See the regeneration of the 12th Doctor

Up on Youtube right now (July 16, 2017) and already with over 300,000 views is our first view of Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor.

There's a segment of the Who fanbase outraged because it's a woman. I'm not so much outraged as disappointed.

From Wiipedia: Jodie Auckland Whittaker (born 3 June 1982) is an English actress. She first came to prominence for her 2006 feature film debut Venus, for which she received British Independent Film Award and Satellite Award nominations. She was later praised for her roles in the cult science fiction film Attack the Block (2011), the Black Mirror episode "The Entire History of You" (2011), and as grieving mother Beth Latimer in Chris Chibnall's acclaimed TV series Broadchurch (2013–2017). On 16 July 2017, it was announced that Whittaker would become the Thirteenth (and first female) main incarnation of The Doctor in the popular TV series Doctor Who, taking over the role in the 2017 Christmas special episode "The Doctors". Her arrival in the series will coincide with Chibnall's, who will become Doctor Who's new showrunner.

Ms. Whittaker is a brave woman to take on the role.

The more I've thought about it, the more interested I am to see just how the show's writers are going to handle a female Doctor.

For example - Hugh Laurie's rude, jerky House. Would that have been a successful show with a woman playing House. Law and Order: Criminal Intent with Gorin and Ames. If the eccentric and rude Gorin had been played by a woman - would it have been as popular?

How will the Doctor's character change?

I'm reminded of the reaction to Donna Noble as played by Catherine Tate. Her characterization was criticized as being a "fish wife" because she yelled at the Doctor a lot. (God forbid a woman should yell at someone!)

The Doctor of course can yell all he wants...but now that "he" is a woman...will he?

The bad thing about the way the Brits do things is that the regeneration scene takes place in December for the Christmas special - then there's ANOTHER wait of 6 months or even longer before the new series starts! Weird way of doing things...

A woman has been chosen to play the 13th Doctor

Her name is Jodi Whittaker

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/16/537545144/dr-who-is-a-woman-jodie-whittaker-announced-as-13th-time-lord-in-bbc-series

The fact that the "powers that be" at the BBC chose a woman is not a surprise.

I personally think it's stupid. The Doctor is NOT a woman!

You want a strong female Time Lord"?  Create one!

You want a strong female Time Lord villain. Create one! Don't turn the Master into a woman because the Master is not a woman. Yes, Michelle Gomez did a great job as a villainous Time Lady, but she should not have been the Master. Make her the Rani!

Well, it will be interesting to see if the female Doctor has female or male companions.

Maybe she won't have *any* companions - that would be an interesting change as well.

It will be interesting to see what kind of dangerous situations they place this female Doctor in. If it all takes place from the 1980s onward, then we'll see women soldiers, women officers, etc.

If this Doctor goes back in time before the 1980s, she'll have no power - at least, not the power the male Doctors had. Would the Doctor give up the advantage of the patriarchy just to experiment with being a woman? Is that why he "chose me this "women's" face?

There's a lot of outrage - and a lot of people saying, "It's about time."

We'll see what the ratings are for this Doctor.

Not sure if I'll watch it or not. If I do... I'll think of "the Doctor" as dead, and this is just a new Time Lord calling herself the Doctor in his honor.

Who Review: Rose

The first episode of "New Who", "Rose," aired in England on 26 March, 2005 - over 12 years ago!

This episode brought back the Autons, who appeared twice in The Third Doctor's era - in Pertwee's first episode as the Doctor - Spearhead from Space, and in his second season, in Terror of the Autons.

Both episodes were great - Spearhead from Space because it made a great debut for Jon Pertwee, and Terror of the Autons because of the Master and because of Michael Wisher (who would be the original portrayer of Davros in the Fourth Doctor's "Genesis of the Daleks." Wisher was, quite frankly, the best Davros ever.

So, I'll be reviewing "Rose" in my next entry.

Reviews of Doctor Who episodes

Soon...very soon...I'll start writing reviews of Doctor Who episodes, starting chronologically with the first season of "New Who," starring Christopher Eccleston.

At the moment, I've been just watching episodes of New Who that I'll know I like - for example I love The Fires of Pompeii (not only the plot but Peter Capaldi as Caicellius is an extra bonus), The Runaway Bride, Mummy on the Orient Express, and Husbands of River Song.

I'm working on my own writing, and to do so I like to have, in the background, TV shows that I like. They're there, as background music, and I start paying attention only when a scene comes up that is my favorite.

But when I get the time to start actually reviewing these episodes, obviously they have to be done chronologically from the very first episode, so I'll need to watch and pay attention...and write!

