea not only in the short term but for the entire franchise long term. for the 1st time ever kids can go online and find celebrity nudes of the Doctor, isn’t that special?
I’m not going to reiterate all the various reasons from my old post but I am going a step further.
I not only dissent, but after 41 years I’m done.
It’s not a step I take lightly, this is something that has been special to me for over four decades. It’s a fandom I shared with my sons and celebrated together. All three Doctor Who scarfs I own are gifts from friends or family.
Now I know that since the series came back there has been a bit of a sjw agenda that has been pushed since the 2nd half of the 1st season. As the years have gone by it’s become more and more open but I let it go, first because I was so pleased to see the series back, then because I thought David Tennant was great, then because I thought Matt Smith was the best thing to happen to the series since Tom Baker, then because Peter Capaldi had given the character depth and then because Michelle Gomez was just so good as Missy and she and Capaldi worked so well that you wanted to see what happened next.
The actual reality is that I loved this show and even as it tried to nudge me away or suggest that I and my values were unwelcome I clung to it because of what it meant to me and mine. In a world becoming increasingly hostile it was my last my childhood escape that decades later was still intact.
So why would a female Doctor make the difference? Why would that escape be gone. The answer comes from this remark from the new show runner is why:
Chris Chibnall, New Head Writer and Executive Producer says : “After months of lists, conversations, auditions, recalls, and a lot of secret-keeping, we’re excited to welcome Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor. I always knew I wanted the Thirteenth Doctor to be a woman and we’re thrilled to have secured our number one choice. Her audition for The Doctor simply blew us all away. Jodie is an in-demand, funny, inspiring, super-smart force of nature and will bring loads of wit, strength and warmth to the role. The Thirteenth Doctor is on her way.”
and this from the BBC:
It was always unlikely that the Doctor would continue to be white and male, especially as the BBC has committed itself to greater diversity on its programmes.
Casting the first female Doctor is something many viewers have been calling for. And strong female-led stories have been successful on the big and small screen in recent years, in films ranging from The Hunger Games and Star Wars to Wonder Woman, and in TV series like Game of Thrones.
The BBC will be hoping today’s announcement will not just excite viewers, but will also demonstrate that the time travel show has firmly moved into the 21st century.
Do you see the point here. We’re not making the Doctor a woman because it will improve the dynamic of the series, we’ve not choosing a woman because it will enhance the narrative, it’s not about the younger kids who watch or the 50 year plus history.
We’ve not even choosing Jodie Whitaker (an OK actress) because she was the best thespian for the job. No dammit we’re going to make the Doctor a woman because Chris Chibnall wants the Doctor to be a woman, the BBC wants the Doctor to be a woman (perhaps that’s why Chibnall was chosen) and we’re all going to prove how modern and diverse we are so dammit that’s how it’s going to be!
In other words it’s the SJW agenda being shoved in my face.
Well BBC it’s your show and Mr. Chibnall you’re the boss, and you have the right and authority to do with your show as you see fit.
Me I’m the viewer. I’ve got a limited amount of time and a limited amount of money to invest in my entertainment and in this 21st century world that you are boasting of moving into I have a plethora of entertainment choices to invest my time and money in.
And I choose to no longer invest in the Doctor Who franchise, either the new series or via Big Finish.
My Congratulations Mr. Chibnall, my congratulations BBC, my congratulations Ms. Whitaker, you’ve managed to do what age, marriage, children and all the difficulties of life over four decades have not been able to, you’ve made Doctor Who just another TV show to me and made me no longer be invested in the character of the Doctor.
Now I can see the blowback comming in fact Ms. Whitaker take on the role suggests the form it will take:
What does it feel like to be the first woman Doctor?
It feels completely overwhelming, as a feminist, as a woman, as an actor, as a human, as someone who wants to continually push themselves and challenge themselves, and not be boxed in by what you’re told you can and can’t be. It feels incredible.
7) What do you want to tell the fans?
I want to tell the fans not to be scared by my gender. Because this is a really exciting time, and Doctor Who represents everything that’s exciting about change. The fans have lived through so many changes, and this is only a new, different one, not a fearful one.
Scared? How DARE you suggest that my or anyone else’s objections are based on fear, either of your gender or of change. You are a performer, you make your living giving performances for your customer base the viewer. It is for the customer to choose to stay or go based on their entertainment preferences
And I choose to leave.
Now Mr. Chibnall is a good writer (Boradchurch season 1 & 2 are excellent season 3 so far meh) and Ms. Whitaker is a passable actress so I don’t doubt that there will be some interesting stories, in fact I predict that the first half Ms. Whitaker’s first season will do quite well ratings wise, maybe even well in terms of merchandising, however I suspect by the 2nd season it will be Sylvester McCoy and 1989 all over again, but the BBC will do their best to ignore it because they can’t let the first female doctor fail. They’ll retain quite few of the older viewers and a good part of the cult fan base, but in the end instead of national and international institution that gets kids and their families and hold them for generations, it will become just another BBC Drama.
It’s a shame but hey, it’s not a big deal, after all it’s just a TV show.
Closing thought: How long do you think it’s going to be before assorted sjw groups decide they are aggrieved because the Doctor is a white woman rather than a black man or a black woman or an asian man, or a muslim woman or a transgender woman who defines as a gender yet unknown. Or perhaps Mr Chibnall will have Whitaker’s doctor define herself as a man or something else to keep the SJW crowd happy?
I don’t know and frankly I don’t care, not my problem anymore.
Update: That didn’t take long
New FEMALE Doctor Who Jodie Whittaker NUDE modelling and bath scene from Venus
Just what the series needed a Doctor that boys who aren’t gay could masturbate to.
Meanwhile Colin Baker weighs in
Change my dears and not a moment too soon – she IS the Doctor whether you like it or not!
— Colin Baker (@SawbonesHex) July 16, 2017
I would remind the esteemed Mr. Baker that this is the attitude that led to the show being cancelled the first time, on the plus side, it’s arrogance is completely in character in terms of what the 6th doctor would say.