Caecellius embraces his family as they wait for the end, Fires of Pompeii

"Who I am is where I stand" (Beware - SPOILERS)

The final Peter Capaldi Doctor Who episode has aired... there's still the Christmas episode where he will actually regenerate - and that won't be for six months!

But clips of his final episode are available on YouTube.

SPOILERS

Bill has been turned into a Mondasian Cyberman.

The two Masters (the female version, Missy, portrayed by Michelle Gomez, and the male version played by John Simm) refuse to help the Doctor fight the Cybermen army. (Well, the Master refuses, Missy intends to but fails to aim a killing a stroke at her male self...resulting in him killing her)

So the Doctor goes to fight the Cybermen on his own, knowing he'll probably be killed.

"Winning? Is that what you think it's about? I'm not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It's not because it's fun. God knows it's not because it's easy. It's not even because it works because it hardly ever does.. I DO WHAT I DO BECAUSE IT'S RIGHT! Because it's decent! And above all, it's kind! It's just that.. Just kind. If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live. Maybe not many, maybe not for long. Hey, you know, maybe there's no point to any of this at all. But it's the best I can do. So I'm going to do it. And I will stand here doing it until it kills me. And you're going to die too! Some day.. And how will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand.. Where I stand is where I fall. Stand with me. These people are terrified. Maybe we can help a little. Why not, just at the end, just be kind?" - The Doctor to the Master and Missy

Powerfully done, and certainly a touchstone for people watching it. What kind of people will see it as powerful, and what kind of people will react as the Master did?

My only nitpick is that the Doctor is almost in tears when he says, "Who I am is where I stand, where I stand is where I fall."  (That's my new mantra, by the way).

When I try to imagine all the Doctors saying those lines - my favorites, Third and Fourth, would have never been in tears! Very much angry and determined...

Still, this is Nu Who and Twelfth is weary....

The Doctor is not a woman

Last night, in the UK, the penultimate episode of Doctor Who was aired. Thanks to social media, it was easy to see how it ended - someone actually put the last two minutes of the episode up on Youtube. I won't spoil it for people - though I would dearly, dearly love to know *right now* who the next Doctor is going to be!

Special interest groups have been agitating for a female Doctor or a black Doctor - to which I say, no.

The show's producers have already laid the groundwork for this pandering by turning The Master into a woman. And Michelle Gomez did a great job with the role (in what I've seen of it so far - I have yet to see this third season as Amazon Prime is charging for that. (You can watch all of "New Who" at Amazon Prime for free, except for the latest Capaldi season. I seem to remember that several years ago, when I had Prime for a brief while, "classic Who" was free - but now you have to pay for it. Since I've got all of Classic Who on VHS which I'm eventually going to convert to DVD, I didn't bother!)

But I digress.

with others have been from a male standpoint. Everyone in the universe knows him as male, and straight. Yes, we got a line in "The Husbands of River Song" that she's bisexual and has had wives as well as husbands, so I can't say, "How is he going to make love to River Song if he's a woman?" - the showrunner prepared for that nicely, didn't he!

But the Doctor's favorite planet is Earth, Earth has always been a patriarchy and, yeah, white males have always been in charge - throughout the Western world, anyway. Is the Doctor going to give up that advantage just because he decides to "choose me this face" because the face reminds him of all the prejudice that minorities have to put up with? (Remembering, by the way, that in Africa, whites are minorities, in North Korea the sane are minorities, in China whites are minorities, etc.)

Throughout all his incarnations the Doctor has been male, straight - and though he's been made to apparently fall in love with a couple of his companions in "new Who" they have always been women.

That's who the Doctor is.

If the showrunners really want to have a strong female Time Lady, create one. Have her be the companion to the Doctor for a year, and if she's popular, spin her off into her own show and let Doctor Who ride off into the sunset. If they want a black Time Lord, create a new character, have her be a companion to the Doctor for a year, and if she's popular (because producers will want to combine two minorities in one - a black and a woman) give her her own series, and let the Doctor fade away.

But do not change the Doctor into something he isn't!

Peter Capaldi and the charities he supports

Continuing to search YouTube for videos of Peter Capaldi, and found a few that sadly don't have a lot of hits - videos where he is the patron of a certain charity and asking for donations.

I thought I'd share some of them here.

First is a video of Peter Capaldi as the Patron for Secondary 1st, a secondary breast cancer charity. Secondary breast cancer affects both men and women:

In this next video, Peter wishes the charity It's Good To Give a happy fifth birthday.

For Children in Need a couple of years ago, Capaldi visited a refugee camp.

A hospital in Malawi that can't care for its children

Pay it forward. Help those in need.